Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Restart

I'm not going to bother posting a photo today, but I've actually managed to get a couple of hours of stitching this week! It's been a busy week, still, with getting ready to start college (Induction was today), and the Imp...well, the Threenager has seriously struck over the past week and a half (part of the reason that there was no Joy Pockets post this week...on top of me being absolutely wiped out lately).

Tomorrow, my classes aren't going ahead, but the Imp still has a place at nursery. So, after dropping her off at 8am, I will be returning home, doing a quick tidy, putting on my multiple episodes of "Torchwood", and sitting and stitching all day. :)

As for the Imp and nursery, today was the longest that we've been apart since she was born. I was busy today, but tomorrow, I think will be a complete culture shock for me. She's 3 2/3ish, and more than ready to be independent. She loved being there all day, and is looking forward to tomorrow...so much so that she's just brought me her night time nappy without being asked, at 7:15pm. Her hair is in her 'night night braids' (so we don't have to fight with it to brush it in the morning), and she's gone and put her own pyjamas on. I guess that's a hint for me to tuck her in.

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week Off (yet again)

Again, this week has been a complete fail on picking up my stitching. I'm not normally as busy as I have been lately, and I don't normally go to bed before 9pm, as I have been for almost the past week and a half. I'm putting my foot down and actually going no where tomorrow, and aiming to get back to my stitching. At the very least, I'd like to finish that first page before starting college next week. Fingers crossed.

But, I will at least post a recipe tonight, and tomorrow I will be posting this last week's suggestion from Pagan Blog Prompts, because it's a rather apt topic.

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week Off

I've been rather busy over the past week, so not much of my cross stitch has gotten done. I'll be counting next week as week 7. I hope you're all having as fantastic a week as I've had.

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week 6

Again, I've not been able to get as much completed this week as I wanted to, but I had a bit of a shock today as I was working on more of the dark brown stitching. The shapes of leaves all of a sudden popped out, and that gave me the biggest boost--that I'm actually getting somewhere. I'm now at a point where it's a lot of scattered colours, in small bits. I'm not sure if I will finish it over the next week or not, because I'll be busy, but fingers crossed. If not by next Wednesday, then by the following one.

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week 5

I did actually attempt to post this last night before bed from my mobile, but it obviously didn't make it through. when I checked the laptop tonight. I am successfully trying to take time away from my laptop being on all of the time, but I do find that instant messaging on my mobile can be a bit awkward, and Facebook doesn't always send my messages through. 

As for my cross stitch project this week, I'm still frustrated that I'm only on the first page, but I'm starting to see the spaces filling out even more. I'm coming across a lot of highlighting colours, and more and more definition coming into effect. I still don't see myself finishing the page over the next week, but we can keep our fingers crossed. I think it's probably the most that I've ever worked on before, so I want to keep pressing on. 

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week 4

Well, I'm a month into my Wheel of the Year wall hanging. I'm not as far in as what I had hoped for, but I still feel like I've done quite a bit. I'm a bit in awe at there being six or seven shades of chocolate brown, all mixed in together. My eyes can only discern three or so of them when looking, but I'm sure that once the project is complete, it'll be all about the light hitting it. I've also managed to tarnish my needle. If it starts squeaking any more than it is now, I might have to find a replacement. That'll be the first hand sewing needle that I've ever worn out. I regularly do it on my machine, but not my hand needles.

I thought I would add a photo comparison of where I started, compared to where I'm at tonight. I'm getting ready to stop for the evening, because I've been battling a weather-migraine (seriously...we need a really good storm and my head will be happy).

The beginning of the project

Where I'm at tonight. It's not all browns, reds, and golds any more. You can't see them well, but there are also greys, pale blues, dark green, and light green.

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week 3

Not the best pic in the world, but I thought I would actually try to take a daylight photo of the work in process. Again, it might not look like I've done much, but I've gotten quite a bit done this week. At the moment, it seems like a lot of tedious highlighting bits, but I actually added some green in last night, which shook it up from all the variegated browns. And I'm starting to see the individual spokes coming out of the centre. If I really make a concerted effort in the coming evenings, I might be able to finish this first page by next week, the four week mark. A bit slower than I was hoping (we all know about my lack of patience), so I'm looking at this potentially taking a year to complete. Some of the side pages aren't full pages, but I'll be going back to college in September, so that will slow it up a little. I wish that I could be one of the fast stitchers, but that will never happen. Oh well...I'm truly enjoying it, and I'm enjoying sharing my progress.

