Quiltin' and Dreamin'

Well, I told you I picked an easy-to-finish project last week because I had a whopper this week, and I won't disappoint.

I've been working on this lap quilt for...are you ready for this? Six years. I pieced it by machine from my old jeans the summer before I went to college and decided to hand-quilt it, a decision I regretted for the next...uh, six years. I left it at home for the first 3 years of school, when I lived in the dorms, and worked on it when I came for the occasional weekend or holiday. It lived in my parents' parlor (yes, they have a parlor) clamped to some 1x2s leaned against the wall. I'd clamp it to some sawhorses when I came home and sew a few rows, then put it away again when I went back to Springfield.

When I got married, I decided to take it with me - it would never get finished at that rate! I got an extra-large embroidery hoop and I've been quilting in it, off and on, for the last 3 years. It's only a lap quilt, about 4' by 5'. But I generally quilt for a month, then get tired of it cluttering up my living room and put it away for three.

I certainly don't expect to finish slaying the beast this week, but I hope to do as much damage as possible. It will help that I finally have a designated area in which to set it up and keep it, and don't have to shuffle it from living room to bedroom whenever I want to work on it. This will likely be a recurring project, so I'll keep you posted.

I'm glad I only have to work on it for the next week - it makes it seem much more manageable!

Win some, loose some

I'd like to share a small victory with everyone to begin with. I started this project before I knew about this blog so I don't have any 'before' photos but it started as an ugly, dirty, wooden spice rack I found in the cabin. With a little scrubbing and a couple coats of white paint it now has a whole new lease on life. I think it will look good against the wooden walls in the cabin and I did manage to clean it and apply two coats of paint between Sunday and Friday.

For next week I'm going to work on the project that has become my nemesis, so the outcome may not include the happy smiles this week's project gave me. This cross stitch with buttons and beads is so much harder than I imagined. I thought I could do it on the train during my commute (no way, I'd spill the beads); I thought it would be easy (I did these at age 9 for crying out loud) but nothing has quite worked out. Partially, it is my fault for thinking I could out smart the directions but I now see that they tell you to start in the middle so you maintain the same size as the pattern. Now I have to get 'creative' with how big each item within the squares are since they are different from the pattern. I would really like to scratch this off my list, though, so maybe if I work on no projects but it I can get a good way down the road next week.

Also, I think it will be extremely cute if it were ever to get completed.

Procrastination Projects: What do you turn to when you need a win?

In Medius Projectus is all about those projects you start but don't finish. Some of these projects take days, and some take weeks, but the thing they all lack is good old-fashioned instant gratification. Sometimes, when you've been cutting out cardboard slabs for hours and hours, or knitting until your fingers go numb, or polishing your trumpet for over an hour... Well, you just need a win. You need the sense that you are not just a starter-- you're a finisher. When that happens, we turn to our best skills and hope to knock out a project that will give us the strength we need to get those long-haul projects done!

The Mad Hatter part II

Ze hat! She is finished!


So I admit, I picked an easy project to start with. It's the Dave Ramsey project snowball - start with something small, so you are encouraged to keep going. Next week's project will more likely be time-consuming and tedious...and unfinished at the end of the week. But more on that later! I finished one project in the endless queue,* so I get the weekend off. Hooray!


(By the way, I know I should have cleaned the mirror before I took the picture...but I didn't, and a shot this good is hard to duplicate. It's not my fault the mirror always gets this dirty, anyway. I live with two boys.)

*this word still doesn't look right to me, but I looked it up.

Trumpet Scubbin'

I have a dirty, dirty trumpet. It's so dirty that even the girls on Commercial Street won't give it the time of day. It's dirty enough that HBO censors it. So dirty that when it rains, it stains the carpet brown. My trumpet is so wretched that were it up to Catholics, it would spend a year in purgatory no matter how well it played Merchants Of Venice.



Ok, enough puns. It's about time I gave my trumpet a real bath, shined it up a little, and made sure the slides did what they were made to do and their name would imply. When I had the bell repaired at Springfield Music, they offered to do a professional job for $90, but I said no thanks. Surely I can do something pretty close to a professional job, right? My mouthpiece also has that ring, and I'd like to see how much I can do about it. The worst part is the inside of the bell, so that's the part I'm most eager to see.

