2015 Plans

I tried very hard for Green Snowman to be my last finish of 2014, but it was indeed the first finish of 2015. I have never been able to capture the color of the fabric which is a bright olivish green. This is my fourth of these Shepherd's Bush  snowmen; Green joins Red, Blue, and Black.

As we embark on the new year, I always like to set small (or extraordinarily large, either way) goals for myself.

• Start 31 projects in Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge--All projects are prepped and ready but one. I swore I bought Turkey Sausages, but I can't find it anywhere. No worries, I need to pick up an order at the LNS anyway. You can see the projects I plan to stitch on the DUCJC page above.
• Stitch every day.
• Complete stitching twelve pieces (in addition to the smalls)--I know that seems ridiculous given my miserable outing last year, but it's actually much closer to the number I usually complete.
• Stitch more smalls--I've signed up again for the Smalls SAL,

• Finish-finish 12 stitched pieces--I still have a rather large container of unfinished pieces.

• Craft Month with a new twist--You'll just have to tune in! 
• Hire a new cleaner.

As last year, I am doing the workbook "Create Your Shining Year." I know it doesn't seem like me--and in a lot of ways it is not--but the way it helped me land a job in 2013? I'm converted.

I was thinking about what my word for this year might be. I started thinking about how I would like to tackle my problem with procrastination. I don't think that everything a person starts needs to be completed right now or tomorrow or even the year after that; I'm a cross-stitcher after all! However, at the end of this year I did let some (life, not craft) projects slide that really needed to be worked on. And it just ends up creating an oppressive feeling that leads to more procrastination. I needed my word for the year to be something like "anti-procrastination," but more elegant. Do you know there is no real antonym for procrastination? "Proactive" (besides being a terrible social-science-y word) sort of. "Persistence" means you stick with it to the end, but not that you start in a timely way. "Enthusiasm" seems to imply a fake cheerfulness. "Advance" is really the opposite of retreat. And "expedite" is so rushed, which isn't necessarily the problem. "Just do it" starts to get at the heart of it, but the idea of using an advertising slogan makes me throw up in my mouth a little. The dude came up with "alacrity," which is a delightful and underused word, but lacks a certain sticktoitiveness. I thought "motivate," which would be ungrammatical. (It would be self-motivate, which is as clunky as antiprocrastination.) Friends suggested "engage" and "momentum." Not terrible but I wasn't feeling it. Then I was reading an interview with Jody Rice of Satsuma Street. And I was poking around in her shop and saw the design "Good things come to those who hustle." 

Hustle! That was it. I felt it. It has the momentum, it has the movement, it has the energy and the force. Hustle uses raw talent and a burst of extra effort together to get someplace (for some reason basketball comes to mind). It can be aggressive when it needs to be. And it even has sleazy overtones of illicit behavior. (Not that I would but it does add a certain verve!) And, there's even a theme song; sing it with me: "dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun, do the hustle." So the word for 2015 is Hustle. Let's see where that leads me.

Gotta hustle and start my January Challenge!

Catching Up

Dear friends, many thanks for your enthusiasm about that soap dispenser. In addition to making the man crafts, I have been trying to keep up with two threads a night on that giant list of stitching projects. I did miss one out because I had to finish a book (American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food*) for book group.

On Tuesday, I put two threads into Blackbird's Friendship Sampler. This is how it looked last time I stitched it (scroll down). The basket is starting to come together, and while I stitched I've already been thinking about which friends I might document on this piece.

On Wednesday, I put a number of threads into Emerald Mermaid. She is probably etched into your memory, but in case, here's where we left her. I stitched a bit on her at stitching group, where people are so used to seeing her they don't even ooh and ahh anymore. I guess I'd better get a move on!

On Thursday, I finished the first band of the Thistle Sampler for my MIL's birthday and started the over one lettering. (Before, middle photo.) I was wondering if this should end up in the stack of over one stitching for summer, but then I realized the birthday IS this summer. I must press on.

On Saturday I put a couple of flowers and swirls in the Green Snowman's hill. (Last time I worked on it, here.) We're getting a little better on catching the green of this fabric. At least this time you can tell it is green! (That shadow is me, I took this in my office with a horrible overhead light and there was no escaping it.)

And on Sunday I did a little work on the Great Pumpkin Conspiracy. (Previously, on Stitch Bitch.) (Horrible photo but it's is pouring here.)

Back to the grindstone for me! Thanks for stopping by.

*Please read this book. It's not an easy read or terribly well-put-together, but it is so important for us to understand our food waste and work to change it, especially when we have such a high number of people who aren't getting enough to eat in our country. And we're not talking about that head of broccoli you bought to make yourself feel virtuous, and then never used because (ugh!) broccoli. (Not that I know anything about that.) But the millions of tons of food that never get harvested, don't make it past inspection (seriously, I would eat a curved cucumber; wouldn't you?), and get thrown away by grocers because it's too much of a hassle to mark down blemished food. Yeah that. Please.

Wait a Minute Mr. Snowman

Last night, I started Shepherd's Bush Green Snowman. It seemed terribly appropriate, especially since I turned into a snowman walking the dog in the storm! The dude didn't tell me, but my eye makeup had run, and it looked like I was getting prepared for my NFL debut. No one seemed to mind.

I started it at work on my lunch break and fulfilled my vow to stitch two threads last night. I think you are looking at four threads total. Still, it's not sitting in the package unloved. Unfortunately, my camera is not loving the color of this fabric. It is green. I promise. (I did play around with color and hue and saturation in the photo editing program but trust me when I tell you I could make that fabric look any color except the one it really is!)

We had a two-hour delay today because of the snow. There are eight people (total) in our office today. There are usually almost 50! I was looking forward to starting another project at lunch. Unfortunately, I slept and cleaned the house during those two extra hours. I grabbed a project because I thought it was kitted but it was missing three colors (two of which are in the middle of the project) and a needle. All that after I had cut the fabric to size using the office scissors. I think I may take some time this weekend to make sure all the new projects are ready for emergencies kitted.

And tonight we're having friends over for dinner (connect!) so I'm not sure how late I'll be up trying to put those two threads in!