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week 2

Apologies for the rotten pic this week. I managed to be rather graceful yesterday and sprained my ankle on a pothole. I normally am using my laptop on a wooden tv dinner stand, but it doesn't fit around the lap tray that I'm using as a foot rest, the laptop gets too hot for my lap, and I really need to break in the netbook before starting back at college in September. When I normally take the photo, it's partially leaning on the stand. Nothing like a bit of faff and drama, but self-enforced sitting on my butt is getting more stitching done, when Nurse Imp is really trying to be super helpful (and knocking my foot in the process, bless her. Luckily, I did a house-blitz a few days ago, when I washed the carpets, so I'm not freaking out about it not getting done.

I'm still on the first page of the twelve page chart, but I think I've made quite a bit of progress this week. I've cut it a bit short this evening because I'm just having a lax moment this evening. But even with as little as has been done, I feel so much energy coming off the work, because I'm sharing so much in it. I feel like I'm not getting it done fast enough, because I can see the entire completed project in my head, and where I want it to hang.  Patience, Patience, Patience. Oh, who am I kidding, everybody knows that my patience can be borderline sometimes. :P

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Week 1

Well, I'm not as far along as I'd like to be, but I had a busy weekend. We had an overnight guest on Saturday night, so it got set in the dining room. Doing that makes it less likely for me to randomly pick my work up and add. But, I am happy with how much I do have done, even amongst some other frustrations.

Frustration 1:  I've realised that I miscounted by 2 inches on my waste canvas, on either side. It could be that I didn't actually miscount or mismeasure. I'm using a cross stitch design program that I've not used before, so I could have easily put a figure in wrong. Not a particularly big deal...I have more waste canvas and I can tack more on to the edges when I'm ready for that bit.

Frustration 2: I could really use with a proper embroidery floor stand. I have a 24 inch frame that I am balancing against my laptop stand and arm. Not a real issue, just annoying. At least it lets me multi-task...watch telly, watch Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, and stitch all at once. Hmm...that may be a touch of the reason why I don't have as much done as I'd like. But, I do most of my stitching in the evening, and the social networks are the majority of my social life.

Frustration 3: Energy saving bulbs suck. Even with having the brightest eco bulb available in my living room light, it's way too dim for me. I'm going quite short-sighted and seriously need more light. I finally clicked and realised this evening that my clip light for my Kindle fits quite nicely on the top of my frame. Shame that I can't find the battery charger, because the batteries are all flat, and I can't find the spare set of non-rechargeables that I keep around for just in case. Granted, they probably landed into a remote or something when I couldn't find the spare rechargeables.

I'd normally work on it until midnight, but my eyes are starting to do funny things, so I'd probably better not. I think I'll probably just go veg and watch "Lady Gaga Presents" that I'm recording. I'm pretty sure I'll find the battery charger tomorrow, and having the clip light will make a huge difference to the work I can do after I lose daylight.

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Start

Well, I've finally gotten the chance to set up my large cross stitch project: a wall hanging of the Wheel of the year. I'm using a beautiful image that I found via Google, and converted to a cross stitch pattern, so fingers crossed it turns out as stunning as it is in my head.  I'll be doing a weekly update post, because I'm rather interested in watching the progression, myself, and I just really want to share :)


The original image

The planned size of the image is 16.1 inches in diameter. I am using 18 count waist canvas onto unbleached cotton (it was some spare fabric that I bought as 'grey fabric') that I've cut to 23.5 x 23.5 inches. The image in my head is to quilt it together with borders of grapevine fabric (that I haven't found yet, except some pretty prints in fat quarters on eBay that isn't in big enough pieces), and wide ribbons on top to tab over a dowel for hanging.

This is seriously going to take me a while.  It's the biggest project that I've ever taken on, and I figured that if I document it weekly on my blog, it will keep me motivated, and some of you can nag at me to keep going :P

This is what has been accomplished tonight. I know it doesn't look like much, but I did the set up beforehand,, which took a little bit of time...cutting the fabric and aida, ironing the fabric, baste-pinning it together, and stitching the fabric onto my frame.

I am on the lookout on Freecycle and eBay for a floor stand for my frame, because I'm having to currently balance it against my laptop table, which isn't ideal. But, I'll get on with it, and fingers crossed it'll move swiftly.

Mel

Unfinished Projects and our Path Through Life

For those that don't know me yet, I'm actually quite a crafty person. I can crochet, knit (barely), cross stitch, and hand and machine sew. This week, the bug has bitten me again. I'm desperate to start a cross stitch project that's come into my head, and a new crochet project has caught my desire, as well. 

There's a bit of a problem with starting the cross stitch...I can't find my software to convert the picture that I want to do. I've not seen it in probably three years. OK, easily sorted...order new software from PC World online. Now it's biding out my patience for it to arrive in '3 to 5 days'. I then need to decide how much of what colour of aida, order it, then wait for it's delivery. Having to have patience sucks.

