One Giant Mother of a Finish

I have completed the afghan. I can't believe it! Only four months after I had hoped to have it done. You'd have thought that between 2001 and April 2004, I could have found four months to work on it... But it is done, done, done, done, done. I would have blogged about it sooner, but our computer has Windows98 which means we can't upload a newer IE free from work which means the home computer is incompatible with the new blogger.

So on Saturday, I worked on Toy Gatherer because outside of the goals I set up for July, my rotation is kind of sketchy. After ten hours on that, I started Drawn Thread's Birth Band Sampler. I tried to explain the new start to my husband who eyed me suspiciously while I cocked it up (the first motif starts in the "wrong" place on the linen threads, so when I got to the exes I was half a stitch off). I don't see any reason not to start this. Not only is it really small, it's for his sister who's due in October. I need to get this started!

How did I do last month?
10 more hours/complete the afghan a
10 hours on Watercolor Geraniums a
Complete "Be Thee Mine" by July 14 a
10 hours on Treasured Tulips a
bonus: ten hours on Toy Gatherer

August goals: I need some help, people. As you know, in late April when I started this drive to Get Stuff Done, I had a list of about 20 items to complete. I've done eight and lost one. I have been actively working on five in my rotation: Roly Poly, Toy Gatherer, Williamsburg Doorway, Watercolor Geraniums, and Treasured Tulips. And now I've added the Birth Band Sampler. That's 2 smallish and 4 large. I'm not going to finish anything soon by doing 10 hours on each. So, I'm wondering, should I make a new active rotation? Adding something that's small and maybe taking out the Watercolor Geraniums because I can't bear stitching with three strands lately? The problem with taking WG out of the rotation is that there are too many floss colors so I would have to put the floss back into storage for use with other projects. OTOH, the last time I had to take the floss out of storage for this project, I was going back to the storage box about every third color while I stitched. There are so many blended needles that the list is impossible to follow when you're pulling floss. Oh, sure I could just make a list from what I have in the travel case now, since it's all there and it's in numerical order, but that wouldn't give me the excuse I need to hate this project.
Okay, we'll go with this for the August Goals:
Roly Poly 10 hours
Toy Gatherer 10 hours
Williamsburg Doorway 10 hours
Birth Band Sampler 10 hours
Sunflower Smalls 10 hours
unless you've got something better for me?

Another Deadline Passes?

I've only got three days to finish the afghan, which is my last goal for May. I haven't even taken it out of the bag in ages. Maybe I'll work on that tonight. Or maybe this will be another time I don't finish the afghan by the time I had hoped. I had sort of planned to do some sewing over the holiday weekend. We'll see.

I haven't had much of a chance to stitch since last weekend. My father-in-law and his girlfriend were visiting us, and we have had to do a lot of sight-seeing. I did get some stitching done on the hour long drive to San Juan Capistrano which the girlfriend kept calling "San Capistrano" even after she saw the signs. Because she's English, I would have accepted "Jew-in" (as in the pronounciation for Lord Byron's "Don Juan") but she skipped it all together. There certainly was a lot I couldn't explain about her. Now, friends from grad school are here for a visit while others are taking off in a few days or weeks (different people) for the summer and for good, respectively, so there are lots of people we need to visit with which takes away from my stitching time.

I got a bit further on the Rolly Poly Santa. I will have some new pictures up next week. Promise.

Afghan report

I have completed the sweet pea--at least for now, we'll see what we'll do about the mistake. I moved on to the signature block because I thought I could finish it last weekend. The old ball and chain went to a chess tournament (to play, finished T4th for his division, yay he-who-hasn't-played-competitive-chess-in-15-years), so I thought I would have lots of time to work on it. Only I was interrupted by the L.A. marathon. The race completely blocks in my neighborhood (we had to park the car in a different area so the hubster could leave for the tournament on Sunday morning). But I managed to distract myself by: 1) watching the race--it's so cool to see the elite runners glide past. Makes me think about taking up running. 2) making lots of birthday and St. Patrick's Day cards (to keep up the New Year's resolution). 3) walking to a restaurant for lunch. Despite the end of the grocery clerks' strike, we haven't been back yet. 4) heading to Pearl to see if they had a 1" or 1.5" square punch. (They didn't.)

