Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Hello, It's Me Again! What?

Hey Y'all!
Told you I was going to try to get back into the blogging groove. This space for me is all about writing and getting back in the habit. I have missed writing so much. I believe the last few years is(are?) the longest amount of time I have gone without writing. Even before blogging I would write in composition books and if not journaling I was stream of conscious writing. Basically I was putting pen to paper and just writing. Blogging was a gift. A space where I could write and people might read. So I am going to attempt to blog a few times a week, no schedule and I won't beat myself up if I don't but I want to try. Also, if y'all knew how many times I refer to old blog posts to check dates of not only projects but life events. So it's good to have a record of things that can be accessed no matter if I'm on my computer or phone or tablet.
 
A Tale From W.I.P. World
 
Below is Wacky Witches in Stitches by Clouds Factory.
 
The first picture was an update picture I took without my hoop, the next is the section I'm working on now. I skipped part 5 because of technical issues with my chart, it printed out funky and I need to email that part of the chart to myself so I can open it EZPDF. I'm a thread off in part 4. Moving over to part 6 will help me line up the bottom border correctly before attempting part 5 anyway.  
 
  I can't believe I'm a thread off but I am not frogging. I think it's Kitten Stitcher who says "Stitch forward, not backward". So I am embracing that philosophy these days. If it's not absolutely necessary I refuse to frog. Life is too short. The last picture is the picture of the finished design from Clouds Factory's website. Not my image. I have no idea what fabric I'm using. I want to say it's the recommended fabric but mine looks a lot lighter than the model. I believe it might be a PTP but the weave is a bit loose so it may be just a Wichelt based linen. I don't even know if it's 28ct or 32ct. I'm thinking 32ct. I would love to have this completed by the end of the month but as you can see I have a long way to go and I never thought I would say this but after completing three Halloween W.I.P.s this month already I'm a little over Halloween. I know! Me over Halloween? Unbelievable but I'm itching to work on other things.  
 
 
 
 
 



Artsy Anxiety

Recently I have been stressing over all my W.I.P.s. There are just so many. I'm a serial starter and have no discipline. Every so often I get overwhelmed and try to settle down and finish projects and try not to start any new ones. Every year I plan to start 31 new projects for Stitch May-nia but I flake out around four or five because I start thinking about all the projects sitting in gallon or two gallon Ziploc baggies not seeing the light of day because I have no self control. I ended up passing on Sampler September on Instagram because I have too many projects and finishing some Halloween projects was my goal.

I plan to sit down and assess my current started sampler situation. I suspect it will have me clutching my pooka beads(I'd say pearls but I'm a Florida girl ;0). I will not mention the ones I have in a pile to be kitted up. There's a lot but I believe in kitting projects up whenever I can because it's a luxury to have projects ready to go when I want to start them. Not having a LNS it's important to hoard and kit as much as I can.

 I'm trying to get organized but right now I am missing a box of sampler charts, Primitive Needle no less and about 45 skeins of Mo's Sale overdyed threads. These have been missing since we moved almost 5 years ago. I know the Primitive Needle charts are in the garage somewhere but the Mo's Sale threads, I am so hoping they didn't get tossed out by mistake or if I  threw them out because the cat got into them. Our cat Trouble is an asshole. He really truly is. If it's mine, he pees on it. Anyway at this point it  was so long ago I just can't remember. Those threads should have been with my Hand Dyed Fiber silks. They were both stored in plastic shoeboxes. I found my HDF, I found my stamps, I found my embroidery pattern shoe box but my Mo's Sale threads, no where to be found. It's just odd that they haven't turned up.

So lots of artsy anxiety around here. So much to do, I need more hours in the day and more arms. I won't even start with crochet and quilt and sewing projects in my W.I.P. pile or on my dream list.

Hope everyone survived Monday and all are finding time to squeeze in some time with the little X.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Stitching Life Update October 2019

Hey y'all!

I can't believe I was able to access my blogger account. It's been so long since I have blogged. I miss it. I know Floss Tube is the new blogging but I enjoy writing and way back in 2004 when I created my blog Musings From a Three Bedroom Ranch I just wanted a reason to write every day. It gradually became a place to share my stitching. We all know how solitary the stitching life is with ony  a little X as a companion and we are very fortunate if we meet real life like minded humans to with whom to share our obsession.

I struggled with a new name for the blog since we no longer live in a three bedroom ranch. Not sure if that actually matters but it felt wrong now. On January 30, 2015 we closed on our very first home and in an all honesty we couldn't believe it actually happened from the moment we got the news that the home we rented for thirteen years was going to be sold, to looking at the price of rentals, to checking the spousal unit's credit score. One day while waiting on someone to take care of some personal business my husband and I sat in a restaurant and decided maybe we should just try to buy a house, the clock was ticking and we had to do something. I mentioned that our former neighbor was now in the mortgage business and I didn't mind her knowing our deepest, financial secrets. It was the best decision we ever made. We looked at six houses and the last one was on a whim. It was the one. I had wanted more land or to take a chance a new county but this house was one road over from our neighborhood and the price, the location, it was just the right house at the right time. The fact that everything, EVERYTHING fell into place at that moment in time was nothing more than serendipity. That word seems to be used often in the world of blogs, it's a great word. Pretty and lyrical. I got out my thesaurus and settled on Fortunate Happenstance. It feels right, so here I am. How about a little...

Stitching Update

This month I have had three finishes but one of my pictures has disappeared from my computer. Weird. I will share these two and now have a reason to blog again!

Minerva by Kathy Barrick
18ct aida, coffee/tea dyed by me
DMC threads

Halloween Cat by Satsuma Street
28ct Monaco dyed by me using RIT dye
I think the color is denim but I'm not sure
DMC thread
 
I'm hoping for another finish before the end of the month. I have so many WIPs so it feels good to get a few moved out of the WIP pile into the "waiting to be FFO'd pile". That pile is out of control too but the WIP pile is insane.
 
Blogger seems like it should be easier but I'm kind of confused with the template and layouts and need to figure out how to clean up all my links that are no longer relevant or need updating. I will save that for another day while I see if this post actually posts.
 
It feels good to be writing again and I will bring this post to a close while I continue to figure this new blogger out and I hope to continue posting and writing because I have missed it so much. I love Instagram for sharing pictures but blogger allows me to write and ramble and muse and the space to obsess.