Still foggin' up the mirror

I am still breathing...
Sorry that I haven’t posted in a few weeks. There’s a few reasons for my lack of witty repartee...
1. I am really boring.
2. I’ve been working on exchanges, a Halloween exchange, a Quaker alphabet exchange and the Grateful Hearts exchange on SBEBB.

All are due within the next month or so and I have to say each of them are joys to work on. I am really bored with my rotation and my WIPs right now, although I feel obligated to work on them I’d like to pack them away and forget them for awhile and I really don’t know why except that most of them were started in the last 2 years. These last few years haven’t exactly been banner years...it seems that after my Dad died, life sure took a turn south. Now, my life isn’t ALL bad. I have good friends (like you, dear stitchy blogging buddies, whom I love so dearly, all of you!), a wonderful husband and son, plus great health.

But, sometimes life just wears away at me and I feel, well, eroded.

The house situation grinds at me and the Cadet’s antics over the last year really tested my resolve. Stitching time is the same but I don’t feel that *I can’t wait to stitch* feeling like I had before. The slump isn’t too slumpy really, when I do stitch and I did for a few hours on the weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I have noticed though that I don’t spend nearly as much time stitching as I have previously. When I was enjoying stitching, I spent at least 15-30 hours a week with my needle. Recently, I’ve been logging in about 8 hours. If I do anything, I fondle my stash and dream.

Most of the WIPs I have in progress are beautiful pieces but nothing is pulling me right now. I have the following in active rotation, the A list and the *B* list (we won’t even go into those on the C list and the D through Z list cause even I don’t want to know what’s languishing in the dark recesses of WIP-dom.)
So here goes...this is the WIP *A* List
1. M. Pollard - Quaker Sampler from the Scarlet Letter
2. Their Song - Blackbird Designs
3. March Hare - Blackbird Designs
4. Maria Short - Moira Blackburn
5. Peace - Birds of a Feather
6. Autumn Leaves - Prairie Schooler
7. A Stitcher's Wallet - The Gift of Stitching magazine

Here’s the *B* List:
1. A Prairie Year - Prairie Schooler
2. Beatrix Potter - Quaker Sampler
3. Sarah Tatum - Quaker Sampler from the Scarlet Letter

And the 3 exchanges, plus the SAL with Sue that neither one of us have really committed to stitching just yet.

Not a bad list really and I love the pieces. But listing them made me notice that most of them are BAP's (with the exception of the exchanges) or I am stitching over one (Autumn Leaves and A Prairie Year). Plus, I am heavy on the Quakers.

Think I need to change things up a bit? I'd like to add a Drawn Thread piece, I've always had one in WIP-dom but after I finished Welcome Spot, I failed to begin a new one. And I've been trolling blogworld, especially that Smalls blog, so many interesting pieces there! Maybe I have the *Grass is Always Greener* thing going. Plus, I bought a lot of new stash...and a few of those pieces are just begging to be started.

So, what's a girl to do, I ask you!

Comments appreciated.

David and I heard from the Cadet. The mail is sparse and it takes 4 days to get from South Dakota to New York. The Cadet sounds tired and somewhat frustrated. All the glamour of military life has been stripped away. He's anxious to come home and have a steak. There's lots of yelling that goes on and he rises at 4Am and goes until 9PM. He's doing ok though, a bit disappointed in his ranking but as long as he does his best that's great for us.

Work is super busy too. Audits, audits and audits. No time to stop for a breather.

And on the home front, I sorta had an epiphany. I've decided that I was going to love my house no matter what state it is in because it's a gift from God and I should take care of what I've been blessed with. God knows why we are in this mess of a construction situation and that's good enough for me. So, since I've neglected some things around here for a good while because I have been waiting until the construction was done, I decided that I was going to make things right. I began hoeing out stuff. I filled the back of the Explorer with enough stuff to take to the Salvation Army and I deep cleaned a few of my rooms. I feel a lot better and more in control.

Anyway...I gotta run, the David wants dinner.

I will post some pictures soon of some stitching.

Stay tuned!