Sometimes Monday | 4.8.24

Sometimes Monday | 4.8.24

An eclipse is one phenomenon that is actually more impressive from the ground. — Leroy Chiao

There has been so much Eclipse Hype on everything… the local news especially, here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh but I am not sure they counted for grey, cloudy skies… very cloudy skies and rain!

But today, as we creep up to the eclipse, I will be making Mourning Dove silhouette’s to sit on the lines from my backyard. These doves will grace the seventeenth page giving a bit of me to my daughter’s book. I love the doves that sit on those lines morning and evening… they are a constant in my day with their meditative calls and gentle nature. They bring calm to my day… for it is impossible to be angry or stressed with these sweet birds.

Ready for the birds!

I have some bits of fabric that I will use to create the doves from to “perch” on my stitched lines. I don’t know how many I will be able to do in my timeframe… but maybe I can get 6 or 8 of them cut out in 15 minutes today! (And no, I am not counting the drawing time in the equation!!) But this will be a very peaceful way to begin my week! Even a rainy, cloudy, likely to ruin an eclipse kind of day! But I am not going to worry about a potentially obscured eclipse, instead I will keep myself grounded in this Monday… with Mourning Doves and slow stitching!

Happy Monday everyone!

Thoughts for a Monday | 2.7.22

Thoughts for a Monday | 2.7.22

We are just one week into February… how then does it feel like that week had way more than 7 days. Is it just me or does it feel like it should be the 17th of February?

I don’t think this bodes well for the remainder of my month! Haha!

What have I been doing in the past seven days? Hmmm, if productivity equals time… then in reality it should only be the second or third! Sigh.

What I have been doing is lots of thinking about Full and it’s Opposites (my list currently has the following: lacking, empty, inadequate, wanting, and incomplete.) And that last word has really been getting a work out.

Some years ago, I did a Year Long Stitching project and I loved every minute of it. I did not have a pattern, no charts, no direction… except my own. And for as much as I loved that project… it is incomplete. I stitched, I washed, I dried, and I readied them to be assembled… and they are *still* waiting exactly where I put them.

But I loved stitching so much, I thought that perhaps doing *more* stitching would help inspire me. So I signed up for a 100 Day Poject and I stitched for 100 days. And that has likewise sat, tucked away in my stitching basket.

Above you can see the “top half” of the 100 Day Project… this is the “bottom half”

Perhaps you can see where this is going. My thinking has turned back to stitching… it is a thing I miss… lots. I have tried to do cross stitch and it just does not bring the same joy… nor does it spark the same creativity. And in the past few days I have been looking at that 100 Day Project… and it seems…. lacking… unfinished… incomplete. (Exactly like the Year Long Stitching Project!)

As soon as I am done with my Super Secret Test Knit, I am pulling out both projects and plan to fill some of the moments from my week with them. I have an idea of what I want for the Year of Stitching… I just need to begin the work to complete them!

And it brings me great joy to think about filling in that incomplete 100 Day Project!

And those are the thoughts filling my brain on this cold, but very sunny Monday morning! What about you? What is filling your head right now!

See you all back here on Wednesday for some Unraveling!

 

Monday Endings

Monday Endings

Sometimes Monday’s are for endings…

Today is the 89th and final day of winter and I will complete my last bit of stitching in Winter later today.

I knit like the wind this weekend and today will bring me to the end of the first skein in my Clauranach.

And, it is the end of March Madness for 48 basketball teams, some quite unexpectedly.

Here is to a brief but spectacular Monday! Or, one that ends quickly and without drama!

 

My Year of Stitching

My Year of Stitching

December 31st, I completed my last stitching, in the last month of my year long project. I have to confess, it was most bittersweet. I felt both an incredible sense of accomplishment coupled with an intense melancholy at the ending of this epic project.

Yesterday morning I began the process of steaming each sampler, readying them for assembly in their final destination of 3 separate wall-hangings.

I apologize in advance for this photo heavy post, but here is my Year of Stitching in review:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Which brings me to this year’s project… I began this on the first day of winter, December 21, and my idea was to do a square each day. But, it was lacking… so much. In my review of last years pieces, I was reminded how much I like the puzzle-like quality of some of the pieces best of all. BUT, rather than take out the stitching I had started, my idea will be to work this in by stitching around it. The past two days have seen this addition, and what better than two days of crazy clear blue skies and sunshine! After yesterday’s running stitches, I felt a sense of ease and rightness come over me and I knew I was on the right path. The other thing I am going to give myself some leeway on this year will be the option to stitch for longer than 15-20 minutes. This also feels very good and really just makes sense to me. After all, I am much more comfortable with the stitching process than I was at this time last year. So, less fussing and more stitching.

As always, if you want to start your own year long stitching project, I would be happy to help you get started! Just leave a comment and I will help you begin!

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