Serendipity

While googling "cross stitch rotation", I happened upon my own blog from a long time ago. Well, it really has only been 10 years, which is a century in internet terms. For the past week I have been enjoying reading what was going on in my life from 2004 to 2014. Quite a lot of things I had forgotten about to be honest. Maybe not forgotten but certainly things I had not thought about in a very long time. 

On the other hand, it's both humorous and a bit depressing to realize that things I am thinking about / dealing with recently are also things I was dealing with for over 20 years at this point and not much progress has been made. Primarily having too much stash and trying to figure out how to manage it all or why I have so much for starters. That's why I was looking for rotation ideas, though I guess it's not as popular as it once was because I wasn't able to find much. Not even in facebook, which has a ton of cross stitch groups. Once upon a time rotations were popular, so were round robins, but now they are nowhere to be found. I think the world has moved on to other social media, a subject for another post.  

A lot has changed in the past 10 years. Besides the obvious pandemic. Eight years ago I moved into healthcare data science and have been really happy with it. The work I do helps people and I get to hang out with truly intelligent and caring people. My degree is in Physics, considered the hardest science known to man, right up there with Chemistry. If you look for the people that society regards as geniuses, the overwhelming majority are physicists. Scientists just think differently and I feel I've found my tribe. 

I now have two grandchildren. The first being a boy who will soon be 7, and a girl who will soon be 18 months. The boy is going through the typical "boys only" phase. We play Roblox quite a bit. And there is a game called Brookhaven he likes a lot. He built a pizzeria which he wanted to restrict to boys. 

Don't want to make this into a long post, so here's a recap of what I will be posting about: 1) Cross stitch. I am presently working on Tiny Modernist's "Love Grows Here". This is where I am at, and I am hoping to finish it this weekend.  

2) Knitting. I finally learned to knit about 9 years ago and have completed quite a lot of projects which I have at Ravelry. I also have included a few small cross stitch projects there. Autumn House, which I was working on over 10 years ago, is up there. Still unfinished. I guess the project I am most proud of is called "Building with Lace" by Michelle Hunter. I knit it over several months, driving up to Four Purls in Winter Haven for each new part. I'm not sure where it is at the moment. I think it's probably in storage. I am going to have to go and find it. I should always know where that piece is.  

3) Crochet. Something I have done off and one for about 30+ years. There are few chrochet project up in Ravelry. An impressive one is called "Sophie's Universe". I've made 4 of them, 3 of which have been gifted and I'm left with only "The Last Sophie", which needs to be blocked, but not sure who to trust with it locally. I will probably take to Four Purls since they've blocked all my knitting projects. There is a CAL that is starting soon that I wish to participate in. It's the Gift of Christmas. Not good at putting squares together, though I've done so a few time. I have a current project, Vintage Sampler Blanket that is 75% done and I am not looking forward to putting all those squares together.  

And non-craft related hobbies I also have such as:  

4) Puzzles. Picked this up during the pandemic and it's a lot of fun, so I may post about this. I signed up for a puzzle service. Will let you know how it goes.  

5) Video games. I've always gamed, but never made it part of this blog because I didn't think those who cross stitch were much into gaming. Didn't seem to be the right demographic. I have both a PS5 and a Nintendo Switch OLED. Presently hooked on Hogwarts Legacy, even though I've never been a Harry Poter fan. It's a beautiful open world game.  

And of course the usual life-related things such as current events, books I am reading, shows I am watching, things I am doing, etc, etc.

2015 Rotation - All from Current Stash

My rotation is quite focused on projects that need to be finished.  I have been simply unsuccessful at getting my stitching mojo going again.  It's been dormant now for about 3 years. The plan is two-fold: 1) one focus piece per week - rotating through several; and 2) one strand per day of the Snapper borders, until finished, to get into the stitching habit.  Stitching one hour on the focus piece, plus one the one average length of threaded floss on the one-strand piece.

January - One strand per day: Snapper borders (I just GOT to finish this!)
Week One: Fall House (just practicing my stitching before hitting the big projects)
Week Two: LK My To Do List
Week Three: The Rose Garden
Week Four: Rainbow Borders

February - One strand per day: Snapper borders (it'll take more than 31 strands to finish)
Week Five: Paradigm Lost
Week Six: Six Geese A Laying (CEC 4th Day of Xmas)
Week Seven: The Rose Garden
Week Eight: Rainbow Borders

By the end of February, I hope to be finished with Snapper borders and, if so, Paradigm Lost becomes the one-strand daily project.  I'm not going to look further ahead than 2 months.  Life is too unpredictable.

Here we go... AGAIN!

I've not been very successful at getting my stitching mojo going and this is the last year I am going to try again.  If I can't make progress on my  stitching this year, the plan is to donate EVERYTHING I OWN to someone who will stitch.

To that end, I have joined Epic's Stitching "Stitch from Stash 2015-A".  My stitching from stash will first include projects listed on the right hand side of this post, primarily, The Rose Garden, Rainbow Borders, Paradigm Lost, & BC Snappers.  I've given up on ever finishing Petal Fairy, Sunshine State Sampler or Chatelaine Mystery VIII.

New Year's = New Goals

The local ladies (and one gent) at the StitchyFingers group in Fort Lauderdale have decided to join me in a year-long challenge which will be approached on a quarterly basis.  We will be creating quarterly goals for ourselves and, at the end of each quarter, come up with some sort of celebration so we can bask in our successes.

Whilst discussing this, I decided that it's time for me to finish The Rose Garden.  That piece has been around long enough and it would be a huge boost to my self-esteem to see it finally hung in my house.  The Rose Garden's stitched saying is: "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose" and I feel this is a metaphor for what is going on with my life. Upon review, I realized it is 80% completed.  This will be my priority for the first quarter - to finish it and frame!

I also would like to make progress on the Autumn House I'm stitching on.  It's a new start that is more than halfway done now.  Also, the Mermaid Sampler.  I've lost a bit of enthusiasm for this piece.  I'm not sure why, but I'm not quite ready to chuck it. 

Still mocking me are those Snappers.  Ugh, I really hate stitching the border, and it appears that I may have "gone off" somewhere and need to readjust.  I can't move forward until I figure it out.  One thing for certain: I am not ripping any of it!

We will be creating an album somewhere and, as soon as we do, I'll be happy to share!

Happy New Year to all!

Back again!

It might seem laughable to some how I am constantly creating stitching challenges.  It's not that I am not able to stick to my goals - I usually do.  It's that I tend to think I'm superwoman and can magically do it all.  I had four kids. By myself.  Well, not BY myself, but I did raise them as a single parent on my own.

So I am the type of person who is inspired by activity - the more the merrier!