Summing up

Hope you all had a great time with family and friends this festive season! Wishing you a great 2013!!!

 

A final post for this year : oops let me see:

 

This year has been very little stitching, very little blogging and very little blog-hopping. The one thing i did good was in reading, and i read 22 books this year (had read 36 last year though). But having totally lost my read-while-commuting time since March this year, i had not expected i would cross the 20-book mark. Also i picked, 'And the Ladies of the Club' for my 23rd and this is sip-while-you-read book. So between relishing what is written and deep-breathing with the book close to me and similar activities, i am not yet done. Nevertheless i am enjoying the book

 

This year i have only finished two projects, one of them a quick SAL hosted by http://manka-sal.blogspot.in/ which i made into a pouch, and the Heart Note Alley which was a SAL in the yahoo group Sticklounge. Yes, these are the only two projects i have finished. If you look at the sidebar, you will see i have not started any new projects. At the moment i have 3 open projects, and i am doing them one at a time. While i finished HNA, there was no way i could take up Lilies as Lilies that extra time, that extra love, that extra intention which i was unable to muster at 10pm any night. This year my sleep time in the morning has cut down so much that my batteries are near-down in the night. So sadly, i had to park Lilies

 

Between Adriana and Frederick the Literate, i chose the latter to tie it up with my son's 5th birthday. My diary where i used to write these things says I had started stitching this in August 2008 - when T was 5 months!! So well to finish it by his 5th birtday was an easy decision. I now have the top and bottom shelves to stitch, i am currently in the 5th of 9 rows of the bottom shelf.

 

I am NOT going to get into a high with starting a new project or set of projects. Once i finish Freddie, i might take up one of the kiddie projects and then rotate between that and Adriana (i have only one part to finish in this 6-part SAL). I am really not thinking of Lilies for this year, but if i can sniff that extra something, i will definitely start with page 16:)

 

Blogging and blog-hopping - something tells me i might get more time, and i hope so too. Let me see

2012 if i have to sum up has been a personal low for me, although things do look brighter than when i started the year. I consider it human to hope, but hope has crumbled far too many times this year so i have been cautious even to dream. In all this, all time spent with my son and for my son has been priceless.

 

I really really thank my viewers and followers, especially those who leave a comment. I know the comments have dipped down further and i know it is because my comments on other blogs has been minimal. I hope to set that right this year.

 

(BTW i am 'lost' when it comes to followers - i cant even see who my followers are - is this the case with you all?)

 

Wishing you all a great year!!

 

2010 Outlook

The new year is going to have a couple of changes for me. From what i can see, i will have lot of time to read, and there is opportunity to listen to music as well. Stitch-wise, i will continue with my current WIPs (to begin with), and add one short SAL.

The changes have come because of my husband working from a different office - while the method of conveyance will fall into shape in another month or so - the point is i will get the commute time to myself (to put it positively), the afternoon visit home and back will give me a good platform for my reading. The first read of the year is Tara Road. For the classics i have picked Dickens (David Copperfield) and Louisa Alcott (Little Men). I also have One Day by Indian Author Ardashir Vakil. I will figure the rest out as we go. This art pic i found while googling suits me well to depict my reading, although we could do without the framing:)

Moving on, I have an ipod that we bought wayback in 2006 that i have barely used. So the plan is to listen to music on my way back home in the evening. The past couple of days when the workload was far from hectic - what i mean is workload was leaner than lean, LOL; i have uploaded some Indian Classical music onto my iPod. There is still some pending. Once done, i will then get a mix of Western/Indian melodies/ragas awaiting to bring music to my ears, literally.

Stitch-wise, i will continue with my WIPs. I have also recently joined the German Marquoir group in Yahoo, i would be joining a short SAL in their group. That might push my current weekend projects by a month or two. I am telling myself that is fine. Now that i have dealt with that!!, here is some more: As you can see here, i have finished a GOOD chunk of Alla Turca, which is why that seems to be the most promising of my current WIPs to reach the finishing line first:) I have this quickie kit that i won from Janet ( from SMO BB). Once i finish AT, the plan is to pick this quickie stitchy-themed project:) I also have couple of gift items to work on that are taking shape in my mind, but will not talk about them right now.

The past week has also given me more time with my son. He is a darling, and is in parrot mode these days, repeating whatever we say. I call him Toto, and it is cute listening to him parroting Toto:) Hugs to him, and hugs to you all...

Project Plan, *giggle*

Yes, an attempt at a plan to redefine my WIPs. Let me first list the projects in the order in which i started them.

• Frederick the Literate
• Monet Water Lilies
• Boink
• OHD January SAL
• 3 taking the same slot are Monopoly, SMO SAL, and Alla Turca
  

Prepping the last 3:

Monopoly - While it has been at least half a year since i have got the Monopoly chart, i have not yet started it. I had some 18count fabric which barely crossed the required design area:( Good news!! is that i have now received the right-sized 18ct Aida. I have done the DMC to Anchor conversion, and it looks like i will need at least some floss from abroad. Once the locally available floss is with me, I can get started with this. Woohoo!!

Alla Turca - It has been probably two weeks since i joined the Stitchers Heaven SAL. I am thinking i will go with either Anchor 873 or Anchor 150, and 14count.

SMO SAL - I will first have to see which colors from my floss collection will work, and then get myself floss-ready locally as i do not think i have all the colors with me. I will try my best to
manage with the available floss.

And now comes the grand update, with more than a bit of background!

1. I have finished more than 50% of Freddie, but have not touched the project since Jan 1st 2009. I miss him, to be honest. This is how i left him, end of 2008

2. All nights and all weekends of 2009 i was doing the Water lilies till i realised i will end up a frustrated person, as there will no project finished and hence no feeling of accomplishment to in turn incentivise me to finish some more!!

3. So, i gradually took my weekends (daytime only) off WL, and that is how in February i started the soothing, mesmerising Boink and then took up OHD January SAL too

4. I have now realised that one page of WL takes me about a month and a half (nights only) to finish. From this, i figured i could take up Freddie once a WL page is completed and till the end of the 'month' which is then cue for the next WL page to be taken up. Oh no, i am not disliking WL, the blues there take me into a dream land. I love whatever has come in the lily pond so far. The point is, I figured, i need a break every now and then if only to improve my productivity, lol. This is progress pic, as of 31st March. I take pics mid-month and on end of the month. 5. Now the Monopoly group have their Monopoly Monday theme. Sounds fun to me:) Now that i have received my fabric, and should get most of my floss by the end of this week, I can soon get going here!

6. Looks like i have covered my nights. For the Boink, OHD SAL, SMO SAL, and Alla Turca the best way to slot them will be to round robin them every weekend day time. Till SS and AT are both prepped up, i get to toggle between Boink and OS.

Sounds like a plan just emerged, eh! The risk piece here is will i get enough time every other month for Freddie? If no then i should probably alternate a Monopoly Monday with a Friday
Freddie. Let me see, how it works.