i-Challenge and how I'm doing

I am getting mixed reviews here.   People either love this challenge or think those of us who are doing it are crazy!  I am self-diagnosed as having crafters ADD so it works for me.  I am enjoying looking forward to 'having permission' to work on something different everyday.  All my projects are in the all too familiar mesh bags we all use.  Love them!  If you don't have them, get them.   Just really nice to have.......but again, I am off on a tangent - that ADD thing kicking in. 

So here's my progress - some days you will see there wasn't much time for stitching, but I made the attempt and vowed to put in at least 12 stitches.


i-Challenge X - Really poor showing for LHN Heart of America

i-Challenge Day XI - Eat Drink and Be Scary Waxing Moon Designs

i-Challenge XII - Blessed Beyond Measure - Blue Ribbon Designs



i-Challenge Day XIII - Totally lame start of Just Nan Needle Tweets but vounting the eensy weeny half stitches I did do 12 stitches.

 

i-Challenge XIV - LNH Chocolate Box - Now this is some progress

i-Challenge XV - Jeannette Douglas - My Stitching Treasures - a favorite I saved til last!

 And so it goes, we get back to the very beginning.  For me, I plan to continue my starting order as my working order.  

I'd be further but I think my WDW Kudzu is on the floor of the Hyatt Regency Princeton

Honey, I'mmmmmmmm home!

So good to go away but we all know, so good to get home.   This weekend I participated in my first Camp Wannasew!  Wow!   What a nice weekend.  Sewing and friends and more sewing and new friends and progress to show to boot.  And the price was right since there was no Vendors involved.   We all know how dangerous that can be to the ole wallet. 

Where to start.....first Carol out did herself with our room accommodations.  We had an awesome SUITE!  It was really nice to have a large living room and dining table that seated 8.  When not in the common stitching room with the other stitchers, we had plenty of space to spread out and do our thing in our pj's in our own room.  We were kind of bummed out - those of us who are Internet/email/blogging nuts, that Internet was extra.  And not a one time extra for the room, an extra of $10 for each device from the room to access the Internet.   Boo hiss!  Even Motel 6 gives you free wireless.   Next year I think we are adding a day to weekend; I promised to hit the fitness room at least once; and may consider my bathing suit for the indoor pool.   Hitting the pool will depend on how many times I hit the fitness room at my Y between now and next year. 

Second, one of the Secret Squirrel Stitchers/my Thursday night stitching group, Diane moved to Tennessee after only my first two meetings with the stitching group.  Everyone talks about  Diane this and Diane that and I really never got the chance to know her.  Well that was corrected after this weekend.  She drove up from Tennessee to join us for Camp Wannasew and it was so nice to get to spend some time with her.   And you should see her work!  Totally exceptional.  Drive home safety Diane! 

I really recommend highly a stitching getaway weekend for aynone that can pull it off.  I already marked my calendar for next year. 

i-Challenge Day 12

Whew!  I can't believe I am still on track - starting a new project everyday.   I know to some this is just a crazy thought but so far I am finding it enjoyable.   I am looking forward to what is coming on my list and each day I am excited to start something new, to have a fresh piece of fabric and to be tantilized with new flosses.   To me, the 15 in 11 i-Challenge, allows me to rationalize it as ^permission^ to have so many WIP's!!!!  Seriously, I see me being able to complete them all and I can't wait to complete the first one.....which will it be???? No pix today but I have made stitchie progress each day....one day only about a dozen stitches but it technically classifies as a New Start!  Hopefully I can post pix later this evening.

I was able to put my final report on my grant to bed last night with the director's review and approval and then the quick email to the Cultural and Heritage Commission.   ~~BIG sigh~~ of relief.   I have felt like I have had a second job for the last 10 days and I am glad it is behind me.....until the next Grant application process starts in August.  I'll worry about that in August.

