November Random Poli Sci Thoughts

I am not going through withdrawal now that the election is over. I am tremendously relieved in both the national result and the fact that while, there will still be political mudslinging and misleading information, it won't appear at regular intervals on the t.v. or radio. I thought both election night speeches were very touching. It was nice to see John McCain be himself again instead of what he became for the sake of the party. Funny, since I sincerely believe that there are far more moderates in this country, than there are on the far left or right, I wonder if he had stayed true to himself, could he have won? One of those things we'll never know.

I was pleased to see the hateful lies (as opposed to the merely political ones where they lie about the candidates past record and current stances on issues) did not prevail. I thought it was an interesting choice to have Obama deliver his speech alone on the stage. It could mean many things, but I think it highlighted nicely this singular moment in my nation's history.

I have to say "good onya" to my friend who went door to door for this election. [I'm not an Aussie, but I can't think of a better phrase for her.] Neither candidate inspired that kind of action in me, but I'm so impressed with and proud of her for following her convictions.

This is an amazing time to witness and I am cautiously hopeful for the future.

Oh dear, what have I done now????

Angie's class project is a quilt. The kids draw on squares, then it is assembled into a quilt and auctioned at a fund raiser for the school.

Guess who volunteered to assemble the quilt?

I was feeling pretty confident. But now I'm sort of panicking.

I can do this right? I can sew. I had quilted a queen size quilt twenty years ago.

I don't need to pick the theme, the Homeroom Mom is doing that.

I can do this? *Gulp* Right?

(Moral support would be most excellent and tremendously appreciated at this time.)

Just as a funny aside: When I told Chas I volunteered, he looked at me for moment then commented, "Well, it's coming out of your cross stitch time...."

2007: Year of the WIP Review

Well back in January, I declared that I would be a WIP slayer and I set some goals for myself. So let us see how well I did (try not to chuckle too loudly).

Of the WIPS and UFOS I had specifically identified as finishing, I managed to finish only Midi 1, Snow Crystal, QS Ballet Pigs and Stretch. Not bad, but I had hoped for more progress. Of course, I did bring a tiny life into the world and he certainly kept me hopping this year, so four finishes isn't terrible.

Of my proposed new starts, I only actually started the Mystery HAED project and ornaments each month. For a serial starter that is just fantastic.

I managed to stitch at least one ornament for every ornament SAL and I stitched during eleven of the twelve HAED Challenge SALs.

As 2007 closes, I have finished 23 projects of my first 25 project challenge.

I had 29 happy dances this year and that is so much better than the measly three from 2006. I think I am up for more SALs and goal setting to keep me motivated. I completed 18 ornaments and 11 other projects. Of those 11, only the Love Quilt Square, Tea with Jane and the Halloween Tuffet were new starts, so eight finishes is attributable to WIP slaying.

Of things projects not finished, I put needle and thread to fabric in all the projects I had hoped to finish so at least progress was made.

I'm pleased with what I was able to accomplish. A few more big finishes would have been good, but, there is always next year!

Busy Stitchy Girl

A toast--today I finished projects 15-17 of my 25 project challenge!

You can see this month's ornament here.

For my small project, I stitched a bookmark from Tea with Jane by Sampler Girl and stitched two tea cups from a chart found at My Aunt's Attic (Jane and I needed something to put our tea in after all). This is my favorite way to finish a bookmark--I picked up this idea from someone at the TWBB years ago (check the Gallery--it was either Shondratasha or KTCatt) The challenge for me was to stitch the two different sides together without going off center. I used Antique Blue Permin linen with Six Strand Sweets in Blueberry Grunt, Daiquiri Ice and Espresso. And I even used one of my platinum needles (if they only came in petites I'd be happy). It came out beautifully and I will use it on my new Terry Pratchett book as soon as I can find some time to read.

I also finished my Love Quilt Square. It looks great, but I don't want to even think about how many different colors are in that bottom section. Actually, there is quite a lot of confetti in this piece. It comes from a Cross Stitch Pattern a Day Calendar and I'm not certain I'll stitch any more designs from there. The key had symbols that weren't on the chart and the chart had symbols that weren't on the key. It required way more guessing and thinking than I really wanted to do. However, the result is cute and there are several adorable charts in there, so I may foolishly attempt another calendar design. Just not in the near future.

I hope it brings the little boy a smile. A creative mind at work suggested the checkerboard border, which looks fantastic. It's a bright red (the boy's favorite color) with a charcoal grey.

I will resume my regularly scheduled WIP slaying tomorrow. I've done a great job finishing projects this year. Much better than last year. I'm still hoping to finish one of my Chatelaine's this year though. I'll be cutting it close I think.

The 1, 2, 3's of Inspiration and Restraint

I don't have photos of Tina's book yet. I needed a few more supplies and picked one of them up today. I'm following Judy Odell's instructions for GTK because I want it to be a book rather than just a flat fold stand up. I find the instructions a little intimidating, but perhaps it's clearer when you are actually doing it. I've read them through a few times and I'm still not sure I can pull this off. Cross the fingers on your non-stitching hand that I'm successful.

