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Sunday, November 12, 2023

Christmas Holly Stitch-a-Long, part 7

Hi everyone! After not managing to get much work done on this project before the last check-in, I decided to really put time into it. That, combined with a renewed effort to actually take a break at lunch, meant that I got quite a lot done. 

Here's where I was last time: 


And here's where I am now: 


It's always thrilling to stitch the berries and see how they pop on this dark blue fabric and against the green leaves. 

I work from home for a company that is based in New York. Most of my colleagues are in different time zones, so our natural lunch times never match up. As a result, I often rush back to meetings or projects after grabbing a quick lunch in my kitchen rather than actually stopping to take a break. This past two weeks I've tried to make a point of sitting down to do 15 minutes of stitching, take a walk around the block, or just relax at lunchtime. I think it's helped me feel less stressed out, and it's certainly reflected in the amount of stitching I have done!

For our next check-in I hope to finish that leaf in the upper right that I've started, and then move down to fill in that leaf in the bottom center. There's also a bunch of bright red berries nearly in the middle (you can almost see where they'll go in the negative space at the side of those central leaves). By that check in we will truly be in the midst of the festive time -- maybe that will inspire me to keep moving. Or, who knows, maybe I'll have put this aside to work on some holiday 2023 projects. 

My fellow stitchers are always working on amazing projects -- please have a look and see them all! Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, KathyMargaret, Heidi, JackieMegan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, LindaHelen, and Mary Margaret.

9 comments:

  1. Well done on making so much progress but mainly in getting back some well deserved lunch time. I am also in a weird situation working with 3 continents. Some weeks I skipped so many lunches I was well on overtime. It's hard to take a break if you know things are waiting haha. I hope you find a good balance and carry on so you can relax

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    1. Thanks Megan! One of the challenges about working from home is knowing when to STOP working. I had been feeling a little brittle lately -- grumpy all the time, though I couldn't pinpoint why. I'm going to keep trying to take a proper break at lunch and hope that that helps.

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  2. It's so important to take a break. You'll be more productive and efficient afterwards and the the SAL is benefitting too. It's a win-win :-)

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    1. Thanks Avis. I've got a little secret, too -- I've started swimming at my local pool one or two days a week. The quietest hours line up nicely with east coast time, so it's the perfect time to slip out. Not as productive from a stitching standpoint, but I'm always so happy when I'm done!

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  3. Amazing progress and its looking stunning on that background. It really does make a difference setting even 15 minutes to daily for progress :) Sharon

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  4. You have made a whole lot of progress. I really love this piece. I found when I worked from home it was hard to take a break, but it is definitely necessary. So glad you spend the break time doing something for you....stitching, walking.

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