So back to stitching - my daughter is sitting in an airport right now - hopefully with no flight delays.   How does this relate to stitching?  She is traveling from Massachusetts which is under 2 + feet of snow to Disney World in Orlando with 6 or 8 stitching friends.   How cool!  I bet they are all sitting in Manchester Airport right now knitting and stitching away while waiting to board their plane.   And heaven forbid, if there is a delay, they will all be able to pass the time happily stitching away.   As I look out at sunrise it is casting blue shadows on the snow......sitting around a pool stitching with friends sounds pretty darn good!  Have a great time Miss Amy.

For myself, not so exoctic destination but I will have a stitching weekend at a Campwanna Sew that I will be attending for the first time.  I am really looking forward to the rest and relaxation and fellowship with other stitchers.   Even though November and December are crazy busy it is a different crazy busy and I find that between Christmas and New Years things really kind of mellow out and slow down to a stress free time.  Then, WHAM! back to work and deadlines and evening meetings.....it may only be the third weekend of the new year but I am ready for a break this weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by and happy stitching all!

i-Challenge Day VII

Caught up with a friend last night on the phone and got to stitching til later than I wanted but it was worth the trade off......Day VIII Challenge is a Pine Mountain Kit - October Spooks.   Love that everything is complete in the package but not real fond of the fun of sorting the strands of packaged similar colored flosses.   This is another one that I bet won't be in my rotation long.   It should be a relatively quick stitch.  

I did a bit of re-arranging my project order when not only could I not find the fabric but I also don't have the symbol key in my Little House Needlework - Heart of America.   Well, if you look closely at the top right of my project progress on October Spooks, you can see the Heart of America fabric mounted on my stretcher bars, waiting in my project basket  right where it has been for the last 3 weeks.  Typical.....if it was a snake it would have bit me!

Already off to a good start on Day IX.  Today's piece is Lizze Kate's The ABC's of Aging.   Love it!   I think I must have been a scribe in a former life because I like alphabets.   I even doodle my ABC's down the side of my steno pad in a meeting lull.  I have discovered through the first 9 days journey that I believe my favorite fabric to stitch on is cashel.  I like the weight of it, the uniformity of it, the feel of it.   I think before the day is done, I will have more progress to show.

I hope to finish up the storing of decorations early on today and have a quick trip to the market for the week and then back to stitching this evening.  Before this garlands lands in the yard sale box (it is over 30 years old and owes me nothing!!!)  I needed a last look at the garland on the front porch.   I love the red and green against the white snow. 

i-Challenge Days VI, VII, and VIII

I am still hanging in there with a couple of hitches in my giddy-up!   For Day 6 - I started Bent Creek's Leaf.   I enjoy doing Bent Creek and Lizze Kate's every now and again.   Not to disminish them in any way but they are no brainers to me.   I don't need to concentrate and figure and stress of accomplishing a specialty stitch. 

Better yet, I got to start this on Thursday night while at My Secret Squirrel Stitching Group - now the real name, in fact, there is no real name.  It is just a group of gals that get together and stitch.  Mr. Wonderful dubbed them the Secret Squirrel stitchers because when I was approached to join the group, I was told it was private/invitation only group and my name would have to go back to the entire group for approval.  No, there is no Secret Decoder Ring we are issued but we Stitchers do know we speak a different language than the rest of  human race.    We had not met for stitching since November and I missed it.

Back track to Day V, I picked up my first square in my Block of the Month Club.   It's an easy one and since I am a relative newcomber, that's a good thing.  I hope to knock that out as well this weekend.  Using my trusty handy dandy block tool, I am ready to go.

For Day 7 - I started a little Halloween stitch that I got at my Retreat at Salty Yarns last fall.   It is so cute and when finished, it is mounted in a shadow box with little ghostie and goulie trinkets.   I am not too keen on working on the black though.  It is WDW but somehow it doens't feel too much my linen I would like to stitch on.   I also thought I would do a neato thing and add some krenik to my floss to stitch the right side of every section.....kind of like to put a glow on one side...maybe from the full moon???



Really an embarrassing too few stitches to make a judgement on.



I am not too sure I am liking this and really need to get a bunch more stitches in before I frog.

