Exhausted

Tamara is not well, as soon as she gets better, another infection pops its ugly head up. I'm worried for her health, not just because of the illnesses, but also the whopping amount of medicine she has been taking recently.
To top it off, my sleeping disorder is back, so I get hardly any rest. I am trying to use the unexpected extra time productively. I'm re-reading some of the classic books that were mandatory literature in school, but being too young, I failed to understand and thus appreciate them. I'm reading Madame Bovary and next on my list is Catch 22.
I have done some stitching too. I spent two weeks under the spell of Red. It was weird but fun. I couldn't even think of another project. I still keep it nearby, but now I'm working on a Lanarte kit I started about a year ago. Nowadays I'm too tired to enjoy stitching. I make myself do it because the alternative would be sitting numb in a corner, staring in the distance and drooling quietly.

Red speed stitching

WIPocalypse sign in

February 14 – Topic: How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time?  Tell us about your one-at-a-time or rotation habits!

LOL. Comfortable. I am very comfortable with the idea of drowning in WIPs. Cross stitching is my favourite hobby, and I am quite certain it has saved me and changed my life for the better. I'm not going to ruin it by setting goals or deadlines or limits. That's not a hobby, that's work. So whenever I feel like starting a new project, I start it. I stitch on whichever WIP itches the most in my mind. I love the whole process, from staring at a chart and drink in the sight, to daydreaming about working on it; gather all the materials, pick or even dye the fabric, do the occasional conversions, experiment; stitch, photograph, blog, stitch, photograph, blog, until the eventual happy dance when I can start daydreaming about framing or other ways of finishing an item. I love all of it. And I'm done apologizing for it. No rules. No habits. No deadlines. Just the joy of stitching.

New tradition

The new year doesn't officially start until I start stitching on a new Mirabilia! That is a brand new rule I have just decided to turn into a tradition. This time it's Red. I mentioned how much I wanna stitch her and one of my most beloved friends mailed me the chart as a R.A.K..
I don't do resolutions because they are a pain in the back to stick to. I am a single mom with depression but no job, I have enough on my plate already. If I made any resolutions I would only beat myself up about not sticking to them 100% to the letter and would just make my life unnecessarily hard for myself. The last resolution I ever made was to just stop doing that to myself. I do have some vague plans of what I want to do in 2014, but as a true pirate, I tend to think of them more like guidelines rather than an actual set of rules. ;-) So here are my rough sketches of things to do:
   Enjoy the moment. Life is a series of moments. Several decades worth of moments, but still.
   Enjoy my body. It is fully functional and it wasn't always like that. No matter how long ago it happened, I can recall what it felt like to be pushed around in a wheelchair. The real reason for me to work out is not about weight or looks, it's the sheer joy of being able to do it. I will keep reminding myself how much I love it to inspire myself to get more exercise.
   Improve my craft. I've been cross stitching for over 20 years, but I only learned about specialty stitches some 18 months ago. At first I was not even that interested, but then I stitched the Tree of Stitches by Abi Gurden and I got hooked. This year I will try and learn several stitches, learn their name, origin, history, use, everything.
   Stop wasting time on things that don't really matter. Often I do things I could not care less about simply because I think they are expected of me. Not as often as I used to, but still. I wanna stop.
   Spend less time with people who just use me and more with the ones that truly care about me.
   Spend time to figure out what I wanna be when I grow up. If I could pick anything, it would be the Doctor's companion, but I wanna find something to do until the T.A.R.D.I.S. materialises outside my door.
   Last but most importantly. Have even more fun with my girl. It is clear to me that we are different. She is forever moving and active. My favourite activities start with taking a seat in a comfortable armchair. She will never have the patience to stitch or read like I did, she can't wait to leave the cinema after a movie, she does her drawings in several sessions because she can't sit still to finish in one go. It's not easy to accept that. I can do it most days but not always. I will try and find more ways we can spend time together and make them good times too.

Mirabilia madness

Nora Corbett has a hold on me. Her designs are amazing and I just cannot stay away from them.

So she released Persephone some weeks (months?) ago, and I just had to order the chart immediately. I had a bit of extra money so I got the embellishment pack as well. I already picked a wonderful hand dyed fabric by Stephanie and bought the DMC floss required. No hand dyed floss yet, as the fabric I chose looks very different from the original. Therefore I will stitch the lady before I decide what colours I should use for the background pattern. Long story short, I have her kitted up and she is patiently waiting her turn.










 Then they released Red, which not only looks amazing, but she also reminds me of Ruby from the TV series Once Upon A Time. I love that series and Ruby is one of my favourite characters.

(SPOILERS!)

You may already know that I have a thing for werewolves. So for me Red has an extra special meaning. I don't even have the chart yet, but I bought a piece of 32ct grey marble linen and most of the floss. That is how nuts I am for this chart.

It was then that I realized that as much as I like finishes and try to make myself stitch smaller designs, my true calling is Mirabilia, as these designs give me the most joy, and I feel happier working on them then I feel finishing anything else. So, after years of futile efforts of not making more WIPs but concentrating on finishes, I finally embraced my nuts-for-Miras side and started working on Villa Mirabilia. It is my absolute favourite design and had it kitted up for years. I didn't start on it because its size scared me and I kind of assumed it will become a UFO. But now I had enough of waiting. I work on VM and every single stitch makes me happy. And, at the end of the day, that is all that matters.