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.

The thrill of a new start

I was gonna start working on Tree of Stitches by Abi Gurden this week, but fate had other plans. :) Just as I was finishing my previous blog post, I hear a knock on the door. It was the mailman with Stephanie's wonderful fabrics! I spread my favourite piece on the bed, spent half a day marvelling at its beauty, and realized I won't be able to go to sleep before I put my needle to it. So I took a deep breath and a last look at my conversion table, and started my purple version of Mirabilia's Rose of Sharon.

This is my progress after the first day.

This is my progress after three days. I'm going slow as I have changed methods. I cross every x one by one to make sure my stitches are more even. A friend of mine suggested trying this and I like the result so far. I spent some time today trying to figure out what her ribbon should be like. On the original yellow dress it is blue. On my version... it will be... green. Not sure if it would work, but I fell in love with the colours! I will keep you posted and you can tell me what you think.

Tree of Stitches, and all the lovely hand dyed floss I chose for it, will have to wait a little longer. ;)

The crazy getting out of hand

Not only have I kitted and started my designated 15 projects, but while looking for ideas in my now huge collection of cross stitch magazines, I decided to work on even more that I have been in love with but due to low self-esteem and constant nagging by my mom ("are you done with the ones you started last year yet") I kept postponing the first stitches. Not any more! I found a Marjolein Bastin birdhouse chart in issue 93 of The World of Cross Stitching and a lovely garden sampler in issue 70 of Crazy for Cross Stitch. I'm only doing part of the sampler though, another birdhouse design that I'm going to use as a bookmark.Yeah, I know I'm nuts. But damn, I'm enjoying it!