Back

Back from the wilderness and woodsmoke and cold dashes to the outhouse!

So peaceful and relaxing to get away from computers, the thesis and housemates. The quiet was very soothing. The minor disaster with The Longest Cross-stitch Project Ever was less soothing.

Unfortunately a big thaw a few days prior trashed the snow for cross-country skiing. In hindsight we should have brought skates - the lake was pure ice. Instead we went for a really nice long walk and spent the rest of the time reading, relaxing and eating tasty food.

And in the spirit of this blog, I tried to think less and actually DO more. So rather than just spending the weekend reading (which, while technically doing something, is not what I mean by doing - no creative output is required to read) I actually managed to do some things. 

Tried to work on The Longest Cross-stitch Project Ever, which I've been a few hours away from finishing for months now. But when I went to start I noticed that all of the backstitching I've done so far is in the wrong colour. Argh! The difference is enough that 1. I have no idea why I didn't notice it earlier and 2. I feel compelled to frog* all the backstitching and start over. So.incredibly.frustrated. By far my oldest and least favorite stitching project, and I had been hoping to finish it this weekend.

So I put it away and decided to try watercolour painting instead.

It's been years since I've painted, and watercolours were never my strong suit, but being good isn't the point, doing is. So I did, and it felt great. The smell of the paints, the feel of the brush on paper. Mostly practiced controlled flat washes (aka painting rectangles), but it's a start.

I have a whole list of more thoughtful posts than just daily diary-type stuff, but some will have to wait until my camera gets back from being repaired (interested in learning how to make homemade vanilla extract?) and others I hope to get to later this week when I have time to put more serious thoughts to the page. 

*frog: a cross-stitching term for removing mistakes. To remove the threads you have to rip it, rip it, rip it :)