Category Archives: WIP Busting

Still working on organizing my life

Another Christmas is history.  It was extremely low key for us yesterday.  Harley had a rough Christmas Eve so I got very little sleep.  I crawled out of bed at 8 and by the time I had enough coffee in me to be awake it was almost 10.  Mister was in a little better shape since he crawled out of bed at 5, started a pot of coffee, then he and Harley crashed in the living room until I got out of bed.  Some time in there we took turns sitting with her while the other showered, exchanged our gifts, finished that pot of coffee, and then I started cooking.  My brain was muddled enough that I didn’t do a good job of time management and it was 4 before we ate.  It was good though, and this morning’s leftover cornbread dressing was perfect.  This is the first time I have ever cooked an organic bird, and it was so tasty, and moist!

Last post I talked about what I am doing for my stitching.  I finished “cleaning out” those buckets and now I just need to put things away.

Here is my mess, and the last bucket before I cleared it out. The last one was mostly kitted items and WIPs.

I have pulled out a few new starts for 2018, but I still have not quite decided how I am going to “handle” next year’s stitching. Oscar’s Corsage will be my Jan 1 new start. I need to go through my stash for fabric for Let Freedom Ring since it will be coming to Vegas with me.

I have started my final post for the 2017 Year of WIPs Challenge and will have somewhat of a plan by the time I post it.

Today I am dealing with my quilting.  Ugh! I have only done a paper sort for now to include the dates (if I know/can find them).  I know there are some things missing off my list, and they will be added as I touch them.

I have more than 30 with so many of them going back to 2013.  That freaks me out, and I need to spend 2018 getting a handle on them. There are large, medium, and small pieces, and those all have various degrees of difficulty.  Several of them just need a small amount of work to get them to completion and as I touch them, I am going to prioritize them. The list at the top (there are 2 pages) gives me the opportunity to mark what stage I am at and I plan on doing a few everyday for however long it takes me to get them all sorted.

I have updated my list in the upper left column to reflect what I need to start with, and will adjust as I go along.  Until I get everything sorted, I am going to leave the RÅSKOG cart alone, except to make a list of what all is in there.  They have just been tossed in and I really need to know what there is.  Frightening prospect though.

My main hurdle is there are so many quilters out there doing some fun things that I want to  join!

Now to come up with a time management plan so I can do all the things!

Looking forward to tomorrow since I will be sending time with my BFF.

WIP Challenge 2016-2017

I did something that has caused me to dig through this:

I know if I start digging through here I will soon have 50 WIPs.

My BFF mentioned a few days ago that she was going to participate in a WIP Challenge, where you finished 12 or so WIPs.  I didn’t fully understand how it would work since it was starting October 1, plus I have some huge WIPs and know I can’t stitch 12 of them in a year (on top of the sewing I want to get done) so I sort of filed it away in the back of my mind.

I was watching her latest flosstube and she brought it up again so I went hunting for more information and became intrigued.  I think it’s completely doable!  The gist is you stitch 10-15 WIPs by the end of December 2017.  The boss lady of the challenge states that as long as they have 1 stitch in them come October 1, 2016, they’re WIPs.

I wanted to divide my 10 items by older WIPs and newer WIPs, so my list looks like this right now:

  1. Scarlet Letter – Gratitude
  2. Mirabilia – Fairy Moon
  3. Examplar Dames – And They Sinned
  4. Carriage House Samplings – Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
  5. Goode Huswife – Book of Spells
  6. Blue Ribbon Designs – Expressions of Gratitude
  7. Plum Street – Hurt Not the Earth
  8. Scarlett House – Coverlet Candle Mat
  9. LHN – Needleworker
  10. Mill Hill – Log Cabin

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow and And They Sinned are my two largest WIPs.  I had already decided to go back to rotating through 4-5 projects at a time, and now I’m trying to decide if I want to go back to stitching in 10 hour increments on a design and then switching out or stitch for a week on something and switch out on Monday.  Either way I intend to focus on Houses or ATS.  So my weekly rotation may look like this:

  • Oct 1-2 Book of Spells
  • Oct 3-9 HOHRH
  • Oct 10-16 Needleworker
  • Oct 17-23 Expressions of Gratitude
  • Oct 24-30 Book of Spells
  • Oct 31-Nov 6 HOHRH
  • Nov 7-13 Coverlet Candle Mat
  • Nov 14-20 Gratitude
  • Nov 21-27 Fair Moon
  • Nov 28-Dec 4 And They Sinned
  • Dec 5-11 HOHRH
  • and so on until HOHRH is finished, then move ATS into that spot

Now that I have it written out this may be the better way to go.  If I decide to do the time version it’ll be something like

10 hours HOHRH
10 hours Book of Spells
10 hours Needleworker
10 hours Expressions of Gratitude
10 hours HOHRH
10 hours Coverlet Mandle Mat
etc…..

