No Stitch for Miss Stitch

I didn't necessarily intend to take a break from the project today, but I have not stitched one bit!

Granted, I spent the first eight hours doing more orientation at my new job (today we did aggression management training! I now feel fairly confident to get out of just about any choke-hold), but something else kept me from keeping up with the project once I got home: The tetanus shot.

It was my final vaccination and fifth stick of a needle in a week. That's more than I have had in years. (I only cried once: after the flu shot.) The aide sent me home with several Tylenol, stressing the importance of taking one every four hours. Well, despite my compliance, my stitching arm has been sore and achy ever since. It's actually pretty uncomfortable, so rather than putting myself through the agony of stitching on an arm full of nasty-bits that my body is learning to fight off, I plan to sleep it off and give it a go tomorrow!

Till then!

Pressing Forward!

Above is the progress from the last two days.

It's still not where I feel like I should be for the end of the month (read: original due date), but it's what I have accomplished.

Of course I won't quit. That's not even an option. I realize though that asking for a second extension isn't an option either.

So with that, I'll post this and get back to work!

Someone Give Me a Towel.

Oh Man...I am in trouble now. At least I feel very much in trouble. Yesterday, in an effort to gain some real ground and reach the 'edge', like I mentioned in my previous entry, I really screwed things up.

I still can't figure out exactly how I got so off, but somehow I did. Two hours of my time yesterday went quickly down the toilet. I still haven't reached the edge because I had to undo it all. We're talking counting-off, not just color-off. I've made color mistakes earlier on and they've simply been a matter of trading colors. When I get three rows, two columns off and I can see that there's just no way of getting things to line up, that's when I feel really messed up.

I want to throw in the towel. I have other things to do with my time and it's taking a lot of courage to not give up.

So I Forgot How to Count.

I'm deliriously tired as I type and I can't open my eyes all the way, but I just have to share that I came SO CLOSE to reaching the edge of the cross-stitch today. I would have done it had I not miscounted by one row and had to use my last ounce of energy undoing the mess I had made.

Sure, it means that tomorrow I'll reach the edge and I'll take a picture and it will be great, but still! It could have been tonight if I hadn't forgotten how to count.

I'm starting to feel the pressure that the end of the month is bringing. Once February hits, I'm into "extension time" and each day will be one day later than I initially promised its completion. I never turned in homework late in school, but this feels a little like how it would feel if I had.

On a happier note, our anniversary was splendid and I didn't touch the project all day! I thought about it, but I didn't touch it. We went out for sushi--one of my favorite gastronomic indulgences--and it was spectacular.

And now--to bed.

Cross Stitch Lady Writes Again

Total Hours Spent a-Stitching: 2 hours, 30 minutes

I started a new job today, so my stitching didn't happen until late tonight. The job seems great and I hardly thought about the cross-stitch while I sat through eight hours of orientation (meaning rapid-fire presentations on health insurance, customer service values, and diversity training separated by a tour of the fitness center and free sandwiches).

Well...I did think about how much I could accomplish if only I could stitch AND listen to the customer service video called "Give 'em the Pickle!", but that wasn't possible. I did well for the time I had today. The puppy's really fleshing out.

Plus, as I was uploading this photograph, I heard from Cross Stitch Lady again.

"Just checking as to how the project is coming along!"

:) Cross Stitch Lady

I wrote her back and thanked her for the extension.

Tomorrow is my husband's and my first anniversary! We're both working tomorrow and plan to go out for sushi tomorrow night. So...I may take a day off from the old stitcheroo and toast to a wonderful first year of marriage!

Look! A Puppy is Emerging

Total Time Spent Stitching: 5 hours, 15 minutes.

What a difference today! Whereas yesterday I was hunting and pecking for any tiny empty hole to fill, today I had a practically clean slate with the pattern calling for nice easy blocks of color. So even though I spent over five hours steadily stitching to yield only two and half square inches of covered canvas, I had a renewed sense of fun and purpose in this project.

It's more fun to stitch blocks of color. It just is. And look! A tiny puppy dog is beginning to emerge!

I Did It.

Total Time Spent on the Cross-Stitch: All the live-long day.

Seriously. I began at nine this morning and worked all day long. I didn't take a break to vacuum, I had to force myself to stop and eat and still it took me until 1:15 a.m. to finish the inside of that darn hoop. I'm telling you: I could have taken a lot of short cuts towards the end and believe me, I wanted to, but I didn't want to compromise my personal integrity on a few lazily-placed stitches. Plus, I have a feeling that this is a lady who knows her cross-stitch. She would take one look at the little boy on his knees and see a miss-placed Cinnamon Beige. After all I'm already pouring into this, I want it to be as good as it can be.

The hoop is now realigned to work on the second fifth of the project. I was so excited to move the hoop to a new place that I forgot to take a picture of the freshly finished inner-circle. It looks just like the example to the right, amazingly enough.

