July 30, 2014: Finally finished crocheting this beast a couple of days ago, I realized that I must have used up all of the crochet cotton that I’d purchased and decided after trying to find a suitable replacement that it was for naught. I had to detach about 7 motifs to get back to a suitable rectangle shape, and then went through with applying a single crochet border all the way around. I’m left with a couple of partial motifs and will block this over the weekend before taking pictures. The final project is a 9-motif x 14-motif rectangle, suitable to use as a table runner.

July 19, 2014: This has been sitting in the naughty corner for a long time and I really need to get it done - it’s almost 4 years since my parents’ 50th anniversary and they aren’t getting any younger. Trouble is, I think I moved the remaining skeins to the basement, and my son rearranged my stash when he moved back in to the basement for a few months. I need to spend some time going through my stash now in order to recover the last 3 or 4 skeins so I can finish this project. Alternatively, I could see if I can find a close enough match in a different brand of thread, and then over-dye everything so that it hopefully matches… yikes! I currently have completed 133 motifs.

August 24, 2012: 129 motifs completed.

August 10, 2012: 128 motifs completed. 68 to go, plus the finishing. I’m now going for a 14 x 14 square (196 motifs total) given the amount of thread I have left. Blocking this beast is going to be a nightmare.

August 3, 2012: 127 motifs completed.

July 30, 2012: I’ve picked this up again. I have 5 cakes of crochet cotton left. 120 motifs completed and joined. That’s an average of 13 or so motifs per cake. I’m not going to have enough to fit my parents’ table in its entirety. It will have to be a decorative thing rather than a practical one. Oh well.

July 31, 2011: 111 motifs completed and joined. Just picked up this WIP again the other day, after a long siesta.

September 15, 2010: Completed motif #95.

August 11, 2010: Completed motif #87.

August 10, 2010: Completed motif #86.

July 29, 2010: Added motif #81 and started #82 yesterday.

July 27, 2010: I’ve had to set this aside for a while, thanks to some nasty aches, pains and cramps in my left hand. Right now my left thumb has a pretty much constant sensation of wanting to be cracked and not being able to accomplish that. Every so often my entire left hand will cramp into the position that I would use to hold my crochet work. I’m devastated, because I’ve been crocheting for almost 40 years (off-and-on) and have never, ever had anything like this happen. I’m also very upset that I may not be able to complete this project after all.

June 16, 2010: motif #75 completed.
June 9, 2010: motif #72 completed. 12x6 configuration. I think I’m 50% complete with the motifs (45% if I take a modest border into consideration). 5 months until my deadline.

June 2, 2010: motif # 69 in progress; haven’t had much time or inclination to crochet the last few days.
May 30, 2010: 67 motifs complete.
May 29, 2010: 64 motifs complete.
May 27, 2010: 60 motifs completed (12 x 5 configuration).
May 26, 2010: 56 motifs completed.
May 25, 2010: 54 motifs completed.
May 24, 2010: Motif #51 completed last night, while watching the series finale of LOST.

May 21, 2010: Motif #48 almost completed. Mid-way through the last round of the motif (while joining to the previously completed motifs) I have to join a new skein of thread. Trying to figure out how to accomplish this without having a big ugly knot showing.

May 19, 2010: Motif #45 completed last night, just before the second-to-last episode of LOST.

May 12, 2010: Motif #38 completed. I’m re-thinking the dimensions of the tablecloth, as I just realized that I may not have enough thread to cover the table in its entirety. I’ll get to the 12 x 12 square and see what it looks like.

May 10, 2010: Motif #37 in progress. Weaving in ends as I go along is slowing things down a bit, but sparing me the tedium of having to do it all at the end. My optimisn is showing… I still believe I will get to “the end” by my November deadline. :)

April 14, 2010: 30 motifs complete. Spent some time weaving in ends today. Only 124 to go?

March 20, 2010: Second row of 12 motifs complete. I’m starting to think that this may be a bit more ambitious than I can manage.

March 18, 2010: 2 more motifs added. I can see this is going to become very tedious. When I started this I could easily make 2 or 3 motifs a day, and now I am losing focus before even completing a single motif. Maybe this will be a table runner instead of a table cloth. Or just a really big doily.

March 1, 2010: It’s been a while. If I’m going to make my November 1 deadline, I need to get the lead out.

September 20, 2009: I haven’t touched this, or any other WIP, in a week. Just came off my 2D2N yesterday and I’m still in a fog.

September 11, 2009: Motifs #19 & 20 completed while travelling.

September 7, 2009: Motifs #17 & 18 completed. I’ve just recently noticed a big callus on one side of my “driving finger” from all the crocheting I’ve been doing… I might have to invest in some kind of thimble!!

September 2, 2009: Motifs #15 & 16 completed.

September 1, 2009: Motif #14 completed.

August 24, 2009: Motifs 10 to 13 completed. Checked against table width, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll definitely need 12 motifs to have a suitable width to the tablecloth.

August 23, 2009: Motifs #8 & 9 completed. Almost time to check the width against my table… a couple more motifs should do it.

August 21, 2009: Only half a motif completed yesterday. Too busy to have my usual breaks at work. Motifs #7 completed and #8 started at Starbucks this afternoon.

August 19, 2009: Motifs 5 & 6 done today. Two hours seems to be the amount of time required to make each one.

August 17, 2009: Motif #4 started and completed, however interrupted by 16-year-old with a scrapbooking emergency. You see, she wants me to make a scrapbook for her and the boyfriend’s “anniversary” today, and she has no idea what she’s doing when it comes to scrapbooking. Neither do I, but because I am The Mom®, apparently the skill is part of my genetic makeup and Superhero repertoire.

August 16, 2009: I have two motifs completed in very short order. I’ve just measured the dining room table and come to the realization that I will need to make 240 motifs (20 x 12) in order to fit my parents’ dining room table at its largest dimensions. This could take a while.

On a good day (translation: a day with no kids’ activities interrupting my work) I think I might be able to make 3 - 4 motifs. Once I worked the original motif, the second one went much more quickly, so I’m thinking that a conservative estimate might be around 9 months to a year of steady production to complete the project.

August 15, 2009: First motif completed in about 2 hours; measures about 4” x 4” (10 cm x 10 cm).

I’m trying not to think about how many of these I’ll need to make a decent sized tablecloth for my parents’ dining room table. I think I’ll save that calculation for tomorrow.