Progress Report – December

I have been setting myself goals and regularly reviewing my progress for a year now, so this month I want to review the last year and look ahead for the next 12 months.

My initial goals centred on my four Japanese Embroidery Frames.

At the beginning of the year Loving Couple was on Frame One. The embroidery was already done so I only had to do the finishing and mounting before taking LC to the framers. Next onto the frame was my Phase VII piece. I started Camellias at my Japanese Embroidery class in March. The long and short stitch techniques learnt at this Phase proved very challenging for me and I have not made much progress with it. I would like to start the next Phase in March, so my aim is to finish Camellias completely by the end of February. With everything else I would like to finish this spring, that may be a bit tight but this is my second highest priority deadline.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Embroidery Bridge Between East and West is on Frame Two. My goal was to finish this by the end of 2011. Not only have I not achieved that, I have done very little stitching on this piece during the past 12 months. Completing this piece was not my highest priority and other things came up that I wanted to do first. It remains a low priority but I would like to finish it. I don’t see that happening anytime in 2012.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I have spent far more time on Frame Three than any other. I have a bigger goal than simply finishing current projects that centres around this frame. In April Matsukawa-san will be teaching Phase V class in Atlanta. I want to be in that class but I cannot enrol until I have completed the beading on Phase IV. My goal was to finish Floral Melody by Christmas 2011. I did not make that deadline but I was really close. I estimate that I have 20-30 hours beading left to do. This is currently my top priority.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Floral Melody was on Frame Four at the beginning of the year. That frame has remained empty since I moved FM to Frame Three and I still have not decided what to put onto this frame next.

One of the 'things that came up' was Floral Glove. This took me far longer than I imagined it would but I thoroughly enjoyed the class, learnt a lot from it and am delighted with my finished etui.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Another 'thing' was Chinese Flower. This also has taken far long than I thought it would and is not yet finished. I am nearly there and would like to finish it soon, say by the end of February.

© Trish Burr/Carol-Anne Conway

Neither of these was something that I had planned to do but proved to be too tempting when I heard about them. They did however, fit with my learning plan for the year. They both included instructions for long and short stitch, the very technique that I was struggling with on Camellias. From those two on-line causes I think that I have learnt a lot about LSS and one of the things that I learnt is that the Japanese method is different from the western method. It will be interesting to see if all that I have learnt will be of help or a hindrance when I return to Camellias.

Other plans for 2012 include an on-line course with Tanya Berlin. This is another LSS project – I think that I am becoming a little obsessed with this stitch! The course begins in February which is not ideal timing for me but this was another 'unmissable' opportunity!

I have also enrolled for the Cabinet of Curiosities online course – yet another 'unmissable' opportunity. What embroiderer hasn’t dreamt of making their own embroidered casket? This is a big investment in terms of time and money but, if the two courses I have previously done with Thistle Threads are anything to go by, it will be well worth it.

Finally, I have also signed up for TAST 2012. I never did complete all of the stitches first time around and I would like to fill in the gaps. I don’t intend to as much as I attempted to the first time, except for maybe for a few stitches that I feel should be in my set of samplers.

I already know that I have taken on too much and will struggle to meet all of my goals but there is nothing that I want to cut from my list! It looks like being a busy year.

Happy Stitching