The inspiration in three parts:

1. I've been planning something for a dear friend for a few years now. It's gone through some design changes a few times--primarily because I tossed the first color scheme (something about blue...). Now I can't seem to find the parts I drafted (on several, separate sheets of paper) pre-fire. I was daydreaming recently and I realized that this design by Teresa Wentzler almost perfectly matches the colors in my friend's home. I could personalize it and it would be better than anything I could dream up on my own. We'll see what she thinks.

2. I think I've found the perfect Delicas for the Amethyst Mystery. Now I just need to order the Swarovskis and I can finish a Chatelaine.

3. I finally finished the first page of my HAED Challenge SAL piece. That feels like a major happy dance all on its own. Now I just have 14 pages remaining. At this rate, I will finish stitching in 9.3 years. Sad to say that won't even make it one of my longest running WIPs.

Now for restraint:

1. I have not purchased Pompeii yet. AND, I have almost convinced myself to wait until Martina releases it as a chartpack. Almost. I know there is still time for me to cave and join the group, but so far, I'm behaving.

2. The HAED BB is having a new start SAL at the end of this month. I was tempted to the point that I perused the HAED charts in my stash and narrowed my choices to five. Then I settled on Bedtime Tales by Lisa Victoria for Kian. However, I have been finding more WIPS, SWIPS AND UFOS, as I have rummaged through my stash looking for supplies. I think the list on the side is complete and that total is over 40. I can't justify starting another big project until I finish a few of the designs on my list, some of which are so close to completion that I find it appalling they aren't done. I think most of them were abandoned after I erred and had frogged a bit.

The fact that it would conflict with the ornament SAL helped my decision.

And I was really hoping for a background only SAL, which appears to be unlikely, since the bb said the next special SAL would be a holiday SAL. Anyone want to do a HAED background only SAL with me?

3. There are a few really good sales right now in the ons world. I'm limiting myself to just acquiring supplies for Midi 3 and Polar Lights, both will be started likely in mid to late September. It depends almost entirely on when the supplies arrive.

I am allowing myself some new (big) starts (excluding ornaments for the monthly SALs and a few other smallish designs I'm toying with stitching) in the next few months:

Midi 3--because no-one is posting on that forum at the bb or at the Yahoo Group. I love this series and I want to see it continue.

Polar Lights--It's been in the stash too long. If I finish Amethyst, I'll let myself start Polar Lights.

1814 Butterfly Collection--I plan to stitch this for the Houston Holocaust Museum's Butterfly Project once I have completed my Love quilt piece.

Bedtime Tales--Even though I won't be starting it for the SAL, it will likely be the next HAED I start. I'm working on Bedtime Story for Angie so I think I ought to work on a big design for Kian as well. Of course, I really ought put some stitching time on Bedtime Story--see why I don't actually need any new starts?

And do you see why I am the Grand Poobah of the Serial Starters?

Doing Some Good

Lately, I've been feeling a stronger desire to create some good in the world. I thought I ought to share some places in need that have caught my eyes recently:

Here you can donate money to the National Braille Press for the costs of prepping the braille version of the final Harry Potter book.


My good friend needs help making (and buying supplies for) bracelets for mothers whose children have died.

And by Walking the Wall, I found this simple solution to reducing malaria.

I'm such a goof

I completly forgot that I finished another ornament last month during the SAL. I also failed to show you the ornies done in April and May. (Do you see a theme?) That makes my 25 project challenge total 11 instead of 10. So I need to finish two more designs and I can purchase a limited edition chart. I'm debating whether it will be Chatelaine's Castle Sampler, Chatelaine's Hertage Sampler or Nora Corbett's Thanksgiving Fairy (she seems unpopular on the boards, but being a November baby, I kind of like her).

In other stitching news, I stitched a tiny bit on Midi 1 Sunday night. I only have a bit more regular cross stitching to do (the lady and the greenery in her basket). Then I'll do the remaining special stitches and beading. In revising my goals, I hope to have it done by the end of September.

I'm hoping that I can finish three Chatelaines this year: Midi 1, Tree of Hope
and Water Garden. I would love to finish the Japanese Garden too, but I think that stitching the crane medallions entirely over one will slow me down quite a bit.

Finally, I signed up to stitch for Love Quilts (thus maintaining my serial starter status). My friend Cathy does lots of good work with her crocheting and I feel bad that my primary hobby, while lovely, creates nothing useful or practical (needlebooks are great, but few people really need them the way they require a decent blanket or baby hat). I'm very excited to make something to brighten a child's day. It's due in October so I'm reasonably certain that I can make that deadline.

Feel like doing a good deed?

Go see Angi and order some girl scout cookies for the troops overseas (unless you want them for yourself).

And/or sign up for the Love Quilts

And/or go to Kiva or Global Giving.