Stock Taking

warning: a very long post

So another year is taking leave of us... It is time to appraise what has happened in the year past... This being a stitchy blog, i will obviously write about the year wrt to my hobbies, my favorite pastimes, my oddities:)

Not sure if i can pack them in a neat stack, all that i write will be peeling out of my memory ... and then i might nudge them into a bit of primness.

First of course on the stitchy front - the main course of this blog: I have completed 9 projects this year, some of which were carried forward from '09. I had worked on smalls this year, which is why my number is looking respectable (when i say respectable, i mean to me). I had made the heart humbug for my husband - this was to be hanging behind the rearview mirror, but it has not reached there yet. For days (and months) the humbug rested on his shirts in his closet. And then when it looked to be a permanent fixture there, i decided to 'move' it along with the biscornu (i made for him in '09), so they are both now lying in my closet. The humbug was a February gift to him when he (we?) got our second car. So when July came, i decided a non-stitchy thing will be apt for a birthday gift... Only stitchy gifts might not be a good idea, or so i thought.

So minutes after i went upstairs, to prop up the gift on our bed, he was right behind me. Now something in me said, he was anticipating a stitchy gift (oops). So 2011, i need to think of a stitchy gift for him. My thinking caps are on. I need to go into my skin and his skin to understand what will be most appropriate.

Till about half-way this year, i was able to use Paypal, so stash enhancement happened and my stash piled up more and some more. But then the Reserve Bank of India disallowed the use of Paypal, so any kind of online stash buying came to a halt. Strangely, it did not frustrate me much. I have stopped going to eBay and any 'For Sale' posts in any message boards are sadly not given much attention. I can only hope that Paypal and eBay meet the guidelines or whatever rules stipulated by RBI.

While there were a couple of biggies completed this year, most of my projects were smalls that i did thanks to Sticklounge, and thanks to bloggers who enabled me to join small SALs. I also took my first exchange project this year. My first bookmark, it was to go to Canada. Another first was my first shipping outside of India. The 'bad' part of the entire project was the delay the bookmark took in reaching Canada. Phew... As it so happens in exchanges, my partner might have imagined (and rightly so as these things do happen) me to be 'one of those' who promise but do not deliver... So as we were deciding on how long we will wait till i start working on the second bookmark for her, she received a mail from Customs from Canada. What a relief that was... It took close to six weeks for the bookmark to reach her. But it reached her, thank God otherwise it would have left a bitter taste for me. After this episode, i have sent 3 parcels to international destinations, two of which i have been updated to have been received. The third, i am presuming has reached the destination, but i am putting the stakes on the fact that the recepient has misplaced my email id, or has still(!!) no idea or cannot place who the sender is! The idea was to surprise them, so i had not contacted them to anticipate a little something in their mail box!

One of the things that bother me so much is the fact that there is not much stitchy glitter in my neck of the woods. So while i do particpate in giveaways, i am not able to hold giveaways with such aplomb. Which is why i have tried knick-knacks to pair up with Anchor floss. Knick-knacks sadly for me, make the customs guys a little too suspicious, and more often than not delay in the parcel reaching the destination is imminent. God, grant me the serenity to accept things that i cannot change...

Oh yeah, talking about giveaways, i won and received my first giveaway from Meari... I received my first pair of scissors as gift from Meari, floss, charts, a magazine, dyed fabric... Meari treated me with love, and i am so happy to have received the same. I also got a huge parcel from my sister - a real real surprise with breath-taking kits, and i am grateful for that! From Melanie (US) i received the Country Friends Calendar chart - a set of Margaret Sherry designs. From Nicki (UK), i received the Popcorn alphabet T. Both i received after registering my wish in the wishlist that comes up every week in the 123MB. I rarely put my wishes there, but there is always some one responding to your wish. Amazing bunch of ladies always so earnest to help. I love this world of stitchers, i feel so good! I am also happy to see my blog is being read, and i receive comments from various corners of the world. I like being made a part of this world. I have to thank you all for that!

