March WIPocalypse from Robin

Some of these are repeats from earlier in the month but needed to post for Measi's UFO Challenge.    You all witnessed my shame of the longest project......with my documentation in stitches.  

And here is my status of Shakespeare's Peddler KEYS.   I am not even sure I add any stitches since my last photo 10 days ago.  

Last but surely not least my now completed  Etui.   What will a I do with? What's it for? I have been asked both questions.   Well, I might consider putting it under glass and what's it for.......to marvel at that I accomplished it!    The finishing touches were some of the hardest.   I just didn't seem to have enough hands to hold it and manipulate in to the proper hold while I stitched the top.    I had a brilliant idea to create a hinge by using bugle beads but alas my completion did not match my vision. 

I ended up attaching the top with a ladder stitch.

I attached the ribbons by making a loop and threading a bugle bead into the loop and attached the bead to the lining.   I am pleased with my solution.

Through all of this, the rubber band and my clip-on cheaters became my loyal assistants!

Hi and low

Thursday was a bonus day off!    Annual Report done, submitted, CD's burned, packaged and 9,000 copies returned to my office at the end of the day Tuesday!  It sounds simple but it was a process that started in October 2011!  And since my envelopes were ready ahead of time, my copies are in the mail to bankers and investment types.   I only have to mail a very small portion with the majority done by our Investor Relations Dept.  So I decide to reward myself with a day off.   Usually we are awarded a "Good Health Day" if we use less than 12 hours sick time in the previous year, but this year we got two (2!!! days) Good Health Days awarded so I decided to take one and play in the yard.  

Bright and early I was sitting outside and listening to the world come alive while sipping my hot coffee.   The neighbor's front door shuts with that reassuring steel door thud.  I hear the garage door of the neighbor on the other side go up and down as she heads out to teacher school.   Ahhhh, birds chirping, the cat romping (truth be told - chasing a rock!), my daffodils swaying in the crisp morning air as I survey my domain and think how much better can it get?  How many months until retirement and I can do this everyday?   Oh, I will  finish edging my beds and spread mulch and stand back swell with pride of how it looks.  It is so bucolic and then it happens     ACK!!!!   The man who is cutting down two of our trees arrives!   Drat!  There are 5 men, two trucks, a bobcat, various chain saws and chippers and of course that nasty back-up beeper noise.  My idyllic morning is shattered!  I forgot to snap a few before photos and  knew better than to appear like the woman that lives in the house with 54 cats and has an overwhelming need to photograph strangers on her property.     For now, this is my view.....

 Here's a photo I quickly snapped from my back deck without them seeing me be a goober!

So what's a girl to do....stitch for awhile?   Sounds reasonable to me.    But first,Thursday night was my turn  to host Stitch and Bitch and I needed to make my cake.    Now where is that bundt pan?  I spent 35 minutes looking for it which lead to my downfall - stress eating.    

I mean really how many times can you look in the same place?   Did I really think it would magically appear on that 4th look into the bottom of my Hoosier cabinet?     Imagine that......in the dishwasher......waiting for me to unload it.  Damage was done, I was frustrated and full of peanut M & M's.

As for stitching, I have progressed to attaching the top to my etui and attaching the ribbons to draw the sides up.    I have started and ripped out both more than twice which is never a good thing with sewing on silk.   I have shredded the silk ribbons because of attempting to attach them.    I don't really agree with how the ribbons are to be attached - to anyone who is working on this piece - consider securing the ribbons between the outside and lining before sewing the inside and outside together.   I think it would be a nicer look than attaching the ribbon on the surface of the inside.    I am not about to take out those tedious stitches only to re-do.   The frustration is mounting on this one but I think it is because I am so close to completion and so anxious to move this to the completed column.   I've got my thinking cap on this one for a way to finish it and stay true to the integrity of the design.   

