A Bit of a Setback

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A few days ago I finished the border of Peacock Tapestry and snapped some photos. But before I could upload them, we had a bit of a disaster. Not with my cross stitch, thank goodness, but with the computer. Mental note: never, ever give your 3 year old a bottle of water to drink near the laptop. My kids are allowed to play on the computer, but drinks are a big no-no. On this busy night, however, I was washing dishes and my 8 year old son wanted a glass of juice. It was right before bed, so I only got him a small cup. My daughter asked for water, and it HAD to be in a plastic water bottle, not a sippy cup. She made that very clear. I told both of them, like always, “DO NOT SPILL!” While I was in the kitchen, the unthinkable happened. My son put his cup down next to the computer, with some juice still in it. My daughter, wanting to be just like him, did the same with her water. Everything was fine for a while, but then it happened. My daughter went to reach for something and knocked both beverages over. The juice went all over the coffee table and under the laptop, and the water went all over the keyboard. I quickly mopped up what I could, then turned the laptop upside down and put some paper towels inbetween the keyboard and screen. I also took the battery out. The next day the paper towels were wet, so I replaced them. When they stayed dry, I decided to try a reboot. The good news is, it rebooted no problem. The bad news is, the keyboard didn’t work. So I couldn’t even get past the password screen. I let it dry out another day, and tried again. This time a few keys worked, but most still did not. It has now been another day, and I think the keyboard is definitely fried. Fortunately, we had a wireless keyboard that was hooked up to the Wii (one of those things my husband HAD to have, but no one ever uses). I plugged that into the laptop and… nothing. It had been a while since it was last used, so I thought maybe the batteries were just dead. Thanks to all of my kids’ electronic toys, we had plenty of new batteries to choose from. Sure enough, that got the keyboard working. And now I can type on my laptop once again. It’s a bit of a pain, but at least the computer itself works and I don’t have to worry about all of my documents being gone forever. And now, without further ado, the finished Peacock Tapestry (well, the outer border, anyway).

XXX
Carrie


I think I can, I think I can…

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Here is the latest on the Peacock Tapestry. The border is so close to being done! If I can just get in one (maybe two) good stitching sessions I will be able to pack this away for a while.

I’m so bummed; I can’t find the progress photos I took of this project when I first started it. I know they are on my computer somewhere, but I have no idea when I started this project (it could have been 4 years ago, it could have been 7 or 8, I have no idea). If I find them, I will add them here, but I don’t think I will be able to find them anytime soon, unfortunately.

[Update: April 30, 2013: I found the photos! And they have been posted here according to their proper dates. I started this in April 2011. Not as long ago as I thought!]

XXX
Carrie


How Many Is Too Many?

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Recently I was doing a Google Images search for the Peacock Tapestry, to see if anyone had actually completed it. I found the website of a gal who was working on it, as well as other projects. 50, to be exact. Yes, she had fifty projects all going at one time. I couldn’t believe it! And these were not small projects, either. They were all masterpieces, like the Peacock Tapestry. She said that she has 50 WIPs all at once, and she spends ten hours on each one before moving on to the next. And she has an order in which they are worked on (a rotation, as she calls it). Wow. I could never be that disciplined. I actually think if I had to stick to those rules, I would find stitching becomes a chore instead of the relaxing, enjoyable hobby that it is. What do you think? Could you force yourself to work for ten hours on a project, then put it away and know you couldn’t work on it again until you had stitched 49 other pieces for ten hours each? Not me! I have just one or two days left of stitching on the border of the Peacock Tapestry and then I will put it away for a while, but I will certainly get it out again whenever the mood strikes. The best part about stitching is that it is ME time, and when I have ME time I want to do whatever I want!

XXX
Carrie


More Progress

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Today’s Peacock Tapestry progress:

Note that the borders do not have the beads or gold threads done yet; those will be the very last thing in the project. I have seen other people’s WIP of this chart and they do the beads as they go along. There is no way my Q Snaps would work on a project that had beads in it, and I don’t want to be snagging them on anything either. So I do them last.

