To Send or Not to Send

About a month ago, I read about textile artist Amy Meissner on Jen Funk Weber's blog. Go ahead, read about her work. I'll wait. (For those of you who have no time for interesting articles about textile artists, Amy recycles abandoned needlework, incorporating it into new, remarkable pieces.)

When I read about it, I immediately thought, "Frickin' Chicken." For those of you who haven't been introduced to Majestic Rooster it was published in Cross Stitch and Country Crafts in 19 dickety two. I chose to stitch it for my mother because it matched her dining room exactly. Before I was even close to finishing, my mother upped and redecorated her dining room. And then a few years after that, she moved out of the house all together.  

I started stitching in the middle and jumped around a lot, and in jumping screwed up. There is just a tiny bit of stitching left to do on this, but there is no way of knowing where I am on the pattern. I've tried to pick it up in the past but there's just no finding your way to making an x. I decided to send it in. I found it and went to iron it a little. 

That was the first time I really looked at it in a long time. I saw how little I had left to do*, and how amazing that green tail is. And I started to have second thoughts...On the one hand, yes I did all that work. On the other hand, this piece wouldn't really have a spot in my house, or my mother's, or even in the house she used to have. But then, it's thisclose to being complete. But it's a giant headache to stitch. If I let it go, it will go to good purpose. It will be rescued. I guess this is how my cousin feels when a foster dog goes to its new family.

And in thinking about this one, I've started to reconsider Watercolor Geraniums too.

What would you do?



*Even less than in this picture.

A Finish!

Thank you all for your comments of late. I'm sorry I'm not going to get to them today. I have been busy all day, and I'm about to rush out the door to see Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique at the Kimmel Center. I really shouldn't be posting, but I must.

I had hoped to finish this project for my SIL and BIL for Christmas. I had thought the framing deadline had passed, but I got an email last week saying it was 11/20. Woohoo! I got to work and finished last night. May I present Heartland House's Tree of Life Window (Frank Lloyd Wright). You can read more about its circumstances here.

Poll: UFO Follow Up

Thirty four people took the poll on November 2, and owned up to roughly 600 projects on the go. So how did we get here? Whether the projects are actively being stitched on or are resting in a basket/rubbermaid tub/"The Pile," why have some of these projects become UFOs? (I'm calling them UFOs even though some people distinguish between UFOs and WIPs, and we're still only counting needlework projects.) This poll allows multiple choices. If you have other answers, please add them to the comments section. There's a love. (There are going to be lots of "other" answers. I couldn't even fit in all of my own responses when I made the poll. Like: "all that's left is backstitching...too much backstitching!")






By the way, thanks for sticking with me even though yesterday's post was cuckoo.

Searing Shoulder Pain and Clarity

My left shoulder is in unbelievable pain. Like an 8. Yeah, I used to not know what those pain numbers meant, then I had bunion surgery. I have been to the 10, and I know I'm not there yet. It's not a constant pain. It's worse when I breathe in and when I swallow hard. I have no loss of range of motion. On Monday, if I make it that long, I'll go see the former Phillies doc I work with. He's an orthopaedic surgeon, and he knows shoulders.

I didn't realize the poll would cause so much angst. A project is finished when you take the last stitch. If it has buttons and beads on the pattern, they must be added. And we're only counting, let's say, embroidery. So yes to punch needle, Theresa Layman French knot pieces, needlepoint, but no to knitting, quilting, sewing, and crochet. Just because I don't want to have to count the knitting, quilting, and sewing projects that are in the basement. As for the finished but unfinished projects--the ones that you have to make into pillows, ornaments, wall hangings, or framed pictures, we'll talk about them next week.

Of course, I am ashamed to say, I have to add the Mirabilia Christmas Fairy and the Theresa Layman mermaid to my count below. I don't, however, have to change my vote!

I went to Joann's today to pick up fabric for the Great Stocking Finishing project. Pictured here. The plaid goes with Elisabeth's stocking. The floral goes with Jillian's. Both are miniwale corduroy. I'm a little worried about the plaid, I prefer working with all over patterns. You know, because I suck at sewing...

Poll: Projects on the Go

Recently on Knitting Daily, they had a poll to see how many works in progress everyone has. Since I don't think Interweave will ever make "Stitching Daily" (though they do have "Beading Daily")--frankly, I'm not sure what there'd even be to say in Stitching Daily, though we may find out here this month--I thought I'd see how many projects we are talking about when we talk about things we've begun--just to be clear, you've had to have taken a stitch. (What you have kitted up doesn't count.)