Scratch Paper

I have two kitty cat friends, Lenny and Steve. Like most animals of the feline persuasion, with or without claws, they love to scratch. Lenny and Steve have claws. Steve in particular has the kind of thick, scary claws that look like eagle talons and can splinter wood and rend flesh from bone. Right now their favorite places to scratch are my bed, my couch, and each other. According to The Cat Bible (not to be confused with the LOLcat Bible), if I give them a designated and sufficiently satisfying place to scratch, they will more or less leave my furniture alone. It makes no promises as to how they will treat each other.

Mr. Stevie Boo Gray Kitty demonstrates the nommability of cardboard.

My husband and I went back and forth about buying one of those monstrous beige carpeted scratching posts, which run from about $60-$150 depending on how tall they are and how many kitty crows' nests they have. Ultimately, we knew our cats would probably ignore all the kitty crows' nests and continue nesting on top of the refrigerator, where it is warm and there are plenty of interesting jars to knock down. Also, they are not interested in scratching carpet or sisal twine. Carpet is their best friend, as it allows them to reach warp speed when running across the house at 2 A.M. and induces cat nirvana when rolled upon. And they have never met a twine-based toy they couldn't unravel and become hopelessly entangled in. We have to hide the twine in cabinets with those child-proofing locks, because if we don't they will open the cabinet doors, take it out, and hog-tie themselves in a matter of minutes.

What they really like to scratch, bite, and demolish into tiny pieces is CARDBOARD. Enter: The cardboard cat scratcher.

The Mad Hatter

Because my generous roommate let me borrow his fancy new digital camera, I get to upload the first project on this blog!

I've been working on this hat for over two months, at least. I don't remember when I started. Generally, my knitting comes in stages:

Stage 1 - Mid-September: Ah, fall. Maybe I should think about knitting again.
Stage 2 - Mid-October: Ah, crap! Christmas is coming - I have to make some scarves!
Stage 3 - Late October to December 31: knitknitknitknitknitknitknitknitknitknitknitknit...
Stage 4 - January: Ah, Christmas is over. Now I can knit something for myself...after my hands stop hurting.
Stage 5 - February to Mid-September: Ah...knitting? Yeah, I should be doing that...

Rinse and Repeat.

I haven't knit anything for myself since my second knitting project ever. I also have a tendency to lose things. So now I have one hat, one scarf, and two mittens, none of which match (including the mittens!)
This summer I got a half-finished scarf at a yard sale (apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't finish my projects) with lots of extra yarn, quickly completed the scarf, and decided to make a swank hat for myself. Here is the pattern I chose, from this book:Nice, huh? But A PAIN to knit. It's taken me so long...but this is the week! IT WILL BE FINISHED! mwahahahahaha!

In medias projectus

Here we are, in the middle of things. Lots of things. Half-knitted hats, file reorganization, hammock staking, furniture staining...you name it, we've tried it, and probably have a half-finished version around here somewhere, if we could ever find it! What's more, we're not alone.

I propose the following rules:

1. One project per week - no more, no less.
2. At the end of the week, we switch to a new project, for one of two reasons:
   EITHER: The project is finished! Proceed to have a small party (an edible indulgence qualifies) OR: The project is now old news and boring, both to project director and blog readers.
3. Projects may be revisited, but no more than once per month.
4. At the start of the week, post the intended project. Pictures are always nice (note to self- get a new camera).
5. At the end of the week, post the completed project (Yay!) Or post the project's progress (not as exciting, but life happens - and some projects take multiple weeks. Again, pictures! (again - camera!)
6. Don't leave a project hanging, even if no progress has occurred - just post that it didn't happen this week. There's no judgment here.
7. Though it may be difficult, try to pick a project that has been sitting unfinished in the back of your closet, not a brand new shiny one. Urgent projects, such as Halloween costumes or Christmas cards, are exempt from this suggestion.
8. Though it may be more difficult, try to refrain from working on projects other than your chosen one of the week. If you're done, take a much-needed break! If you're not, work on the one you decided to. It's worse when you put it off.

I humbly submit these bylaws for the perusal of the readers, in order that they might make suggestions and approve them (or disapprove them, I guess...but I hope not!)

Katie