One Stitch At A Thyme

It's hard to believe, my first finish in four years.  I didn't think I'd ever get this thing off my WIP list, but here it is.  I have one dilemma with this piece.  When I got the floss with the charts and fabric as a kit I didn't bother to check and make sure the floss was colorfast having never worked with WeeksDyedWorks over dyed floss before.  After I finished the border from part one I discovered the large red flowers bled when I got one wet.  So the question is - Do I soak it in Orvus and cold water and hope for the best. Or, leave it dirty and try and steam out the hoop rings in the linen.
 

Name:  Birds of a Feather
Type:  Counted Cross Stitch
Finished Chart Size:  173w x 190h (11.5" x 12.75")
Leaflet/Kit #:  3 part chart pak mystery
Designer/Publisher: Brenda Gervais© 2011 With Thy Needle & Thread
Finished:  November 17, 2013
Misc. Info. : Started May 21, 2011 using WDW linen 30ct. confederate grey and WDW over dyed cotton floss.

Sorry for the crappy snap.  I tried taking a picture outside in the natural light. In one corner it says ... 11-2013 and the other my initials...  J K J

Over the last almost two years I've been seeing Daffycat's "Totally Useless Stitch Along" Ort thread posts on various blogs.   I know it's a little late in the year to be starting this, but what the heck, at least I'll have something for the last two months of the year. Now that I've got more time on my hands then I know what to do with. Maybe I'll actually be motivated to get some very old projects done that have been lingering in the WIP box for years.  And yes, I realize that I'm officially one day late with my posting - so what else is new....  LOL
 

Well here it is, another bird's update.  I can't really say it's taken me two weeks to finish off the forth quadrant of the inner square.  More like four days of really intense stitching with a final push to get this posted today.  That way I can get started on the first quadrant and finally be done with this sucker after having it in the WIP pile for a little over two years and five months. (Click on picture for bigger image)

The one job interview I've had in the 6 weeks since I've been unemployed fell through, with an "Oh we decided to fill the position with someone inside the company" after making me wait for three weeks before telling me.  Every application I've filled out either directly through WorkSource or on-line has gotten no response or an automated e-mail saying you're not what were looking for or the job's already been filled.

On a lighter note...Sudden death overtime for the Seahawks with a win of 3 points for a score of 27 to 24 over Tampa Bay.

 

Hopefully I'll have better news in my next update.

By the looks of the last progress picture it seems I managed to do a fair bit of work on the tree and leaves over the year 2012.  I know once I get it finished and framed (provided I've got money) it's going to be a present for someone; as I really don't care for this style of needlework.

I haven't really forgotten about this blog, it's just I've been in a bit of a slump/depression call it what you will.  A year, four months, and a week ago I was pissing and moaning about the fact that I moved into my parent's prefab-house (aka the rat shack).  A lot of things have happened since then.  I gave up trying to fix the place after a list of repairs that cost me a pretty penny and then found out the floors were rotting just inside the front door under the linoleum.  Work was going some what well other than the fact that I wasn't being paid enough.  And I'm talking living wage here nothing way above the norm.

It was only a few months later in august 2012 that I met my new boyfriend through the karaoke friends I hang with.  A 300 pound ex-trucker/biker club member, His road name is "Viking" but his real name is Tony.  He has this thing about flashing his face out on the internet, so I won't.  Things between us have gone a bit on the cool side in the last 3 months.  And have only gotten worse because I was laid-off work over 4 weeks ago.

 

In March of this year my sister who was currently living in Ohio told me that she hated living there and that her husband was looking for work back here in Washington State and that she wanted to move into the rat shack that I was now living in.  I was fine with that, I could move out and someone would still be here to look after mom and dad.  So in July of this year I got on the waiting list for the apartment complex I use to live in.  I didn't have long to wait I got a move in date of September 20th.

 

Then my world crumbled around me.   September 19, just one day before I was to pick up the keys to my apartment, at 8am I and 9 other people were brought into the company conference room and summarily told you're laid-off. We were given no advance warning - just boom - get your stuff and get off the property.  I couldn't move back into the house, my severance pay amounted to one month's wages (roughly 1,600.)  Only enough to get the phone, electric, and cable turned on - the partial and one full month's rent. So I couldn't move into the apartment either.  I was essentially unemployed and homeless all within the span of 2 days.  I was given little choice, the only option I had was to put every thing I owned except the bare essentials in storage and move into my old bedroom back into the mold and insect infested basement of my parents home I escaped from 3 years ago.

 

I've been living in "The Cave" as I call it for a little over a week now.  And as I said depression is starting to sink its teeth into me.  I've found my old "Birds of a Feather" project and have started working on it again to keep my mind occupied.  I was going to post a progress picture, but when I finally found my camera I discovered the battery was dead so it needs to be recharged.  I'll post it some time tomorrow, well in this case later today as I've just noticed that it's now after midnight.

 

Whether or not someone actually reads this it was still therapeutic to get it out and down on paper.