So I didn't finish the signature block but I am close. I have three corner motifs and the line "by avs for mas" to complete. Then it's just the jasmine pot and the rest of the hydrangea. . . and hours and hours of backstitching.

Jen, I'm going to get to your memes, but Monday is for the afghan and I was out of the office on Friday. Keep them up!

Still no pictures

I am nearly finished with the sweet pea. This is the square that has gone the quickest, even though it is not necessarily the smallest. I think I am going to move onto the signature block in a few days--that one should go quickly too. And, once I've put in the "Wrought in the years 2000-2004," that means I will have to finish before next year. That will leave me with the jasmine pot and the hydrangea to complete. Since I will have a solid week of vacation to work on them, I have become rather optimistic. And the old ball and chain has entered a chess tournament for Saturday, so I won't have to divide my attention from the project this weekend. Plus I will have several hours of flying time between the trip to Tulsa (woohoo!) and the trip to NH. My stitching fingers will be dry and flakey, but I will have the best damn 60th birthday present my mother is likely to get.

I got nothin'

The sweet pea is going well. It should go very quickly if I can keep at it with any regularity.

While reading through other blogs today, I learned that I am Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and that my French is way better than the Google automatic translator's. At least the parts of the article that Angelsan directed us to that I understood could be translated into comprehensible English. Well, the graduate school does consider me fluent in French. (The joke's on them! I can read a magazine article, but I'd never get through any sort of academic work.)

Afghan Report

I have nearly completed the narcissus. All of the stitching is done, and I've begun some backstitching contrary to my earlier vow not to backstitch. There was so much white, it looked like a giant cloud on green shoots, so I put in a very little bit of backstitching. I have begun the Sweet Pea. No new pictures, unfortunately. I got a new computer at work today, and nearly all of the programs I used for creating web pages--Dreamweaver and the Kodak picture software--are on the old computer and need to be loaded on the new. It's a very frustrating transition. I've been here for five years and this is my third new computer. I'm not bragging--the first two computers were hopelessly outdated when they finally arrived. With any luck this one will last me. But back to the afghan...

I've received some DMCFT--thanks to the kind blog readers. What a wonderful interconnected world we have (okay, it is for me because I am white and middle class living in a first-world country, but I digress). I think I'll still require some DMCFT 2319, if you've got it. I am trading one gently used pattern from a rather lengthy list for the flower thread. Or money. That will work, but I know stitchers like prizes.

Since we're on the afghan report, I think I should update you on the dog, just in case you were worrying about her health. She's doing better and all reports of her imminent demise have been greatly exaggerated. Science shows she's got none of the horrible diseases for which the vet tested. But my mother isn't going to do the invite-everyone-she-knows-to-a-party thing. She wants to save money for the new summer house. But she does want my sister and me to be there for the big day. Even that, though, is up in the air because of some doings in my father's business. My mother is very changeable. She reacts very strongly to even small problems (I'll admit the two that I've reported aren't so small); I've never realized this before. Still, she deserves the afghan for getting old! :)

Real Time

In the movies, they hardly ever film in real time because real time is very boring. Imagine a character going to the doctor's office and waiting for the 40 or so minutes this sort of thing takes. You the viewer have to suffer along with them for 40 minutes. It can be effective depending on the subject matter, but, with all due respect to Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, we watch stuff because it's about something. (I will cop to watching Seinfeld reruns several times a day.) I'm starting to feel like reading this blog is like watching me stitch the afghan in real time.

So I'm going to confine the afghan to Monday reports. That way you can skip Mondays if you feel like you're stitching the afghan in real time. Only without the glory.

I've recently updated my Stitcher's Pocket Inventory (affectionately known as The Geek Book, because you know you are a stitching geek when you can carry a record of every stitching supply you own). I've added some of the pages that I found at Stitcher's Organizer: a rotation page and "finished but not framed." I have created a rotation that will begin the day the afghan goes into my mother's hands.

