Life Interrupted – an Update

So, just to get this out there in the open, if the Zombie Apocalypse kicks off in the winter, just go ahead and punch my ticket. 50 hours without power, or more importantly, HEAT, during last week’s ice storm just goes to prove that I need a couple of weeks of warm weather to hone some much needed survival skills. Like being able to move. And think. So when the reports start coming in of the unknown illness sweeping the world, I will be heading southwest. As far as you know. And when we do have a fire going in our ornamental fireplace, I will NOT fight with a dog for the prime spot. You know who you are, Lucy…

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And NO, there is NOT enough money to get me to live in or near Boston – if I ever get up to visit Cass, it will be in August! Same for people in Minneapolis 🙂 Hey Winter! BITE ME!

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In stitching news, I went through most of last week with NONE – I had needle in hand when the power went out Monday night, didn’t pick up a needle again until yesterday, after I finally fought off the 4-day stress headache enough to manage it. IF I had had those other 6 days to work on Water Lilies, I am pretty confident Page 1 would be close to half-way, certainly past the 1/3 mark – it goes so much quicker than L&U 🙂 But, all things considered, I did well on it in basically 9 days – I think I have about 1600 stitches into it, give or take:

Monet's Water Lilies, charted by Scarlet Quince. On 20ct ivory aida, using 2 strands DMC.
Monet’s Water Lilies, charted by Scarlet Quince. On 20ct ivory aida, using 2 strands DMC.

Speaking of Scarlet Quince, LOOK:

One of the dogs from the Cluny Tapestries :)
One of the dogs from the Cluny Tapestries 🙂

The only other thing I’ve worked on the last couple of weeks is my new travel project, which is from a Stoney Creek leaflet I got from one of my friends here, as she was cleaning out things she’d completed. I wanted to make a piece for our band director, kind of a trade of my art for the art he’s given to me and the Kid all these years. Of course, this assumes it’s done before graduation in May 🙂 Here is my small start on Beautiful Life, from SC Book 443, on 32ct ivory jobelan, so far using the charted DMC (GlissonGloss silks to come):

Stoney Creek's Beautiful Life.
Stoney Creek’s Beautiful Life.

And that ends the Startapalooza for 2015. I am now back up to 18 projects (not counting the travel bag). From here until the end of the year, at least, I will be doing a timed rotation, 2 weeks per project (except maybe Tuscany or Desert, which will be worked until I finish a part). Today, I created the Cross Stitch Project Randomizer:

Cross Stitch Project Randomizer, copyright K.L. Rife :)
Cross Stitch Project Randomizer, copyright K.L. Rife 🙂

The very first draw from the Randomizer… actually got tossed back in, as it was Dragon Quaker. And Draw #2… went back in, too, as it was Water Lilies. So… Draw #3, which is what I will work on next, is:

The project for the next 2 weeks (or more, because of what it is) - Tuscany Town Mandala!
The project for the next 2 weeks (or more, because of what it is) – Tuscany Town Mandala!

If I rotate every 2 weeks, even allowing these 1 or 2 projects that may take more than 2 weeks to get to a stopping point, I should be able to touch EVERY WIP this year, including all of the new ones again 🙂 So see me on 12/31 to see how that plan actually pans out 🙂 Assuming power outages are done for the year, of course. Until next time, Happy Stitching, and THINK SPRING!

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4 thoughts on “Life Interrupted – an Update”

  1. oh my goodness!! no power for more than a few hours? I wouldn’t know what to do, I certainly cannot count on my solar light lamp to stitch, that lasts about an hour or so!
    I really feel for you, hopefully you’ll get the best of springs and summers as a reward.
    thanks for the bird watching, Frozen Ed. – as for the randomiser, that is genius! happy stitching!

  2. I think that all of those hours without power would have tried my patience, too – even with a non-ornamental wood burning fireplace :). Congrats on surviving!

    Your pictures, though, of the ice and the lovely pops of color from the birds are gorgeous. The stitching looks good too, I’ll enjoy following your rotation along it’s way this year.. but I’m not going to be keeping track to see if you actually do get to touch each and every piece again before the end of the year!

  3. Oh my! 18 WIPs! I LOVE the WIP randomizer BTW – made me smile. Monet is looking interesting and are you going to do the Dog from the Cluny tapestries as a standalone?

    1. I haven’t even gotten either of the Cluny dog charts yet – I’m on a stash diet until I get a fortune in taxes paid and then graduation for the Little Kid 🙂

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