How much is too much?

How many projects is it normal to have on your "projects to start" queue?  I currently have 15 or so.  Once I finish up Max's Moon, I plan on starting on a pattern from Cross-Stitch and Needlework magazine (C-SN) May2013 called "Sharing my home". 

  

"Sharing my home" stock photo

 I also plan on starting a 1 or 2 or 3 more projects, and depending on which one is more portable, one will be for "on the road" work, and the others for "at home" work.

My "projects to start" list, in a rough semblance of order to start:

- Sharing my home (C-SN May 2013)

- Tree Frog Among Leaves (Dimensions kit)

- Bloom - small (C-SN May 2011)

- Bloom - large (C-SN May 2011)

- Rune Sampler (Dracolair pattern)

- Compass Rose (Dracolair pattern)

- Noel (Herrschners)

- Who Me? (C-SN May 2009)

- Berries (C-SN May 2013)

- Apples (C-SN March 2013)

- Grapes (C-SN March 2013)

- Pears (C-SN May 2013)

- Swan (Mystic Stitch)

- Paladin (Firewing Designs)

- Pussywillows (DMC free pattern)

 

I'm sure this list will change as things progress along.  In fact, the 2 Dracolair patterns were added to the mix just yesterday.  I was searching online for the best price for the Lap-Stitch Mini-Mini frame, and stumbled across the Compass Rose pattern and fell in love with it instantly.  So, I ordered it.  Later in the day, I pulled up their website and showed it to my hubby.  He noticed another pattern on their site called Rune Sampler which he fell in love with.  So, I am ordering that one too.  I am going to try setting up a smallish rotation set for projects at home.  I'll be limited to what I fit on the frames I have or have ordered recently.  This may also help me pull out the few UFOs I have in my stash.  I still work full time, and work on my bachelor's degree as life allows and spend time with my hubby and our son (Alex is currently 6 years old), so I do have to be realistic on how much I can get done.  It is quite a ways off, but I so look forward to being truly retired and having oodles of time to stitch.  A girl can dream, right? 

The new serger I ordered arrived via UPS today.  So, this weekend, I can work on binding the edges of the fabrics I have gathered for my projects so far.  I broke my old serger a couple months ago.  I was making a grime guard for the Q-snap configuration I had assembled for Max's Moon and the last step was to serge the edges on the part of the seam allowance that sticks inside.  Due to the elastic ends sticking out, it was just a bit too thick for my serger and one of the thread arms got so out of alignment that it keeps popping the top cover off.  I was so mad at myself.  I looked into getting it repaired, but the closest authorized Babylock dealer and service center is a 2.5 hour drive.  So, between the time, gas, and cost of repair (which is never cheap), I decided it just wasn't doable now, and ordered a new basic Brother serger.  A basic serger will be fine, since mostly all I do with it is bind edges of cross-stitch fabric.

 

Tomorrow we are making a trip to Las Cruces (about 1 hr away) to get some high density foam from Joanns to make some cushy seat cushions for my MIL's kitchen table chairs.  We opted to use her chairs and my table.  The backs on her chairs are better for my hubby's back, but the seats have no cushion what-so-ever. So we are going to have to make some.  With my husband driving, I will have time to work on Max's Moon.  Maybe even finish.  If that happens, I'll start on installing the ez-count guidelines in the Tree Frog fabric.  Never tried doing that in a vehicle before, so that will be an adventure, and with black fabric too.

 

good night and keep stitching!