Rotation:

Hearts and Flowers, Carriage House Designs

Noel Ornament, CA's Eclectic Collection

Eiffel Tower, JCS February 2002 (a new project! A wedding present for a friend, one year mark in May)

You are My Sunshine, Bent Creek (for a cousin's fetus due in May)

Fa La La ornament, Twisted Threads

Toy Gatherer, Shepherd's Bush

Geranium, JCS

Professor Fizzby's Freebee, Dimples Designs

Tulips, Nutmeg Needle

Roly Poly, Heart Strings with thread substitutions by Mimi Shaw

These will be added as others are finished based on the size of the project being rotated out: Itty Bitty Trio of Hearts, Twisted Threads; Hardanger Napkin Rings, Stella Berg; Williamsburg Doorway, Heart's Content; Alpine Garden—remind me this one has a mistake in the center square—Drawn Thread; Majestic Rooster, aka The Frickin' Chicken, Linda Gordanier Jary; Elizabethan Rose, Moss Creek; St. Basil's Cathedral, Dimples Designs; Enchanted Alphabet, Lavender and Lace; Pins and Needles Smalls, Lauren Sauer; Sunflower Smalls (I've decided to redo the scissors keep), Lauren Sauer; Beaded Sewing Pouch (I've looked at it again, and decided I liked it); Heart in Hand Monthly Mania (I've done January and August. I changed the January snowman's nose to a carrot, and I've got to redesign March entirely because that leprachaun creeps me out.)

So, yup, it's true. I have 21 projects on the go.

So. . . Much . . . New . . .Stuff

I know there are more Nashville Market Reports out there, but I've read my first one and there's so much great stuff! Check out Elegant Stitch's report. As you may recall, I when I am not stitching the afghan, I have my husband's anniversary present to work on (Carriage House Sampling's Hearts and Flowers). At first I thought it would be cute to follow the "traditional anniversary gifts": paper, cotton, etc. But now I think, why not stitch a little something for him every year? (Um, because I'm *still* stitching the present from last July?) I was inspired by Good Huswife's "I Thee Wed"; Sheepish Design's "Token of Love"; and the Trilogy's "Wedding Spots". At least they're all pretty small...

The afghan is rolling along. I took a picture on Monday night, but work's been busy, and I haven't had a chance to upload it. I might have time to manipulate the picture and put it up on Friday. At the very least, the picture is taken and the progress will be documented. I had hoped to get a lot more done on it this past weekend, but the s.o. has broken some toes and because he doesn't understand the concept of rest, he's put himself on crutches. This whole ordeal has kept him on the couch far too long, and he was getting difficult, so I took him to the Long Beach convention center, rented him a wheelchair, and took him around the L.A. Times Travel Show. At least two men told me what a great wife I was. (Just what I always wanted to be when I grew up! Squeal.) We had fun playing with people, and their ideas about disability, by telling them we had hiked around Alaska on our honeymoon. (You could see the wheels spinning.) It was sort of funny to watch people backpedal after they told us there was some great golf at their resort. People.

more photos

Here are the photos of the completed peony (without the backstitch) and the beginnings of the narcissus.

Peony complete

I finished the peony square during the Superbowl. (Yay, Pats!) I have begun the narcissus. There are larger blocks of color in this one, it's all very regular. I think it should go quickly. You'll find out whether it does or not here. Photos to come.

Dying dog -> no party.

I liked how that Patrick Lose snap peas fabric looked so much, I ordered it for the Ewe and Eye scissors companion. I'll have the scissor fob to bring with me to Tulsa in (yipes) 5.5 weeks. I've got to pay the balance soon. I'm also seriously considering taking a whole week off --I'll be at Camp for 4 days and then I'll come home and stitch for 3 before going back to work. All on my own, just a tv for company. I could get lots done on the afghan. My mother is much less sure about the party these days. Her beloved yellow lab has Cushing's Disease. She claims that she is currently unable to think about the party. Now, how weird is this: two of her friends died in the space of 6 months which was the impetus for the party. Dead friends -> party. Dying dog -> no party. (It's not like the dog will die tomorrow, not for about two years.) Should I just put the afghan in the rotation and keep it for myself, or should I just keep plugging away and give it to her party or no party? It's a little too twee for me and too much work to give it to anyone else.

