Going round in circles . . .

I have terminal Stitcher's ADD.  No sooner do I start on something than something else just as pretty/challenging/elegant/lovely flies into my radar and I have to stick a needle in it.

And this creates problems.  Like about 487 UFO's (the number is fictitious but wouldn't surprise me.  I'm afraid to count.)

I was pondering this dilemma in the middle of the night, when I ponder all dilemmas.  Thank goodness this is the only dilemma I currently have to ponder, but it is a dilemma.  I'm getting a little nervous about standing in the room on the first floor under the room on the second floor where my stash lives. I'm a skein of floss away from the floor up there collapsing, I'm afraid.

This summer has been a case in point.  Suddenly, there were a LOT of SAL's, online classes, cyberclasses, and just neat stuff that called my name.  For awhile, there was a package of stitching loveliness appearing on my doorstep every week.  Dearly Beloved was starting to look askance.  And this is even when I let a couple of offers lapse--I'm still kicking myself for not signing up for Dorothy Lesher's Gift of the Magi at Shining Needles.

Now I am organized and efficient in my work life.  I was organized and efficient in my student life.  It seems only in my stitching life that I can't focus.

I'll take that back.  If I'm stitching a pilot, I treat it like a job.  With organization and efficiency.

So, all this pondering has led to a decision.  I am going to try a rotation system, sort of.

Back in the olden days, in one of the early newsgroups devoted to needlework, someone came up with a rotation system.  Pick out ten projects in varying stages of completion, work on each for 10 hours, then rotate to something else.  I tried it for awhile but it felt too inflexible and you "should" keep track of your time.  Too much bookkeeping for something that is supposed to be a joy.

So . . .I'm trying my own version.  I'm calling it the group system.  I'm clumping a batch of projects together and I'll work on them during the next few months.  All of them are parts of online classes or SAL's of some sort or another, so they have lessons or class assignments that will come at regular intervals.  Some have been going on for awhile, so I'm playing catch-up on a couple of things. But we'll see how this works.

There will be updates.  And hopefully switching from one to another will ward off Stitcher's ADD for awhile.

The projects are:

Ann Wheatley, SAL from The Attic.  I'm a little behind on this but should be caught up by the end of August.

Rebecah French, online class from The Essamplaire.  I am almost ready for Lesson Two, which was posted today.

Journey, ANG cyberclass from David McCaskill.  I'm two months or so behind on this.  Originally it was going into the "I-love-this-but-not-quite-ready-to-start-on-it-yet" pile but there have been a couple of very minor problems with the instructions and I'm afraid I won't remember to print out the changes and then will be grumpy at some undetermined time in the future when I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do.

Bluebird Needlecase from Shining Needles, taught by Marsha Papay-Gomulla.  Very sweet and has a bit of stumpwork, which of one of those areas in needlework I really want to explore more.

Dresden Lace GCC from EGA, project my chapter is working on.

Nantucket 1800's House Workbox from The Binding Stitch.  One of my goals for this year has been to get over Fear of Finishing--and I love the scene, both on the top of the box and on the inside.

St. Margaret's Star, another Shining Needles project taught by Carole Lake and Michael Boren.  I love the design and I love, even more, the fact that a portion of the fee for each kit goes to a charity.  I am on schedule with this one.

So this is the first group.  If I stay focused, I should have about half a dozen finishes by the end of October.

(Of course, we are in the honeymoon stage on all these projects at the moment.  The linens and canvases are all neat and taut on their respective frames, the threads are nicely arranged in their floss-away bags on their rings, the directions are still unwrinkled and crisp.  We'll see how these relationships hold up as things start to sag and bag and crumple. )

Ann