Hello 2018

In addition to trying to keep The Hubs comfortable after his shoulder surgery, 2018 started with snow and cold.  I figured having to deal with those 100+ degree days in the summer was a fair trade off for moderate winter temperatures - 16 F is not moderate.  We're not having to deal with it for weeks or months on end, but just the time we are is plenty for me.  When I moved from New Hampshire one of the things I was looking forward to was thinking 32F was cold - I have reached that point!!.

With the start of a new year, it's time for the first 2018  posting.  Melissa at Measi's Musings is hosting WIPocalypse again this year.  If you click on the badge it should take you to the information page.  If it doesn't try clicking on the badge up top on the left. The nice thing about this SAL is that it is just that a SAL and not a contest except maybe with yourself.   You pick the pieces you want to finish or see progress on and post about them on the last Sunday of each month.  This posting is early just so everyone can introduce themselves.  Melissa also gives us blog prompts or questions each month so we have something to talk about.  This month's is:  Introduce yourself, your projects and any goals you have for this year.

I'm Susan.  I live in northern central Virginia those you that know the area or just want to look on a map, I am almost exactly half way between Richmond and Fredericksburg and about 6 miles north of Kings Dominion amusement park  in the middle of not a lot.  It's just The Hubs, me and three cats here.  I have one son that lives in Michigan along with just about all of the rest of my extended family.  I work for the US Department of Agriculture as a senior loan officer assisting small, rural communities by financing water and sewer systems.  It's not glamorous work, but it is fulfilling especially when you realize that someone will have safe water in their home and won't have to haul water from miles away yes, that still happens in the US.  My office is in Washington DC so I have a bit of a crazy commute about 2-1/2 hours each way counting all the driving, walking, waiting and riding.  I take the train most of the way so it's not as horrible as it might sound.  I used to stitch on the train, but it's become a very popular form of commuting and the trains have gotten crowded so I mostly read now.  Because of the commute, my stitching time is very limited and I don't stitch as fast as I think I do so I have a lot of WIPs. I am a rotation stitcher although I have been known to go OAAT (one at a time) when something needs to be finished.  This year, I am rotating between two pieces Goldie (a gift for my MIL and her husband) charted by Heaven and Earth Designs and Japanese Zen Garden by Chatelaine (a gift for my son).  I would love to finish both of these to give for this Christmas.  I plan to spend Sunday mornings stitching on smalls so that I have some finishes through the year.  For my smalls I am planning on finishing up The Sampler Life SAL from a couple years ago, start and hopefully finish the four The Drawn Thread patterns my parents gave me for Christmas and then start the Joyful World's SAL from a year or so ago.   To help with my stitching goals, I am participating in Gifted Gorgeousness, Smalls SAL, Stitch from Stash and International Hermit and Stitch Weekend in addition to WIPocalypse.  If you're interested in any of these, click on the badges on the left at the top and you should get taken right to the info pages.

I didn't get any more stitches into Zen my family got together and bought me a Cricuit Explore Air 2 for Christmas and I spent a lot of last weekend reading, You Tubing and playing with it so my stitching was waylaid a bit so here's where it was on January 1st.

The fabric is really a light blue it's showing splotchy white on my monitor and is my go to fabric - Summer Sky Jobelan.

I worked from home this last week didn't want to go back to the office until after The Hubs' first post-op check up so had much more time for stitching than usual.  Goldie was on the frame and went from here:

To here:

I have the rest of today and tomorrow on her and then Zen goes back on the frame.  I am thrilled with my progress so far.  I have had to keep reminding myself that this was not a normal stitching week and past performance is not indicative of future progress.