Rotation - Week 1

So I've had my rotation plans going for one week.  So far... so good!  I think it will work well giving myself a day to work on each project before switching to the next.  I also like the flexibility of not setting a specific project to a set day each week.  Some days are busy and don't leave time for stitching, and I don't want to make it into a chore. 

I do wish I had thought to take a photo of my starting point on each project, but I went through my camera roll and I think I have a good indication of where most of them had been left off in the past. Anyway, here's some of my accomplishments this week.

Fall & Halloween:  "O Halloween Tree" by Barbara Ana.  Pretty much only backstitching to go.  Finished all of the evil metallic stitches!

Winter & Christmas: "Quaker Christmas II" by ByGone Stitches.  This is my massive project.  It actually got a little more than a day as I worked on it a bit before I came up with my rotation plan.  Still thinking that maybe I'll make another category for my huge projects.  That way I won't get stuck and not produce any Winter or Christmas finishes this year.  This is also my first project using only hand dyed floss.  I don't stitch with a frame and therefore my stitching tends to be very wrinkled at the end.  My mom, a stitching veteran and former LNS owner, frames my pieces and she uses the wet iron method and I'm scared to try that with the hand dyed stuff.  

Spring & Summer: "Chirpy Since" by Barbara Ana (a finish!) and "Blue Bird Sampler" by Bent Creek.  I was able to get a finish with Chirpy.  The pattern calls for a bunch of musical notes, but I'm not really a musical girl - other than belting out the emo feels in my car... so I left them out.  Added a second small yellow star as well.  Also, got a start on the final of the bird sampler series from Bent Creek.  Took a quick trip to a LNS and bought some 28 count linen and hopefully I cut it the right size... I have a tendency to measure wrong and cut crooked.  Fingers crossed I did it right this time.

Everyday Stitches: "Moon Dance" by Kathy Barrick.  This isn't my favorite project, but I'm liking it more after picking it back up.  It was the first project I ever started on 40 count, and I wish I had done it in a bigger count.  I think I'll end up liking it more once it's finished. 

Small Finishes: "Blackbird Sampler" by From the Heart.  This was a quick start this week.  I have the "Bluebird Sampler" finished and have the charts for two others as seasonal swap outs.

Brandon got set up with some stitching too.  We set out on Saturday and picked up some fabric for me and some supplies for him.  He's restarting the "Dark World" map.  We had been stitching it together but it got pretty disjointed.  We figure it would be a nice project for him to do completely since I stitched up "Light World" years ago.  

We had a delicious brunch with some friends this morning and followed it off with games and more yummy food when we stopped to stock up on snacks for tonight's Game of Throne's finale.  We got all caught up so at least we don't have to be so careful about spoilers anymore!  Might get some more stitching time in while we watch, or I might have some wine instead... Although today has already been filled with some delicious alcoholic concoctions thanks to friends with far better mixology skills than me!   

It was a good week.  This next week has the potential to be very busy with work.  I'm hoping to get my stitching time in when I can.  If not, I'm locking myself in my house for the long Labor Day weekend and basking in some extra time at home.

Making a Space

So... I clearly didn't uphold my last attempt to try to keep this up to date.  Oops.

I spent some time today cleaning it up and updating my lists.  Trying to make it a space that is more a reflection of where I actually am.

I've spent some time doing that in my house as well.  We've been in this space for almost 5 years and I don't think we ever truly made it a space that reflected us.  We brought in old furniture that didn't suit the space or our needs and tried to just make it work.  It didn't.  Finally updated the space with furniture that fits and is comfortable.  Created a cozy living room, revamped the dining room, and have some stalled ideas for the office.  It kind of tore apart my craft room - but I'm working on getting that space back up and running in a more functional way too.  The new space actually has the opportunity to decorate and I think that is what sparked the resurgence of cross stitch.  I've spent most of the last year focused on knitting - I go all in when I start a new hobby, luckily the supplies will last and it just resulted in a build up of yarn stash!

