Incoherent Scribblings

Happy Labor Day to all my American readers! Since it is the first of the month let’s go over my August goals and see what I have planned for September, shall we?

For August, I planned to:

1. Post to my blog at least 10 times. (Posts do not necessarily have to be stitching related.) -Yes! I posted exactly 10 times!
2. Continue my Sunday SAL with Dawn . - Yep.
3. Participate in the August SAT. - Yep.
4. Work on “Fairy Flora.” - Yep! I finally worked some more on those pesky wings. (Note to self: Really should take a progress picture.)
5. Start “Tapestry Cat.” - Nope.
6. Mail Round 2 of the UFO Robin. (Mail date August 15) - Yep.

Well, after my dismal performance in July I would say this is a definite improvement.

Now, for September I plan to:

1. Post to my blog at least 10 times.
2. Continue my Sunday SAL with Dawn.
3. Participate in the September SAT.
4. Work on “Fairy Flora.”
5. Start something new. (”Tapestry Cat,” “Rose Lady,” and “Little Ballerinas” are the top contenders.
6. Start Round 3 of the UFO Robin.

I know my September goals aren’t too different than my August ones, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

I almost decided to skip the whole “goal post” thing this month because I already know that between school, work, and my budding social life I didn’t accomplish much in July, but what the heck, let’s see what I didn’t do in July shall we?

1. Pass both of my summer classes with flying colors! - I’m batting a 4.0 so I guess I can say I accomplished this goal.
2. Continue my Sunday SAL with Dawn. -Yep!
3. Participate in the June SAT. - Nope. I had to work that weekend.
4. Work on “Fairy Flora.” - Didn’t even pull her out of the WIP pile.
5. Start “Tapestry Cat.” - It’s kitted up, but that’s it.
6. Start Round 2 of the UFO Robin. - Yep! Almost finished too! See progress picture below.

For August I want to:

1. Post to my blog at least 10 times. (Posts do not necessarily have to be stitching related.)
2. Continue my Sunday SAL with Dawn.
3. Participate in the August SAT.
4. Work on “Fairy Flora.”
5. Start “Tapestry Cat.”
6. Mail Round 2 of the UFO Robin. (Mail date August 15)

Hmm… those goals look suspiciously like my July ones, don’t they?

Well, I turned my calendar page this morning, so I guess that means another month has come and gone. Let’s see how I did with my June goals, shall we?

For June, I hoped to:

1. Continue my Sunday SAL with Dawn. - Not really. I think we SALed one Sunday.
2. Participate in the June SAT. - Yes!
3. Work on “Fairy Flora.” - Not even.
4. Finish “The Bookshelf.” - Yes!
5. Stitch (and finish) one of my ornaments for my 10 Ornies in 500 Days Challenge. - Nope!
6. Post Round 1 of the UFO Robin. (June 15) - Yes!

Because I knew that the second half of June would be busy after I started my classes, I tried to be reasonable when setting my goals. However, I didn’t count on the stitching slump that has been haunting me lately, so I ended up not getting as much done as I could have. Oh well, there is always next month, right?

For July I am keeping my goals relatively simple in recognition of the fact that since my studies come first, I may not get much stitching accomplished.

1. Pass both of my summer classes with flying colors!
2. Continue my Sunday SAL with Dawn.
3. Participate in the June SAT.
4. Work on “Fairy Flora.”
5. Start “Tapestry Cat.”
6. Start Round 2 of the UFO Robin.

Although my needles haven’t exactly been smoking lately, I have been stitching.

First up is my progress on “Fairy Flora.” I still enjoy working on her and every time I put a few hours into her I know that I am that much closer to finishing her. BUT… Every time I work on her I also know that I still have a long way to go.

As a matter of fact, according to my records, it won’t be long before I hit the 200 hour mark on her! That’s right… I said two hundred hours! I have never in my entire life put so many hours into a single cross stitch piece! I guess when I finally finish her I will know that I have earned the mark of a true Mirabilia stitcher.

These days when I am not working on Flo I am working on “The Bookshelf.” I find it to be a soothing stitch and with its minimal color changes, it will be done in no time. As of this evening it is 50% complete.

Tomorrow is my SAL day with Dawn. Since she is still waiting on her Kreiniks for “Harvest Witch” we have decided to go ahead and start our next SAL piece, “Summer’s Magic” by Dragon Dreams.

I am not exactly sure what fabric I am going to use for it, but I am leaning towards something in brown/tan to represent sand (the dragons are on the beach) and have three or four possibilities in my stash.

And finally, I want to wish all of the mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow. May you get breakfast in bed, flowers, a card, and plenty of time to yourself for stitching!

According to a couple of blog posts I have read today, apparently I wasn’t the only stitching hermit this weekend!

Yesterday I worked on “Fairy Flora” and after deciding to fudge instead of frog an error I discovered, she now has a wing!

I have to admit that the decision between fudging and frogging wasn’t the easiest to make. Fudging meant that I would leave the mistake and although no one else would probably ever know it was there (unless I broadcast it on my blog ) I would know… Was it a mistake that would haunt me for the rest of my days?

On the other hand, if I chose to frog I would have to rip out almost half the wing and all the nasty blending filament that went along with it. Since I didn’t foresee the blending filament being in any shape to reuse it once I had removed it, I also faced the distinct possibility that I would run out of BF before I finished Flo’s other wing.

After weighing the possibilities, I decided I could live with the knowledge that there is a slight imperfection in the wing so fudging won out over frogging.

* * * * *

Today was my “Harvest Witch” SAL with Dawn and I managed to finish the skirt and get started on the “harvest.” I probably could have gotten more “harvest” done, but I have found that stitching while watching Lost: Season 1 (Yes, I am behind the times… I am still trying to catch up from living abroad!) isn’t the easiest thing to do. Luckily, I was watching it on DVD so whenever I missed something because I was looking at my stitches instead I just backed up a few frames.

Anyway, I was reading Dawn’s post and she was saying that if her Kreiniks don’t arrive this week she won’t have much more to do on Harvey until they get here. To be honest, I kind of hope they don’t arrive, that way I can catch up with her next Sunday! hee hee

And speaking of the Kreiniks for Harvey… I ordered mine (along with a special order for a friend and the beads for “Spring Queen” and “In Cupid’s Garden”) today. Hopefully by the time they get here Dawn and I will have nothing more to do but use them to fill in the blanks.