Day 8 - Here's the biggest hitch - I pulled out my Little House Needleworks pattern over coffee this morning and started giving the instructions the necessary cursory review and WHAT! NO LINEN!    Oh no!  I must have pulled it out for something else.......but I really don't remember doing that.   I have the floos and buttons though.    I could have sworn it was there when I set up my basket back in December when I was prepping for the challenge.......So not a stitch yet today.   Day 8 is hanging in the balance until I can get into my craft room and do a bit of searching....

....enter the Christmas Decorations......the task of putting away the holiday decorations - oh and this year I have pledged to put them away right....lol......if you are like me, your craft room become wrapping central......oh the domino effect of all the mess!    Thank goodness for a snow day.....to stay in, stay cozy and kind of plow through it all......I am looking forward to some stitching this evening once I sit down for the evening with a big cup of fancy tea or speciality coffee.......and what Day 8 may end up being...........well only the Shadow Knows!

One last thing before I have to stop the holiday de-arornment ritual.......I had posted about going to a Hearth Cooking Class for the last couple of years.....well it is that time again.   Check out my earlier posts that are labeled "Hearth Cooking"  and the George Read website as well.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

i-Challenge Day 5 - I did it, I did it!

It must be that Type A cursed personality or the internal perfectionist in me but I did it!  I managed to eek out a bit of Day 4 work to keep on track.    Although not a stitch was taken, I did work with fabric.   Since this is a different media than linen and floss and a different technique I count it as work completed on Day 4.  Yeah me!   I managed to cut out my pears and their stems and leaves.   I am not sure that this will be the final placement but when this project rolls around in my rotation.

Day 5 is a little quaker pinkeep that I picked up on a when a friend and I visted Williamsburg a couple years back. Again, it is something I have been wanting to start because I know when I see it, it will remind me of our time their together.

Happy Stitching all!

i-Challenge Day IV The Good/The Bad/The Ugly

 First the important part  ~ or ~ The Good!  

I am pleased with my progress on my Friendship Puzzle Purse.   OMG!  Makes me wonder why I had this little gem sitting in my want-to-do-someday basket for so long. 

Now for ~ The Bad

This is Day IV of the i-Challenge and I think I am going to fall off the wagon already! I run through periods of insomnia and this week has been one of them. Waking after 3 or 4 hours of sleep in what I will try to convince is my anticipation to stitch......more likely because my mind won't stop running through the mental lists in my head.

This is what I had planned to start today - it is a wool project of appliqued pears onto a pillow. It is a small stitchy thing and I thought I'd mix it up a bit with different fabrics and fibers.....possibly a stretch.   It is almost 11 p.m. and I haven't started because............

Enter Mr. Wonderful again and his assistance.   I have to preface this that I do appreciate his help and his willingness to sit and work with me but tonight was not the night.   When I go through my day and plan my evening's work as I commute home, I know the evening will consist of a lite dinner and our *quality time* which is each of us in our chairs, the iPod playing oldies and we chat.   I might be reading or stitching.  He might be surfing the Internet or playing a game.  This happens every night for an hour and I have grown used to this pastime with Mr. W.   It only lasts an hour because Mr. W. goes to bed at 8 and then all bets are off.......I go to my sewing room, I watch crazy reality shows, I watch old movies or tonight my plan was to do some financial reports for a Board Meeting tomorrow night.   Imagine my aggravation when Mr. W. wanted to do some more tweaking and downloading and syncing on my iPad!  To add insult to injury, we worked at this until 9 p.m.   What! no turning into a pumpkin because he missed his bedtime?  One must understand the before Mr. W. was Mr. Wonderful he was Mr. Nasty-Man and since the aliens have come to this planet and implanted themselves into his body - the only explanation since it still looks like him but certainly doesn't seem to be the man I was married to for the first 28 years - it is hard to not want to work with him and heaven knows I really don't want to discourage him.  I feel bad because he went to bed well aware of my frustration.

