Random thoughts for a Monday

I'm probably a freak for doing this, but I got to thinking about just how much time it actually takes to stitch something. I think maybe because I'm doing two very detailed projects that don't seem to be moving too fast, but it takes me FOREVER to do anything.

I have The Summer Ball as my traveling project. I took it to work yesterday to work on when we weren't busy. I didn't get too far on that one, either, but I do see some progress. I got a lot done on the main dancing girl's skirt, so that was good. I am trying very hard to keep myself from getting intimidated by the size of this project, as well as the afghan size, but there are moments where, comparing what I've finished with what I haven't stitched, it's daunting. I mean, it's taken 3 years to get 4 squares done on this afghan. Even just to do the little bit that I did on this last square took a month. I know there's no race to get things done, but I don't want to take 30 years to get an afghan finished. Or 10 to get The Summer Ball done. Do your projects ever do that to you?

I finally finished Square 4 of Hummingbird Trellis afghan Saturday night. We watched An American Haunting, which, despite the reviews, I liked. I'm all for a good ghost story, and this one was based on true events. It's based on the Bell Witch legend of Tennessee, but it doesn't exactly follow the story, so if you're familiar with that and expecting a documentary, this ain't a movie you want to watch. But it's more real than, say, Wolf Creek, which was the most disturbing moving I've ever seen, and which bothered me immensely because I didn't know how "based on a true story" it was, and all that's real was that someone was killing people in Australia. This is a little closer. Not really gory though. Scary, and there were a couple oogey moments--I don't know about you, but I find the sound of nails on floorboards to be absolutely NASTY--but I wasn't upset and I was able to stitch. I finished that square and started a new one, Square 8, but didn't get too far. Not even a square inch. It's constant stop and start, stop and start. And this one has a lot of stitching down at the bottom. I am hoping to have it finished by December 1st. I think that's a decent goal.


While I was working on The Summer Ball yesterday, one of our patrons came up to the window and asked about it. I divide patron responses to my stitching in three categories: the ones who ask if I'm knitting, the ones who know it's not knitting, but aren't exactly sure what it is, and the stitchers. There are a lot of people who used to do needlework, but don't anymore, but if I use specialty threads or non-Aida, it throws them off, and most people are in the might-be knitting category, but this lady knew the right terminology, so I could tell she was a stitcher. And she loved the piece. She said she doesn't do much, but she loves it. It's always nice to meet a stitcher around here; we're a rare breed, since everyone around here seems to have no time for a hobby. We had a lovely chat.