"I Quit", Ikea, and Other Musings

I rage-quit cross stitching yesterday. It's definitely a temporary thing, but I'm really burnt on it for the moment. I have been putting every spare ounce of energy I have into finishing Yoshi and when I finally decided to give myself a break and work on a different project, I found out a few minutes into it that I had made an everlasting screw up toward the beginning. There was no way of fixing it, and thus I threw it in the trash. (Honestly, it felt sort of refreshing, but it was the first time I'd ever junked a cross stitch piece, so it felt pretty foreign.)

It's dead to me now...

So, after relieving myself of the gift that never gave, I decided to start another project--again an image of a present--that I'd wanted to complete as a Christmas gift. I, however, miscounted and had to completely start over twice. Needless to say, I was pissed, so I threw that one out, too. And now I have no other projects in my queue that I intend to work on for quite some time.

My guess is that an enormous haul at IKEA may have done me in yesterday. Fiance and I decided to get the vast majority of our furniture shopping done before moving in to our new home, but we didn't realize the consequences of buying things without a place to store them, so not only were we frazzled by our shopping trip, but we ended up being flummoxed by what to do with everything once we got back to his parents' house.

Everything ended up in our gaming area/my crafting spot...

See that bin in the left-hand corner with all the boxes of thread in it? That's where I like to sit and stitch when there is natural light available to me. IKEA has taken over the family room and until everything is assembled and put into it's proper place at the new house, I think I'm going the be a cross stitch retiree/quitter.

That should only be about seven to ten days, though, if we work quickly. Fiance and I are set to close on our condo tomorrow, so we should be able to go in and do all of our upgrades starting this week. Today I'm actually headed over to pick out paint and set up our internet package, so we're progressing, but it seems to be at the expense of my free time.

In all reality, I will likely begin working on Yoshi again tonight. It's not a hard project and all I have left is fill work, but right now there's just no joy in the process for me. It's a race against time to get HSHY done before we move in--I still need to learn how to frame the thing--and since we're moving in super duper soon, things will be tight, but I think that getting it done will be a huge boost to my morale and sanity.

There is always a silver lining to things, though, and the result of my misadventures is that I'm going to teach myself to grid my fabrics for my next big project. I plan on practicing on a smaller project first, but I have a feeling that the practice will make things easier over time. Fingers crossed, right?

Crochet the Month Away: March Recap

Poor BCCD has taken a hit since last year. I'm behind on everything and I won't lie, I'm feeling pretty guilty about it. I graduate from Uni on May 16th and true to form, I have turned my life over to crafting in order to cope with all the stress.

I have always upheld my belief that I can juggle and be good at only three things at a time. Right now, I'm juggling work, school, crafting, half marathon training, and now graduation party planning. We're entering the "group project" phase of the semester next week, too. I don't know how I'm going to cope, but I seriously look forward to being a full-time employee again instead of a student, and employee, and a consistently nervous wreck.

Luckily, my work campus had last week off and this week my Uni is on break, so I have intentions of getting BCCD up to date as much as possible. (My current list of drafts is over 30 posts.) Even if I'm still behind, I'll be able to share progress on work's like Home Sweet Home Yoshi, SO's Blanket (which I will be finishing today) and my 10,000 Memories afghan which has been on hiatus for the last year or so. There's been a lot going on, and I can't wait to share it with you!

Hope that your March was as wonderful as mine!

A December to Remember

Since my last post, life has once again the craziness of life has once again interjected itself into my world. I ended up dropping one of my classes this semester to have a better work-life balance and SO finished his Masters Degree exams with flying colors, but both SO and his father have been hospitalized since my last post. I also spent the vast majority of October dog sitting, ending up with less than three days off for the entire month. It has been on of the most difficult semesters we've ever experienced and I am extremely grateful to be heading into finals on Thursday.

I am extremely grateful to be going into finals with the new job that I started this semester. My boss has been incredibly gracious to let me adjust my schedule as needed and I have finally been able to sit down and write up my first post to BCCD since October. In truth, I haven't been able to craft much, but I have been able to finish one small cross stitch project, continue working on my charity square for Sprite Stitch, and even Yoshi has gotten some love here and there over the last ten weeks or so.

At this point, I am so grateful to just have a family that is happy and healthy. We have been through so much this year that it's nice to be approaching the end of a year and a clean slate with the upcoming year. SO has received his first official teaching offer for Spring 2015 and is currently waiting for the hiring process to begin for other local colleges.

My goal is to begin updating BCCD again on a regular basis beginning Friday, December 19th. Thank you everyone for your continued support through this insane year and I look forward to seeing you all on BCCD, dA, and Pinterest in upcoming weeks.

Sincerely,
Bob

P.S. I am diligently working my way through the 400+ notifications I have received on deviant Art since October. Please bear with me if you have contacted me this way over the last few months!

A Good Reason for Hiatus

So, obviously my last post is the poster child of how my school semester went for Spring. It was busy, it was hectic, and it was intense. Luckily, there have been lots of changes in my life recently. (And I've actually got my summer off this year!)

As of yesterday, I officially have a new job position at work come August. This comes with a huge pay raise and a new supervisor, but I am very excited for the new experience--and I have to admit--the pay raise. Plus, I'll have my own desk!

In terms of crafting, I have also been busy, lots of scrapbooking. I promise to post about all of that sometime soon, but because it's still a secret until the end of the month, I can't let the cat out of the bag just yet.

Break Please!

I know that I've fallen off the face of the Earth recently and for that you have my most sincere apologies. March was Hell Month for me: midterms, back to back running races, papers, job applications, and now the worst bout of flu I've ever experienced!

I have actually done some crafting over the last month, but it really has been put aside while other things have taken up my time. Technically, I'm on Spring Break right now from University, so the extra time to recuperate has been wonderful. I'm just hoping to get back to work by the end of the week and crafting by the end of the weekend!

Be Right Back!

I am currently on hiatus as I return back to work and school. Thanks for bearing with me amidst the chaos!

Hiatus for Illness

This evening I was planning on posting an update picture for my octopus cross stitch, but since about 9:30 this morning I've been running a consistent fever of 99 to 102° F. I'm not feeling good, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again, but I'll keep everyone updated as much as possible.