So enter  ~ The Ugly

my Board Reports............it is not that I haven't been working on the paperwork for tomorrow's meeting it is that I wear too many hats for the organization.   How does Secretary/Treasurer/Webmaster/Grant Writer/Membership Chair/Flyer creator sound?  I have spent the last two weeks working on final reports for the 2010 Grant and revised budgets for the 2011 Grant and haven't done much else as far as my paperwork.   My flyer/mailer for the spring events is complete, my minutes are done, all the checks written, the checkbook balanced but I still have two financial reports and a final draft of the 2011 budget to complete and the updates to the website to make.    I am not looking for sympathy because believe me I know that I should be hit over the head with that stupid arm of mine that raises up in the air and volunteers!   I am into total justifying of why I haven't stitched today.  It has nothing to do with poor planning on my part......never!  What, not blog and stitch instead, well I thought of that but I so wanted to share my progress from yesterday!  Besides it is therapeutic to let the words flow out of your brain, down your arms and be released out of your fingertips.  That my story and I am sticking to it.

So this is what I have decided, since I get up at the b--- crack of dawn, I believe I am pouring myself a nightcap, heading to bed hoping to put the final numbers in place when I am fresh in the morning and vowing that between now and Sunday night I will have stitched two new projects in one day to get myself back on track.  And just think, the Block of the Month Club starts tomorrow. LOL    I love a challenge.

Day III in the i-Challenge

Well, first and foremost, let's get things in proper perspective here....althought I am seriously twisted about devoted time to stitching OVER cleaning, filing, etc., I need to tell everyone about the Blue Men.   What could be more important than stitching, a day spent with family.  What a great show.   The tickets were a Christmas present from my daughter and son-in-law, who I must argue it the best son-in-law in the whole world.  We went to the Merriam Theater in Philly.  It is a small theater but very ornate and gorgeous.  The show was 90 non-stop minutes of entertainment.   These guys were fabulous and the finale was fantastic.  I haven't laughed that much (in public) for quite a while.  I may have even *snorted* once!  After the show we walked to Rittenhouse Square and ate at the Devon Seafood Grille.   Another must do again place.   Our seats over looked Rittenhouse Square and it was just really lovely to sit and look out at the square.   I imagine it would be really pretty in the spring and summer.   Mr. W. is not one to want to leave the house and he is definitely a man of minimal verbage but once he got back to his safety zone of his Man Cave and had a "beverage" he wouldn't shut up about the show, the dinner and the day.   He didn't even once refer to the City of Brotherly Love as Flith-a-delphia.   This may be a first.  Sorry folks, he is just a country boy with roots from Arkansas and not a fan of the city - any city.  He kept telling me to let our daughter know what a nice time it was and we should do it (or something like it) every year.  (hhhhhhmmmmm, do I see Jersey Boys in my future??? - one can only hope)  I instructed Mr. W. the he needs to email her!!!!   It would mean so much more coming from the man of so few words.   So few words except for those times of technical instruction.  Then we know he has an unending flow of words.



I just love this little flower.

Fir stitching, my progress on i-Challenge Day 2.   Not as much as I had hoped.   I was having an issue focusing last night and need to figure out the count of linen I selected.   It just seemed small.   That and in my infinite impatience wisdom to start right away, I didn't take the time to overcast the edges on my sewing machine and kept pulling at the wisps of threads unraveling around the edges.   For one, I can't wait to work on this a few more times to get the sizing or stiffness out of the linen.   It just get aggravates when it is old stiff and starchy and seems to have a mind of its own. 

For today, the i-Challenge is brought to us from The Prairie Sampler.   It is called the Friendship Star Puzzle Purse.  When completed, you fold the piece into a small little purse.  It opens to something similar to an Ort box.  The photo shows the folded version.  This is the little blurb from the pattern....

    "The puzzle purse was first made in the last quarter of the 18th century.  It was usually made out of           paper.   It was quite often given on Valentine's Day with a message to a loved one.   One source said that it has been known to find birth cerficates folded this way.   Quite often they were painted with faktur."



This is the finished and folded version - kind of the center square of a 9 patch. 

This is another pattern that has been high in my list of soon to-do projects.   I purchased it at Celebrations event in Nashua, New Hampshire.  As I think about the piece and write about it, I feel like a little child telling her mother that whatever toy is placed in front of me is my FAVORITE and spout the reasons.   I am sure I am not alone. 

i-Challenge Day II

I am typing i-Challenge and i-Ditarod comes to mind.   This is the Iditarod of Cross Stitch; a grueling competition (with oneself) that only those who participate get it!  Many will start, but how many with finish.  Only those with sufficient passion and endurance would attempt.

