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.