I've had news recently that results in this dire warning: when you have to name a baby, think about it. For a long time.

Only a bit more

I have a new picture of the peony. This is what I have managed to do since Sunday. Last night, I spent the majority of my time blotting up dog urine from the bedroom carpet. Now, all of the trash has to be emptied every day. You can now access close-ups of each square on the afghan page.

Hookie

Well, I've done my civic duty, and another man's gone to jail for possession with intent to sell. Next time I'm called, I'm telling them I just don't believe police officers. This is the second case where I just have the tendency not to believe the cops. I don't know where this prejudice comes from (maybe it's just that creepy-looking cops end up in the LA Court System) but it's definitely a trend. Maybe I just rebel at the sight of "authority."

I did get some good progress on Hearts and Flowers since it is my portable project. I haven't got a whole lot left on that one. And I've been working on the afghan at night. I'm almost done the leaves on the peony, but I'm not going as quickly on this project as I would like. I need some time away, preferably alone in a hotel room. I could probably finish 3 squares if I didn't have to go to work, cook, clean, or entertain anyone. Boy I like that idea!

I'm very boring...

I'm back at work on the afghan! It seems like forever since I touched it. I was worried because I thought I had goofed and was going to have to fix it, but I got out the highlighter and I'm right on target. Because I have a mere 11 weeks to d-day--and 5 flowers to finish--I think I am going to stop doing the backstitching. If I have time, I can do it at the end, but if not, it will look done enough to give. OTOH, maybe it's a really bad idea--I'll be left with nothing but backstitching at the end. Then you'll hear me bitch!

stitching resolutions

I've never made a public resolution. Lots of private moments of saying, "oh, I have got to lose weight," but none where I've said anything to anyone else. This year I did. I've resolved to keep in touch with friends and family better. It's kind of sad when you only talk to your friends once a year when you see them. (I'm a phone phobe.)

Obviously the big stitching resolution is going to be finish the afghan on time (4/4). Next, I am going to go through the UFOs and make a serious effort to finish them. I'll put up a rotation schedule on Monday--but remember nothing gets started until the afghan is finished (I'm so one note). I'm also going to get rid of the projects I don't care to finish and to sell off the patterns I'll never do. (I have to do it now that I've said it, don't I?)

Working Backwards
Christmas: For the first time, I made a list of all the patterns I'd like to have and gave it to my family. Who knew they'd go to such lengths to get them all for me! Christmas was a load of fun. My sister and cousin must have spent some serious time in the LNS--places neither of them frequent. Again, list to follow. Too bad I blog from work (superior computer power) and all the stitching stuff's at home.

Happy New Year

Well kids and kidlets we have less than 4 months to the big party when the afghan project needs to be complete. Unfortunately, the trip to NH with its attendant five hour plane ride was lost to the project. I just couldn't bring it along given how large it was and how little time I'd have to work on it out of my mother's sight. She does seem to be cooling on the idea of the party, though, so perhaps I don't need to have it done for her specific birthday, but more like her birth month.

When we put up the tree with all its Santa ornaments, I couldn't help but long to stitch some more. And I did...I finished Olde Time Santas Sinter Klaus (Dutch) and Father Christmas (Irish); and two very old kits another Sinter Klaus and a Santa with striped socks. Sure it dug into the afghan time, but so did finishing my cousin's scarf (12/24) and my sister's shawl (12/27). It made all of us so happy.

I'm doing a lot of paring down of my craft stuff. It's just everywhere and seems to be breeding. I'm sure none of you know that feeling. :) So I've resolved to get rid of about 80 craft books--I guess I should have stopped buying books through the mail well before I did. I'm also getting rid of the scraps from various kit projects. I always save the pattern, thinking I may want to do another (who am I kidding?). But now, I've stapled the original picture to the pattern, written down good DMC number matches for the floss, and thrown the crap out. It's remarkable how much less space that takes. I've also found that I have about half a dozen duplicates. I've got to find out how to sell stuff either on ebay or wherever. I've got stuff, boy howdy.