XXX
Carrie


Happy Valentine’s Day!

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I don’t do much for this holiday. I don’t decorate the house, and I might make some pink heart cookies or something, but only if my son needs to take them to school for his party! My husband and I don’t even get each other cards or gifts. After being together for 16 years, we don’t need one certain day a year to know how we feel about each other. But, there is one thing I am looking forward to – an evening of uninterrupted stitching! This is always my wish for my birthday and Mother’s Day, as well. On those days I don’t want to cook or clean, or be the one who has to discipline the kids. All I want is a quiet house with hours and hours of stitching time, just for me. Because let’s face it, on a normal day I don’t get that!

The Peacock Tapestry is coming along, but it is going to take FOREVER! I give myself about 3 years on this one. I have two of the corner blocks done, with two to go. I have the top border row done, as well as almost half of one side, and more than 3/4 of the other side. So that leaves the bottom row, 1/4 of one side, and half of the other side. And that is just for the border stripes! All four sides of the border have to be filled in with a floral design. Then the entire set of stripes has to be backstitched, beads have to be added, and gold metallic threads have to be criss-crossed through. All of that has to be done at the very end, though. The border alone will be one of the most intricate and time-consuming pieces I have ever done. The peacock itself, which fills the entire inside of the frame, will be an enormous challenge in itself. But I am determined to finish this, no matter how long it takes. I think I will have to take breaks from this project so that I don’t get bored or overwhelmed. I am going to try to at least get the corner blocks and border stripes done before I pack it away for a while. Then Adrienne’s Christmas stocking and Jim’s wooded deer project will have to be brought back out. So much stitching, so little time…

XXX
Carrie


Too many projects

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In the last few days, numerous cross stitch magazines have come into my mailbox. The World of Cross Stitching is a wonderful British publication. It always has at least one free gift (usually a kit) and sometimes a free chart too. Just Cross Stitch is my favorite American magazine. I also subscribe to Cross Stitch & Needlework and Sampler & Antique Needlework. All of these came in the mail within a few days of each other, and I also received notice that the latest issue of Cross Stitch Crazy (which I subscribe to as an iPad edition) was ready to download. I LOVE my stitching magazines. I also receive hard copies of Cross Stitch Gold (British) and the  iPad edition of Cross Stitch Collection (also British). Then there are the hundreds of magazines I have picked up at garage sales, thrift stores, or eBay. And then of course, there are the leaflets and books… If I live to be 1,000 I will never be able to complete all of the projects that I have. But yet I can’t seem to part with any of them. You never know when you might need something! In this latest issue of Just Cross Stitch there is a gorgeous Christmas pattern that features three ornaments stitched in jewel tones, complete with metallic threads. They are shown hanging from an elegant black wrought iron hanger. This design immediately caught my attention, and I wanted to stitch it. But in the end I decided that my stash is taking over, and something has to be done. I am not going to get rid of any of my precious magazines or charts, but something has to be done about the projects I have started and not completed. My daughter is 3 and still doesn’t have her Christmas stocking done. I started a pretty picture of hummingbirds and flowers while on vacation a year and a half ago and it has sat in a drawer since I returned. Theresa Wentlzer’s Peacock Tapestry is so huge that it will probably never get finished. The woodland deer pattern was only started a few months ago, but I tired of all the drab colors and needed a break from it. And the backstitched vareigated heart was a magazine project that I started while on vacation this past summer. The chart ended up being too hard to follow, so I decided to photocopy it when I got home, so that I could mark it up as I went along and not ruin my magazine. But that never happened. I am going to take stock of all of my UFOs and as soon as Autumn Leaves is finished, start one one of them. My goal is to not start ANY new projects until they are all done (with the exception of the Peacock Tapestry, which could take years).  My goal is probably unrealistic, but we’ll see how it goes! At any rate, going through my stash to see what I have should be fun.

XXX
Carrie