Whenever I work on a big project, I need to periodically step back and take a look at what I have done, and that is what I did today with my 2012 North Carolina State Fair project.

To complete the project, I need:

4 small textured triangles
22 large textured triangle
30 large textured squares
42 medium multi-colored textured squares
168 small textured squares
168 textured rectangles

for a grand total of 434 individual pieces that I will then assemble and join into one unified project.

I have been making squares and triangles and rectangles as time permits, but the had the pieces scattered all over the house, placed strategically out of reach of my dog, Clooney.

While no longer a “puppy,” my beloved dog has reached a phase in life that I found was best described by this passage at About.com Dogs regarding what they termed “The Adolescent Dog”

Dubbed by experienced dog owners as the “question period” of your dog’s life (as in “why on earth did I think I wanted a dog?!”) – at approximately eight months to eighteen months, dogs go through a teenage-like rebelliousness. He now has most of his full-size, and an energy-level that has him bouncing off walls and over furniture, and suddenly he seems to testing every boundary you ever set.

As part of his “adolescence” Clooney has taken a particular interest in ball point pens and my crafting supplies, so when I need to leave the house, I have taken to picking up my projects (and ball point pens) and putting them out of reach without regard for how easy (or not) it will be to find the pieces at a later time.

As such, I have rectangles, assorted squares, and assorted triangles tucked in various out-of-reach and out-of-way places where Clooney cannot get to them. Toay, I made my best effort to gather the pieces from the myriad “safe” spots, and attempted to assemble them in one place (currently the top of the piano), and while I expect I will find more pieces over the weekend, I did manage to find and sort the following:

Seven of the thirty needed large textured squares:

four of the twenty-two needed large textured triangles:

and three of the forty-two multi-colored medium squares in various stages of completion:

While I did not have time to sort through and count all of the textured rectangles and small textured squares that I have made so far, taking an inventory of what I have not only tells me what I have, but points me in the direction I need to go.

So tomorrow when the sun rises on the new day, I will have a chance to search any corners I might have missed for additional pieces, or I might just sit on the deck and crochet the weekend away.