Today is the day I had planned to start the one length of floss per day stitch along on the Elle Brode en Lettres Carmin chart. It was hard to put it down after just one length but that’s the point . . just one length of floss per day.
Right now it looks like the chart I have to read at the eye doctor. A – D with part of the E is done.
I was thinking . . I could make my strands longer but that’s not a great thing for the floss so I’ll keep the 18 – 20″.
Some stitchers will do their “one length” the last thing they stitch each day but most nights, I’m stitching til I can’t keep my eyes open and by the time I put down my regular project, I’m too tired to do anything else. Morning and during the day, I get a bit of stitching but it’s usually bits and pieces of stitching with lots of interruptions so my plan is to do the one length each day when I start my evening stitching.
Not tomorrow because I won’t have it done but starting Monday, I’ll add this to the morning report about what I stitched the day before. So . . tomorrow there will not be a “one length” report but I will get that one length stitched. It will be shown Monday morning.
Here’s a story that’s similar to the one length concept. When Addie was in quarantine and had to miss about 8 days of school when Chad and Nicole had covid, she got really behind on some writing notebook. I think she’s on page 40 and the rest of the class is on page 85. Addie and Nicole butt heads when it comes to doing school work. Nicole asked me to work with her to try to get her closer to being caught up with the rest of the class. When I told her yesterday that we were going to do that, there was much complaining. Last night I didn’t ask her to do any of it. This morning I told her . . I want you to do 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes in the early afternoon and 15 minutes after dinner in your writing book. I told her I would set the timer on my phone and I wanted her to work diligently. She’s done it twice now and she did 4 pages each time. I told her — if you do that every time, you can get 36 pages done before you go home and you’ll be almost caught up. She couldn’t believe that was possible! She said “When I come back upstairs tonight, I’m going to do 30 minutes! An on Monday, if I’m not caught up, I’m not going to play my game or play with Boots til I get all caught up!” What??
All she had to do was see the light at the end of the tunnel. Breaking it down into small pieces, it seems so much more achievable than saying “Addie! You have to get 40+ pages done!”
How do you eat an elephant??
Deb says
How wonderful that Addie has learned that concept early in life — a really tough project just requires a little bit at a time on a very regular basis to get it done. I’m sure she was more receptive to you and the way you taught her how to get a handle on it because it was different and you made it a simple concept to understand in a matter of fact way. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that concept and I’m waaaayyy older than Addie!
Dot Murdoch says
Oh Judy, you are such a wise Granny, no wonder Addie loves spending time with you……Dot in Pa…
Elle says
What a wonderful lesson she has learned from you in just one day!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Thanks! That’s what I think is important – those lessons that just happen without me saying “this is a lesson you need to learn”!
Sheryl says
..Addie is so lucky to have you to teach her these important life lessons. She will remember this time with you all her life. Lucky, lucky girl!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I’m pretty lucky to have her too. She’s so sweet and kind.
Cindy F says
Looking good! I’m with everyone else in saying how fortunate Addie is to have you as her granny. She learns so much from you! I have the letter p done on my project…lol I was able to pull a thread on each side and the R&R piece will work. I was struggling just a little but now that I put the linen in a frame it’s better. I started with a very short piece of floss so I might do more than one strand today. 🙂
judy.blog@gmail.com says
So glad the linen worked for you! And, I’m glad you’re stitching along with me! I thought about doing two strands because I didn’t want to stop after just one but I was ready to get back to the Christmas project.
Nelle Coursey says
One bite at a time!
Rebecca says
Marvelous lesson! Nicole is lucky to have you as back-up (speaking of how lucky everyone is). Actually, I think it has more to do with character and family bonds than luck.
The “15 minutes” rule is one that many of us keep needing to re-learn. A book I’m reading about decluttering uses it. You can do almost anything for 15 minutes, and Addie learned how it really does add up.
I just thought: she would have been mighty unhappy if you had said, “I want you to sit down 45 minutes a day. I’ll time it”! 😀
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Yes, I’m sure that would have had a completely different ending. For her last “session” last night, she wanted it to be 30 minutes and she worked diligently for those 30 minutes. It’s so nice to see her realizing she CAN do it and she’s proud of her accomplishments.