Week Six, February 12, 2015

Yet another week with no stitching. I did make it to quilt guild and found out why I will NEVER EVER submit one of my quilts (assuming I ever complete one) for judging! But otherwise, it's tax season and now I am buried in receipts and the like. See you when I emerge, hopefully victorious!

Week Five - February 5, 2015

A whole week with a sinus headache and cough. Not the kind of week to do anything that requires focus, and stitchery is surely that! So nothing to report...

WIPocalypse 2015 - February 4, 2015

This month's topic for discussion is "How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project?"

I'm afraid I have no answer for this one. At present, I am in a rut with two big projects: 

• "Roll Your Own Mandalas", of which there are 9, and I had planned to do all nine on one piece of fabric; I am stalled at #3, "Bride"!
• "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, where I have the entire piece outlined but have more than half of the filling stitches to do

It doesn't help that, along with these big pieces, which are, of necessity slow going because they are so big, I have committed along the way to several smaller pieces that have deadlines: Crazy Quilt Journal Project, Bead Journal Project, and Take A Stitch Tuesday. And while the last of these (TAST) is pretty straightforward, the other two require some introspection and creativity which I am finding increasingly difficult.

I expect my solution is to take a short vacation from all of these. This year, that vacation was a two week cruise *and* an overlapping sinus infection (with accompanying headache and cough) which pretty much killed my stitching mojo. Since returning to cold and snowy Ohio, and recovering, more or less, from the sinus issues, I have been paper crafting instead. 

Needless to say, I have little to report since the last WIPocalypse report in January. Another color has been stitched into "Bride" and a base block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project/January 2015, has been assembled Other than that, nil, nada, zilch, zero! I'm hoping that, by the next WIPocalypse, I will have my mojo back and will have progress to report for my stitchery!

A belated wrap-up. Weeks Two through Four, January 15 - 29, 2015 and International Hermit and Stitch Weekend January 16 - 18, 2015

It's been a while and I really can't remember when all was going on in week two, except that we were prepping for a two-week cruise. So the little stitchery I accomplished was pre-January 10: some more color into "Brides":

I did pack my travel projects ("Biltmore" and "Palm Tree Elegance") but never opened them... the trip didn't leave a lot of spare time and what time there was, I was either reading or sick as a dog; still am, for that matter, and I can't see doing a lot of stitchery while I have this sinus headache, cough and tummy issues so... And so I also have nothing to report for the first IHSW of 2015!

Week five is likely to be a bust as well. I just don't feel well enough to focus on needlework. There goes any semblance of keeping up with deadlines (Crazy Quilt Journal Project or Bead Journal Project) let a lone making progress on the Roll Your Own Mandalas or the Save Your Stitches pieces. 

So I'll leave you with some cruise highlights:

View from hotel veranda, Papeete, January 12 AM

Hotel Room, Moorea, January 12 - 14

Moorea, Opunohu Bay, January 13

Bora Bora, January 19 - 21

Bora Bora pare shop, January 20

Raiatea, The Sacred Island, January 22, 2015

and finish with a little eye-candy (just two of the baggage handlers at the Intercontinental Resort and Spa, Papeete, Tahiti - a great way to arrive, but not enough to tempt me to ever take that flight, ever again!):

Week One, January 8, 2015

This week has been spent tidying up from the holidays (although the Christmas decorations are still up and I don't know WHEN I'll be motivated to work on those!). However, since my WIPocalypse report on the 5th, I have stitched some more on my Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2015 block (some chain stitch to tack down the felt flourish applique - murder on needles as the flourish is self-adhesive and the glue seems to love my sharps):

and completed another color on "Bride" in the RYO mandala series (six of 12 colors done ans a seventh 50% complete):

Quilt Guild meeting for tonight has been cancelled due to the extremely cold (for here, at least) weather so that will free up another night for stitchery, so I have hopes that I can finish at least one more color before the weekend. 

WIPocalypse 2015 - January 5, The Wolf Moon

This month's topic for WIPocalypse is "Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!" 

I'm Carol, AKA ThatYank in NW Ohio, which identifies me and where I am. I'm a retired teacher (community college level) and into many forms of stitchery: Cross stitch, blackwork and needlepoint primarily although I used to do a lot of crewel (MANY full moons ago!) and have dabble in quilting and knitting. 

My projects at this time are two BAPs: Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" SAL (in progress since late February, 2014) and Tracy Horner's "Roll Your Own" (RYO) mandala series (first mandala begun late January, 2014; the third of nine begun late June, 2014). When it is active (it is currently on holiday), I participate in Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) . I also am enrolled in the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) for 2015 and, while enrolled, have not yet decided on the Bead Journal Project 2015 (BJP)

I try not to set goals or make resolutions of any kind but... Where stitchery is concerned, I'm going to try to stay on schedule with TAST and CQJP and get at least one of those BAPs completed.