I've spent the last few days home using my last vacation days for the year before they expire in September.  For my staycation I pulled out all of my cross stitch stash and got to organizing.  One would think that seeing all of the patterns that I have and have yet to stitch would be enough, but it actually just makes me want to buy more.  What the heck?!  I decided I needed to have some sort of rotational system though because I keep gravitating towards really large projects and that can leave one feeling a lack of accomplishment when nothing is getting finished.  The rotational plan as it currently stands is to have 5 categories - each with a current project being worked on and an "on-deck" project.  I'm not sure if I'll strictly follow a day per theme or what the time frame will be yet, but it's at least a start.  For the first group I pulled some really old WIPs out of retirement and hope to just finally get them finished.

  

Categories right now are:

• Fall & Halloween - First up is "O Halloween Tree" by Barbara Ana with "Hocus Pocus" by Prairie Schooler being next up.  I've previously worked on both of these and hope to finish them and be able to move on to more of my stash.
  
  
•  Winter & Christmas - First up is "Quaker Christmas II" by ByGone Stitches with "Peace on Earth" by Kathy Barrick on deck.  I'm on page 5 of Quaker Christmas and under no assumption that it will actually get finished this year.  I'm planning to work on it until I get tired and then probably put it into retirement for a bit.  I haven't started Peace on Earth yet - but I love the owl.
  

• Spring & Summer - First up is "Chirpy" by Barbara Ana with "Blue Bird Sampler" by Bent Creek on deck.  I'm almost finished with Chirpy but wasn't loving the fabric so I've put it down a lot.  I like the way it looks, just not the way it stitches.  I've done the rest of the Bent Creek Bird Samplers and switch them out seasonally.  I think this is the last one of the series I have to do.  Although I have this fear that I've actually already stitched this so I'm going to have to do some digging through my completed works to make sure.  I tend to only want to stitch for Halloween and Christmas.  I'm hoping that having this on the rotation will help to get some stitching finished that can be displayed the rest of the year as well.  My walls tend to either get a little empty once April hits... or in all actuality I just keep Christmas up until Halloween comes around again... sometimes I fail.  I'm not a fan of pastel colors or summer heat so I've struggled to find a theme to decorate with in the Spring and Summer.  Right now the goal is birds and birdhouses. 
  
  
• All Through the Year - First up is "Moon Dance" by Kathy Barrick with "Elizabeth" by Carriage House Samplings on deck.  I started Moon Dance a couple years ago as an experiment with 40 count before I dove into my first Hawk Run project.  While I love 40 count, I didn't love it for this.  I'm giving it another try before abandoning it back into the Retirement pile.  I'm super excited to start Elizabeth.  I think it will look great in my new living room space right next to my Hipster Fox.  I've got Molly in my stash as well and am looking to pick up the rest of the Girls series to add.
  
  
• Small Finishes - First up is "Blackbird Sampler" by From the Heart with "Olga's Tart" by Plum Street Samplers on the deck.  I'm hoping to get through some of my smalls seasonal stash and then move some of the smaller other themes over as well.  It's my way of cheating the system that I created that has no real rules... I'm ridiculous.
  

I'm toying with the idea of adding a sixth category for the really big projects.  It would free up some time for the other seasonal projects that are a little bigger than small finishes to have some time in the spotlight.  I'll give this a go for a little bit and then decide.

Right now all of my projects are in ziplock bags right now, but I am hoping to convince my mom to help me make some of those nifty project bags I've been seeing around.  I figure if I just make up one for each of my categories I can then keep the two projects together.

Another goal this year is to actually get some of these finishes framed.  My mom does a lot of my framing for me and I'm thinking that it may be a skill I should learn - especially since she's not right around the corner anymore.  It's either that or move to Ohio... hm... that actually doesn't sound too bad.

Anyway.  This is my start.  Maybe I'll keep at this blogging thing.  Although gauging from my track record, it's not looking likely.  Hope you've enjoyed my rambling.  Keep crafting all the things.  I know that's my goal!

jen :)