Making a Space

So... I clearly didn't uphold my last attempt to try to keep this up to date.  Oops.

I spent some time today cleaning it up and updating my lists.  Trying to make it a space that is more a reflection of where I actually am.

I've spent some time doing that in my house as well.  We've been in this space for almost 5 years and I don't think we ever truly made it a space that reflected us.  We brought in old furniture that didn't suit the space or our needs and tried to just make it work.  It didn't.  Finally updated the space with furniture that fits and is comfortable.  Created a cozy living room, revamped the dining room, and have some stalled ideas for the office.  It kind of tore apart my craft room - but I'm working on getting that space back up and running in a more functional way too.  The new space actually has the opportunity to decorate and I think that is what sparked the resurgence of cross stitch.  I've spent most of the last year focused on knitting - I go all in when I start a new hobby, luckily the supplies will last and it just resulted in a build up of yarn stash!

I've spent the last few days home using my last vacation days for the year before they expire in September.  For my staycation I pulled out all of my cross stitch stash and got to organizing.  One would think that seeing all of the patterns that I have and have yet to stitch would be enough, but it actually just makes me want to buy more.  What the heck?!  I decided I needed to have some sort of rotational system though because I keep gravitating towards really large projects and that can leave one feeling a lack of accomplishment when nothing is getting finished.  The rotational plan as it currently stands is to have 5 categories - each with a current project being worked on and an "on-deck" project.  I'm not sure if I'll strictly follow a day per theme or what the time frame will be yet, but it's at least a start.  For the first group I pulled some really old WIPs out of retirement and hope to just finally get them finished.

  

Categories right now are:

• Fall & Halloween - First up is "O Halloween Tree" by Barbara Ana with "Hocus Pocus" by Prairie Schooler being next up.  I've previously worked on both of these and hope to finish them and be able to move on to more of my stash.
  
  
•  Winter & Christmas - First up is "Quaker Christmas II" by ByGone Stitches with "Peace on Earth" by Kathy Barrick on deck.  I'm on page 5 of Quaker Christmas and under no assumption that it will actually get finished this year.  I'm planning to work on it until I get tired and then probably put it into retirement for a bit.  I haven't started Peace on Earth yet - but I love the owl.
  

• Spring & Summer - First up is "Chirpy" by Barbara Ana with "Blue Bird Sampler" by Bent Creek on deck.  I'm almost finished with Chirpy but wasn't loving the fabric so I've put it down a lot.  I like the way it looks, just not the way it stitches.  I've done the rest of the Bent Creek Bird Samplers and switch them out seasonally.  I think this is the last one of the series I have to do.  Although I have this fear that I've actually already stitched this so I'm going to have to do some digging through my completed works to make sure.  I tend to only want to stitch for Halloween and Christmas.  I'm hoping that having this on the rotation will help to get some stitching finished that can be displayed the rest of the year as well.  My walls tend to either get a little empty once April hits... or in all actuality I just keep Christmas up until Halloween comes around again... sometimes I fail.  I'm not a fan of pastel colors or summer heat so I've struggled to find a theme to decorate with in the Spring and Summer.  Right now the goal is birds and birdhouses. 
  
  
• All Through the Year - First up is "Moon Dance" by Kathy Barrick with "Elizabeth" by Carriage House Samplings on deck.  I started Moon Dance a couple years ago as an experiment with 40 count before I dove into my first Hawk Run project.  While I love 40 count, I didn't love it for this.  I'm giving it another try before abandoning it back into the Retirement pile.  I'm super excited to start Elizabeth.  I think it will look great in my new living room space right next to my Hipster Fox.  I've got Molly in my stash as well and am looking to pick up the rest of the Girls series to add.
  
  
• Small Finishes - First up is "Blackbird Sampler" by From the Heart with "Olga's Tart" by Plum Street Samplers on the deck.  I'm hoping to get through some of my smalls seasonal stash and then move some of the smaller other themes over as well.  It's my way of cheating the system that I created that has no real rules... I'm ridiculous.
  

I'm toying with the idea of adding a sixth category for the really big projects.  It would free up some time for the other seasonal projects that are a little bigger than small finishes to have some time in the spotlight.  I'll give this a go for a little bit and then decide.

Right now all of my projects are in ziplock bags right now, but I am hoping to convince my mom to help me make some of those nifty project bags I've been seeing around.  I figure if I just make up one for each of my categories I can then keep the two projects together.

Another goal this year is to actually get some of these finishes framed.  My mom does a lot of my framing for me and I'm thinking that it may be a skill I should learn - especially since she's not right around the corner anymore.  It's either that or move to Ohio... hm... that actually doesn't sound too bad.

Anyway.  This is my start.  Maybe I'll keep at this blogging thing.  Although gauging from my track record, it's not looking likely.  Hope you've enjoyed my rambling.  Keep crafting all the things.  I know that's my goal!

jen :)