What I'm Working On

So I was trying to think of something to blog about because it’s been a while and you know, I want to try and do this on a semi-regular basis.

So here’s a (mostly) non-book related post in which I’m going to ramble on a bit about one of my other hobbies that I’ve  mentioned here before – cross stitching.

I’m no kind of artist at all and I can’t do any kind of fancypants embroidery. I can, however, make little x’s with different-coloured threads and make them into a picture.

What can I tell you, I find it soothing – lol.

At the moment I’m working on the one pictured – Circe, which is designed by Jill Oxton after a painting by pre-Raphaelite John Waterhouse.

I’ve been working on it since … 2006 – lol. I’m easily distracted and my house is littered with the ghosts of WIPs past. Last year I decided to try and be a bit organised or somesuch, instead of pretending that all of these half-started projects are magically going to finish themselves.

I’m probably never going to finish them all, I have to be realistic, but I do need to give the ones I have half a shot of finishing a fair go.

H’anyways, the upshot of that ramble is that I instituted a kind of rotation, which is basically choosing a few projects, setting a time limit for working on each, and then moving on to the next … here’s a handy definition guide I found on the interwebz: http://crossstitch.about.com/od/glossa2/g/rotationdefinit.htm

I’ve met myself, so my best bet is to keep it simple. I have three projects in my rotation, including one focus piece. I work on each piece for about 10 hours before switching out, working on the focus piece every second go-round. I hope that makes sense – lol.

So Circe is my focus piece at the moment, and my other two projects are an Impressionist-inspired London at sunset scene, and this really awesome kitchen alphabet. I’ve had them all languishing for years – lol.

I don’t stitch every night – some nights I’m too tired after work/wrangling kid/cooking dinner, etc and some nights I’m far too busy playing bejewelled and plague inc to haul it all out. But I’m trying to make an effort at least a few nights a week because even half an hour can make a difference.

There you have it. Maree’s non-reading hobby #1 J