July WIPocalypse

 Well it is WIPocalypse time, hosted by Measi@Measi'sMusings. The question of the month is:

What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece?

Well, first I must admit that I have no self control when it comes to starting new pieces. The more time I spend rolling in my stash, the more likely I am to start a new kit. So the first step is to stay out of my stash and off the internet, because there's always something new to buy and work on. Budgeting crafty money also helps prevent new starts. The second is that I drop a project when it gets boring or frustrating - and so I typically pick it back up a few months later when it is no longer boring. (I have a friend who is disciplined enough to finish each project before she starts another one. Extra brownie points to her!) If it is still frustrating when I get back to it, it will probably never get completed because I believe that working on projects I don't like is a waste of valuable crafty time. I have no set rotation and work on what I am interested in at the time. I've heard some people refer to this as a "Screaming Rotation" - whichever project screams the loudest gets worked on.

I do have a couple small updates. I finally took Library Kittens back to work with me and was able to get a little done this week on my lunch breaks. Most of the progress you see happened a few months ago but some tiny bits happened this week.

Before

As of 07/31/2015

Rather than carry Library Kittens back and forth, I'm just going to leave it in my desk so that it is handy when I have time at lunch (i.e., not using my lunch break to run errands).

Although I haven't touched Fall Fairy since last weekend, here she is again. I was able to get quite a bit done over the weekend. Page one is filling in nicely and starting to bleed over into the other pages.

Before

As of 7/31/2015

 On my way home today, I stopped to buy a frame for Butterfly Profusion, which is at an awkward 11x11 finished size. There are no mass manufactured frames in 14 x 14. The best option was 12 x 12 but there aren't any mats to fit. I asked the lady there how much it would cost to just have a custom built frame and I would do the stretching and framing myself and it was MORE expensive to frame it myself than pay them for the framing also.

Long story short, I walked out without a frame and with no intention of paying ten times (and that's at 65% off!!!!) what the kit initially cost. My next option is to call some local needlework shops and see if they can recommend a good framer in the area. I would rather have some someone who specializes in stitchery do the framing or do it myself if I can purchase an affordable frame.