What I’m Working On….

Well I’ve hardly been in the sewing room.  On the days I get there I do still work on doing something in an effort to get things all finally organized but I’ve been hosting lots of my kids and grands here so I don’t end up in the sewing room and that’s entirely okay.  I’ll get time..and family is first ALWAYS.

So the Texas Braid:  It’s still on the frame.

I’m about half done and I’m not hating it as much as I thought.  I think I had to get in a groove.  It is time consuming though.

Here is how the quilting looks…

I wish I was patient enough to switch to a lighter thread when I’m doing the neutral sections…but I’m lazy and I’m doing it like this….

I did tackle the big cabinet.  It’s all been dusted.  I’d like to arrange the quilts on tops a little better but will wait until Kelli is here and can help me.  It’s a pain going on and off a chair and refolding all myself.  It’s okay for now.

Behind the doors is all straightened and tidied.  As I was going through the cabinet I found a couple projects that were in progress.  I took them out and set them on the cutting table trying to decide where I am going to store them.  I was out of room under the cabinet.

Notice that all of the totes are labeled.  YAHOO!!  This is my UFO cabinet.  I am going to participate in Country Threads’ Dirty Dozen, which is a UFO challenge, (more on it upcoming) so hopefully by this time next year, I’ll not have a need for so much space for UFOs.

Anyway…those two projects sat out…I was out of space.  I could probably make space in the closet…but really?  Was I really going to sew on these?  If I had a list of 20 projects to sew, would these be on the list of 20?

As the projects were sitting on the cutting table for a few days, I asked those questions every single time I was in the room.   The final answer was NO!  No they wouldn’t be on my top 20 list.  So…I packaged them up and put them in the donation basket.  Whew…another good decision.  I’m sure the people I donate them to will love them..and the quilt they make will go on charity…MUCH better than sitting and taking space on my shelves.  I want to be sewing things I love…not sewing out of obligation.

One might think that being I didn’t have quilting time, I didn’t have cross stitch time.  WRONG.  I’ve gotten myself into somewhat of a routine.  Most days I write blog posts in the morning…then afternoons are spent upstairs.  Then supper, I walk with a friend and then am home by 7:30pm.  I tidy the house and then I watch television and stitch.  So stitching has happened.  Not a lot but some.  Also when the kids are here and it’s appropriate, I do stitch some.

The last time I showed you, I was here….stitching on the house.

Now I am here…The house is finished and I’m done that that page.  I only have one more page left to stitch.  The “mortar” between the bricks of the house took a long time to finish.

I can’t tell you how “in love” with this project I am.  I really thought I wouldn’t be able to do it but I’m getting to the point I know I can finish it.  My hope is that I might be able to finish it by next week.  I think that’s about how long the upper left side took to stitch.  So, I’m guessing the upper left will be about the same.

I did start another project too.  I prefer to just stitch one project at a time…in the cross stitch world that’s called “monogamous stitching”.  I ended up starting this though.  The project has very few floss colors.  The areas that need to stitched are larger and all the same color…actually a bit of a boring stitch, but I liked it and I have the perfect plan for it.

My plan is to outline the areas.  So I’ll outline the ladies skirt and then stop…then outline the sheep and stop.  Then I will take this project with me to the doctor appointments I have coming up.  I can sit in the lobby and stitch without having to worry about counting and great lighting as I can just stitch in the area that I already have outlined.  It will already be counted out for me.

I am planning on changing the words slightly.  I want to go with the more traditional and for the verse will stitch, “she seeketh wool and flax and works willingly with her hands.”    It’s fine as is..I just like the traditional form better and I think that will be an easy enough change.  The bolded words are what would change.

I did a little on it and hope to do more this week so I’ll have it ready for the next week when appointments kick in again.  I can’t believe what a difference it is from stitching on 40 count linen to this 28 count.  (For you new to cross stitching, linen comes in different counts.  40 count means 40 threads in every inch which is dense.  28 count means 28 threads in every inch)

I’m not sure what this week has in store.  I know I have Kalissa’s boys today…and who knows after that.  Life is an adventure and I’ve learned not to plan to much.  Hope you all have a good week and can accomplish something.