I thought I would share my stitching rotation system. I am most definitely a multi-project stitcher for many reasons. I switch between projects mainly because I enjoy stitching on many different projects. Since I work full-time and we are raising two very active teenagers my tiredness factor changes from night to night so it helps to have projects of different levels of complexity. I also find that if I’m working on several different projects, I’m less likely to get distracted by another project or to start feeling overwhelmed with the stash which is saying, “Work on Me”, “No, Work on Me”! :-)
I am fortunate that I can set up most of my projects at our very large oak dining room table. Since the table is so large, I can set up multiple projects at one time and then I just move from chair to chair or slide the project to the corner where I have my floor Ott light. Our house has a fairly open floor plan so by sitting in the dining room, I’m slightly separate from the activities going on in the family room and kitchen but I’m still close enough to be available. I’m also on the way to the rest of the house so everyone can easily stop by if they want to talk to me.
The goal is to work on each one of the 7 categories (gift stitching whenever possible) at least once before repeating that category. I don’t set a time limit or thread goal as my stitching time is not consistent. One night I might be able to stitch for two or more hours, the next night 15 minutes! I hope to accomplish at least the same amount of stitching time or progress in each category before repeating.
Right now my rotation includes the following;
1. Large Project: “Holiday Patches” by Susan Krendt
2. Medium Project: “Candy Swirl Santa” by Janet Zickler Casey
3. Small Project: “Stripes Stocking” by Joan Lohr
This is the April, 2008 Canvas of the Month Club
4. Charity/Teaching Needlework
I’m bouncing between getting materials ready to replenish the Cross Stitch and Needlepoint Magnets kits, developing the embroidery book marks for this August’s older girls camping weekend, and starting to work on “Kiss” pillows for the SanBernardino ANG Chapter.
5. Organizing Needlework Stash
6. Household Stitching
7. Beaded Project: “Moonlight Ghost” (2008) MH188205
8. Gift Stitching
This category is going to be worked on whenever the recipient isn’t home.
I’m going to try to post a weekly/biweekly update for the projects that I’m currently rotating through. Hopefully, this will help me update more often and you’ll be able to see the progress that I’m making. On the weeks where I’ve done less stitching, I’ll post pictures of projects that I’ve stitched over the years.
I’ll also be adding to my rotation the kimono’s designed by Margaret Bendig which are in this year’s issues of Needlepoint Now (http://www.needlepointnow.com/). There are going to be four, one for each of the four seasons. The spring kimono has already been published and the summer kimono, “Summer Lavender Kimono” is in the current issue. These are apx. 5.5” x 5.5” and are just beautiful. My daughter has decided to stitch them as designed while I’ll be changing the colors. Should be lots of fun but we won’t be starting until July or August. She just has too much on her schedule right now.
I’ll also be adding in another project which I can share with everyone in June/July, 2008. Janet Perry of “Nuts About Needlepoint” (http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/) asked me to participate in a Bargello Challenge. More on this later.
Cynthia
Windy Meadow
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3 comments:
Like you I like to have a number of projects on the go and I do try to vary them. When I decided to start a rota I had quite a lot of large projects that were quickly becoming UFOs and I thought a rotation system would change that. I still have a number of large projects on the go and as things get finished I have to add more small projects between them to keep variation there. I do not spend a set amount of time on anything though as I feel this is my hobby and therefore something to enjoy and if I am not enjoying something then it doesnt get long spent on it. It still grows and will be a finish one day.
I used to be a one project kind of girl, which does not mean that I did not have many projects started, but it was more of my starting working on a project and then putting it on the shelf for sometimes quite a long time while I was working exclusively on another one, but recently I have decided to really give it a go at truly rotating projects and I think that I may be out of control with this (ROFL).
I am starting to have a bit too many rotations going on (getting dizzy) and projects are piling up screaming for my attention and me telling them to keep quiet until I can get back to them.
I must say though that it is fun to rotate projects. Whenever I am starting to run out of steam with a particular one, I just switch to another one. I also like to vary stitching techniques. They say variety is the spice of life, so my life must be quite spicy these days :-)
By the way, I had a good laugh imagining you getting up from your chair and moving to another one when you were doing your rotation, something that would be an impossibility in my case as there is no other chair to move to in my rather small stitching room/office at home.
Looking forward to seeing photos of all your rotating projects.
Pierrette =^..^=
That's one of the many things I love about stitching - that you're doing your own thing, but are still available. You can talk and stitch at the same time, something you can't do with reading etc. It's both a solitary and sociable hobby.=)
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