Sunday, January 6, 2008

Making Progress!

I haven't been able to stitch as much as I would have liked. We've been swamped at work and I've been working to cover for the manager who decided to take some extra time off over the holidays. By the time I get home at night, make dinner and do all the rest of the stuff that needs done, I'm pretty pooped. But I did make a little progress over the holidays. I worked on my animals of the Otago Peninsula and made progress torwards finishing it. I also started the Michael Powell cottage for the exchange that takes place at the end of January. The item has to be finished and that is definitely not my forte but I think I found a way that's cute and and I can do and not have it be messy or falling apart. Will post a picture of it when I'm finished. It doesn't look like it will be slowing down any at work either. I usually only work the sales floor on Mondays (when the manager takes her day off). I normally do inventory work but she's going to the TNNA show in Long Beach this week so I'll be out on the floor again this week. Meantime all the inventory is piling up in my office. I try to do it as I get a lull in the sales traffic but sometimes I just sit down and rest my little feet. But business is good and I should not be complaining at all. I also get to go to Nashville again in February and that is a highlight of my work year. Merry & I treat it like a vacation but it's also a big responsibilty to do all the cross stitch buying for the shop. It is fun to see all the new stuff coming out. For the two of us, it's like a 3 day long pajama party!

Well, have to go sew a button on Dave's shirt. Does that count as stitching?

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

10-25-50 Projects!

Well, I've spent a couple of days trying to come up with my list of 10 projects to do for the 10-25-50 project. I came up with quite a few but decided to stick with 10 of them for now. I mean it's hard enough working in a LNS without bowing to temptation, but knowing I can't buy anything until I finish 10 projects will be pure torture! 8 of these projects are WIP's (actually if I were honest I'd call them UFO's) so my rule of finish 2 before starting a new one should be easy to keep. So here they are in no particular order.

1). Michael Powell free cottage from his website for an enchange I signed up for.
2). Gabriel (of course, he has to be on the list)
3). Animals of the Otago Peninsula (a kit I bought in New Zealand almost 4 years ago and never finished)
4). Peace on Earth by Theresa Kogut and Stoney Creek.
5). Cirque des Triangles
6). Windmill by Michael Powell
7). Midsummer's Eve Fairy by Mirabila (just need to finish beading this one)
8). Highland Living from New Stitches magazine.
9). Pots of Love from Michael Powell
10). This Heart of Mine from Ink Circles

Michael Powell is probably my favorite designer and I have many of his kits to stitch. They're fun to stitch and I love the colors he uses so those should be very easy to get back to. I did get out Animals of the Otago Penisula over the holiday and started working on it agin. I actually finished the animals and am stitching the background. I should be able to finish that one in a week. I'm very motivated to finish these and not just to be able to to buy new stash. I'd really like to get back into stitching big time and I think this might help.

As far as the organizing goes, I have maybe 2/3 of a drawer of magazines left to go through. This has also been really helpful in motivating me. I've found so many patterns I'd like to do. I go back to work tomorrow (after being home for 5 days) and hope I don't lose the momentum that I've gained.

Oh, I also finished knitting a scarf for my daughter to take back to Flagstaff when she goes back to school in 2 weeks. So I'm feeling pretty good about this week's accomplishments. Will let y'all know if the good time continue.