Feather Stitching

It’s been a quiet week stitching-wise this week … it’s been too damned hot most days, even with the electric fan blaring … although I did manage to get a sum total of 3/4 hr stitching done on Tuesday night.  This is how Crimson Fire is looking now, at almost the half-way point in my rotation slot for it.  I did the teeny tiny (but quite pretty) gold sheaf stitch band with red beads and the lettering … oh well, every stitch is one step closer to a finish … slow and steady as she goes … 😉  This is a better photo colour-wise than the previous one, as it shows the fabric and threads more true to life 🙂

I’m hoping to get another hour done tonight if I can stay awake long enough!  I didn’t get much sleep last night – once again probably partly due to the heat, but also I was really quite anxious about having a bone scan done today at the Nuclear Medicine lab.  The scan was to check for a stress fracture in my left foot, as it’s been very uncomfortable since having my last cortisone injection in my heel … although the inflammation and discomfort has all been at the front half of the foot.  I needn’t have been worried, though, as the injection I had to have before the first scan was really similar to giving a blood sample (although perhaps a bit more uncomfortable) – and the scan was nothing at all compared to the MRI I had to have the last time at that hospital.  They did one set of scans before sending me away for 1 1/2 hours and coming back for the final set of scans.  It seems they didn’t find any clear stress fracture at all, which is good in one sense as it means not having to have a plaster cast or moon boot for 6-8 weeks, but it does of course mean that we still don’t have an answer as to the cause.  Oh well, back to the GP I go again next week – next stop (unless he thinks of something else) is to go speak to someone about special orthotics and/or special shoes … but I guess I’ll know more next week!

In the meantime I thought I’d share my rotation system that I use for my rotation – I’d mentioned this in a Facebook group I belong to, as someone asked what I did, and one of the ladies asked if I could do a PDF version so she could print it off and use it herself.  Anyway, I thought someone might find it of interest if I post it here too (I may have posted something about it years ago, but perhaps it’ll be useful to someone … or not … haha).  Zeb had also been asking questions about how people organise their lives, and I guess this is just part of my own organisation (my Day Planner is a different story and would need a post of its own, if I ever get around to that!!).

I have one document (on the left in the above photo) where I plan possible future projects that I’d like to stitch within a set rotation slot (obviously I had to decide on the 10 rotation slots first, which is the number I decided on this year).  Then the page on the right is what I use to actually track my progress within each slot.  I found this easier than using a spreadsheet, which some people prefer to use … I have different sized ‘blocks of 10 blocks’ on different pages, aimed at the different size of the projects in my rotation slots.  For example, I only have 3 blocks of 10 for the small-medium sized project slot, as most of those projects should be finished in under 30 hours of stitching.  I have a separate page printed for each rotation slot, and record the details of the project at the top of each group of blocks (I’ve also started scribbling the fabric type and stitch count of the project too in the side margin).  Then each block of 10 represents 10 hourly slots – I mark a “X” in the box once I’ve completed an hour of stitching … or just “\” if I’ve stitched half an hour.  Once I’ve got a block of 10 boxes with crosses I pack up that project and put it at the back of my rotation project tub, and put the rotation page to the back of the pile, then pick up the next in the pile/in the tub.  It may not work for everyone, but it certainly works for me 🙂 You can download my blank pages if you want to try it yourself … just print the page that you think would suit you the best … I put the rotation number and heading at the top of the page when I complete mine.

• Blank rotation list with 10 sections
• Rotation pages with 10-hour blocks

And on that note I guess I’d better pull my finger out and stop being lazy, and I should get another hour done on that rotation slot so I can move onto something less taxing on the brain cells … 😉