I'll go first. I have: Anna’s Bird (Good Huswife), Elizabethan Rose (Moss Creek), Majestic Rooster (Eileen Bennett), Tree of Life Window (Heartland House), Watercolor Geraniums, Apple Sampler (Curtis Boehringer), Summer Place* (Cross Eyed Cricket), 18th Century Knot Garden (Liz Turner Diehl), Tall Flowers Sampler (Liberty Street Designs), Snowman Stocking (Bent Creek), Ancienne Marquior Bleu et Rouge (Gigi), St. Basil’s Cathedral (Dimples Designs), Hardanger Napkins (Stella Bjerg), Merry and Bright (Heart’s Content), Toy Gatherer (Shepherd’s Bush), Treasured Tulips (Nutmeg Needle), Santa kit on black fabric (this is from memory), Scared Silly (BOAF), Animal Samplings (Hillside Samplings), Jillian’s Stocking (Shepherd’s Bush), Noel ornament (Fancy Work).

I'm hoping I have not started anything else that I've forgotten about... Some of these are shockingly close to being finished. But if you had asked me how much I had to do on those, I would have told you that there were still weeks of stitching on everything. (I can just hear you saying, you mean she hasn't finished Toy Gatherer, yet? Doesn't she just have to put in the beads?)

Interestingly, while I was going through the archives, I realized I have held steady at the number of projects I have had on the go since 2004. Maybe I should just be a twenty at a time stitcher. I own it.

*I should retake that because I have more done on that one now. DD I have looked in the baskets, but I'm looking in the other places you suggested tonight! Then, we're buying a new camera, which we promised ourselves last Christmas.

Gift

Photos of my aunt's bell pull. I bet you'll be able to see the mistake no trouble. It makes me sick.














Here's the backing fabric that I'm not thrilled with. It won't really show, so it's no big deal, but actually using what I have on hand? Huge!

My boss says she has that fabric from her quilting days. You may not remember but there was a time when cotton prints for quilting wouldn't have filled a 4 page newsletter--never mind a catalog like Hancocks or Keepsake Quilting. There were some calicoes, and that fabric you see to the left. That was all. It's true. And apparently I've been saving it as some kind of souvenir.

And lo, another UFO complete!

Can I Even Call it a UFO?

My stock taking has led to offers of help. You readers are so good to me! Cheryl has offered to trade some UFOs. But I'm not sure I know how I feel about this. I mean, the ones I would really want to get rid of (coughfrickinchickencough) aren't ones people would want to adopt. Its bad enough having your own mistakes to take care of, you do not want to take on someone else's.

Lee said her UFOs made her sad so she "cut and run." I wish I had that kind of ability to let go. I feel like I've made my bed. And it's a bed of scratchy linen. Is it some kind of wacky Catholic guilt? I owe nothing to these pieces. Am I just a control freak? Mine, mine, mine? Is it that they are somehow part of me? Maybe that's getting closer, but I don't feel like I can give them away until they're finished.

I'm not sure I stitched enough of this one for it to be called a UFO. It's Saint Basil's Cathedral (can you even tell?) by Dimples Designs on the called-for linen. I started this when it was hot off the press--bought the fabric and pattern at a CATS show when it had just come out. I don't know why I abandoned this. So I could write a dissertation? That sounds about right.

The UFO Project: Watercolor Geraniums

It occurs to me that I just started posting these ufos without ever explaining myself. Don't you know why I've done it? Can't you read my mind? (When I was teaching writing, I always told students I could only read their papers, not their minds. Because, inevitably, they'd write a lot less than they had been thinking about a subject, and their much more interesting thoughts would come out in conversations with them, never in their papers. But I digress...)

I was up in the craft room and decided I Needed to Take Stock. And here it is, my stock taking. It has lead me to have Big Ideas about my 2007 resolutions, which I will share with you at the appropriate time.

Today's project is Watercolor Geraniums. I believe it was featured in Just Cross Stitch magazine. I started this in the late 90s for my mom, an avid gardner. Well, really, my mom has a tendency to get really into things--horseback riding, piano lessons, gardening--until the Next Big Thing comes along. But she's very earnest, and so charming, in her enthusiasm. I intended it to be a Christmas gift, but when I realized I wasn't going to finish on time, I put it aside. I put a few stitches in it this year, but it's stitched 3-over-2. Three is just too many. And what an ordeal it is to gather all the floss for this one!

UFO: Tree of Life Window

I'm continuing with the marquoir abc ancien, and I wish I had some good photos for you. I'm home sick from work today, have the stomach bug that's making the rounds. I feel like crap. We know this to be true because I haven't taken a stitch today. But by tonight, I will be finished with partie 1 of the giant marquoir. I only have a few days before partie 4 is released. I feel like I'm catching up, even though I am destined to be behind...

Oh, and check it out, I put up a photo of the latest wreath.

Ah, yet another UFO. (Glad I'm entertaining you, Cheryl!) This Heartland House Designs features Frank Lloyd Wright's Tree of Life Window. This is yet another piece started in the mid-90s, when I was studying for quals. This was started as a wedding present for some friends. It was good and masculine, and it was pea green. (A friend read "The Owl and the Pussycat" at the wedding.) But then they didn't even invite me! I didn't have to give them anything, so I stuck it in a box. I didn't even remember it until I came across it in the great sorthing of the craft room.