So again, I am up with the roosters!   Ugh!  Seems no matter how late I stay up I get up early.  Neither my husband or I even use an alarm.   Well, he does, but 99 times out of a 100 it does not even go off.   He rolls over and slides the off button about 10 minutes before it is scheduled to go off.   I guess it is our safety net.  

But enough of my sleep habits and to the important stuff.  My i-Challenge from Day I ended after about 4 hours of downloading/syncing etc. etc.    Since I was on the roll of organizing and culling files in a logical  way, I went through all my photos in my computer.  It was a good thing to do.   I got rid of the out of focus shots, duplicates, ex-fiances', created sub-folders and moved things into the proper catergories.    At least one thing has been neatened for the new year!



Bent Creek's Plum Berry Sampler



I am not the fastest stitcher out there so I am pretty pleased with my final progress for Day I.   I plan to continue the rotation in the starting order and think I will be see a finish by my 4th if not my 3rd rotation. 

As for today, my choice comes to me from Little House Needleworks.    I have seen this completed and love the idea.   I purchased this when I went to the Woodlawn Exhibit in Mount Vernon last year.  I will always remember that trip when I see this finished piece.   

I doubt I will have as much progress today since I have tickets to see the Blue Men this afternoon in Philadelphia.   My daughter and her husband gave us the tickets for Christmas.   All four of us will attend the matinee and then have dinner.   Once I get home tonight it was be time to gear up for the work week ahead.

Hope everyone who is participating got off to great start.  Mush!

i-Challenge

Happy New Year and Happy New Project(s) to everyone.   

I am participating in the 15 in 2011 Challenge and hoped I would be off to a good start.....(enter Mr. Wonderful.....more on his involvement further in my post).   I feel a little sheepish looking at other's challenge list because I picked several smaller projects so as to not overwhelm myself.   No need in setting myself up for failure was my i-Rational.  

I actually try to use my Longaberger Baskets!

So today, I get up at near the usual time since that crazy i-Body clock doesn't know how to change.  I have been busting to start this challenge and admit wanting to get a head start long about Christmas evening but i-Behaved and i-Resisted.   Like so many of us, stitching time for me kind of took a back seat to decorating and baking and wrapping so once the majority of excitement wound down, I was ready to put needle to thread.   But alas, i-Resisted a head start and gave myself time to spend time with family and friends and get in a bit of i-Reading.



Bent Creek's The Plum Berry Sampler

I set up my basket of projects earlier in December (for what I am dubbing my i-Challenge), putting them in what i-Think will be a good rotation - larger projects interspearsed with some quick stitches as well as a variety of linens and fibers so I-won’t get bored.   I had actually forgotten what was first up until i-Pulled out my basket this morning.

To the stitching part, I am stitching away and the first thing I decide is, I don't like the suggested floss for the leaves and vines.   A quick visit to my craft room and floss stash and I am ready to start again.......but alas - this is where Mr. Wonderful gets involved - I hear a lot of grumbling and questions being shouted from the dining room.    Up I get about 4 times to answer his questions before I resolve to just throw in the towel and put stitching off until later.

Mr. W. bought me an i-Pad for Christmas and he has decided now is the time we are going to work on uploading stuff.  He couldn't understand why I couldn't open my i-Tunes library and see all my i-Songs and my answer was i-Don't know.  All kinds of things were being said......"like I don't know what you did with them";  "I don't know where you saved them"; and so on.....not to beleager the point but think of Edith and Archie Bunker and you get the general idea.    Now we get into i-Logic - what is logical to me is not to logical to Mr. W. or for that matter my logic probably makes no sense to anyone else in the free known world.  Enough said on that.  

Further we need to put this all in perspective - I remember offices without computers on the desks; I remember using an IBM Selectric typewriter and using the little wheel eraser with the toothbrush bristle brush on the other end; for heaven sakes I remember the mimiograph machine and cranking the handle and the purple inked masters.....so give me some latitude with my questions Mr. Wonderful!    I have i-Tunes, an i-Pod, an i-Pad, an I-Challenge.....eye....yeye....yeye! it what I say.   I don't know from "jack" is what I really want to say but that would definitely lead to further i-Trouble.

