A bit of a hiccup

Well things don't always run smoothly with craftwork. I've been working on the last house on my Charleston streetscape Verandas and ran out of DMC #762, a light grey. Fished around my various stash locations and came up with the end of a skein in my mother's craft box and used that on about 3 window frames. Then I looked at them and saw they were noticably browner than the other window frames. Oh. It must be the nicotine staining. My mother was a great crafter. But also a heavy smoker. So what to do? Well I guess the perfectionist in me says to undo the new stitching and re-do it with a new skein. Only I didn't have time to go to Spotlight to get some. So I tried washing the canvas and also the end of my mother's skein. Both came up lighter but still not as light as what I had been using.

So on Thursday night I had a wet project I couldn't work on the next day and no more 762 anyway. My son Jarrah was going in very early Friday morning to have his wisdom teeth and another baby tooth taken out and an impacted tooth exposed. The op was going to take an hour plus the recovery time. So a great time for me to do some cross-stitch while waiting. I'd just finished my small Daydreams project Life is a Journey (hooray!) and the next project in rotation was also basically finished except for doing long stitches on the matting which I didn't want to do in the waiting room because it is too fiddly. So I decided to go on to the project beyond that in rotation--the New England Sampler--and work on the border. Nice and easy and a repeating pattern easily followed when out and about. So that's what I did.

Now I'm back home taking care of Jarrah giving him ice packs, pain relief and mashing up food and I kind of don't know which project to pick up again. I have three new ones waiting at the sewing machine for me to bind off their edges. But the machine is set up for machine quilting (with a quilt in it)so I haven't done those yet.

I have to make an executive decision about what to do.

An early start to the next rotation

Huge progress on Cottages at Oak Bluffs--I finished the cross stitching on the first house a week and a half into the rotation! I was really surprised that it went so quickly but once I started in on it I was able to see progress and that encouraged me to try and finish it off.

As I got close to finishing the xs I had to decide whether to then start the backstitching right away, go on to the second house (which is a separate project but on the same piece of Aida) or to go on to the next piece in the rotation. I couldn't face backstitching because I wanted to have a break so that I felt I had 'finished' something. For the same reason I couldn't face starting the second house. So I picked up my next rotation Verandas where I'm also on the last house which I should finish this rotation as well. Then I'll face the same question--backstitch now or go on to the next rotation?



This is my Daydreams 'handbag' project Life is a Journey. It stays in my handbag for the times I'm waiting somewhere and have a few minutes to pick something up. Always having a project on hand has been a great idea and I have a new project picked out to take its place.

Thanks to everyone who answered my question on the CountedCrossStitch and xsers forums about length of backstitching. It was both the Daydreams project and LaTrobe Terrace that prompted this question plus the fact that I'm now or soon will be backstitching on five projects! Some of the Daydreams border is backstitched over 2 stitches and I've decided I like this so will leave it. It wouldn't have looked good in the main part of the project so I'm glad I'm now sure in my mind about bs over 1 square.

I have four! new projects waiting in the wings for me to start very soon. I'll be replacing LaTrobe Terrace with another Juniper Designs street scene--Strahan, Tasmania.



My new handbag project will be Juniper Designs Stonehouse with Settle.



I have a second Lanarte Chinese themed project to replace the first one.



And I'm going to start a baby xs for my 9 year old daughter! This one is called New Baby and can be viewed here: http://www.abcstitch.com/designers_php/feature.php?id=85 Why do one for her now? Well I thought she should have one as her brother has one made by my SIL in his room. His is this design as well.

So of my rotation list only the New England Sampler is not near completion.

Yesterday I finally went through my stash to see what was waiting for me. I have three WIPs waiting. Two were my mother's and are close to completion. One is that horrible Australia map that is so difficult.

I have eight Barbara & Cheryl Charleston patterns, 4 of these are what I've termed 'small' --ie 2 pages or less. I have three remaining Juniper Designs kits--two street scenes and one individual house. And I have two large Chinese landscapes. so large that I don't know if I'll ever do them.