Friday, June 08, 2007

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men ......

I was full of plans at the start of this week, but things have rather deteriorated since then! Don't they always?

Generally, I'm a one-at-a-time stitcher and therefore don't use any specific stitching plans, but these days, I seem to have several WIPS which are generally neglected or worked on, depending how I feel! However, I do find it a little stressful (LOL) to have WIPS that I can't find any time to work on, hence the idea of a plan. This was the plan -

Weekday evenings
1. St Petersburg
2. MTM, after current part of St Pete complete

Weekends, assuming 4 weekends/month
One weekend will be spent on each of the following:
1. Nova
2. Bent Creek Red Thread - I started this at work during May. Progress so far -


3. HAED, to link in with HAED SALs on HAED and FG boards.
4. Freebies, smalls, ornaments, exchanges .....

Weekday lunchtimes
Mill Hill buttoned and beaded kits for my son's teachers.

This was let me keep up with St Pete, but allow time to work on other things and make progress on my other WIPs.

I was even making great progress on it, as I spent the weekend of 2nd - 3rd June adding another 11 blocks to Nova!


Spot the Norwich stitched block in the middle of row B!

However, I'm not so sure now. I've made little progress on the Mill Hill kits which I need to finish stitching on by 13th July to give me a little time to mount them for giving to the teachers at the end of the following week. I think therefore, I'm going to have to stitch on them at weekends now as well as lunchtimes. And I had been thinking of joining an exchange, but don't really think I'll have time for that now.

Other slight catch - I'm really enjoying this part of St Pete and would rather continue on it over the weekend!

Another part of my plan from now on is to loose weight. I lost a lot of weight (3.5 stones) 2 years ago, but things have been creeping back up to the point where, if I don't do something about it now, then I'm going to end up back where I started. And that is something I am NOT going to do. So my goal for this month is to loose 4 pounds. Not a lot perhaps, but enough to reverse the upward trend. My overall target is to loose about 20lbs. It's not a huge amount and should be achievable. It is achievable.

It's not as if I have a particularly bad diet. Generally, I just enjoy my food too much, and if I'm down, I comfort eat. I just need to be more disciplined over certain habits.

However, two days away from work on training courses don't help when a nice lunch is supplied for you ......

I'll also be blogging more often as I'm finding it helpful in fighting the depression I've been struggling with over the last 18 months. That's been part of the reason for my weight gain. I mean, when I get bored at work, what distractions are there other than food? And it is boredom that's been the problem. Answer - blogging! And it helps me to connect with the wider world in general and makes me feel better. It's all about breaking down negative ways of thinking and behaving.

At least I've been too busy this week to be bored or depressed!
       

6 comments:

Carla said...

I hope you find a plan that works for you and includes St. Pete as you seem to be enjoying a lot to stitch on it.

Julie said...

You seem to have clear ideas of how you are going to move forward Lesley, i hope you achieve all your plans

I'll look forward to seeing more updates from you

jane said...

Hi Lesley - you have just described the exact reason I can't stick to a rotation, I am very much an impulse stitcher. So I have a lot of WIPs ..lol. Good luck with all your plans, stitchy and non-stitchy
Interesting what you say about blogging and depression, I have found it a help too but just need to be able to devote a bit more time to it.

Sue said...

The pieces you're working on look great. Your rotation sounds very workable ;)

Deb said...

I try and try to stick to rotations, Lesley, but I just can't seem to. I have to be inspired somehow. And, when I get going on a piece and loving the work and the momentum, I just hate to stop! I think it takes much of the spontaneous joy we like about stitching from us when we force ourselves into a strict rotation. When my heart moves on, I move on. When I have to move on to accomplish a goal for somebody, else, that's a different matter altogether. Then, once that's finished I go back to picking up whichever "toy" I love best at the moment...like the Velveteen Rabbit!
Deb

Courtney said...

how is your work on the Red Thread coming? you can join the SAL if you'd like to tag along?

http://bentcreek-sal.blogspot.com/