So fast forward past all the techno-mumbo-jumbo save for the part that the reason I have no i-Tunes library is that it was never saved to my new laptop.  Oops!  I guess that was a file Mr. W. neglected to copy over....I'm  a just-tell-me-what-I-have-to-do-kind-of-gal here so let's move on so I can stitch.   That ever present theme is in the back of my brain just lingering like some sort of evil spector and its little voice chanting stitch stitch stitch, you want to stitch.

So we are sync'd Laptop to iPod and Laptop to iPad and he has decided I should just upload the music I want from the CD's we have......NOW.....and what, not stitch?    OK, the aggravation level is up on both sides and since he never ever ever (really) never says a word about my various projects strewn around in various stages of completion throughout the house, I figure I need to give him my full attention.

Mr. W. is showing me how to do the uploads.   I have pencil and paper to take notes - click here, highlight there, enter, etc., etc.    He tells me I don't need to write anything down.   (he is actually correct, it is incredibly simple)   The original i-Tunes Library was created with the help of one of my children and their logic is not Mr. W.'s logic.....so trying to sound semi knowledgable (I was careful not choosing the word - intelligent) I asked Mr. W. about creating Playlists.   I don't need them he says.   But i-Want them.  Again a slam of how everyone's logic is different.  I decide instantly it will be better for me to research the whole Playlist thing on my own at a later date.  

Again, we fast forward and he has me sitting at the dining room table loading my CD's.  Truly a no-brainer and now I am the i-Multitasker.    I have my laptop to my right with my CD's, my french vanilla coffee to my left and my stitching right in front of me.   As soon as the little disk drive thingie stops whirling and I get the little 'bing' noise, I slide over and eject the CD, put in a new CD and start the process again, I slide back to my coffee and stitching and I am a happy camper. 



We all recognize those telltale little holes in the linen.

 This little crazy method has not been without flaws however.  Enter i-Frog.    When I changed the floss color for the leaves and vines and changed from glasses to cheaters to glasses to cheaters several times early on in the i-Adventure with Mr. W, i-Miscounted the numbers of strands of floss.    I stitched up several leaves and thought..............hmmm, they look fluffier that the other stitches.   And I thought .....hmmmm, must be my imagination and the difference between DMC and WDW floss.    How about i-Wrong.    Seems I was using 3 strands of the WDW and not two and didn't figured it out until I re-threaded and put in a couple of stitches with the correct number of strands.   No biggie.  i-Frog.



I used their suggested floss but probably not the suggested linen.



 

Now to the letters, I didn't like the too little contrast between floss and fiber so   i-Changed floss again.   Another trip to the craft room between CD changes.    I decided to use CC Shamrock which cracks me up because it is shades of blue and not shades of green like one would expect Shamrock to be.   I also selected WDW Purple Haze for the featured stitches between the lettering.   I like the tonal quality of these two and the green I selected for the leaves.   My pattern looks a mess with all my color changes i-Noted but I am now happy.  Now my whole idea for finishing this little goodie has changed.   The colors I am using will go well in my bedroom and if I ever continue my i-Quilting escapades, it will look nice as a pillow on top of my Hokey-Pokey quilt in William Morris fabric!! 

To make things even more interesting, I dreamed up the idea of i-Multitaking even further........I figure I can i-Blog in between stitches and CD's.    This I am not sure is truly a good i-dea since when I attempted to upload photos, I got an error message from i-Sync. 

I like these colors

Time to move on....Mr. W. wants to do the 'next step' which has to do with the i-Sync which Mr. W. disconnected earlier without me knowing.    My i-Sync error that I got and thought i-Corrupted everything was not my doing.   Problem is I haven't loaded all my Beatles CD's yet!  Eject Yellow Submarine and insert Rubber Soul.....  He must be iCrazy if he wants me to move on before I upload my Beatles.  I am so glad it is only Saturday! and I have off tomorrow............