A Work in Progress

This post isn't to announce my retirement, but to celebrate that I am finally finished with the Project. From. H*ll. (Others may refer to this as Petit Sampling Etui.) I started this in January of 2009 and finished it last Saturday night. I actually probably stitched it twice if you count all the frogging I had to do on this thing. Honestly, I considered giving up stitching at several points during this project. But now it's done. And yes, I know that my initials and the date aren't centered in the hearts, but this panel is on the bottom of the box and no one will see it and I've decided I can live with it. It may be awhile before this appears in a finished form. A woman in my sampler guild did her own finishing and said it took her about 80 hours! I'm planning to have this finished professionally if I can find someone to do it at a reasonable price. Thanks so much for all your comments about my retirement decision. Ironic...

Since I last posted, I've had an unexpected curve in my work life when my employer offered an early retirement package. I'm one of a group of 25 in my school district who are eligible. The offer came after I had spent nearly an hour the previous evening typing a report into the on-line program we use only to be suddenly kicked off the program which, of course, didn't save my work. Just minutes before I saw the e-mail with the offer, I had had an unpleasant interaction with a parent who yelled at me when I asked him to let his child out at the corner rather than in the middle of the street. Leaving it all behind looked very attractive. I spent the weekend imagining how it would be to have time to stitch and quilt during the day, how I would be able to plow through the stacks of books laying around my house, how I would be able to devote more time to volunteer pursuits, how I would be able to travel with my husband and not be bound by a school year schedule. I'v...