This is my mission for Sunday once dinner is in the over, to sit back and relax and complete this project.   That will make six five finished in less than four months and keep my on track to erase many off my WIP list.....as well as just in time for the two new class pieces I will be snagging at my Ellen Chester classes next week.   Definitely pictures will be posted after next weekend.  

Before and after...

Remember the new front porch we put on last fall......here are the before, after and the end result....  I am learning to let someone else do the work that I can do.  Meaning....in years past, I would have been the one to excavate, buy and lug the pavers, not sure how I would have accomplished busting out the old sidewalk, but, the new me.....hire someone!  They have all the tools.   My job is to keep the CEO and CFO at work happy and on target and it is someone else's job to bust concrete and lay pavers.   So awesome to come home from work and have this fab surprise waiting for me and I didn't even break a nail!

Before - November 2011

 After - December 2011

but not yet done......

 and, today, the end result!

I think I need something more substantial than my rubber boots stuffed with forsythia to make a statement.   I can see this will easily become a favorite spot to sit and enjoy an evening cup of coffee and watch the sunset from the steps.

On to the stitching front, I finished the pin cushion and placed the inside bottom into the etui.   All I have left to do now is to assemble the top or so I thought.   Seems when I lost my stitching mojo earlier this year, I also lost my memory on what was left to do.    I need to do the two rows of back stitching first, then I will be ready to assemble and attach the top.   No fear!  I have no doubt I will finish this tiny bit up before my class with Ellen Chester on April 14th and 15th.  

As for SP - Keys, just a little stitching going on. Stitch by stitch I am getting there.   More than halfway now.

Got the decorations up this past weekend.   Mr. W. actually promised not to tell anyone if I didn't put up the Easter decorations.   With my children not living near me, he said it is not like anyone is coming and will know you didn't do it.   But I do it for me as much as for the children.   

Yes, I have a tree up all year.  This tree used to be my mom's and perhaps that I why I keep it up all year....just like she did.   She had it in her bedroom and it was laced with tulle and of all things, costume jewelry.  Sounds tacky but not in the least.   My mom had a real touch at making things look like they just spilled off of the pages of a magazine.  She had both style and class.

I like the freshness and the color and of course, the fragrance (ah-choo) of the daffodils from my yard.  

I've been a lurking about

I have been so absent from posting. I have only posted the necessary posts for Tusal, Oldest Project Stitch Along and WIPocolypse but I have checked in to follow all your fab posts, wonderful progress and finishes. It is like a kid window shopping in a candy store.....but anyway....

Where have I been? Well, let's see.....no where special. Nothing fabulous that I did to report. I did take a Hearth Cooking Class in Old New Castle (DE).   It was my fourth year and we all had a good time.   I did finish reading The Lovely Bones but I can't get into A Time In Between.   I guess I am in a slump. No, truth is, I think I need to allocate my time better. Really? I actually have more hours in the day then most according to friends that claim they don't know how I do what I do. So what is it? Hmmmmmm, I think I go overboard (think??)......

Here's the deal, when I start something, I go hog wild then I hit the point of where I become exhausted because starting something new does not mean backing off of anything you already do.   Right?   Nothing to do with I can't do what I did when I was 20 years younger and haven't realized that yet. Nothing to do with thinking I can do it all. Nothing to do with I try to do too much. I am thinking my slump is because I started exercising again three mornings a week. And by mornings I mean I am in the gym at 6:15. After being off the routine for two months with a bad knee it is wearing me out to get back into. No dramatic weight loss to report or no increased comfort around the midsection with the jeans but in salute of healthy heart month, I am getting heart healthy. The down side is I am totally pooped at night. I am hoping that given a few more weeks my energy level will be back.  Maybe I should start up those daily vitamins!  You think?

I have been dedicating my stitching time to completing the assembly of my etui.....putting in an hour 4 or 5 nights in the last two weeks and I am getting close....and here it is again.....I have gone overboard and have worked almost on it almost exclusively.....which is so out of the norm for me. I have more projects going then you can shake a stick at and to be decide to work exclusively on something it a new concept. Oh the times they are a changing.  I admit it is making me antsy.   I really want to work on something else but I am trying to stay true and look at what I want in the end (to be finished) and not the eye candy right in front of me to start.   Stay the course is what I am telling myself.

