March - April Stitching Goals

Phew! That was a lot of work, finishing up Love with a Capital L. I did it though and now that the glow is wearing off a bit, I'm absolutely ecstatic! I keep looking at it amazed that I finished it.

March saw the completion of 2 pieces. That is incredible! I'm on a roll now ladies! Who knows what else I can do with 2 finishes in 1 month. I could actually put the stitching world on it's ear with another finish this year. Wouldn't that be something! LOL

I logged a total of 36 hours and 5 minutes for the month of March. I'm always happy when I exceed the 1 per day average. I really should have been a statistician!

I worked on the following pieces:

1. A special piece for a friend
2. Paula Vaughan's Rose of Sharon (Finish It 3 piece)
3. Love with a Capital L.

It is now time to start thinking of my next finish or what I hope to be my next finish. With that thought I'll list my goals for the month of April. Since I do the bulk of my stitching at work on the weekends, and I'm off the 2nd weekend of April I will account for that down time when setting goals for myself.

April Goals
Halloween Fairy - 3 hours
Job's Tears - 8 hours
Rose of Sharon - 10 hours
'Special piece' - 10 hours
Bonus Goals
Summer Breeze - 5 hours
Enchanted Fairy - 5 hours

If I can reach my goals I should be very near to the finish line on Job's Tears. That would be awesome and so very exciting. Of course, I'll keep you posted. I added the bonus goals in the hopes of having a lot of time to dedicate to my stitching this month. I mentioned in a previous post I would like to finish a focus piece and then work my rotation 5 hours on each WIP. This a small step towards that goal.

So, I should close this out and get my work finished, or better yet started, since I am at work , so I can put needle to thread and get those goals accomplished!

Happy stitching days to you!

April Yankee Stadium Distance Challenge

March

Distance Remaining - 485.2KM

April
1 - 3.9KM running intervals; 4.3KM biking
4 - 3.2KM running intervals
5 - 3.8KM running intervals; 2.7KM biking
*7- 1.5KM running intervals; 5.2KM biking
8 - 2.8KM running intervals; 2.8KM eliptical; 5.7KM biking
11 - 1.6KM running; 5.8KM biking
14 - 2.7K running 3/1's on the street - OMG it was awesome, but killer. Starting over is hard as hell! 4.6K walk with KP
15 - 3.4K running on the street
20 - 9.1 K walk with KP
29 - 6K run/walk (9 days off. Healed the sick stomach and killer blister) I feel ready to make it back to the street consistently.
30 - 5.5K run/walk

* I was running really well, when a lady came up to me because she forgot her watch on the machine. I paused the machine, but in getting her watch, hit the automatic stop button. I couldn't get back in to the swing of it. I'm such a fligthy at times. Oh well, I was doing great and I can do it again!

I'm setting some personal distance goals for myself this month. It has been ages since I've set out some goals for what I want to do as far as my fitness. It used to be a driving force in my life and to see it fall so low on the priority list is heartbreaking. All I really think about is the failed commitment to myself when I let my health and physical well being be put on the back burner. If I don't look after myself, no one else is going to do it for me, nor should they.

Goals
Running/Walking - 50KM
Biking - 85KM

I know I can probably hit higher numbers, but I'm trying to take the approach that this is the very first time for me to do this. When I first started running, something I never thought I would like, let known, come to love, I did it by running, what I now know to be called intervals. I would walk for 2 minutes and run at a very low pace for 2 minutes, and then walk for 1 minute and then run for 2 minutes. I built on those numbers so that I was running 45 minutes with a 2 minute warm up and a 3-5 minute cool down. I want that again. When I originally did this, it was this time of year, getting ready for my baseball season. Now is as good a time as any to get on the road to a healthier me! I owe it to myself! Am I convincing anyone, or just really trying to convince myself? No matter. As long as I do it.

April Totals - 74.6KM (410.6)

Love With A Capital L

Love With A Capital L

February 25, 2007 - March 31, 2008

216 hours 25 minutes

I put the final stitches in this last night. I was so relieved to finally have it completed. Lily says to me, I would have thought you'd show more excitement! LOL I was more relieved it seemed than excited.

I should apologize for the picture quality. I didn't have time to mess around and get a good pic. I had to take Alyssa's camera to her since I've been borrowing it for months, and I was just about to walk out the door when I finished this and snapped the shot.

As happy as I am to have it finished, it is weird to not be focused on it any longer. I was sitting looking at it last night and thinking how strange it will be to no longer be working on it. Funny how you push to get something finished and then as soon as you have completed it, you miss it. The one thing I will not miss is the frogging! There were more frogging in this piece than any other piece I've ever worked on. I'm not sure why, but it was annoying as all get out. I had to keep reminding myself how beautiful it would be once I was finished, so just work through the frogging and try not to get discouraged. I probably added an additional 15-20 hours to the total because of mistakes. Oh well, it's done now.

I have to thank a few people in helping me get this finished. Velda, for the floss and Pam for the floss along with many others that offered to send my their remaining skeins of 321. I used 1o skeins of DMC floss to complete the pattern minus to large 'L'. I know it used more floss than I would have due to the frogging, but I never imagined I'd used 10 skeins. I'm surprised to say, I still love red!

I'm going to put this away for a bit before I look towards framing it. I just can't justify the money right now, but I will not let it languish in my closet with numerous other pieces waiting to be framed. I will not.

Thank you to everyone that leaves a comment. I truly appreciate them. I thank you for seeing me through this piece. It has been quite the journey and your kind comments over the past year have inspired me and encouraged me to keep plugging away.

Happy stitching days to you!