Another Hobby Blog: Tuesday Stitchers import: bjp

Well, it's been a week of emotional rollercoasters, and I have a lot of stitching to accomplish before midnight tomorrow. I will very likely never get the hang of finishing ahead of schedule! Grandmother went back into the hospital with pneumonia early this week, but is now doing much better again. Yay!! She is very exhausted from all of the set-backs, and I am exhausted as well. Back in the beginning of the year, when I hadn't forseen any of these personal challenges to my time and emotions, I signed up for a couple of swaps to stitch alongside the CQJP, BJP, and TAST. WWIT???!! So a good chunk of my time this week went to stitching sane quilt blocks for swapping: A block of my own pattern based on my partner's color preferences:

A block of my own pattern in black and white fabrics:

And a set of 8 12-inch blocks in a scrappy around-the-world pattern.

Unfortunately, the first set of around-the-world blocks ended up the wrong size once they were all stitched together, so I had to spend yet another day and a half re-doing them to the right sizes. Rather than rip the seams and resew them, I started over from scratch:

Phew! Those blocks are done with and now I know better than to sign up for more! (I hope.) There are also the birthday ATCs and Postcards throughout the year that I can't duck out of. (Le Sigh!) I was way behind schedule on one of them, so I packaged it up and put it into the mail without remembering to get a photo of it first. bummer. This ATC (2.5 x 3.5 inches) is due May 6th, and another (that I haven't started yet) is due May 12.

I haven't started my French Knot or my Wheatear postcards for TAST yet-- they can wait. CQJP and BJP are higher priority. I did stitch my TAST for stem stitch, though, because I felt the need for some very brainless stitching after totally screwing up the first batch of around-the-world blocks:

Since I got such a strong start on my BJP earlier this month, I was able to finish them both. Yay!! Progress!

So now I have one extra BJP (the one that I made in January and used for February when I got behind schedule) in case I fall behind again. Hopefully that won't happen, though, as I much prefer the BJPs to reflect what is going on in my life in the month that it is made, and even if it's just a matter of color choice, the choices I make have a strong connection to my emotions and the events of my life. And then there is CQJP. I am SO far behind!!! I was a bit silly and let myself get all wrapped up in one very complicated and time-consuming seam rather than spreading the love around the entire wedge. It's a pretty little seam, though!