This pic shows my progress on HAED Jolly Old Fellow (my only current WIP). I'm part-way through the red (or perhaps more correctly orange) section of his hat. I estimate that I'm about one-third of the way through page 3.
This project has taught me so much about myself, and also changed my stitching habits. I've already admitted discovering that what I thought was a love of stitching is really a love of completing projects. That was a huge revelation to me. In the past 20+ years I stitched one project (or a batch of like little projects such as Christmas ornaments) at a time, finishing each before moving on to the next project. I was just 2 weeks into Jolly Old Fellow when I realised that I would have to make a change to my stitching pattern, or say goodbye to my sanity. So, I resolved to rest Jolly Old Fellow one week each month to allow me to stitch on (and finish!) other things in that week. So far that's working well for me. Next week will be a JOF-free week - my second one. I'm planning to stitch 2 Christmas ornaments and maybe a quilt square.
I've also had to start marking off the symbols on my chart as I stitch. This is something I've never done before, but I was getting into such a state that I thought I'd try it, and it has helped remarkably. I think I'll keep doing it on all my bigger projects. It certainly makes it easier to find my place at the beginning of each new stitching session. I also bought a set of magnets which I use to hold the chart on my fabric. They also act as a temporary needle holder - very handy. I'm very happy with them. No more chasing the chart each time I turn the frame to start/finish a thread. And the final change I've made is to thread my floss-symbol card onto a ribbon and tie it to my floor-frame. No more hunting through my workbasket to find it each time there's a floss change. I don't know why it's taken me 20 yrs to work that one out.
So, taking the jump into a huge project has paid off for me already - it's made me think about what I'm doing and why. That's got to be a good thing, hasn't it?
1 comment:
Absolutely stunning progress!! You'll be through this fellow in no time.
You sound just like me in the "learning about yourself" department. My first Teresa Wentzler taught me things like this about myself too. Isn't it marvelous? TW taught me to mark the chart, better organize my work station, all that sort of stuff. My recent HAED has now taught me that putting a grid on the fabric, which I distained for many years, can be a great help as well -- not fun to do, but worth it in the end.
But be careful with that last one at the end...it was a huge project that got me into being a serial starter too (LOL). I think taking a whole week off and doing other things is a great idea. Feed that serial finisher in you once in awhile.
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