I'm going to bed.

I'm Shedding Threads

I'm noticing tiny shreds of thread in places I never thought possible. One inch, sometimes even two inch strands of Rye Beige, Savannah Gold, and Anthracite Gray have found homes in places such as my hair, hoodie pockets, and once even between my toes.

Yesterday I took a break from stitching to vacuum. Meaning: to vacuum these tiny pieces that are slowly starting to take over our house. Our choices of decor colors are becoming confused with pieces of Antique Silver, Gingerbread Brown, and something called "Ecrut" draped over everything. It bugs me almost as much as the dog hair (which isn't bad, but I still like vacuuming it up when I find it.)

I didn't finish the inside of the hoop today. I was in Philly all day and then it was my turn to cook dinner. I made Chicken Curry and it was delicious, but it didn't leave a lot of time to stitch!

I know I keep saying this, but tomorrow will be the day.

Not Quite, but Closer!

Total Time Spent Stitching: 3 hours 10 minutes.

Boy it's going to be a triumphant day when I can finally move this hoop to another section of the pattern. Sheesh. I'm close...SO close. Ugh. Maybe tomorrow. I'll toast to that.

A Picture Update

So here's where we're at today! I put in a couple of hours of stitching time once we got home from a day of auditions in Philly. We unwound to the tune of season two of "The Office," which means I listened and laughed as I focused on the stitching and tried not to lose my place.

Still, my greatest challenge is to finish the inside of this darn circle! At one point during the second episode of the season I cried out, "I'm filling in so many little squares, but there are still so many little squares!" Hm. Maybe tomorrow.

Sometimes I remove myself from the situation and shake my head at myself. I can't believe I'm crying out about little squares on a piece of fabric.

Sweet Relief!

Finally, an update on the extension I asked for a couple of weeks ago! Here's an excerpt from the email response I received from the Cross Stitch Lady herself:

Its looking Awesome!!! Thanks so much! No problem with the extension. Its
still faster than I could have done it.

Your efforts are much appreciated.

-Cross Stitch Lady

(I'm sure you've gathered this, but her name isn't really Cross Stitch Lady. It's a regular name.)

So I have until the end of February to complete this project, which if I do say so myself is beginning to look really promising. This is such a relief to me, since I still haven't finished the inside of the initial hoop. Every day I think I'm going to do it, but by the end of the day those little empty squares leap up at me and remind me that I didn't.

My real challenge now is to use the extra time to the fullest and not relax my pace just because I have time. I start a new job one week from today, which will put a dent in my stitching time. I shall stitch on!

Antique Silver vs. Rye Beige, and a Date with my Seam Ripper

Total Time Spent Last Week: A hour or so here and there.
Total Time Spent Today: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Miss Stitch is back from her vacation and is needing to jump full-swing back into this project. I managed to work for a good chunk this morning, but then I went grocery shopping because we needed milk and picked up our checks because we got paid today and deposited them because we need money and cooked dinner because it's my night.

So I didn't get to work on it much for the rest of the day.

When I did sit down with it, I spent most of the time working on correcting a serious mistake I made yesterday while we were driving the last leg of our journey. Somewhere along the Ohio Turnpike I felt confident enough to get the project out and start a new color. I matched the symbol with the color name and read "Antique Silver." I admit that it sounded a bit too familiar of a name for a color I hadn't used yet, but I shrugged it off thinking I had just noticed it when buying the colors, one month ago yesterday.

I stitched away happily as Andrew drove, and finished all that I could see within the area of the hoop.

This morning, when I sit down to return the remaining thread to its designated plastic bag, I noticed the words "Rye Beige" next to the symbol I'd done yesterday in the car. Antique Silver was just above it, and it was next to a symbol I HAD done before, which is why it was so familiar! I had misread the reference sheet and now had Antique Silver in places it did not belong.

This is a big problem in the teeny tiny world that is this cross stitch. In the actual world that we all live in, Antique Silver vs. Rye Beige is a teeny tiny problem that affects no one else but me. I understand its teeny tiny place in my life. Still, I was a bit reluctant to get out my seam ripper (a newly acquired tool thanks to my mom) and remove all the teeny tiny miss-placed Antique Silvers I'd worked on yesterday. It took me about an hour, and then I followed it up with threading my needle with Rye Beige and filling up all the teeny tiny spaces again.

When it was all said and done, I couldn't deny that Rye Beige did look a lot better there than Antique Silver.

I'm glad to be back. Really, I am.

Family Time!

Total Time Spent: About a half hour during SNL.

I'm having a great time with my family and dear friends! These times are always so precious and it always goes by too fast, so I'm keeping the project near, but I'm not forcing myself to work on it. It will still get finished, but not tonight! (Nor tomorrow.)

The updates will return towards the end of the week!