Cross-stitch Progress

The last time I posted about the Christmas cross-stitch piece, this is what she looked like. I said I was down to the last sixth of the main design, and I hoped to be either working on the backstitch or  even have it completed by the end of January. That was last year. Clearly, that plan fell through.

But with the new crafting schedule in place, this is where I am now. Now, don't be fooled. I didn't do all of this yesterday. I should have actually had more worked, but I was lazy, and didn't begin until almost 8pm. Some of that was done last January. Or sometime thereafter. I didn't work on it much after writing that post. I don't know what happened. Cross-stitch just takes so much effort to get out all the supplies, keep them organized, figure out where to go next in the pattern....and I have so many other projects that are much easier to pick-up and put back down at the end of the night. 

But that's no excuse. So I am determined to finish it. I just won't give myself a deadline. But I will say that every Monday (or whatever day I end up with, just in case I decide to rearrange my schedule) I will be working on this project until it is complete. 

Process/progress successfully updated. Yay!

A Progress Post

Almost a year ago, my husband's granny went into the hospital for a quadruple by-pass surgery, and I pulled out an old UFO to work on in the waiting room.  I found the best distraction to be my Christmas cross-stitch pattern. When I pulled it out of the bag, it looked like this....

I know the angle is bad on the picture, but I was only a little over a quarter of the way finished with this pattern. In the hospital that day, I worked on the tree beside the house, and slowly made my way to the sky to the left of the completed house. As beautiful as the sky is, all of those half-cross stitches really got to me after a while. And then I moved to the trees. I thought they would be Bob Ross-worthy "happy little trees". He lied.

They were not happy, and neither was I.

Months later, I finished the trees, the house on the right and began working on the lower right quadrant. It was really neat watching everything coming together, seeing the people emerge out of the snowbanks, looking as though they really will finish lacing their ice skates and take off any minute now.

This is the piece as of last night. My original goal for this piece was to have it finished by the end of 2011. Clearly, that did not happen. But I do have less than one-sixth of the pattern to complete.

It's really exciting to see it coming together. At my current pace, I hope to have all the cross stitch completed by the end of the month, with the back-stitch and final details finished by the end of January. And now that DH has begun to cross stitch as well (I KNOW!!) we can each spend the evenings on the couch, enjoying Netflix and working on projects.

Here's to progress!!

This week.....

For the past week I have been working on baby things. I tried one last time to work on the quilting stage of Steph's baby quilt, and finally threw in the towel. (I think it's funny that just now, while typing "quilting" I almost forgot the 'l' and typed "quiting")  I spent a few minutes online searching for machine quilters in the area, and found one who believed she could salvage the quilting stage.  Yay! I was just at that point where if I had put one more stitch in the quilt, I would have hated it and never wanted to see it again. And when you are giving something to you bf to use with the precious angel you love to visit, that's not a good plan, to hate the gift! So, it should be finished in about 3 weeks, and then I will bind it myself. Hey, I'm willing to spend a little more money, not a lot!

About 3 weeks ago, my husband's grandmother had open heart surgery. Knowing that we would be at the hospital for hours, I needed a small handwork project to keep me occupied. I pulled out a Christmas themed cross-stitch kit that I was only 1/4 of the way through.  Worked on that for the day of the surgery, and then took it to work so that I could stitch while the kids sleep.  The pattern calls for only a few actual cross-stitches; most of them are half cross-stitch, but the interest and detail is found in the thickness of the stitch (2,3, or 4 strands) and the blends.  I worked on that thing for 2.5 weeks before I finally finished the sky. I was determined to finish the sky. It was so large, with large chunks of one color at a time and no interest level, but if I ever started on the trees, I wouldn't want to return to the sky. Plus, with the sky complete, now the trees I'm working on can now be "happy little trees"!! Finished one tree today, and started on the first of 5 trees that are pretty similar. 

Lastly, I am trying to sew together a pile of baby gift sets so that in the future, when I get notification of an impending birth, all I have to do is run to the closet and select the colors and wrap them up.  Phew! Turns out to be quite an undertaking when my gift set is 5-6 burp cloths, one "taggie" and one simple blanket. Tonight, I sewed all the burp cloths into the first step before turning them inside out to reinforce the stitching on the outside with a complimentary color. Also turns out, I need more terry cloth. And blue.  I have no blue.  Tomorrow, I will finish the burpies and work on the simple blankets.  I will try to get pictures of the completed piles tomorrow.

