An unexpected finish

 

I decided to make an Advent stocking for a very good friend (Miss Maddie's beloved Auntie Kellie, who is a very special member of our extended family).  Last Christmas I made up an Advent calendar for her using a purchased one I had, but I found the tiny little pockets very restrictive when it came to the size of the daily gifts I could fit in.  So I crocheted this nice roomy stocking (my own design) and cross-stitched Kellie's name on the cuff.  This stocking is a bit over 30cm (12") long and 23 cm (9") wide at the top.  It stretches out to accommodate loads of little gifts of different sizes and shapes.  I am very pleased with this finish.  It's the first thing I have actually finished this year, if you don't count JOF pages as finishes (but then, I do!).

I've also got a new pic of Maddie to share.

I took this this morning, while we were having a Mexican stand-off.  I was wanting her to come back inside after she's gone out for her first toilet stop of the day, and Maddie was wanting me to say the magic words "Come in and I'll give you a treat".  I won this one - eventually - but she didn't have to wait too long for her first treat of the day. She has trained me well over the years!

Mission accomplished

My craft room is now clean and organised, and my off-season clothes are hanging in the wardrobe.  They're happily sharing the wardrobe with several boxes of the things I wasn't strong enough to throw out - mainly boxes of pretty teacups, photo frames of all styles, shapes and sizes, beads and ribbons.  Even I was shocked by how many teacups I found!  I stopped counting when I hit 100, but there were more uncounted than counted at that stage.  Given that I've never made up more than 5 teacup pincushions in any one year, and that's all I do with them, I concede that it is excessive.  But they are so pretty - how would I choose which ones to discard?   And those photo frames - I had enough bigger ones to fill three shelves of one of my two-door metal strage cupboards, and two large cardboard boxes of small and tiny frames as well.  Maybe one day I will use them all - if I live another hundred years or so...

I did sort through every cupboard and box, and I managed to fill eight 'green bags' for the op shop, and dropped them off this afternoon.  I hope some crafters visit the op shop and buy up all my lovely craft supplies and magazines. And actually use them to create something nice!  I also got 2 large boxes of wooden beads and folk-art supplies (wooden cut-outs of stars and hearts, old fashioned dolly pegs, paints etc) that I'm giving to my niece to use for her class-room projects with her class of kindergarten & Year 1 children.

I'm now mid-way through the guest bedroom.  All I have left to do is make up the bed, pack away all the wooden bears and exces cushions, and dust.  The timing is good, as I'm expecting guests for the weekend.  Prednisone is a wonderful drug!  Miss Maddie's not happy about it - she prefers me to spend my evenings sitting on my recliner with feet elevated so she can have her preferred spot on a cushion between my feet. Luckily, the course of prednisone will be finished in a week, so there's an end in sight.

I actually managed to put in a few stitches in JOF tonight - not many, but at least it's a positive sign.  I think I'd be stitching more if I was in a part of the chart that has stretches of the same floss to stitch, but unfortunately it's all confetti stitches at present, and my frustration tolerance is minimal right now.  I am so close to finishing page 26, so I'll try to persevere - maybe not tonight, but tomorrow is another day.

Progress report ...

Or lack of progress - it just depends on how you look at it!  Poor old Jolly Old Fellow is no further advanced than it was last week - not even one more stitch has gone in since last week's pic.  I hadn't planned to have a break from stitching, but that's just how it worked out.  Life sometimes just gets in the way, and prevents me from stitching, and this is one of those times!  Nothing major - just a few nuisance health issues which should be sorted soon (I hope).  I have been productive in other ways - my pantry, laundry cupboards and linen press are clean and reorganised, , and I am just about to spring clean both the craft room and guest bedroom (not my favourite tasks).  The craft room is set to get a major clean-out and reorganisation.  Not before time, I'm afraid!  I have decided to be ruthless, and consign to the local op shop all those 'might use sometime' items that I have acquired over the years.  I'm afraid I do have rather a lot of them - things like frames, pretty teacups/saucers, cane wreaths, recycled small Christmas trees, general craft supplies, paper crafts supplies, fabrics, wool - and so much more.  My goal is to completely clear the hanging section of the built-in wardrobe (currently filled with large cardboard boxes and stacking plastic drawers storing craft items) so that I can use it to hang my off-season clothes.  Wish me luck - it's not going to be easy!

WIPocalypse Report, April

Yet another month has passed, and once again the only project I have worked on is my HAED Jolly Old Fellow.  I'm slowing down, but still making good progress.   Since last month's WIPocalypse Report, I have stitched two chart pages.  I now have just a couple hours more work to finish on page 26(nasty confeti stitches on the toy train). 

Here's where I am now: