Fighting Procrastination

I had a couple of tasks I needed to complete today and just couldn’t get started. I did several crosswords, read lots of news on the Internet, wrote a couple of emails, and did a bit of housework. Finally I went outside and got the geraniums out of the garden and into pots to put under the grow lights in the kitchen until next spring.

It was hard to pare them down while they were so beautifully in bloom.

They’ll be in bloom again by Christmas and will go back out in the garden next spring. We’ve over-wintered these plants for at least a decade.

This took all of 30 minutes. Good thing, too, as it started drizzling as I was taking the plants inside.

I started the second project - a stealth one - after selecting the fabric, batting, and lining. It’s going to be a gift so the photos will have to wait until the gifting has happened.

It felt good to get those two time-sensitive projects done. Anything left in the garden can get killed by any frost we get in the next few nights and can go out in next week’s yard waste pickup.

I finished the Autumn Cat project. I didn’t have appropriate buttons for the eyes then remembered I had lots of HotFix ‘jewels’ - some of which might work. I settled on the green ones.

Now to select fabric for finishing the back. It will be a standup. 

Last night, I embroidered another Christmas wreath and added the ‘bling’. 

I used the Sticky Fabri-Solvy. First, I stitched the brown stems. I didn’t like the called-for thread and substituted DMC 300. Then started the dark boughs.

Using one strand of the medium and one of the light green together I stitched the rest of the pine needles. 

Out of the hoop, I trimmed the water soluble stabilizer close to the outer stitching.  I then rinsed the stabilizer away with warm water. I also used a soft toothbrush in the same direction of the stitching to make sure all the stabilizer was washed away.

I pressed the stitching dry on the wrong side, face down on a terry cloth towel so the embroidery wouldn’t get squashed flat. Then added the 2mm red  ‘jewels’.

Now I have two to finish into ornaments. (Sorry, bad lighting)

In keeping with my pledge to not start any projects before finishing or fully finishing a WIP, I can now start some new ones.

So after a very slow start to my day, I actually got a few things accomplished.