So my WIPocalypse status of this, the first full moon of 2015 is as follows:

The outlines for the "Save the Stitches" piece are complete, leaving only the fill for "blocks" 10 through 24 and the beading for all 24 releases:

Five colors and complete and a sixth is 25% complete on "Bride", the third of nine mandalas in the RYO series:

The base block for my January CQJP is prepared and threads and beads have been selected:

With the holidays interfering near the end of 2014 and clearing up after them continuing into this month, and with tax preparation looming on the horizon (we are switching accountants and that could really complicate things), I don't hold out a lot of hope for major progress to be reported for February's full moon. But we shall see...

Round-up of 2014 and Goals for 2015

I pretty much wrapped up the year in my WIPocalypse reprot for December, but I have made some little progress since. 

I feel like I am a broken record because, in December 2013, I said "Like in 2012, I'm not that happy with my completion rate for 2013". And there was a list of fifteen completed projects and/or classes for 2013. Well, If I wasn't happy then,  I must be miserable now because I have not completed all that much in 2014. I blame it on a rekindled interest in papercrafting and reading... All I managed to complete this year were 11 projects:

• Green Thumb Challenge quilt for my quilt guild 
• "Dossier" block for the guild 
• Five "crazy blocks" for the guild retreat
• "Retreating the the Pines" challenge block for the guild retreat
• The Bead Journal Project 2014, with 12 beaded atc-sized ornaments (I also managed to assemble the 12 BJP pieces from 2013 but it needs borders, sandwiching and binding to become a wall hanging) 
• The Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2014, with 12 crazy quilt blocks,stitched and assembled but not yet bordered, sandwiched or bound (I did manage to assemble the blocks for CQJP 2013 as well but it also needs borders, sandwiching and binding)
• Take a Stitch Tuesday 2014, with 49 stitches in all
• A blackwork "Ladybug and Diasy" designed by Valentina Sardu for Ajisai Designs
• Wiehenburg Designs Mystery Band Sampler 
• "Golfer - Fairway" designed by John Clayton
• Charles Craft Plush Pet bear with bib

Four pieces were framed for fair submittal in 2014 (four first place ribbons). 

i am still a member of the local quilt guild and still their webmaster (and Yahoo Group administrator).

And, for accountablility, I participated in WIPocalypse 2014 and International Hermit and Stitch Weekend 2014 as well as this blog.

I had signed up for a four-part class in finishing with Funk & Weber and only managed half of part 1. I also signed up for a Seed Bead Botany class which I never managed to start. And left over from 2013 are two Janet Perry classes: Two Janet Perry classes (one a stitch guide practicum and the other a background stitch notebook), and several Craftsy online classes for quilting.

Long-standing UFOs from precious years weren't even taken out, let alone stitched on:

• "Angel of Love" - started before we moved to England in 1992!
• "Celestial Angel"  - started before we moved to England in 1992!
• "Map of England and Wales" - started in Saudi
• "Nature's Song" (excerpted from a larger chart) - started in Saudi

to say nothing of an ancient crewel-work pillow (I'm sure the moths have  done in the wool by now), all the top work on six or seven needlepoint pieces that all predate 1992, and a slew of piece-worked tops from quilting classes in Saudi...  And then there is my Round Robin piece from 2006 --- I still need to finish that off. (If the preceding words look familiar, they are almost verbatim my report from 2013!)

There are still all the years of Janet Perry needlepoint exercises that require finish-finishing;and  a Chinese coins quilt top still awaits its sandwiching, quilting and binding.

Also started, but unfinished in 2014 are two "true" WIPs:

• nine "Roll Your Own" mandalas from InkCircles (two are complete, one is in progress and that leaves six to go!)
• An Elizabeth Almond blackwork sampler SAL called "Save the Stitches" (issued in 24 installments, fill is completed in 9 and outlines completed for 12 more...)
•         A small souvenir piece from a summer road trip called "Historic Biltmore"

In addition, TAST 2015, Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2015 and possibly Bead Journal Project 2015 (I haven't decided yet) will be on the menu for 2015.

I hope to make 2015 a year of catching up and maybe even re-organizing my crafting space (which is currently a hot mess!). So my stitching goals are to finish what I call the "makeable WIPs": the "Roll Your Own" mandalas and the blackwork sampler; and keep up with Take a Stitch Tuesday and Crazy Quilt Journal Project. If I feel motivated, Bead Journal Project will also take it's place in this list. I will limit my goals to these, and if anything else inserts itself into my schedule, I should have the time to work on it...