Here's to less of it in 2004.

Bring your stitching!

I'm so glad I packed up the afghan and took it on the plane. I got a lot done--managed to finish the camelias and rose gallica, and got back to the hydrangea a bit too. And with the nightmare of our return on Sunday...

It all began at 4:15 a.m. eastern time when the alarm went off... We were at the airport by 4:45. We waited for the self-check-in kiosks to open at 5:00 only to find out our flight to Phillie was delayed, and we would miss our connection to Los Angeles. We were happy to be rerouted through Pittsburgh to arrive at LAX before noon. Our flight to Pittsburgh, however, was cancelled because of mechanical problems with the plane. So, we were rerouted again--three different flights before 9:00 am! Back through PHL, but our plane to LAX wouldn't depart until 5:55 pm to arrive in LA at 8:30 (that's pacific time). They put us on a morning flight to PHL just in case, I think. We spent a whole lotta time watching football at the gate. (We watched three flights go through.) Fortunately, when we arrived home our luggage was first off and the traffic Nazi was directing the taxis and with remarkable speed we got through that line and home.

So I have begun the peony right on schedule. I am going to take the afghan on the plane again because four hours of uninterrupted stitching time rocks.

MYSTERY SOLVED
Loyal readers will perhaps recall my wonderment at one of the Just Cross-Stitch Christmas Ornaments from the September 9th installation of this blog. It was a "Christmas butterfly." And I was baffled by it, just as I was by the Christmas clown. Well, at Thanksgiving this year, my neice kept singing this song she learned in Lutheran kindergarten for her Christmas pageant, "Butterfly, butterfly open your wings/Fly away to Bethlehem while we sing;" the butterfly is supposed to bring something to Jesus, but despite hearing the song about 40 times, I forget what. Apparently, I have a shorter attention span than a three year old. Anyway, I'm thinking this is where the concept comes from. I just didn't have any three year old acquaintances. (I googled, and I can't find the lyrics, but there is a Christmas butterfly in South Africa which is black and white with red spots--still doesn't look like the one in the magazine.)

Stitch stitch stitch

I am happy to report that I did very well this weekend stitching my little fingers to the bone on the afghan. I did all I anticipated in Friday's message and more (all but two leaves and one flower). I'm sure this square will be done by Thursday. . . if I decide to fly with it. I'm not sure about this. It's big, the project bag is big. Stitching with the afghan flowing on to my own dirty floor is one thing, but onto the floor of a nasty airplane? And I don't think I'll get that much stitching done when we're at my cousin's for Thanksgiving: she has adorable girls that must be showered with feminist enthusiasm and auntly love. (My aunt and mother are always saying the girls will be models--tall and lovely and photogenic--so I always try to remind them that they can play basketball or volleyball and be doctors or other well-educated types. What can I say? It's my calling.) OTOH, I can envision lots of reasons that I may end up completely bored in airports. I'll see how the packing goes.

Just Do It!

Well, I'm very proud of myself because for two consecutive nights I've been working on the afghan. I'm doing the camellia square. I'm working on the leaf. I hope by the end of the weekend, I'll have finished the stem and leaf and I'll be working on a flower. Usually the flowers are the "good part" because of the vibrant colors. The first two colors I'll use on this flower are ecru and lighter ecru. Ho-hum. But it's going, it's going... We have to focus on the positive.

In Christmas gift news, I've finished the last of the sweatshirts, started Stephanie's scarf again, and decided what I'm going for Auntie Em.

A new friend wrote to me snail mail to tell me that Julie Ruin has a song with the chorus, "You make me want to . . .you make me want to . . .you make me want to crochet!" I'm not sure anything would make me want to crochet, but if you've got a young, feminist, punkster crocheting friend, you might want to consider the eponymous Julie Ruin cd for Christmas.

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!