Things here have been way too busy. I'm working 7 days a week at the moment and it's exhausting. The busiest days this summer weren't anything like what we're doing now. It's unbelieveable.

Stitching

I've finally let go of the satin stitches on this RR I've been working on. They are good. They aren't messy. I need to let them be and quit redoing them. I plan to finish up the beading on it tonight and send it on it's way to England hopefully tomorrow. I just want someone else's piece to be as close to perfect as possible. I agonize over it.

Once that is on it's way I can go back to work on L'Ete. I want to get this piece finished soon. It's for me, I want it on my wall NOW! The Houses of Hawk Run Hollow have been calling to me too.

It can be seen here, Carriage House Samplings - New Designs, scroll down it's about the 4th design down on the page. It's a gorgeous piece. I have it kitted and have started the border on the house in the top left corner but that's as far as I've gotten.

For today's featured cross stitch piece I've chosen Drawn Thread's Halloween House. It's another favorite of mine.



I stitched this piece back in 2000. As you can see it's still not framed but once it's framed it will hang on my sampler wall all year long.

Can I tell you how much I miss stitching? I remember way back when, like last winter, for instance, I could sit and stitch for 8 hours a day and not blink an eye. I miss those days. The sad part is, I didn't finish any more projects then than I do now. I stitched eight hours a day at least 4 days a week and still didn't finish any of my BAPs. Maybe that's because I have like 5000 honkin' big projects and absolutely no focus.

What is it that sets, oh I hate this term, but crafters, needleartists, knitters, crocheters, apart from the rest of the world? What is it about our personalities that draws us to the needle, the hook, knitting needles, the scrapbooking table? What is it about holding a needle of any kind that brings us such joy? Why do we miss it so damn much when we don't have time to cross stitch, crochet, knit, or scrapbook or fill in the blank with the creative outlet of your choosing? My mother thinks I'm insane whenever I whine about not having time to cross stitch or crochet. "Why do you want to sit around and do that stuff?" she asks with annoyance in her voice. I say, "It completes me"(please don't tell me that you just sprayed your beverage on your computer screen), but my needlework does complete me. It makes me feel good, it's creating something. It's creating something that adds to the beauty and comfort of my home. It's creating something that not everyone else has on their walls or in their homes. It's something that calms me, that makes me feel good about me. I know that's a strange thing to say, but it does. Even when projects are piling up as they are now, even when I haven't finished one flippin' thing in months, just the art of stitching or crocheting makes me feel better about me. I'm doing something. I'm an artist, in the loosest sense of the term of course. I'll be so glad when things calm down at work and I can embrace my stitching again. I want to make some Christmas ornaments, and I'd love to do a some more mailart for stitching friends. Actually I have this dream of enclosing all my Christmas cards in mailart envelopes. Yeah, like that's really going to happen. It's a nice dream though. I could really dream big and dream that I place all my handmade Christmas cards in hand stitched mailart envelopes. That definitely ain't going to happen. It's just not possible. It would be cool though wouldn't it?