Aging Gracefully....

When I was writing the previous post about Knotgarden, it got me thinking about a couple things.

The great thing about blogging about my needlework and taking pictures along the way is that I can see the progress and keep track of when I started them, etc.   The not-so-great thing is that when I look at how long I've been working on some of them, I start a bit feeling guilty LOL  Just a bit, anyway.

I started both Sleeping Beauty and Knotgarden in May 2009.   To be fair, both have made appreciable progress, and although I'd like to be farther along on them (isn't that ALWAYS the case?), they really are in good shape given how many projects I have going on right now.   They'll get to a point in the next couple months where I'll pull them out and just work on them exclusively to finish them up, like I did with Midsummer Night's Fairy and Mermaid of Atlantis.   

I'm still finishing about four large projects a year, which is about what I'd be doing if I worked on one project at a time.  I can't remember when I last did that though LOL  What can I say - I like the variety.  I get bored with a project if I work on it for too long a period of time, so working on a variety of different projects keeps the creative juices flowing.

As I mentioned, Knotgarden is the first in a new series of Garden Mandalas for me, so there are more "in the pipeline" for those - I have the patterns, but nothing else kitted up right now.   I will definately be doing Watergarden and Alhambra Garden, and then we'll see.   I have not yet decided whether or not I want these framed to match.  Obviously this series is going to be a long-term project, and why not...lol...it took me ten years to complete the last series, the four seasonal Queens by Mirabilia. 

Meeting on the Turret Stairs has been lingering since March 2009.   I've officially dropped it out of rotation, because honestly...the heavy confetti stitching, square after square, is driving me a little nuts right now and taking some of the enjoyment of stitching out of it.   I'm not giving up on the project (although to be honest, I've considered it).  I'm going to try to just work on it a day here and a day there.   I have another Artecy piece that's also a lot of confetti stitching kitted up - Waterhouse's My Sweet Rose, one of my favorite paintings.   I am holding off on starting that until there's an end in site for Meeting.  I really love the effect of these painting reproductions, but I also have to like the process of stitching them..right now, that's not so much the case. 

I started Mirabilia's Royal Holiday last November and haven't worked on it since.  She's yet another Mirabilia so therefor a fairly stress-free project to stitch on.  Obviously Mirabilia is my favorite designer, and they're all a joy to work on.  She's coming up next on rotation after I'm done with Knotgarden at the end of this week.   Unofficially,  Royal Holiday (aka Christmas Queen) is #5 in the seasonal Queens series.  If I finish her before I get the other four queens framed (I want them to all match), I will probably do her at the same time as well (when that time will be...not so sure LOL).

Wood Warblers I was started in January.  There's also a Wood Warblers II, and I plan on doing both pieces.  Because the size of the fabric that I needed for them, it was easier to get a full yard of linen and split lengthwise for both pieces than it was to get anything custom-cut.  I plan on finishing them both off as bellpulls, and hang them flanking either the back door or the fireplace or the like, so it was important to me that the fabric matched - hence, best cut from one piece.  They have some areas of over-1 stitching so I'm working on cashel (28 count) instead of belfast (32 count).   I won't be starting part II until part I is finished. 

There's my two recent starts, Scarlet Ribands and Broadway.   Scarlet Ribands will take some time simply because it's a large project, but it's not hard to work on.   Broadway will also be fairly straightforward as well. 

I'm switching over to carding up all of my floss for my projects.  I had only been doing it for the projects that had a lot of similar colors, but I've decided I would prefer that for all of them.  I had a little fling at the craft store with a good coupon and bought more of the small thread boxes so each project has their own.  It takes a little while to card up the floss, but I'm just doing it as I pick up that project to work on so it's not too big of a deal. 

I have two more projects that I have on the rotation schedule that will be new starts.   You'll have to stay tuned to see what those ones will be :-). 

I've briefly mentioned that I'm getting married in October, so I'm also in the market for a wedding sampler. I'm not a huge sampler fan, so I haven't found one that I really think it special enough yet.  But the hunt continues.  When I do decide on one, that will probably become a priority to do.