I have all the sides assembled together and the bottom attached. It won't be long now.

I did take a small (and necessary) sidetrack to work on my oldest project. I was stunned to realized with posting the my progress for Evalina's Oldest UFO SAL at This and That, that I had not added a stitch all month. This is what I stitched last night while watching The Bodyguard, an all time favorite movie of mine. The difference the back stitching makes. I don't want to go overboard and put pressure on myself with this one but I feel pretty sure I will be able to move it to the

finished column by my retreat goal. 

 

This is just one section of the entire piece but I am getting there and I will be proud of my perserverance when I get this off the scroll bars, cleaned and framed!  Twenty years in the making!!!  I can date it because I know I took this on the plane with me on my first cruise in Feb. 1993 and it was already started at that point.  This was probably my first big cross stitch.

Here is the overall piece as it was in December....see not much accomplished but also, not much to do to finish.   I must remember my mantra.....Stay the course......stay the course..... Between this one and the etui, I am sure I will feel like a reward of a bit of stash enhancement or a new start come Retreat!

The plants may not be watered but

I do have finishes to share!  My first couple for the year and two off my WIP list.    First and foremost, a stitching weekend with friends.   We had a very nice time, good food, lovely room, a few drinkings and a happy hour all crammed in and amongst the 4 day stitching excursion.

In no particular order - I finished Tequila Sunrise, a canvas piece by Laura Perin. It was first canvas piece I did and was part of a EGA SAL at my guild. I am not really sure what I will do with it. It is not my colors or taste but it was the technique I went for.

My next finish is a little embroidery piece. This kit I picked up at the Homestead in Dresden OH when I went on a bus trip to Longaberger about 5 years ago. I tossed it aside because the piece was not squared on the muslin and I got all dejected. Then when I came across when sorting out all my WIP's, I figured, what the hey! I can make it into a polllow and all will be well. I even snagged a few fat quarters at a quilt shop that we stopped in on our way home and think I found a good one to use for finishing.

A Basket of Blooms



The Fat Quarters I didn't need but.......

I did get quite a bit completed on my Etui finishing. I am keeping track of my hours and so far I am at about 10 for the finishing. I also worked on the top (and my final section to complete) and have managed to stitched all but a little more that one side of the outer border.

I wish I had been able to complete more prep work before I left for the weekend but alas.....the more important step was taken.......the step of bravery to attempt the finish on my own!

So next, a complete diversion - a new craft - hexagons for a hexagon quilt.   These puppies are additive.  The concept is the same as paper piecing but because these templates are Mylar, they make the folding and stitching easier.

Sorry for the sideways pic

Here are the plastic templates you use and re-use



Covering and joining these took about an hour and I can do this while riding in the car.

Here's the back of the above.   Once all sides are stitched to another, you pop out the template and cover and use again. 

Lastly, I worked on my Queen Bee Accessories from the Catherine Theron class I took in the fall.   The stitches are varied and fun.   At least I say that now....I haven't started the bullion roses.   Pat, one of my stitching pals, worked on them this week.  Her work is beautiful but it was not without the rest of us hearing her talk to herself while she did them!

Oops!  I guess we need to stand on our heads to read the words.

Buttonhole flower

The gals in my room all had a productive weekend.  Stacy - the super stitcher - started and finished 3 or 4 smalls.   Carol stitched away on a couple of projects as well as knitted up 2, maybe 3 scarves.  And Pat was satisfied with accomplishing her goal of the outside portion of Catherine Theron's Queen Bee accessories so much so she started a new project!  So now, back at home and reality.   The suitcase is unpacked, two loads of laundry done and I am making a big pot of soup for Mr. W. as well as some homemade rice pudding for him and need to be watering my thirsty plants.