Progress Report Monday #1

So after doing some thinking about what I could make a regular feature during NaBloPoMo (and possibly after, if I feel comfortable with this after the fact), I came up with this idea.  Every Monday, I'm going to post a picture of my uncompleted cross-stitch.  I'm 100% certain that the people who it's a gift for (my grandparents) don't read this blog.  You know what?  They probably don't even know what a blog is.  So over four Mondays, you can see how little progress I make from one week to the next, even though a conservative estimate for sewing time over 7 days is 13 hours.  I probably sew closer to 20 hours a week, depending on how much after-curricular activity there is.  This coming week, for instance, will see less sewing on Wednesday because I have a dinner, but relatively high amounts of sewing over the weekend, when I've got little going on that will take me away from the sewing.  (Dinner at Mom's doesn't count, because the sewing will go with me to her house.)  Believe me when I say that these weekly totals of sewing haven't varied too much, and when you see this thing, you're going to not believe that what I've got sewn has taken me at least two months of this kind of non-stop sewing action.  Regretfully, I'm not sure you'll be able to see the amount of detail that's necessitating this sort of effort, though believe me when I say that the fir with Xmas lights?  At least four or five weekdays of 2 hours of sewing. 

At this point, I am about one-third of the way through.  Possibly slightly less than that.  When NBPM is over, I expect to still be about one-third of the way through.  The other thing you won't be able to see very clearly in this is the holes in the sections that look finished.  There are Xmas lights to add onto the house, and I have to tell you that they're the worst things ever to sew--one little x of each color, spaced far apart.  Those of you who cross-stitch will understand how maddening that is, and if you don't, well, take my word for it.  Maddening.  I'm avoiding it like the plague.  Pretending it doesn't exist--knowing that about 12 x's (which in the scheme of things is NOTHING) will take me possibly an hour or more, due to the running under of string, the sorting and making ready of thread, etc.  It's entirely possible, in fact, that one nights effort will be completely devoted to this string of Xmas lights, that in the finished product, will look like an afterthought.  But can I just say: not. an. afterthought.  I've spent days trying to figure out the best way to put those suckers in.  Maybe I'll suck it up and do it by next week, so you can see what I'm getting at.  Otherwise, I can promise that by the end of this, you will have seen those damn lights.  (Click on the pic to enlarge.)

Comments

[Dadmo]

That looks really nice. Good work.