Challenge vs Comfort

 I think I figured out why my Or Nue motif is taking so long.

I do about three rows and decide I've had enough of this and I go do something else, like clean a bathroom. When I step away from stitching to do housework, it is obvious I'm not having a good time.

BUT, I want to get this done (remember, I am stubborn and bloody-minded) so I decided to work until I had at least doubled the amount I had already stitched. And I did.

In the middle of the night when I have my hour or two of staring at the ceiling (every night and I'm getting a little cranky about it since I'm not awake enough to get up and do something, but I'm not sleeping peacefully) I was thinking about projects in my stash. And I figured out I have two distinct types of projects.

One big pile is full of challenging things to stitch--new or unfamiliar techniques that require concentration and focus to accomplish. A lot of them I always considered my retirement projects. Let's face it, if you're working full time, it's hard to have enough energy at the end of a work day to work on some of the more complicated projects. So . . . retirement projects.

Then there are all the projects I've accumulated over the years from all the designers that I love. Of course I want to work on all of them. They are comfortable and comforting to work on.

Then I realized I've sort of figured out how to handle this stuff. I work on the more challenging things early in the day when my brain and body are fairly fresh. Right now, it's the goldwork piece. Then, after dinner in the evening, I work on something from the comforting pile--at the moment, Catherine Theron's No Place Like Home.

So, challenge in the mornings, comfort in the evenings. And by golly, I am going to get this Or Nue motif done this week!