So, I stopped into town yesterday to buy some new wool, and started on my crochet project last night. I managed to get a few rows completed, then disaster struck. I realised that when I found the end in the centre to start with, it was twisted with the opposite end and tangled in clumps. Add on that Loki decided that when the clump came out, it made an ideal kitty pillow. I am quite grateful that he was feeling too lazy to do his normal thing of adding to the tangle. I did have to put my project aside so that I could attempt to detangle everything, ball up the end, and regain sensibility. I spent over an hour and a half, and it's still in a clump of mess on my bedside table. Sigh. Rainy Saturday afternoon, the Imp is playing with her cars and garage in the dining room, ideal time to chill with a bit of craftiness. I'm sure that I'll get the clump sorted today, but it's frustrating.

All of this has made me thing about all of the things that we want or need to do, and we either have to wait longer than expected, or we don't complete them at all. I have other cross stitch and crochet projects in a bag that I've put aside for other things and they then gather dust. I'm the world's biggest procrastinator when it comes to tidying up, and I'd much rather spend time with the Imp. We lack the funds, so all the festivals like the Mercian Gathering, and LARP events that I'd like to try go by the wayside. They would definitely enhance the both of our lives, including our social lives, but it's just not happening. I did have a physical New Age bookshop, but had to walk away from it due to us being kicked out of our home by my ex partner when he chose somebody else. I now have four bookcases full of books in my bedroom that I occasionally list a few on Amazon, when I'm not procrastinating about it.

What roadblocks come across your path that makes you divert and not complete the path you are on? Do you go back and try to finish that path? Do you find out that it may have been the wrong path, and you're new path is the better path?  I'm talking about life in general, as well as your faith. Does your faith keep you on a straight and narrow path, or does it have bends in the road, with the occasional boulder that is placed in the way that makes you a stronger person. 

Which path is better? I guess that would depend on the person. Sometimes that straight and narrow path is what a person can cope with. Sometimes, that straight and narrow is your path, but you've put blinders on so you can't see the diversions that might be the better choices. Granted, those diversions might be the wrong choice, but you will never know until you experience it, and if it's not the correct path, there's always a way back to the right path. 

Maybe there are lots of boulders in your path, that you have to struggle to climb over, or squeeze between to get by. Some people will just give up, stop, and their life becomes a stagnating and vicious circle of depression and unhappiness. For other people, that struggle is their depression, unhappiness and problems of life, but they can see the light on the other side, don't give up, and eventually end up happily following that path again.

We also have to remember that our paths cross and interact with the paths of other people. Their paths are all equally valid. A faith-inspired blog contest has really triggered my thoughts on this. There was some ugliness when one of the other bloggers, who is travelling on a path that forces her to wear blinders, targeted another blogger from another faith, just because their paths are different. Whose path is right, and whose is wrong? It's not for us, as humans, to judge. The judgement will come from the higher powers that sit at the end of our path...the God, Gods, and/or Goddesses. You may not believe in a higher power. That's fine. As long as the path that you follow is the one that at the end you feel like you've truly accomplished something, and that you can look back and see that you've behaved with honour. We can't force others onto our paths. Your path is the one you should be following. There will be paths that run next to each other, but we all encounter different experiences.

I personally came across a fork in the road when I was 17. Did I follow the path that I had been following, that made me feel stagnated, inferior and overall unhappy, or did I follow the new path of discovery that I could see a light at the end? Seventeen years later, and I feel that I chose the correct path...the path of discovery. I have had my boulders through the years...some of them have been some real doozies...but I've always come out at the end with my faith intact, that my Gods and Goddesses are there in full support and comfort.  It wasn't the coldness and arrogance of one overall Supreme Being reminding me on a regular basis that what I did was wrong, and that I am always in the wrong. It was the support network of equals that are always there, with the encouragement that it's not just me and things will get better. My network might not be as mighty, but there is strength in numbers.

This was proven in that blog contest. We might not be a faith that is almighty, but we're there for each other in one big net.

In all of my rambling, I do eventually get to the point. Now, I think I'll stop procrastinating for the day, get a bit of tidying done in my living room (now that I've just received a huge kiss and cuddle from the Imp), and the Imp and I can get that wool untangled. Um, maybe I shouldn't ask the Imp to help me with that...at three, she's likely to enjoy making it worse than it is. But there will be future projects that she can help me with, that I can teach her.  This is just the beginning of her path and, for the moment, it sort of runs parallel to mine until she's big enough to make the decisions for herself.

Mel