A Little Happy Dance

The Littles Santa by Bent Creek.

Started and finished in Novemeber 2007.

Class Report

Last weekend I went down to London to attend CA Well class arranged by Susan Albury of Hanging by a Thread. While the hotel I choose to stay in was a huge disappointment the class more than made up for the bad nights sleep. The class, venue and lunch was once again wonderfully organised by Susan and Sara. The teacher was delightful, patient, informative and encouraging. I am fast becoming addicted to CA’s designs and am sure that I will be doing many more. It was also amazing to see all the peacock needlecases, which the other attendees had stitched, and to meet up with friends old & new. Needless to say I did not finish my needlecase but hope to do so before too long.

I must confess to two new purchases – Acorn Harvest First Stitch Finders by Historic Stitches and Needle Cottage by CA Wells and that I have just ordered two Lauren Sauer kits (Melon Bag and Drawing Lady’s Portfolio) from Susan. These take my stash total to 132 fully kitted stitching projects, and I am currently refusing to consider how many beading and knitting projects I have. I have a very nasty feeling that the grand total will be over 200.

Since getting back from London I have not got much stitching done but want to try and complete Little Santa tonight since I have a trip to my LNS planned tomorrow and I would like to take it with me to get it framed. It can then be the first piece to be hung on my seasonal stitching wall. Talking of my seasonal wall I have realised that I have got very few seasonal projects in my stash. This has got me thinking (at the moment I seem to be doing more thinking, and talking, about my crafts than doing anything productive) that I need to buy a few more projects. However, since I also want to reduce my stash pile I have decided that I will purchase 4 small summer themed projects then for each one I complete I will purchase an autumn themed project and so on through the seasons. I have decided to start with summer rather than Spring as I then have a better chance of getting a couple of projects finished and on the wall.

So far the 2008 plan is to work on my rotation with a few seasonal pieces added to the small / finishing project list. Once I have finished either Awake The Dawning Day or Noah’s Ark I will allocate at least one slot to seasonal projects. For each season project I finish I will purchase a new one, and for every 6 other projects finished (of any type) I will purchase one new project. This way I can make progress on my seasonal wall and also reduce my stash piles. There is no point only restricting my stitching purchases as this will only lead to a massive growth in my knitting & beading stash I have to restrict all purchases.

Busy Busy Busy

Since getting back from a totally relaxed weeks holiday in the sun with my dear friends N&S I feel like I have hardly had a chance to sit down. Work is in the middle of a pre-Christmas shutdown rush and I had to take a day off to go to the hospital for a series of tests on the nerves in my left arm which are currently not functioning correctly. Now I just have to wait for the results and see where the Consultant suggest we go from there. I am finding that my knitting / stitching time is restricted by how long I can hold fabric or needles for at the moment.

Later today I am off to London to attend a CA Wells class, unfortunately I have not completed the required pre-stitching so will just have to take plenty of notes and hopefully find the time over Christmas to finish the project (Peacock Needlecase). I have also decided to wait till after Christmas to start my rotation since I seem only able to stitch for a couple of hours a week at the moment and stitching time is likely to be reduced the closer to Christmas we get. At the moment as well as working on the Peacock Needlecase I am stitching on a couple of my smaller projects:

Paper Whites by Little House Needleworks

The Littles Santa by Bent Creek

I have also started Wee Santa '97 by Heart in Hand and want to try & get Bucky the Snowman by The Trilogy started before Christmas. I have come up with a slightly mad scheme. I have no stitched pieces hanging on my walls at home (everything that I have stitched other than a couple of scissor fobs have disappeared to the homes of friends and family) so have decided that in 2008 I need to get some projects finished, framed and on my wall. I have several larger projects in my stash which I have always intended to stitch for myself one day but rather than start (or continue with) any of these I have decided to stitch small (ish) projects for myself next year partly due to the fact that I have several obligation pieces which I really must work on. So here is the mad part - I have decided that I would like the walls in the hall, stairway and landing to be covered by small projects and framed photos of family and friends. Not so mad but I was having a hard time deciding which projects to put on the walls so have decided to stitch at least some seasonal pieces and change the walls to suit the time of year. I will also have a few pieces which will stay up year round but I rather like the idea of decorating seasonally and there are so many delightful projects to choose from I would soon run out of wall space if I only hung pieces that would remain up year round. I will start by working my way through a number of projects from my stash pile before going on shopping spree as I would also like to reduce my stash pile (which is currently at 127 fully kitted projects) I am contemplating allowing myself one new purchase per 5 finishes next year.