Solo September Fail & October Goals

I wish I could say that I've been so quiet on the blog for the last two weeks because I've been studiously focusing on my Solo September Project but the truth is, I've been able to find time for almost no stitching of any sort since my road trip two weeks ago. I'm in martial arts twice a week now, I took a friend's son to the zoo last weekend, we had birthday party dinners, a Detroit Tiger's baseball game, and now I'm feeling more than a little burnt out. I usually get a little crafting time during the week after dinner, but I've been under orders from my chiropractor to rest my right arm this week (forcing me to practice Modern Arnis left-handed!) and thus, no crochet or cross stitch so far.

As it was, I didn't even make the halfway mark on my Solo September Quilt. The quilting setup had to be taken down just before Badon Hill to do some last minute arrow covers.

I'm feeling tired and lacking in focus. I haven't cleaned anything in the house in the past week, let alone trying to cook anything.  Maybe my stitching bug just took a short hiatus. I hope it comes back soon.

In an effort to get my stitchy bug back, I've joined another Stitch from Stash Group. This one is based loosely on the one I was involved with a couple years ago, but with much simpler and more flexible rules. Its also running on Facebook instead of through blogs and linky parties. Here's a link if you are interested: Stitch from Stash 2017A. I'll be playing along. I've set my budget at $25 per month with the following stipulation: Anything purchased must be for immediate (within the next week or two) use. I'm also starting officially in October instead of waiting until January, but I can tell you that September counts also because this month I spent just $14 on three skeins of yarn, one and a half of which has already been used up and the third has been started.

And finally, I think I do more better at accomplishing things if I have a list of goals. I used to write one of these every month. So here are the things I'd like to do in the next month. I bet you are all getting tired of seeing this photos, but here they are anyway.

1. Finish my quilt.

2. Finish the current skein on my corner to corner blanket.

3. Finish the current skein on the dragon scale blanket (barely started, photo pending).

4. Finish the page on the Princess and the Dragon.

5. FINISH MY CONFESSOR'S DRESS. I have a wedding I'd like to wear this to in a few weeks so it really totally needs to get done. This is going on what, four years pending? Enough already.

6. Finish the crochet hook cases that I started at the beginning of September. One down, three to go.

Okay, I think that's enough for now.

May your stitchy bug be with you.

Road Trip Projects

Last week almost no time was spent on my Solo September Project. You might remember that I picked a quilt this time around. I'm starting to think that was a mistake - I just don't seem to be able to stick with it. Just over a week ago I had to dismantle my quilting set up to stitch up some arrow covers for Jack and I never got it put back together. Yes, I know its not *that* time consuming, but its not easy to get rolling when there's all kinds of set up that has to be done beforehand. Its a little like going to do the dishes and realizing that you still have to empty the dishwasher first.

Granted, very little crafting of any sort was done last week as I had my cousin over to do landscaping on Monday and Tuesday and we left Thursday night for our last Dagorhir Camping Trip of the year - The Battle of Badon Hill XI, hosted by Rome and Wargar.

By Elsea's Photography

I took two projects with me - the blanket I've been working on lately and a new cross stitch silhouette.

The blanket has about 3.5 skeins after this weekend and looks like a watercolor painting. I also discovered that, while its slow, I can crochet this in the dark. Ah, nighttime car rides.

The new cross stitch project is Imagination Unleashed. Colors added by myself, as this was designed to be stitched all in one color and thus, I have NO clue what the end project will actually look like - only my fantasized idealistic mental version of what I want it to look like.

I'm using an assortment of the DMC Color Variations Line from my stocking stuffers last year, and the hand dyed fabric from Silkweaver that I picked up this spring, making this projects a stash buster.

Finally, after getting home last night and unloading the car, I worked a little bit on The Princess and the Dragon while binge watching Blacklist.

I feel like I have a strong chance of finishing this page soon. Realistically, this should have been my Solo September Project. Its been on my stand since August and gets lots of love during TV nights. I would have taken it with me this weekend but its not travel friendly due to the small weave.

Never Forget

Solo September - Finally Started

I honestly debated backing out of this, as I seem to have so much going on right now, but I finally settled in and started my Solo September Project. 

Test patch

 Four blocks down, many to go!

Happy Solo September All!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Here's hoping for some Slow Sunday Stitching sometime later today.

The Princess and the Dragon is on my cross stitch stand.

My new crochet blanket is coming along quite swimmingly. 1 skein down, 11 to go.

We have family photos after church today and my wrist is hurting a bit, so that limits what I can do, but I would like to make a little more progress on either of these, as well as start my Solo September project. Yesterday and Friday were spent cleaning and dejunking the Spare 'Oom and the closets, so I now have a floor area large enough to sandwich the quilt and three bags of old clothes to donate. I have a purple heart pickup scheduled for the upcoming Saturday and I'm hoping to clean out some of the junk in the basement before they get here.

Linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Solo September Start

Before I can actually start Solo September, I have four smaller projects that have deadlines. The first one is 90% done and two of the others are through my embroidery machine. I'll show them all off together when they are completed.

My goal this month is to spend most of it working on quilts. With all the major Dagorhir projects behind us for the moment, I would love to get back into my sewing room and knock out a few WIPs.

Here are the top priorities on my list. The top three are all ones that I want to keep for myself and the bottom one is currently taking up my living room floor, which it why its on the list. The first two just need to be quilted and the last two still have a fair amount of piecing remaining.

I'm also feeling pressure to clean and organize a couple rooms, so that I have space to work on these lovely projects. I will just have to see how the month goes.

So I guess the plan is to get the first quilt actually quilted and then see if I have time for any others! My Solo September Project is my Kaleidoscope quilt :)