Incoherent Scribblings

… I will stitch and blog again, but it just isn’t happening right now. I’m too busy!

Even though my blog has been quiet lately, I have managed to sneak in a little bit of stitching here and there in between reading for class. So here’s the skinny on what I have been doing lately:

I have made progress on “Too Cute to Spook,” but have been too lazy to take a picture for a couple of weeks. Dawn and I moved our SAL day to Monday, so I will try and take a picture after I work on her tomorrow.

Last weekend (I think) I started a new project called “Lady Rose” by Joan Elliott. I bought this from a stitching catalog that I get and it came as a kit with 14 count Aida and floss “similar to DMC.” Normally I wouldn’t buy a kit, but I really liked the pattern and couldn’t find it any other way. Needless to say, I have switched the fabric from the Aida to a piece of 28 count pinkish Cashel from Silkweaver that I had in my stash (I’m not at home and can’t remember the name right now) and am using proper DMC.

This past week I pulled “Castle Sampler” back out of the WIP pile and worked on my over one alphabet. I chose to stitch “Castle Sampler” on 32 count, so you might think that the over one stitching would be a bitch, but it really isn’t. Of course, using evenweave as opposed to linen might have something to do with that… I do love my linen, but those uneven threads sure can be a pain over one!

Look at what I got back from the framer today!

Didn’t she turn out beautifully?! Thanks to Penny at Stitches from the Heart for doing such a wonderful framing job!

Anna’s post reminded me that I recently passed the deadline for my 101 Things in 1001 Days. In the end, I completed 62 Things in 1001 Days.

As far as my “Professional” goals went, I didn’t seem to cross a lot of the tasks off the list, but in reality I am pleased with the progress I made. I didn’t get a professional position until I was about half-way through the list and most of the tasks were made under the assumption that I would get a tenure-track position. Since my current job isn’t tenure-track, I simply didn’t need to do some of those things.

One thing the “Personal” section of the list taught me is that I am not very charitable with either my time OR money. I picked a couple of charitable things that, because of my interest in them, I really thought I might do, but in the end I was too stingy with both my time and money.

Some other observations:

1. The “Cat Care” section tells me that my cats get better health care than I do… and I have insurance!
2. I did better on the “Financial” tasks than I originally thought I might. One of my personal goals when I came back to the States was to keep my finances under control and now, “with this economy,” I am glad that I managed not to get in over my head.
3. I did quite well in the “Family” department. Of course, the fact that I lived at home with my family for a year before I moved to Texas probably had something to do with that…
4. The “Stitching/General Crafts” sections were moderately successful. The main problem with the tasks on this list is that I overestimated how much time I would be willing to spend on things that are outside of my cross stitch comfort zone. I only have a finite amount of time to spend on my hobbies and the actual act of cross stitching beats anything else almost every single time!
5. Although I only accomplished two things in the “Health/Fitness” section, I made progress towards all but one of those goals.
6. It was tempting when I was putting this list together to add a lot of “Travel” goals. However, traveling takes money, so I tried to be realistic and managed to travel to four of my seven destinations

I have also annotated my list if you are interested in seeing what I did (and didn’t) do.

Although I only accomplished 62 of my original 101 Things, I will probably do another 101 Things list because it motivated me to at least attempt to do all those things I always say I am going to do but don’t.

First up, my progress on my “Too Cute to Spook” SAL with Dawn.

Next up, a review of my May goals and what I hope to accomplish in June.

For May, I wanted to:

• Participate in the May SAT. – Yep! I even remembered to post over there too!
• Work on “Too Cute to Spook” with Dawn. – Yep! We are getting dangerously close to a Happy Dance too…
• Finish “Choo Choo Train.” – Yep! It’s hanging on my wall waiting to be framed.
• Work on “Castle Sampler” or “Spring Queen” or both. – Yep! Worked on “Castle Sampler.”

I am going to keep my June goals simple, but I may end up stitching more than I had planned in June. I found out today that my Summer I class might get canceled due to low enrollment. I won’t know for sure for a few days though. Anyway, for June, I hope to:

• Participate in the June SAT.
• Work on (and maybe finish) “Too Cute to Spook” with Dawn.
• Work on “Castle Sampler” or “Spring Queen” or both.
• Work on “Navajo Style.”

Hmm… “What is this ‘Navajo Style’ piece she is talking about?” you ask.

Well, you ask, I answer.

“Navajo Style” is a piece by Joan Elliott and is in The World of Cross Stitching March 2006 issue. I started it a while back for a non-stitching, non-blogging, but beading and over all quite crafty friend of mine and have put a few stitches in it here and there over the last couple of months, but tonight I decided to pull it out and start working on it seriously so that maybe I can get it finished by the end of the summer.

It’s a good thing my friend doesn’t know I am stitching it for her though… that way the only pressure I am under to finish it comes from within.