Incoherent Scribblings

The Final Robin?

Last evening I completed “Caterflies” Cat number one for my square of the robin that I have been working on. This is one of the robins I organized last year and unfortunately it fell apart rather early due to bad circumstances. As the organizer I am still trying to get the situation sorted out, but I guess that is one of the downsides of running such a group.

The robin got off to a rocky start when one person didn’t mail on time. When she finally did get the package mailed, she sent it to the wrong address and it was returned to her. At that point I began having my doubts about the person, but I decided to give her a second chance because, as we all know, things happen.

Eventually we all got our fabric and the second round began, but then another person in our group was in a car accident and couldn’t stitch while she was recovering.

We decided to cancel the robin when the second person was in the auto accident. At this point, the first person had two pieces of fabric, neither one of which was hers. She also stopped responding to all correspondence.

Though person one never replied, I asked everyone to send all fabric to me and then I would send each piece back to the respective owner. I got my fabric and that of the first person.

However, the first person never mailed the others’ fabrics to me and I told her that until I got the other ladies’ fabric back, I was keeping hers. Once again she didn’t respond so I kept her fabric in its envelope and patiently waited to get the other ladies’ fabric back.

After a while I decided that it wasn’t fair that the third person in the robin not get her fabric back, as she actually participated fully and mailed on time. The problem was, I wasn’t really sure how to handle the situation. It isn’t like I could go to the first person’s house and demand the fabric back… she lives hundreds of miles away!

Finally, I decided that I would give the first person one last chance: I emailed her and told her she has until July 1 to mail the fabrics back to me. I will stitch my square as is my obligation and if I get the other ladies’ fabric back, I will mail her back her fabric as I always said I would.

However, if I don’t receive the other ladies’ fabric by July 1, I will send her fabric to a substitute stitcher and have it finished. I will then mail it to person number three.

Of course, it means that person number three won’t get back her own fabric, but she will be getting a robin back that was completed by three of the four people in her group.

And with that I am finished with stitching and moderating round robins… at least for a while.

SBQ: Challenging Projects

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

What has been your most challenging project and why?

I think I would have to say the “Passing Admirers” was my most challenging project. It wasn’t particularly difficult to stitch, but when I decided to stitch it my entire outlook on stitching changed.

Before “Passing Admirers,” I was used to stitching small projects that I could finish in days or weeks, not months or years. Stitching (and eventually completing) it taught me the patience I needed to have in order to stitch BAPs.

“Passing Admirers” also brought about my rotation system and kept my interest active in stitching. Since then I have attempted a variety of ways to rotate my projects, but I always have a rotation.

I guess I could say that in addition to being my most challenging project, “Passing Admirers” was also a significant factor in my stitching evolution.