Stitching Slump

I'm on holiday with my parents right now (I so miss my broadband connection) and have been for almost a week.

In that time I've worked a grand total of about 20 stitches on Alpine Seasons. As much as I love the design, I've realised that at this point in time, I just can't face working on it. In fact, I find myself almost totally lacking in any sort of stitching enthusiasm at all.

I am just so tired. For all that, I'm not sleeping well, which isn't helping. While I'm physically tired, I think I'm even more mentally, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. And I don't really have any idea how to fix that.

I did bring a little kit my sister bought for me when she was in the UK last year (Celtic Horse - on the top row on this page) and I have a nice small cut of Belfast from Silkweaver to stitch it on. It came with white Aida, but these days I never stitch on Aida if I can avoid it and my piece is a lovely marine bluey-green colour while makes the purples pop beautifully. I don't know if I'll stitch any of it, and I'll try not to be hard on myself if I don't, but it's still nice to know I have something with me for if I feel like it.

Marcus will be two tomorrow, a fact I just cannot believe. I know it's true and I'm doing all the birthday things, but there's a part of me that just can't believe it at all. We're having a birthday party today as a lot of his relatives can come today, so I'm looking forward to that, but not the amount of energy I'll need to keep up with him!

Sneek Peek: Preparations for the Day Ahead

This will be one of my February Character Creations releases. It is called Preparations for the Day Ahead and is charted from art by Julie Rose Greig. It was stitched by my wonderful model stitcher, Lyn. Thank you Lyn.

A couple of questions

Should I take Alpine Seasons or Dawn Star on holiday with me?

Are you interested in me posting about what I read as well as what I stitch?

Please let me know.

Doing as I'm told

I had an email from Dave just now, telling me that I haven't updated this blog in too long. Being a good and dutiful wife (here I pause to give Dave time to choke as he reads this), I'm doing as I was told and posting an update.

I haven't got much stitching done since I last posted, which is the main reason for my lack of updates.

After finishing part 6 of Alpine Seasons, I decided to carry on with part 7 for as long as I felt like it. Unfortunately, that wasn't particularly long. I got a small start on the inner border for part 7 and ran out of enthusiasm. It's not that I don't like this design - I love it - but there is just so much in the mountains and trees and I'm short of energy as always, so I can only cope with it in small bites.

There's a photo of what I did get done in the camera. I thought I had to get organised enough to find the USB cable and the camera and download it to the computer, but I find Dave has already done that part, so one moment while I got and process the photo so you can see it too.

As you see, not a lot of progress. But I'll get back to it and I'll do a bit more.

When I put down Alpine Seasons, I picked up Dawn Star.

I had divided my pattern into half pages to work on progressively (I started with full pages, but decided they were a bit big for me and that half would work better). I almost finished the first one last time I stitched on this, but I had been missing some floss. Wonderful Lana from the HAED BB sent me what I was missing, so I have finished up that first half page, which feels very satisfying. I'm one of the people who marks up her pattern as she stitches, so seeing on whole piece of paper all turned green gives me a sense of accomplishment. Beyond that, I haven't had a chance to do a lot more though.

We're going away for two weeks holiday at the weekend, so right now I'm trying to decide if I should take Dawn Star or Alpine Seasons with me. Or both. The problem with the last choice is that I'm afraid if I do that, I'll waste my time trying to decide which to stitch instead of just getting on with the stitching.

In the meantime, while not stitching I've been reading. I'm about 250 pages from the end of Robin Hobb's Ship of Magic, which is good since my book list ([FantasyFavorites]) starts discussing it on Monday. Reading and stitching are my two loves and they constantly vie for my time. I got an order of books today, including the latest from my favourite author (The Final Key by Catherine Asaro), so right now reading has slipped ahead of stitching in clamouring for my attention.

I did it! I did it! I did it!

I have finally finished part 6 of Alpine Seasons. It's taken me five months (to the day in fact, as I discovered when I checked my log), and I'm so pleased about it.



I love this design, but when we got part 6, it had so much stitching in it that it overwhelmed me and I found there was no way I could keep up. Parts 7, 8 and 9 form the rest of the circle of mountains, so there's still a whole lot more stitching just to get that part done.

For now, I'm going on with part 7 for the rest of my stitching week. If I'm still in the mood for this one come next week, I'll probably keep on going.

Naughty but nice

Yesterday, when Marcus finally took a nap, I should have done the same thing. I'm desperate for the sleep. The thing is, when I do that, all I seem to do in my life is sleep, look after Marcus and get in a bit of computer time while he's playing if I'm lucky. (And it's mucking around on the computer time, not serious work time - I need some solitude and a chance to think for that, neither of which I get when Marcus is on a roll.)

So I got out my Alpine Seasons, which has started calling me again, and I sat cross legged on our bed, turned on an audio book (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and stitched. I probably only lasted less than an hour before I was so tired I had to lie down to sleep whether I wanted to or not. But it was WONDERFUL. It was the best 'me time' I've had in a long time. I want to do it again.

I can't do it every day or I'd never get enough of the sleep I need to keep up with life in general and Marcus is specific, but I'll have to try to find the opportunity occasionally.

And if I'm really, really lucky and get some more stitching done this week, I might finally finish part 6 of Alpine. I'm running rater late, but hey, what's five months between friends?

Pitiful Progress

Here's my progress on HAED's Defender of the Kingdom after 4 weeks. Our little boy has been sick over the last couple of weeks, so stitching has been a low priority.



I'd hoped to get a lot more than this done, but it didn't turn out that way. I've been doing some reading when I get a moment instead. That's a lot easier to pick up and put down again at an instant's notice.

My 2006 stitching resolution, is simply to keep stitching and to enjoy it. If I can do that, hopefully I'll stop being stressed about slow progress and enjoy the process.

If I get the opportunity, I'm going to work on Chatelaine's Alpine Seasons this week.