The Bridge Project

So far, this month has been about finishing off, or more accurately, making a start towards finishing off, the many and various crafty projects I have on the go at any given time.

Last weekend, I had nearly 200 photos from last year printed. That's been the spur for completing all of my monthly photo pages for Document 2010, and also continuing to Journal my Christmas. I'm now 7 pages and a cover away from the latter being complete, which is probably the furthest I've ever got, and certainly the furthest after Christmas I've continued to keep at it.  It's much more a record of what I did than my previous 2 Christmas Journals inspired by Shimelle's great class, and it's my favourite yet.

Perhaps I have finishing things in mind because this week, I finished reading Ulysses! All 933 pages of it. This has taken me since August, plus a week to read the notes. This is one of those classic books an English student should read, and now, a few years late, I finally have. I must admit it didn't all make sense, but oh, when it did, it was worth every page that didn't.

I have also picked up something else, which has not seen the light of day for an awfully long time. Before I started making cards, before I started scrapbooking, before I acquired a sewing machine, I used to cross stitch. And several years ago, while still a student (yikes, more years ago than is entirely comfortable), my mum bought me the kit to make this:

That is a cross stitch version of Ashness Bridge, which is a Very Popular Lake District View, as seen on chocolate boxes and biscuit tins galore.

Now the thing about cross stitch is that it takes me a very very long time to finish what I start. We're talking months, years. Case in point: the last project I finished before I was bought this was an actual sampler, to the same pattern as one my mum had done years ago, but in different colours. I must have started that when I was about 12, and I finally finished that and had it framed as a Christmas present for her the Christmas after I left university, making it a good 10 years in the making.  Basically, I will pick it up every once in a while, and then put it away again for ages, before I remember it and contritely get it out again.

And so it has been with this. I can remember beginning it when I was in lodgings in Birmingham, and come March, it will be 6 years since I left that city for this one. And how far have I got now, a fortnight after beginning again?

Embarrassing!

One of the difficulties here is the colour, or rather, the lack of it. I started in the middle, as you do, and there's an awful many shades of grey in that bridge. I remember the sheer relief of getting to a point where I could do some green!

The other  difficulty is that it is extremely time consuming. My lack of expertise doesn't help, and nor do the extremely tight, tiny stitches required for this. The thing is though, it's very very absorbing. It's the sort of thing where the minutes pass by with remarkable haste, due to the concentration it takes to get the counting right, and the needle into the appropriate place. Or maybe that's just me!

At the beginning of this month, a bridge and the many shades of grey felt like a very apt metaphor. And so it was that it was dusted off and saw some activity.

And now? Well, now I've shared it with you, I would like to be able to show you a bit more at some stage. Maybe even finished and hung up on a wall. As for the metaphor, well, now I'm a lot closer to the oranges and blues than I was when I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. Much closer, in fact. :o)

Happy 2011!

Hello, and a very happy New Year to you, albeit 5 days late. It's not quite Twelfth Night yet, but come tomorrow, when it is, that will finally close the door on this Christmas. Time for a fresh start and new beginnings.

I managed 25 blog posts last year. Not bad, but not brilliant either. I'd like to blog more this year, and to find more of a balance between the things I make, the things I do, and the things I like to share with you.

Other goals? On January 3rd I opened my fabric scrap box and finally saw my starting point for a patchwork throw. I have the colours, I have the scraps, and now I'm on the lookout for a suitable pattern and the time to make it happen. The plan is to ease myself gently into quilting, starting by covering an old blanket, while it's still cold enough to need it. I'll take photos of the said starting point when I have better light!

A pretty standard one next, which is to take more exercise. I've signed up for another evening class, and also have in mind to take more walks, as I've enjoyed getting out and about in these past few days before work began again. On Monday we spotted this bird in a tree and have no idea what it is or what it was doing in Regents Park. Since I don't have a handy book of birds any more, if you know what it is, I'd love you to to tell me!

This year I'd also like to make time to record and reflect. Whether it's photos, my journal, or even a blog, I would like to note and remember more of the little things and to keep a track of where I am and what I'm doing. I loved Document 2010, it went a long way towards pulling together my various ways of doing this, and I'd like to continue with a modified version of it this year. I'll never be the type to regularly sit down at the end of every month and make stunning feature pages, but I loved having somewhere to put the random bits and pieces I pick up along the way and collect together with small selection of photos, and that alone has been and will be a pretty amazing account of my goings and doings.

The common thread appearing through all of this is making time for me. That's definitely the guiding theme of my goals for 2011.

(I know you've seen the bird already, but no-one who knows me is going to be surprised by this second picture, as it's such a pretty bare tree, even with the murky sky!)