Tall Flowers Update

This is a psuedo-update. I took this picture yesterday, in the daylight, and on my bus ride today I put the first flower on a stem. So this isn't really an accurate representation any longer. Sigh. Winter bites with all its bad lighting.

I do love the colors, though. They are so happy, with any luck they can get me through the dreariness of winter.

That said, I think it's about time to switch over to stitching the Tree of Life Window so I can get some time on that before the end of the month. Am I already talking about the end of the month? Why can't time slow down like it used to when I was a kid waiting for a big event, like Christmas or my birthday? Can I get some of that time back?

Melissa wanted to know what colors I am using on the marquoir. The answer is black and DMC 921, a sort of pumpkin color that matches the paint job in my dining room. Yup, just regular ol' DMC.

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!

Time

I am trying to find a new job, so stitching time has been given over to writing resumes and cover letters. I did take a break to watch Queer Eye, and started work on the last magnolia leaf. It doesn't look like much of a leaf yet. . .