Totally Useless SAL

I'm finding it hard to believe it's the New Moon again - but the chart on Yoyo's blog says it is, so it must be time for the Totally Useless SAL report. The contents of my jar have grown over the past month. I'm not at all confident that this jar is going to make it to the end of the year. I've pressed the contents down several times already. The jar has tipped over a couple of times in the past month, so things have got a bit out of order, but starting from the top you can see the sky-coloured threads from Jolly Old Fellow, and under them the whites, creams, pinks and reds of the tip of Santa's hat and furtrim. Under that are some gold, red, green and tan threads from the Christmas ornaments I made earlier this month, beneath that are the red, green and dark threads from the little wren I stitched in the first week of March. I've also added some broken needles and some thread bands.

Totally Useless SAL

Here's my Totally Useless SAL jar. I think I met the challenge to double its contents in the past month. I am totally amazed at the quantity of stitching waste I create. I find it fascinating to have a stitching trail - looking at the jar I can re-create in my mind my stitching progress in 2009. At the bottom there are the red, green, and gold threads from the tiny Christmas designs I stitched in January including an empty reel of DMC fil or, then all the floss tags from kitting up Jolly Old Fellow, then masses of sky-coloured threads, then more Christmas colours from the February ornies I stitched, and finally the threads from JOF's hat - reds, oranges, pinks, cream and white. Is there a 12 step program for ort addiction? - I may need to find out one day...

Have to get out those charts soon ...

I'll be going camping for a week soon, and there's no way I want to take my floorstand with me, so I'll be having to decide on a small project/s to take with me. I think I'll stitch a Christmas ornament for my great-nephew. He's one of the children I stitch an ornie for each year. So, I'll get my Christmas charts out today and try and decide on a design. Luckily, he's only 2, so I can recall what I've stitched for him in the past. Some of the children I stitch for are teenagers now, and there are many times when I wish I'd kept a photo record of the ornies I've stitched for them over the years. Many a time I have agonised over a design, knowing I have stitched it before, but not remembering who the recipient was.

My planned camping trip has also caused me to think about the Totally Useless SAL. Much as I love my big glass jar, I don't fancy taking it on an outing. So, I've decided to switch to a zip-lock bag for ort collection, and transfer the contents into my jar when I return. I think I'll keep a zip-lock bag with my stitching basket at home too, and transfer the contents to the jar at the end of each stitching session (or every couple of days when I'm feeling lazy). That will limit the chances of my jar tumbling gracefully to the slate floor when I accidentally nudge my basket with my floor-frame, as almost happened last night. Of course, I was enthralled in the Australian Open tennis semifinal match at the time (yay, Nadal!), so I wasn't giving my ort jar the consideration it has grown used to.

Totally Useless SAL

I know I'm a few hours early (and of course down under we're a day ahead of most people anyway)- but Jan 26 happens to be Australia Day as well as being the New Moon - and I'll be out celebrating all day, with no chance to stitch or to sit at the computer. So, here's the pic of my ORT jar as it will be on Jan 26. The blue threads are from my current project - HAED Jolly Old Fellow. As well as threads, my jar contains an empty reel from DMC fil or I used in some Christmas fridge magnets, and the tags from some DMC floss.

Yoyo's new SAL

I've joined Yoyo's new Totally Useless SAL http://dragonmyneedle.blogspot.com/2009/01/progress-and-new-sal.html which starts on January 26. It should be fun - the only commitment is to collect all ORTS and other stitching left-overs during the year and show monthly progress pics. I've found a lovely big jar for mine - I figured I'll need a big jar because I do seem generate a lot of stitching waste.