We’ve been paired off with another member of the group and required to send monthly post cards as a way to encourage and get to know each other.  I’m also excited about this as I’ve been sort of considering writing to someone once a month as a way to communicate.

Now I just need to figure in some quilting/sewing time and pull a couple of large WIPs and small WIPs and do my own quilting/sewing challenge during that time too.

And, I need to get this all down in my journal by September 30.

 

Dear Diary

I’m sorry to have been neglecting you.  It’s all this boy’s fault.  I have had an amazing summer hanging out by the pool with a cold beer, going to the movies, out to swanky restaurants, socializing with all the new friends I’ve made, but now he’s gone back to school and I have time to catch up with you and get all my summer secrets down.

Back to my regularly scheduled schedule!  Yay!

Over the past several weeks I have been spending a shit-ton of time in my Lady Lounge, Woman Cave, Sewing Room, whatever the heck everyone’s calling it these days.  Lately I have felt like calling it Dungeon.

Since I moved here almost five years ago, during the summer I normally sew until the air conditioner kicks on then I head downstairs to spend the rest of my day sitting on my rear end stitching and reading.  This summer, nope!  We really have had time out of the house, but the time in has been spent on daily chores, stitching, and reading.  I can’t remember the last time I unpacked my sewing machine.

Because….

I have not been able to settle in since I painted and reorganized!!!  I feel like I have stuff spread out all over the place.  I have tons of shelves and boxes and buckets, so I have plenty of storage space, but I evidently haven’t been using it wisely because I feel like things are lost, forgotten, and hard to put my hands on.

I had all these plans to start selling excess cross stitch over the summer – that I sorted out when I pulled everything for painting – that I know I’ll never get around to stitching because I’ve either lost interest in the item, it’s no longer something I like, the designer pissed me off, etc.  I am my own LNS.  Here’s proof positive of how much I don’t need.  Boxes, boxes, and piles of stuff to be sold.  Trust me when I tell you that is just a drop in the bucket.  😀

2016-09-12

This past weekend I had dinner out with my partner in crime, Annette, and we talked about stash diving because there was something we knew we had but couldn’t find it.  I have started bullet journaling and wanted to add in my WIPs and get back to some type of rotation, and I was sharing with her that I was procrastinating listing them because I couldn’t decide whether to just start writing them down, or to go through each one and sort them by either how old they are, or how close they were to being finished.

When we started talking about retiring I knew I would have no where near the funds I would want to kit up certain things with all the lovely silks there are out there so I gradually began doing that.  I have 2 large fold-back-top Rubbermaid containers that contained some of my WIPs and some of my kitted items (either by myself, or purchased that way).

I finally bit the bullet and started digging through them today.  Here’s what I found in the WIP department

  1. Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler
  2. Letting Go (Lusk) – HAED
  3. Ann Holewll Sampler – The Examplarery
  4. Quaker RR
  5. Dimples Bugs RR
  6. French Alphabet Sampler (I forgot I put it in there!)
  7. Castle Sampler – Teresa Wentzler
  8. The Fortunate Traveler – Teresa Wentzler
  9. Earthdancer – Butternut Road
  10. Tapestry Cat – Teresa Wentzler
  11. Sleeping Beauty – Mirabilia
  12. Patchwork Pieces – Nutmeg Needle
  13. Asian Garden – Odds n Ins
  14. Lady of the Flag – Mirabilia
  15. Tsunami Sampler – Stickideen von der Wiehenburg
  16. Christmas Elegance – Mirabilia
  17. Peace – The Silver Lining
  18. Christmas Wreath – Teresa Wentzler
  19. Topiary – Teresa Wentzler
  20. Garden Trellis Box – Linda Driskell from Just Cross Stitch magazine.

In one box!  I know there are more because I have a beautiful chest downstairs that my friend Kathy gave me and I’ve started storing some WIPs in there.  In fact, now that I think about it, all of the above 20 may also fit in there!  Oh, and then there’s the ottoman I prop my feet on while stitching…you can store stuff in there and I know I have at least one WIP in there, ’cause I was just looking at it the other day.  Geesh.  Oh wait!  Don’t forget my stitching bag that probably has 2-3 in there, too.

