2008 Stitching Goals Update -- July 5, 2008

I posted a list of 2008 stitching goals last January and since June has just ended I thought I would see how I was doing. You can read detailed descriptions of each of the original projects in my rotation on my January 3, 2008 post at;
http://cyns-stitches.blogspot.com/2008/05/2008-stitching-goals-january-3-2008.html

One of the first things I did was shortly after starting my rotation I decided to redo my categories of projects. Instead of rotating between specific projects I created categories of types of projects. I found that I had too many large projects and my original rotation system wasn’t working.

1. Large Project: “Holiday Patches” by Susan Krendt
Status: 13 of 24 squares completed.
3 squares are almost completed.

This is a wonderful piece that I started as a class at the ANG Baltimore Seminar in August,
2007. You can still the piece on ANG’s website at;
http://www.needlepoint.org/Seminar-07/classes/4day/42711.php

2. Medium Project #2: “Candy Swirl Santa” by Janet Zickler Casey
Status: Face is done and working on hat.
http://www.jzcdesigns.com/candy%20swirl%20santa.htm

ANG Auction Project A Collection of Design’s “Pumpkin Boy”
Status: Completed!

Medium Project: “North Star Santa” by Janet Zickler Casey
Status: Completed!
http://www.jzcdesigns.com/north%20star%20santa.htm

3. Small Project: April, 2008 Canvas of the Month Club
“Peppermint Stripes” stocking by Joan Lohr
Status: Started body of Stocking.

Canvas of the Month Club – July 2004
“Santa” by Cheryl Schaeffer for Rainbow Gallery
Status: I stopped working on this project as I misread the directions and used the wrong fiber
for the wrong section. I ordered more fiber but had to wait till it arrived. I’ll put this
back in the rotation to finish this project this summer.

Canvas of the Month Club – January, 2008
“Medallions” by Joan Lohr for Rainbow Gallery
Status: Completed!

Canvas of the Month Club – October, 2004
“Hearts for the Holidays” by Joan Lohr for Rainbow Gallery
Status: Completed!

Canvas of the Month Club – February, 2008
“Christmas Fantasy” by David McCaskill for Rainbow Gallery
Status: Completed!

Canvas of the Month Club – August, 2004
“O’ Tannenbaum” by Beth Robertson and Suzanne Howren of Shear Creations for Rainbow
Gallery.
Status: Completed!

Canvas of the Month Club – March, 2008
“Tiny Treasures” was designed by Cathy Lyon and Marian Morton for Rainbow Gallery
Status: Completed!

4. Community Stitching (Charity)/Teaching Needlework
This category is for community (charity) stitching. I’ve also added into this category the time
I spend on preparing and teaching needlework to children and teens. This also includes the
time that I spend organizing needlework kits that are used to teach needlework at different
events.
Status: Replenished Needlepoint Magnets & Cross Stitch kits.
Need to restock supplies for above kits.
Need to prepare for August camp-in event.

5. Organizing Needlework Stash
Status: Lot’s of progress.
Three boxes have been shipped to be sold on eBay.
Lot’s of canvases have been sorted and inventoried.
Lot’s of fibers have been sorted and inventoried.
Lot’s more to do!

6. Household Stitching
This is misc. stitching such as repairing household items and sewing on scouting patches. The
biggest challenge for me is to keep up with the scouting patches, especially since they receive
a bunch that they’ve earned in the previous months all at one time! :-)
Status: Kept up with those received since January, 2008.
Need to sew on the ones that they received at the end of the year or at the last Court
of Awards/Honor.

7. Beaded Project: “Moonlight Ghost” (2008) MH188205
Status: Have stitched three colors. About 1/3 - ½ done.

8. Gift Stitching
These are needlework gifts for family members. The challenge is to find time to stitch on
them when the respective family member is not at home. I recently reorganized how I store
these projects so it’s much easier to pull them out and work on them. I’m taking pictures as I
work and I’ll share them with everyone in January, 2009.

Daughter’s Christmas Ornament
Status: I’ve made some progress on this project but progress is slow as I can’t stitch while
she’s home. She will be going away soon for several weeks so I expect to make a lot
of progress while she’s gone.

Husband’s Christmas Ornament
Status: I’ve made some progress on this project but progress has been slow. I can stitch on
this while he’s home but I just haven’t had time and I need to concentrate on dear
daughter’s as she will come by to see what I’m working on. I can stitch in front of my
husband him and he wouldn’t probably notice what I’m working on where my
daughter will notice. LOL

Son’s Christmas Ornament
Status: I’ve made some progress on this project but progress has been slow.
Dear son will be going to camp and I’ll concentrate on his ornament while he’s gone.

9. Cross Stitch
I decided to add a cross stitch project to my rotation as I enjoy doing cross stitch and I have
lot’s and I do mean lot’s of projects in my stash!
Status: Current project is half done. Picture to be shared on next bi-weekly update.

10. Travel Piece
Barbara Fox’s “Noel Star”
Status: A little bit of progress since January, 2008.
I’m doing the background in basket weave so this is my “I’m too tired to think or traveling
piece”. I haven’t been traveling so this piece hasn’t been worked on much since
January, 2008.

11. Random Project
I decided to add this category as just sometimes I need to shake things up a bit! The pieces
in this category will be worked on for brief periods until they go back to wait their turn for
the above categories!

12. Almost Done Works in Progress
As I’m organizing my stash, I’m finding lot’s of projects that for one reason or another I set
aside when they were almost completed or at least they are 90% done. I’m going to add
another category to my rotation so that I can start completing these projects. The projects
that are placed in this category will only take one to two hours to complete. Or at least that’s
what I’ll estimate that they’ll need! :-)

“A Collection of Designs” Firecracker Cookie
Status: I set this project aside as I didn’t like the fiber that I selected for the medium blue.
I’ve picked out new possibilities for the medium blue. Once I solve this problem, I expect
that this project will work up in about one to two hours.

Unfinished Objects (UFO’s) or Projects in Waiting (PIW’s)

Listed below are the projects that I wanted to complete when I created my original list in January, 2008. They’ll be added to the categories listed above when a previous project has been completed.

1. My Son’s Strictly Christmas Stocking
Status: No progress since January, 2008.

2. “Heartstrings Chimney Santa”
Status: No progress since January, 2008.

3. “Cobblefield Road” Cyber Workshop
Status: No progress since January, 2008.

I’m very pleased with the progress that I’ve made in the first six months of 2008. I’m especially with how I am organizing my needlework projects, rotation, and supplies. This has helped to clean up the stitching area and has made it a lot easier to pick up a project when I have time. I’ve also enjoyed finding many projects that quite frankly, I forgot that I had. I’ve finished the stitching on many of these projects but I’ve also found a lot of projects that I set aside for one reason or another that won’t take too much time to finish.

My completion status is:
Medium Projects: 2
Small Projects: 5

I’m quite pleased with the projects that I’ve completed so far this year and I’m looking forward to completing many more projects in the second half of 2008!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my progress and my rotation. Thank you for visiting my blog and I enjoy reading your comments!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow