Incoherent Scribblings

I just put the final stitches (and backstitches) into “Poet’s Heart!” I still need to do the beading and add the charms, but it’s getting to be about bedtime so I have decided to wait until tomorrow for that. Look for a Happy Dance then!

Today was my “Harvest Witch” SAL day with Dawn and, as you can see, Harvey is coming along swimmingly. Her dress is almost finished so I suppose I better get my rear in gear and order the Kreiniks and the charms pretty soon, eh?

Although I spent today working on “Harvest Witch,” I was focused on “Poet’s Heart” last week. I have finally reached the last band and have been working on it diligently in the hopes of finishing it up soon.

In fact, I think I can go out on a bit of a limb and predict that by this time next week (barring any sort of natural disaster or incapacitating sickness) I will have a happy dance and be able to check another of my BAPs off my list… Sweet!

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

What items do you consider essential to your needlework that you keep in your stitching bag?

Hmm… Let’s do a quick review of what I keep in my DMC Travel Bag first, shall we?

- 1 Stitchbow Binder (I don’t normally use stitchbows, but since one free binder came with the bag I bought some stitchbows to keep extra skeins of 310, blanc, ecru, and 3371 at my fingertips.)

- 1 sheet of paper listing my current rotation

- 2 embroidery hoops (1-4″, 1-5″)

- 1 pair embroidery scissors (with scissor fob)

- 1 mechanical pencil with eraser

- ½ card Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid in gold (From a finished project, for some reason I haven’t ever returned the card to my stash)

- 3 needles (1 Size 28 Piecemaker, 1 Size 26 Piecemaker, and 1 Size 24 Piecemaker)

- From time to time there is an actual project in the bag as well.

Since I recently cleaned out my stitching bag and put the non-essential items back where they belong, I would have to say that with the exception of the Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid I currently consider all of the items in my bag essential to my needlework.

I was getting ready to sit down and stitch when I realized that I was ready for a new round in my rotation but hadn’t yet decided what to work on because I am at a bit of an impasse concerning it right now.

While the ten-hour rotation has been successful by and large, I am kind of tired of it. I enjoy giving each project a focused amount of time, but have been slightly frustrated at how long it takes me to get through my rotation. This was particularly apparent to me when I was working on “Fairy Flora” a couple of weeks ago because I realized that I hadn’t seen her since December. Unfortunately, at the rate of working on her for 10 hours every three months I will never get her finished by the end of the year.

This led me to consider changing my rotation to one with a focus piece and I got a lot of great advice on how to implement such a rotation, but I am not exactly sure if that is what I want to do either.

However, as I glance through my goals over the past few months I see that on average I tend to work on two of my WIPs a month (not including my “Harvest Witch” SAL), so what I have decided to do for now is work on one other WIP a month in addition to “Fairy Flora.” Although I keep track of my hours I am not going to confine myself to working on these projects for X hours. Instead, I will work on each project throughout the month as I see fit.

So, without further ado, here are my March/April goals:

For March:

1. Finish “Bearly a Wizard.” – Yep!
2. Continue my Sunday “Harvest Witch” SAL with Dawn. - Yep!
3. Stitch for 10 hours on “In Cupid’s Garden.” - Nope.
4. Stitch for 10 hours on “Fairy Flora.” - Yep!
5. Order the Kreiniks and charms for “Harvest Witch” and the beads for “Spring Queen” and “In Cupid’s Garden.” - Nope.
6. Have a blast with my sister and niece who are coming to visit me over Spring Break! - Yep!!!

For April:

1. Continue my Sunday “Harvest Witch” SAL with Dawn.
2. Participate in the April SAT.
3. Work on “Fairy Flora.”
4. Work on “Poet’s Heart.”
5. Stitch (and finish) a Christmas Ornament for my 10 Ornies Challenge
6. Order the Kreiniks and charms for “Harvest Witch” and the beads for “Spring Queen” and “In Cupid’s Garden.”