And here’s what was in the kitted box:

  1. Autumn Queen – Mirabilia
  2. Random Thoughts – Drawn Thread
  3. An Expression of Gratitude – Blue Ribbon Designs (which I pulled out)*
  4. Victorian Pearls – Sew to be Seen
  5. Victorian Pearls 2 – Sew to be Seen
  6. A Christmas Sampler – Midsummer Nights
  7. The Book of Spells – The Goode Huswife (which I pulled out)*
  8. The Spot Sampler – Margaret Bendig
  9. Shakespeare’s Garden – LaBroderie
  10. Queens Rule – Enchanting Lair
  11. Castle Ridge – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
  12. Damask Rose Scissor Keep – Textile Heritage (gift)
  13. Above the Clouds – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
  14. Mermaid of the Pearls – Mirabilia (special overdyed fabric)
  15. Toccata Three – Drawn Thread
  16. Cattleya Orchids – Terrance Nolan
  17. A Token of Friendship – Merry Cox (an OOP which I could probably sell to pay off my house)
  18. This is the Day – La-D-Da
  19. My Son – Indigo Rose (should have pulled this one and may go back and do it)*
  20. The Dreamer – Mirabilia
  21. Quaker Diamonds – Rosewood Manor
  22. Toccata Two – Drawn Thread
  23. Toccata One – Drawn Thread
  24. Quaker Samplings  – With My Needle
  25. My First Sewing Box and Scissor Fob – Stitching Parlor (which uses a Whitman’s Chocolate Tin I’ve tried to throw away a hundred times)
  26. Souvenir Sampler – Drawn Thread
  27. Village of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings
  28. The Song They Sang – Carriage House Samplings (I even bought the frame for this one!!!)
  29. A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion – Scarlet Letter
  30. Norwich Marianne Wren
  31. James Wilson
  32. Voice of the  Shepherd – Told in a Garden
  33. Teeny Hardanger – Sweetheart Tree
  34. Brilliant Plumage – Teresa Wentzler

So, I evidently have a thing for Teresa Wentzler.

*I will be very unhappy in Heaven if I die and don’t at least start The Book of Spells and An Expression of Gratitude.  Guess they’re getting added to my WIPs list next month.

Now, lest LNSs around the world freak out, all of the above does not mean I won’t be buying more as evidenced by the deliveries my mailman has made since my last post.  I give you Exhibit C:

2016-09-04-16-28-14

A new small portable stitching lamp, and needle organizer (can you say Teresa Wentzler?).

2016-09-03-09-14-20

28ct Brash Jubilee for Ann Pegg 1877.  Yep, I found some.  I emailed the dyer asking advice for a replacement and she told me she had 2 FQs left.  Miss Annette snapped up the other one.  Partner. In. Crime.  I tell ya.

2016-09-03-09-17-18

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Pattern, fibers, stretcher bars, and canvas for this lovely.  I have had my eye on it for a bit and found out it was discontinued so I snapped it up.

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I also purchased these cones of DMC from Joanns.com for Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog Samplers.  I’m leaning toward the copper on the right.  I need to check my fabric stash and do a floss toss.  I’m very tempted by the beautiful turquoise in the back but I’m afraid it’ll burn my eyeballs out stitching on a sampler this large.  I do have a backup plan for it though 😀  If I don’t have a good piece of fabric in my stash for the copper I may use the red and order some 40ct white.  Not to be worried about now though as I cannot start it until next month at the earliest because I am going out of town next week.

I am stalking my postman for Brooke’s Books Wizard of Oz.

So see, shopping when I shouldn’t be, or don’t need to be.

And I have quilt stuff coming in too.

But! This post has gotten so long and my phone is currently charging so I can’t show you what the top of my guest bed looks like.  It’s covered with fabric, patterns, etc., from the quilt side of my room AND fabric, fibers, and fabric from the cross-stitch side of my room while I go through the buckets and baskets mentioned above trying to reorganize and sort into a better working order for me.  I’m slowing myself down because I have to look at it, and touch it, and remember when I bought it, before sorting it into a pile to place it better in my room.  I’m dreading getting to two particular stitching containers because I have lots of already kitted small things that need to be added to that list up there and put into that Rubbermaid container (which is full!).  I know I won’t get it put away any time soon as I still have some excavating to do, so I’ll share a photo next time I post.

I forgot to show you some stitching!

Since my last post I have finished my Sugar Skull by Mill Hill

2016-08-21-11-14-57 2016-08-21-11-13-50

And my version of Be Thankful by Country Cottage Needleworks

2016-08-27-14-46-54

and block 7 of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings (currently working on block 8)

2016-09-04-20-41-37

Now I’m off to write my WIPs in my Journal and do some stitching.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll dig the rest out of their hidey holes.

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