April 2021 roundup - not much stitching to share

May 1^st

Where has the time gone??   I had a seemingly busy month, with little free time to sit back and reflect on the week on the weekends. Looking back on my calendar – what have been the major things keeping me away from my needlework and my blog?

You may be aware that I’m involved in Scouts – I am a District Leader and I support Allan and his family – particularly his son Chris, by helping out at Bailey Reserve Scouts as assistant Cub Leader.  It has been 15+ years as a Cub Leader and I’m enjoying myself immensely.

Cuboree is a week long adventure camp for Cub Scouts, and although not immediately involved, I supported Allan who is now one of 6 leaders who have attended all 10 Cuborees. 

I spent the week of 12-16 April at work then coming home and falling asleep with very little stitching to show for my efforts.  I was working on my Meteo de Moutons 2021 for this week and have completed March. 

I am enjoying how much variety of colour I am achieving this year, merely by allocating one colour per degree and where 2020 blended from blue to green, putting a range of pinks to represent the teen degrees has made for a colourful March

April 11 was also the annual event to support Road Crew – the guys who provide the infrastructure of Concerts and Events – the ones who are doing it particularly tough during Covid – Support Act is the organisation behind Roady for Roadies.  The weather was a bit horizontal for me to participate in the walk, but I attended with Allan and he got to catch up with some friends from his past.  I just hope for better weather next year!

It was one very cold snap that weekend, and that of course is when we found our heater had given up the ghost and blown a valve – one call to the estate agent and a visit from a plumber meant no heat for 3 weeks.  It wasn’t too bad, the weather has been mostly temperate, with the exception of that one weekend.   

My hair is blue again – I’m enjoying this colour.  I don’t mind the regular maintenance (top-up) to keep it fresh.  So for the foreseeable future, I will remain blue.   Acting as taxi service for Allan’s mum last week, my darling HoneyB got an owie!  I am fortunate that the driver who misjudged their parking effort stayed around to swap details – so now HoneyB is waiting for a new door.  I didn’t realise how emotionally attached I have become to this car until I had to leave her at the repair assessors.

This past 10 days has been full on Scouting.  I had a full day of Leader training, followed by ANZAC day, then after work all this week has been :  Grey Wolf badge Presentation/Wood Bead Presentation/District Leader Meeting/Bailey Reserve Cub night and Scarf Presentation.

 

I do have a wee bit of stitchy stash – I ordered from Etsy and received these 3 Murano 32count fabrics.  All have a marbled appearance and I have plans to stitch Historie de Moutons on the tan, possibly Dreaming Girl SAL on the burgundy and the light blue will stay in reserve for the time being.

 

With such a full on month, it is not surprising that WIPGO March fell in a heap,  I did manage to stitch only the borders on the 12 days of Christmas – all that metallic gold thread.  Last night, I noticed a 10 stitch counting error. It is the top row on this pic - it wasn't immediately noticeable.  This meant stitching one outer border again.  I did not pick up SOHRH at all, so did not complete that one challenge.

By putting emphasis on my list of WIP and setting the list in January meant that I was putting more emphasis on those projects before putting emphasis on stitching that has a determined timeline – such as Meteo de Moutons – and starting new projects such as Dreaming Girl SAL, let alone finding a week or more that you cannot stitch at all.  So here I was last night, getting flustered because I had not picked up a project (SOHRH) in the month it was called.  I now have a deadline for my Halloween stitch and also Delft House Row and these will have to take priority over the May WIPGO panels called.  22 Christmas ornaments & 19 – Let’s Sew – Ursula Andrews

 

So I set out a table to look at where I am with my current WIPS and WishLists

Started	Not Started	Finished
2021 Meteo de Moutons	Dreaming Girl SAL	Queen Bee
Shores of Hawk Run Hollow	Historie de Moutons	You are my Everything
English Floral Sampler	Delft House Row	Love Ewe
12 Days of Christmas	Raise a Glass	Hocus Pocus
Robert Burns Halloween	Christmas Heirloom tablecloth for 2020	How doth the busy bee
Jeremiah Junction Stitchers Panel
Let's Sew
Mermaids of the Deep Blue
Kingfisher

 

….  And this is not even all that is in my basket.   If I take a wander into the box of charts, that centre column will grow..  I’d like to see the 3^rd column grow this year.

 

I’m not even looking at my wishlist pile of patchwork and quilting…. That is also sitting over in the corner feeling neglected.   I’m craving the instantness (is that even a word?) of starting and finishing a small project in a weekend.  For me, patchwork is an instant fix.

 

So here are my goals for May:

Meteo de Moutons – Stitch April temperatures and finish the temperature index

WIPGO 22 – Finish Let’s Sew – attempt a finish and reduce my WIP pile

FFO – the banner for Allan

FFO – the stitching bee

Bonus stitching :

Start Dreaming Girl SAL

Get some colour into the 12 days of Christmas

WIPGO 19 – Christmas Ornaments.  This could potentially be changed to my Heirloom Tablecloth

I will have to clear up my sewing area as over the past month it has become a bit of a storage area for scouting files.  I’m sure once that is clear, I will find more items to add to my pile.

 I’ll also do my best to keep you up-to-date and leave less of a gap between blog posts.  Life changes in a heart beat.

SMILE & POINT YOUR TOES