Additions and Changes

Did I mention that my dh and I are moving in the next month? To a bigger house (okay, any house is bigger when you've been living in an apartment!), with a craft room for me, and a game room/"man-cave" for him. And a front yard for the dog, with less worry about cleaning up the poo on a regular basis - lawn mowers and rain take care of that! So the pile of boxes you see before you is my recent work over the last few days. That's around 30 boxes so far, and it's mostly games, dvds, cds, and books. I always have this trouble when it comes to packing: what can I pack today that I won't need until I'm in the new place? And can do without when I can't remember which box it's in? (ALL craft supplies and UFOs will be clearly labeled, if not in a clear plastic storage bin - I will not lose where those are, I promise!)

Anyway, I said that we went to visit my mom this weekend, and while there, I picked up a new sewing machine! Well, she's actually quite old, but new to me. I've used her before, but she really belonged to an aunt, who has decided she doesn't want her anymore! So I get her! I'm really excited about this, because there are a few sewing techniques I've seen recently I wanted to try, but my drop-in bobbins don't work with the process, so now I can try them! (More UFOs?)

But now I have a problem. I've never named my current sewing machine.I never really needed to, and actually never really thought about it. I named my car (Fred), and dh's car (the Count), but not the machine. And now that I have two, they need names. Or else how will you know which machine I'm using when I talk about a project? So I need some ideas people! Neither one of these girls does anything fancy, like embroidery, but for the Kenmore, I have attachments that should allow me to monogram correctly. But I also have to change out pattern cams if I want decorative stitches, and that's always a gamble. The Singer is also pretty basic, but more of a student model. And I can't figure out their individual personalities enough to "hear" their names, they're pretty silent in this respect. Maybe I'll figure it out as things slow down around here...or ya'll will have some good ideas!

And in terms of UFO finishing: for the challenge, those 3 shirts posted earlier were out of 5 that I worked on, and that's out of about 8-10 ideas, so I'm about halfway through those. My cross-stitch projects at the baby's house, I finished the crosses, and get to begin on back stitch for the small angel tomorrow! Add to that the moving project....I'll never finish!

Why Cross-stitch is Out

In my introductory post, I explained that I was cleaning and re-organizing my crafters stash, both because I promised my husband, and because I knew that I just had so many UFOs that I would soon be buried under them if I didn't get a bit of control immediately. Plus, the more the stash grow, the more I have to pack and move, and with an impending move, that is a sad, scary thought.

So which craft do I give up? Quilting/sewing? No. It tickles my fancy in so many ways, allows me to play with colors and patterns in a unique way, can be both machine and hand-created, and mom gave me a sewing machine. Scrap-booking? Never. First of all, I have TOO many supplies invested already, and they are not things you can typically pass on to someone else, because each one is so specific to you and your stories. Secondly, I have a nice camera, and have not yet started having children, and know I will be taking pictures when I do, so I will have hundreds of potential scrapbook pages. Crochet? Maybe. It takes a long time, I usually make baby blankets, which use little stitches or hundreds of small shapes sewn together, and if I keep the quilting, I can make baby quilts. My eventual plan there is to try to finish off the yarn I currently have, then give the rest to a knitting grandmother. Cross-stitch? Hmmm....

This poses some possibility. I have a 3 gallon Rubbermaid tote full of supplies. Two boxes of floss, all wrapped around those cards, organized correctly. At least 7 books of patterns. And 6 incomplete projects. I also have a friend who also cross-stitches, and she would love to receive a box of already wrapped and organized floss, and pattern books. We've already discussed this, and she is eagerly anticipating new patterns. (Which will be in the mail this weekend, I promise!)

So I pull out my things and decide to start with the oldest project and work forward. "Angel of the Garden" was started in 2002, or somewhere around there. Remember that project that was too badly smoke-damaged to be salvaged? Well, this is the angel I started on after that. Almost 3 years later. (I was a bit devastated by that loss) You will notice over the next few posts, especially once I figure out how to photograph cross-stitch to get the best detail, that there are several incomplete portions, and that is intentional. Her dress is white and iridescent. If I had put any white in up to this point, they would have turned gray and dingy over the last few years, sitting unattended. And while I worked, the oils on my hands would rub off, making it worse. White will be last.

This is why I am getting rid of cross-stitch: it takes FOREVER to complete even a 3"x4" area. And I thought crochet was slow. This is what she looked like Monday morning at 9:00 am. I get to work on crafts while the baby I nanny for sleeps, so approximately 3-4 hours a day. Today, at 5:00 pm, when I left, after logging 7 hours on this project between yesterday and today, all I can truly say I have accomplished is... ...a halo? Some flowers? Her head? And that was 7 HOURS!!

So, long story short, I will be cross-stitching until I die. Or it feels that way at least. In an effort to make updates more interesting, and to keep ME interested, I am going to rotate between the 6 patterns I need to complete. Set a small goal per project, meet it, change projects, and continue. And work on smaller projects of other genres at home. All in an effort to eradicate UFOs.