More Quotes

My friend DD sent me this quote, which I love, love, love, love, love!

Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

Keep 'em coming, people!

Today's UFO is Alpine Garden by Drawn Thread. I started it for a friend's wedding, sometime in the late 90s. However, I couldn't finish in the one year period, so I sent a pine needle bowl, which she loved. There is a major mistake in that square on the bottom, which has prevented me from picking it up again.

Lee's Big Idea

How many needlework quotes can we come up with?

1. "She seeketh wool and flax And worketh willingly with her hands." Proverbs (from Lee)

2. "A woman with needlework in her hands is generally assumed to have no other thoughts in her head, and can safely harbor any number of improprieties." Patricia A McKillip, Od Magic (from Melissa)

3. "I pray that risen from the dead/ I may in Glory stand/ A crown, perhaps, upon my head/ But a needle in my hand." I found that but I can't remember where. Mind like a sieve.

4. "I cannot count a day complete, 'til needle, thread, and fabric meet" best pal's inspiration quote

Please add your quote in the comments!

Today's UFO, pictured above, is Majestic Rooster by Eileen Bennett. It's from an old issue of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts. I started it sometime in the mid-90s, and abandoned it because I started stitching in the middle, then jumped around. Theres not a mistake in the stitching--the whole thing is riddled with mistakes. So, I put it aside. After all that, my mother changed her decor...

UFO Sunday: Hardanger Napkin Rings

Napkin Rings

Stella Bjerg

Started: Spirit of Cross Stitch Fesitval in 1996.

Reason abandoned: Just a little tedious. And there's red stuff all over it.

Let's Get it Started!

At the beginning of 2006, my unfinished projects include:
Moss Creek, Elizabethan Rose
Shepherd's Bush, Toy Gatherer
Hardanger Napkin Rings
Drawn Thread, Souvenir Sampler
Drawn Thread, Alpine Garden
Nutmeg Needle, Treasured Tulips
Dimples Designs, St. Basil's Cathedral
Watercolor Geraniums
Majestic Rooster
Dolly Mama's by Joey freebie
MLI's, Enchanted Alphabet
Good Huswife, Anna's Bird

Here's the stitching schedule:
January--Souvenir Sampler
February--Elizabethan Rose
March--Hardanger Napkin Rings
April--Enchanted Alphabet
May--Toy Gatherer
June--Anna's Bird
July--Watercolor Geraniums
August--Alpine Garden
From here, I'll focus on Christmas stitching.

My plan will be to work mainly on these pieces during the assigned month. At the end of the year, I should be down to only 4 ufos. Wow. Four.

Right there's your new year's resolution.

I will also be participating in the Miss Merry Mack SAL. I worry I won't be able to start on time because my stuff's backordered.

And I have a huge list of projects that need finishing. Maybe I'll talk about that tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

This is where I want to be

As I'd hoped, I have begun backstitching the gladiolus, and will definitely finish this square tonight, on schedule. I will then begin--oh gosh, I haven't kitted the floss, so I don't even know what the next flower is. Whatever it is, it will need to be finished by November 7th.

I will also, happily, send off presents to my mil, fil, sil&bil this weekend. I think bil, sil and the boys' gifts will have to wait until the end of the month. This is still months earlier than we mailed their gifts last year (um, February?). I have to finish two little boy hats and decorate sweatshirts. Last year's appliqued santa sweatshirt was a big hit with Geo, so I've got to make another one. I hope to also send Best Man's baby's present that weekend. Chiara was born in May and I think I completed her Wee Baby sampler in June. Unfortunately, I forgot it was Sampler Threads and handwashed it. It ran claret all over the design. I had to soak it for about a week to get most of the color out. Because this happened in Los Angeles in the summer, it was impossible to keep the water cold, so while we were off at work, the whole shebang went into the frigo. I still have to mount it into the box I bought ages ago. But I am traumatized by the whole incident. Stupid stitching. (Always best to put the blame where it lies, with the inanimate object.)

One of my dear friends from high school just had a (first) baby. This is rather late in life (I just turned 37). I feel the urge to knit something. But I have too much on my plate right now with the English gifts and the afghan. But it wouldn't take that long to knit a little baby hat. Oh, I should, shouldn't I? Okay, you talked me into it. (Talking me out of it is strongly encouraged.)

I also had a chance to look at some of Long Dog's pieces--can't remember where I read about them, but somewhere out there. I'm sending you to the Wyndham Needleworks site to look at them because 1) if you're American, you can buy them there and 2) I think the images are better. I'm loving "Piggy in the Middle" and "Day and Night." If the Dude manages to get his film made, I'll also have to do "Time and Tide Wait for No Man." That's a big IF. I should stop with the "stuff" lust too, because I have enough to do. After I finish this afghan, I want to get some of my UFOs (about 20) completed--or at least have a manageable pile of 3-4 projects going. Then I can think about Long Dog.