I have noticed a lot of people doing a mid-year stitching report and I think it is a good idea to see how my 2006 Stitching Plan is shaping up. Here is what I had planned for 2006:
Large Projects:
WIPs carried over from 2005:
Stitcher’s Sampler (about 20% complete) Currently a UFO. Maybe someday I will finish it.
Stiefmütterchen (about 30% complete: slow SAL with Susie) Just finished this about a week ago!
To be Started:
Catch the Wind (Butternut Road) Currently about 70% complete.
Celtic Spring (Lavender and Lace) Currently about 50% complete.
Four Seasons Cats (Donna Vermillion Giampa) Close to 25% complete.
Ashley’s Roses (Mirabilia) I chose to start a different Mirabilia, “Fairy Flora,” and am about 33% finished with it.
Round Robins:
SBRR – Finish May 2006 All of the robins made it safely home to their respective owners.
SBSRR – Finish May 2006 All of the robins made it safely home to their respective owners.
Organize New RR I did this and we are currently working on the second round.
Exchanges:
Birthday Exchange Finished
Melissa – February
Cathymk – March
Other Exchanges
I managed to get a little carried away with the exchanges and have participated or am currently participating in:
Garden Exchange
Spring Exchange
Friendship Exchange
Recipe Exchange
Summer Exchange
Needleroll Exchange
Crazy Cat Lady Exchange
In addition to all that, I also started doing a daily rotation plan. This rotation is the first one that has really worked for me and in order to fill it out I also started TW’s “Above the Clouds” and Little House Needleworks’ “Home of a Needleworker.”
Today’s SBQ was suggested by Cheryl and when I had a look through my archives, I see that this question (albeit in another form) was the very first SBQ that I asked. However, since many members probably never had a chance to answer it I decided I would go ahead and post it again.
What do you do with your charts once you’ve stitched them? Do you keep them or dispose of them? If you keep them, do you organize them in a way that is different from the way you keep your unstitched charts?
Currently I still have all of the charts that I have stitched. They are not organized any differently than the ones that I have not yet stitched, but they do have a note in my spreadsheet that indicates that I have stitched them.
That being said, I must say that I am much less attached to the charts that I have already stitched than I used to be. I used to be afraid to get rid of anything because of that one in a million chance that I might stitch it again. I now know that once I stitch something it is very unlikely that I will stitch it again, so if someone were to offer up a trade for one of the patterns that I have already done I would be sure to consider it.
Yesterday I had to run some stitching-related errands downtown and while I was in the quilting shop searching for some appropriate fabric for my exchanges, I happened upon a set of 11″ Q-snaps. They were an impulse purchase, and to be honest, stitching was a bit awkward today as I had to rearrange my entire stitching niche (and sitting positions) to accommodate them, but I after I get some new stitching routines established I think I will be glad I bought them.
This is not my first set of Q-snaps: You probably don’t remember, but last summer I bought a set of 6″ Q-snaps in the hopes of moving away from my hoops. Unfortunately, I was never very content with them because I felt that they were too bulky and heavy, so I put them away. However, even though I went back to my hoops, I kept thinking that perhaps I hadn’t given the Q-snaps a fair chance as I had never really given myself time to get used to them. Therefore about a month ago I started using the 6″ Q-snaps a little bit, read up on Q-snaps in general, and of course, asked some fellow stitchers for advice.
From the information I had read and the responses I got from others, I came to the conclusion that my problem with the Q-snaps was mainly due to size. The first thing I realized was that I was trying to use the Qs like a hoop in the sense that I was moving small snaps around on large pieces of fabric and though it sort of worked, it was really not the “proper” way to use them. Most suggestions were to get a larger set of Q-snaps that I could put my large pieces in so that I could stitch without having to move the Q-snaps all day. For small projects it was recommended that I stay with the hoop or stitch in hand.
I had been mulling all of this over to the point that I had put a pair of 11″ Q-snaps in my ONS shopping basket, but I had not yet placed the order. Compared to a hoop, I deemed the Q-snaps to be rather expensive and kept thinking that I would be mad at myself if I spent the money and was as disappointed with the large set as I was with the small set. However, when I saw them in the quilting shop yesterday and could actually see and touch them, the impulse shopper in me took over and I came home with them.
I was anxious to give them a try today and though it took a little trial and error to find a new stitching position that was comfortable I still managed to stitch for over three hours on “Catch the Wind” using my new 11″ Q-snaps and was pretty satisfied the experience… of course now I am seriously contemplating adding a lap or floor stand to my ever-expanding stitching accessory collection!
P.S. Please forgive tonight’s progress scan of Mary: She was so unhappy when I put her down for the evening that she decided to flip me the bird! How rude! Whatever happened to that polite Victorian girl that I knew?
Today I finished stitching my recipe exchange piece. However, instead of jumping in and starting my summer exchange afterwards, I decided to start my new Friday project, Little House Needlework’s “Home of a Needleworker.” I don’t often stitch pieces with sayings or alphabets so this definitely a welcome change.
I have chosen to stitch “Home of a Needleworker” on a piece of 32 count cream Belfast that I found in my stash rather than opting for either of the fabrics that I mentioned a few days ago because I thought the other two were too dark.
It just so happens that the stitcher’s name is located in the middle of the piece and as I am a middle-starter, the first thing I had to do this evening was chart my name. As you can see I left the accent off my first name. I really hated to, but when I tried to chart one it looked funny so I just gave up. I only hope the whole thing is positioned properly: I guess I will find out later if things don’t match up.
Anyway, I will probably start on my summer exchange piece tomorrow… but not before I battle the line at the post office in the morning to pick up a package that I think contains Leslie’s RR fabric… and all because the stupid postman was too lazy to ring the doorbell this morning!
