Week Twenty-One, May 26, 2016

Two more nights of stitching after the WIPocalypse check-in and here is where the outline for “Return” is now. 

One page of six (top left corner) complete and parts of pages 2 and 3 (top center and right). A lot of Ripping (I always seem to miscount somewhere along the way) but not too much, so long as I don’t push the stitching to the last two strands from a six-strand-length (that is when my eyes start to rebel and I miss holes, etc.).

I still don’t expect to make the deadline for registering for the fair this summer, but at least it looks like this piece will soon be in the “to be framed” pile! Then the decision will be either to finish up “Save the Stitches” or start something new, smaller and NOT in blue and green! 

WIPocalypse 2016 - May 21

This month’s WIPoclypse discussion topic is “What were you stitching this time last year and have you finished it?”

Well, last year at this time, I had three  projects “in progress”:  the “Roll Your Own” Mandala series (the “Jan” mandala”), the “Save Your Stitches” blackwork sampler (I was at block 13), and a crazy quilt block for my Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal project combination . The one I was actually stitching on the WIPOcalypse report day for 2015 was …none of the above! I was fighting a serious, long-lasting respiratory illness and simply had stitched for  almost a month. 

Did I finish any of these? Well, sort of. 

• I finished “Jan” (in August of that year) and subsequently “Revenge” (December, 2015) and “Rematch” (May 2016) of that same series, but there is still one mandala to go, so the “Roll Your Own” piece is still a WIP. 
• I finished the blocks for the Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal wall hanging but it is not assembled into a wall hanging yet.
• I haven’t put a single stitch in “Save The Stitches” since April 2015!

Not a very good record of finishes, although there were several small pieces (A memory quilt block for a friend, an exchange Christmas ornament,  and three place mats for a quilt guild charity - Meals on Wheels) in the interim. My stitching mojo definitely has gone walkabout…

Last month, my goals were to “do better “ and in a way, I did as I finished “Rematch”   http://210920746822434353.weebly.com/my-stitchery-journal/week-twenty-may-19-2016 and got started on the outline for “Return”, the last of the nine mandalas in “Roll Your Own” (although, since I thought today was the report-in day, I have to admit that the stitching done on this outline is probably better saved for the next WIPocalyose, since I stitched on both Saturday, the 21st, and Sunday, the 22nd)

 The stitching mojo is still in hibernation — I feel as if I am forcing myself to put in a hour a day (or every other day, more like) but I am plugging along.

Next month? Well, “do better” still applies. I need to keep plugging away on “Return” and see how far I can get this summer. I know it won’t be done in time to enter in the fair (That is usually late June, early July) but maybe next year? 

Meanwhile, I planted my veggie garden yesterday (six different tomato plants, two eggplants, six summer squash and a row of bush beans) and it is going to take some of my attention this summer, as will my paper crafting (two challenges were issued today… and more are coming by the end of the month). I am reading again (two more books in the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal and I have several series of television programs on DVR that I MUST catch up on during the summer hiatus. Also, there is a road trip in the books for the end of June (the American Hemerocallis Society annual convention, this time in Louisville, KY), so I am going to be busy between now and the next WIPocalypse check-in!

Week Twenty, May 19, 2016

Strange as it may seem, even with four days totally messed up by colonoscopy prep and procedure (my tummy was not happy with either - I know, too much information), I did manage to finish “Rematch”!

Here is what ”Roll Your Own” looks like now with only one mandala left!

Only one more doctor’s appointment (on the 31st) and some hassle with insurance over my sprained ankle (you don’t want to know what I think of insurance companies right now) so I should be able to make some decent progress in the next week. I’m sorely tempted to start something new and totally different but I will try to resist the impulse and keep plugging’ on (to quote Sir Winston Churchill as often written in the series of historical mysteries I am reading now by Susan Elia MacNeal).

Weeks Eighteen, May 4, 2016 and Nineteen, May 11, 2016

Well, I skyved off all week Eighteen. I have valid excuses for half the week; however, I can’t justify not stitching that Friday or Saturday…As for the latter part of the week, Husband was due back on a midnight flight from Chicago on May 1 so I drove up to Toledo’s airport to pick him up, only to find that, upon my arrival, her was still in Chicago (mechanical difficulties) and so he didn’t get in until 1:05 AM! Then we had to wit for luggage and… his didn’t arrive! So we didn’t get home until nearly 3 AM and that really messed up my sleep cycle. 

It didn’t help that on Tuesday, we had our quarterly meeting with our financial advisor (No big deal except that all things financial really stress me out). Then on Wednesday, Husband had a Mohs procedure scheduled for a basal cell carcinoma on his forward. I drove him to the doctor’s office in the early AM, came home and cleaned for the cleaning lady (yes, I know, I’m strange like that) and then went back to pick him up after he was through (they got it all).

So I tried to make up for this in week Nineteen and managed to complete colors 8, 9, 10, and 11, and am 25% of the way through color 12 (the last color! YAY!). Shouldn’t take more than one good night’s stitching to finished up “Rematch”:

and here is where the whole piece is right now:

Otherwise, it was a lovely week, between rain, hail and wind, and the redbud, crabapple and dogwood trees around our house were in full bloom at the start of week nineteen:

 

And yesterday, the pink-and-white tree peony in my old raised bed was in full flower:

A week of pink and white!

This coming week — well there’s another excuse coming up! I have quilt guild tonight (Friday night - I'm late in posting this), a colonoscopy early morning Monday (that’s a day shot, as well as the day leading up to it for prep) and a haircut on Tuesday… all of which will probably contribute to me losing my mojo AGAIN! I will try to get “Rematch” finished and some time in on the outline for the final mandala, “Return”, which is placed and partially stitched in half-cross right now. No other promises, so it may be two weeks before I post again…