Here are pics (received from Melanie and Nicki) I had not blogged about, but i picked them out yesterday to take a snap of:

I am losing continuity here... I just skimmed through whatever i have written. That is quite a lot for you to read... Kind of i am keen to know how many are still reading beyond this point. The only other stitchy comment i think i have missed adding here is that i will have one stitchy project that i will do for my son this year. He is now 2years and close to 9 months old. He has started going to pre-school, and loves it. Adores his Ma'm. He talks about his friends too... The other day as i was cleaning the closet (imagine a Sunday afteroon, a cold Sunday afternoon, where my husband and my in-laws are having their afternoon naps, so Tanishk and i go upstairs to do coloring - so it is quiet downstairs, and i shut the door upstairs so no noise disturbs the nappers. As for my son and me, we are enjoying our time together. Him coloring Winnie, Tigger and Piglet. I do some coloring here and there too. So we give each other company. Then 'we' have our attention diverted - for some time we work on the Alphabet blocks, for sometime the crayons are counted and re-counted. So on and so forth. Oh yes, we also change the bedcover and the pillow covers. Which is what brought me to the closet cleaning. First my husband's. All his Tshirts were neatly arranged, my son gave me company. He brought his coloring book and a couple of crayons and was busy there, i neatly stacked the tshirts. Once that was done, the cleaning obsession kind of hit me (the only time it hit me this year, sheesh) so i approached my closet which had an appearance far worse than what his closet looked like. And it took me longer too. Obviously.

My son - his regular pranky self!

This is where i found 4 table mats - these i had done before the stitching bug hit me:) I still admire how my son 'picked' these out from the mess, and announced they were his. He is going to call his friends home. When? Sunday. 3 Friends. Somehow in his baby boy brain, he and his friend would sit on the table mat. Never mind that. What i hug close to myself is - that he found these special. These special items were his, so he said. I liked that. We even sat together and made cards to decide who sits where. Yes we did! We even pondered if he will invite his Ma'm. His spontaneous answer was no. In response to my, 'Ma'm may feel bad', he did reconsider and decided after all he will invite his Ma'm too.

I have mentioned here about Sunday December 5th. This must give you an idea of how Tanishk and his Mamma spent their time together this year. The Saturdays and the Sundays are our favorite days of spending time together and enjoying every moment.The weekdays of course create their own path, we spend time together once i get back from work - till it is bed time.. so there is play time, dinner and then bed time... At times i carry him as i go through the chores in the kitchen, sometimes he is happy on his own with his Mamma visible in the kitchen.

I love spending time with my son as much as he. I look for ways to do my work around my son.

Well, I now did another round of skimming through this... What i missed saying is the severe back-ache problem that i had in early January. The negative was i had to put off stitching on Lilies for close to two month. The positive was i could read a LOT of books when i was resting. Books were indeed my best performance of the year:) If i continue this way for the remainder of December, i can easily say on an average i have read 3 books each month this year. I read books during my commute only, apart from the January windfall I got for reading. I also cherish the way i which i was able to go to bookstores and buy books. I equally cherish the way my list of books to be read built up this year, and the books i surprised myself with when in a bookstore. While there are over 20 books awaiting to be read, there are close to 30 books in my current list of books to buy!

One of my 3 bookracks

There is hardly any mention of friends here. If that is sounding weird, here is something: Since my work has not got any space here yet, so have my friends not appeared here. There however have been a whole lot of lunch out, amazing amount of gupshups, almost daily phone calls to my parents - my mother especially. Being an introvert, i have had the drawback of being considered snobbish. With my son, that changed. I am now talking to other mothers in the apartments. I have still not been able to enter gossip mode, but there is a good amount of talk that happens!

What i am really happy i did this year is this: For my fathers birthday (he completed 75 years this November), i had a collage of photos made of all of us siblings in our childhood days, and now with our own families. This was professionally done, and was on the expensive side with the frame and all that. This was a surprise to my parents, and they loved it so much. I am happy i was able to give them such a priceless, timeless gift. It also opened a new avenue to them: to talk about this treasure, to decide where to put it, and in fact to do up their drawing room:)

Life really has become like a set of 10 by 10 grids:) with varying cards to deal with: some easy flowing tasks, some tough to manage, some given up to come back to later. That is how therapeutic stiching can get:) Thank you for your patience with me!!