Week Fifteen, April 16, 2015

I'm late this week because. after two days lost to stitching (VERY early rising for the phone banks at the local public radio on Thursday and Friday plus Quilt Guild meeting on Thursday night), my lifestyle (HA! As if I had a lifestyle) caught up with me, or more likely, my husband's bout with a nasty cold did, because on Saturday, I felt lousy, and as the week progressed, it got worse and worse: nasty cough, sinus headache that morphed into a whole face pain, and slight fever (Sound familiar ? I know I've had this before this year). meant I couldn't focus on anything, let along the complexities of stitchery. And I sure wasn't up to posting on the blog yesterday. But I'm feeling a little better today --- at least the cough is less persistent and the headache is down to a dull roar... Not sure how long this will last, though, so let's get to it.

Spring sprang this week. Daffodils, Crocus, Witch Hazel, Christmas Roses (AKA Helebores) and Tulip Tree all bloomed within a day of each other. Daylilies are growing like weeds, hostas are poking up through their winter mulch cover and even the grass is greening up! 70° days are in the works for this weekend and there is near certainty that we've seen the last of the snow (knock on wood). So a little slide show (just click on the photo) to make up for the lack of stitchery pics.

Although I do have some stitchery to show off. At NPR on Thursday, a friend from quilt guild was stitching on some smalls and I asked her about it. It turns out she belongs to an EGA guild chapter in Naples, FL and their charity thing this year is little sampler for Habitat for Humanity homes. They are in need this year --- over 200 homes are being dedicated, so she had brought back the pattern and plans to send her contribution down this month for their monthly stitch-along. I volunteered to do a couple for her and managed to fit these in before my cold took total hold of my head and confined me to intermittent coughing spells.

I'm handing them over to her next guild meeting...

Now I think I'll go back to bed...

Week Fourteen, April 9, 2015

We had our first thunderstorm of the season this morning, early, which woke me up in time to get to the public radio telephone volunteer on time (I had mis-set my alarm clock after a power outage earlier in the week) . And other signs of spring are crocuses in bloom:

I managed to keep to my plan of 2 days per project in rotation.

The first two days this week were spent in planning out and assembling the basic block for my April Crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal Project entries:

The next two were spent in working on the outline for "Jan", the second of the three "Spawn" in the Roll Your Own mandala series:

And on Monday and Wednesday nights (Tuesday nights are reserved for Girls' Night Out in Toledo) , I finished up Block 13 on Save the Stitches:

So, can I keep to this schedule? I doubt it. But... I met a quilt guild member at the radio station this AM and she was stitching on some EGA charity gifts which really intrigued me. The chapter she belongs to does little framed samplers to give to Habitat for Humanity recipients and they are in real need of them this year as the number has risen sharply so... so she's getting me a copy of the pattern and I will stitch a couple up for her in the coming month... That will give me a little variety and me a break from the continual black-and-blue-and- green-itis which might be the cause of my lack of desire to stitch. we shall see...

WIPocalypse 2015, April 4 - The Full Pink Moon

The question for this month is: "Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects?  Which do you dread?"

Well, isn't hard to answer which I dread --- it's French Knots! It's not that I can't do them but I do have issues with how regular they look and so, when possible, I substitute beads!

As for which I love? Well, that's another thing altogether. I'm not a big fan of most specialty stitches. I willingly do backstitch (after all, I like blackwork), but I grumble if there are more than one color for the backstitching. I don't mind Algerian Eyes and similar stitches but I don't particularly like Lazy Daisies, chain stitching, etc. Again, it's not that I "can't" do these --- I just can't seem to do them consistently so that all are the same size or width or going in the same direction or... So maybe I don't really "love" any stitches, speciality or otherwise!

For me, it's the process of stitching that gives me pleasure, and any stitch that makes that process less than soothing goes in my "Oh, NO! Another &*&%$# stitch!" chart!

Last month, my goals included finishing at least one of the "Spawn" in Save the stitches" (DONE!) and the March block for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project (DONE!). I also got in a few blocks on the "Save the Stitches" blackwork piece (Blocks 10, 11, 12 and part of 13).

So, as goals go, I didn't do too badly. But... there was a lot of slacking off and I know I could have gotten further if I had only set my mind to it. Trouble is, I don't feel like stitching half the time and I'm not really eager to push myself for fear that will turn me off altogether. Last time EVER I will take on two BAPs at the same time, let alone two or more of the same color ways (where did all that blue, green and black come from anyway?): my motivation hits bottom with all that "sameness"!

In the coming month, I think I will continue with similar goals ---2 nights a week on each of "Spawn" (work on outline for "Jan"), "Save the Stitches" (at least through Block 15...) and Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project block.

Week Thirteen, April 2, 2015

This will be a short post as there really isn't much to show.

"Marcia" is complete!

Next up, "Jan"!

And Block 12 of "Save the Stitches is complete (and there is  a start on Block 13:

I will continue to plug away at both, but it is April now, and I have to come up with a block for the month for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Projects...