Another Week

I wish I had a more enticing headline, but all I can say is another week has gone by and we got more things done.  Now we just have a lot of little things to do and a lot things to get rid of!

One of these days we will look around and say "OK it's time to list" and just do it.

I no longer feel stressed out about "when."  I know Craig wants to be done with it as much as I do, and we will be done when we are done!

Meanwhile, I have enjoyed many hours working on my latest needlepoint project.  If I can't be posting pictures of where we are, or what we are doing on the house, I guess I will just have to post pictures of my latest crafty project.

I don't know about what is happening in the rest of the country, but here in California more and more stores are not giving you bags for your purchases anymore.  You can buy bags or bring your own.

We have several reusable grocery totes that we keep in the car and van.  The problem is we almost always forget to take them into the store with us.  Then when we get to the check out, one of us has to go back to the car to get them.  

So I decided to make a needle point reusable grocery tote that I wouldn't forget to take in with me.  I didn't have a design in mind when I started.  I just knew I wanted to use bright colors and a black background.  Each panel just evolved.

This is the first side panel. 

It's a bit flat and the elements are stiff.












But by the time I had finished with it I had established the theme elements: birds, butterflies, and flowers.

On the second side I explored butterflies a bit more. I used a very old design technique of moving from small to large and warm colors to cool.

 
On the first large side, I played with fun, colorful, imaginary birds.

I like them all except for the rather dopy looking parrot, but I needed something in that corner. 

I am pleased with the way the tiger lilies came out on this the last of the four sides.

Instead of making the handles with the stiff needlepoint canvas, I lined the tote with a reusable bag from Walmart. It is held in place with a retaining strip and Velcro. This way the handles of the Walmart bag will take the weight of the groceries. The needlepoint becomes more of a shell and will be less likely to get deformed. 

When the Walmart bag becomes dirty or worn, I can easily replace it with a fresh one.

I figure I am less likely to forget this tote after all the hours I spent making it.  It will also be a good place to keep the other reusable bags we normally have strewn on the back floor of the car.  It should keep them cleaner as well.Although they are not shown here, I have found something to use as a hook so I can hang the tote from the cart handle instead of putting it in the cart and covering it with groceries.

I do have work to do around the house that I have been avoiding. I'm not going to allow myself to pick up a needle until I have dealt with all the papers piled up in the dining room.  I've been ignoring them for weeks, but they won't go away or be sorted by themselves.  

Do you put unpleasant jobs off? How do you get yourself motivated?