The Afghan Obsession

Okay, so you know I'm uptight about not stitching the afghan, and there's a reason, dammit. Most stitchers know how much time and effort it takes to stitch projects. And you also know that you always take on more projects than you can get through--there's always the last minute substitution of a bought-gift because you couldn't finish the made-gift. But, if your stitched-gift is for a stitcher, sometimes you can get away with giving them the half-finished piece and promising to have it done "soon." My mom always gets the promises. (She used to own a quilt store.) Now she is having the 60th birthday bash of a lifetime. A couple of her friends died, rather young, this year and she doesn't want to see her old friends only at funerals so my ever-vain, face-lifted mother is dispensing with vanity and telling people her age. She's inviting several hundred people. Four years ago, I started this project thinking I'd have plenty of time, but lots of marriages, babies, and other projects intervened. And now I am two squares behind my schedule. And am half way to the next deadline and I haven't started the next square (camellias). My ultimate do-or-die deadline is the first weekend in April. Fortunately, I have knotted all the fringe on the afghan, so there'll be no last minute finishing. I do, however, have to complete the project! I have to figure out a way to get back into it. I was doing so well, completing 4 blocks in 12 weeks. Now I've got about 6 weeks of NOTHING. I think I'll move on to the camellias and try to have it finished on time. Then, I'll keep going on the schedule. I'll have some time at Camp Wannasew to work on it, and a few weeks at the end that were built in for just such a fiasco, to go back and complete the backstitching on rose gallica and then the whole of the hydrangea. It's manageable. The problem is the rest of my life! I've almost finished Christmas shopping/gift making, but it always seems like I've got stuff to do! But I notice that the bloggers I read regularly seem to be having trouble keeping up lately--it's just that time of year--we're all busy!