Dear Diary

I’m sorry to have been neglecting you.  It’s all this boy’s fault.  I have had an amazing summer hanging out by the pool with a cold beer, going to the movies, out to swanky restaurants, socializing with all the new friends I’ve made, but now he’s gone back to school and I have time to catch up with you and get all my summer secrets down.

Back to my regularly scheduled schedule!  Yay!

Over the past several weeks I have been spending a shit-ton of time in my Lady Lounge, Woman Cave, Sewing Room, whatever the heck everyone’s calling it these days.  Lately I have felt like calling it Dungeon.

Since I moved here almost five years ago, during the summer I normally sew until the air conditioner kicks on then I head downstairs to spend the rest of my day sitting on my rear end stitching and reading.  This summer, nope!  We really have had time out of the house, but the time in has been spent on daily chores, stitching, and reading.  I can’t remember the last time I unpacked my sewing machine.

Because….

I have not been able to settle in since I painted and reorganized!!!  I feel like I have stuff spread out all over the place.  I have tons of shelves and boxes and buckets, so I have plenty of storage space, but I evidently haven’t been using it wisely because I feel like things are lost, forgotten, and hard to put my hands on.

I had all these plans to start selling excess cross stitch over the summer – that I sorted out when I pulled everything for painting – that I know I’ll never get around to stitching because I’ve either lost interest in the item, it’s no longer something I like, the designer pissed me off, etc.  I am my own LNS.  Here’s proof positive of how much I don’t need.  Boxes, boxes, and piles of stuff to be sold.  Trust me when I tell you that is just a drop in the bucket.  😀

This past weekend I had dinner out with my partner in crime, Annette, and we talked about stash diving because there was something we knew we had but couldn’t find it.  I have started bullet journaling and wanted to add in my WIPs and get back to some type of rotation, and I was sharing with her that I was procrastinating listing them because I couldn’t decide whether to just start writing them down, or to go through each one and sort them by either how old they are, or how close they were to being finished.

When we started talking about retiring I knew I would have no where near the funds I would want to kit up certain things with all the lovely silks there are out there so I gradually began doing that.  I have 2 large fold-back-top Rubbermaid containers that contained some of my WIPs and some of my kitted items (either by myself, or purchased that way).

I finally bit the bullet and started digging through them today.  Here’s what I found in the WIP department

1. Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler
2. Letting Go (Lusk) – HAED
3. Ann Holewll Sampler – The Examplarery
4. Quaker RR
5. Dimples Bugs RR
6. French Alphabet Sampler (I forgot I put it in there!)
7. Castle Sampler – Teresa Wentzler
8. The Fortunate Traveler – Teresa Wentzler
9. Earthdancer – Butternut Road
10. Tapestry Cat – Teresa Wentzler
11. Sleeping Beauty – Mirabilia
12. Patchwork Pieces – Nutmeg Needle
13. Asian Garden – Odds n Ins
14. Lady of the Flag – Mirabilia
15. Tsunami Sampler – Stickideen von der Wiehenburg
16. Christmas Elegance – Mirabilia
17. Peace – The Silver Lining
18. Christmas Wreath – Teresa Wentzler
19. Topiary – Teresa Wentzler
20. Garden Trellis Box – Linda Driskell from Just Cross Stitch magazine.

In one box!  I know there are more because I have a beautiful chest downstairs that my friend Kathy gave me and I’ve started storing some WIPs in there.  In fact, now that I think about it, all of the above 20 may also fit in there!  Oh, and then there’s the ottoman I prop my feet on while stitching…you can store stuff in there and I know I have at least one WIP in there, ’cause I was just looking at it the other day.  Geesh.  Oh wait!  Don’t forget my stitching bag that probably has 2-3 in there, too.

And here’s what was in the kitted box:

1. Autumn Queen – Mirabilia
2. Random Thoughts – Drawn Thread
3. An Expression of Gratitude – Blue Ribbon Designs (which I pulled out)*
4. Victorian Pearls – Sew to be Seen
5. Victorian Pearls 2 – Sew to be Seen
6. A Christmas Sampler – Midsummer Nights
7. The Book of Spells – The Goode Huswife (which I pulled out)*
8. The Spot Sampler – Margaret Bendig
9. Shakespeare’s Garden – LaBroderie
10. Queens Rule – Enchanting Lair
11. Castle Ridge – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
12. Damask Rose Scissor Keep – Textile Heritage (gift)
13. Above the Clouds – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
14. Mermaid of the Pearls – Mirabilia (special overdyed fabric)
15. Toccata Three – Drawn Thread
16. Cattleya Orchids – Terrance Nolan
17. A Token of Friendship – Merry Cox (an OOP which I could probably sell to pay off my house)
18. This is the Day – La-D-Da
19. My Son – Indigo Rose (should have pulled this one and may go back and do it)*
20. The Dreamer – Mirabilia
21. Quaker Diamonds – Rosewood Manor
22. Toccata Two – Drawn Thread
23. Toccata One – Drawn Thread
24. Quaker Samplings  – With My Needle
25. My First Sewing Box and Scissor Fob – Stitching Parlor (which uses a Whitman’s Chocolate Tin I’ve tried to throw away a hundred times)
26. Souvenir Sampler – Drawn Thread
27. Village of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings
28. The Song They Sang – Carriage House Samplings (I even bought the frame for this one!!!)
29. A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion – Scarlet Letter
30. Norwich Marianne Wren
31. James Wilson
32. Voice of the  Shepherd – Told in a Garden
33. Teeny Hardanger – Sweetheart Tree
34. Brilliant Plumage – Teresa Wentzler

So, I evidently have a thing for Teresa Wentzler.

*I will be very unhappy in Heaven if I die and don’t at least start The Book of Spells and An Expression of Gratitude.  Guess they’re getting added to my WIPs list next month.

Now, lest LNSs around the world freak out, all of the above does not mean I won’t be buying more as evidenced by the deliveries my mailman has made since my last post.  I give you Exhibit C:

A new small portable stitching lamp, and needle organizer (can you say Teresa Wentzler?).

28ct Brash Jubilee for Ann Pegg 1877.  Yep, I found some.  I emailed the dyer asking advice for a replacement and she told me she had 2 FQs left.  Miss Annette snapped up the other one.  Partner. In. Crime.  I tell ya.

Pattern, fibers, stretcher bars, and canvas for this lovely.  I have had my eye on it for a bit and found out it was discontinued so I snapped it up.

I also purchased these cones of DMC from Joanns.com for Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog Samplers.  I’m leaning toward the copper on the right.  I need to check my fabric stash and do a floss toss.  I’m very tempted by the beautiful turquoise in the back but I’m afraid it’ll burn my eyeballs out stitching on a sampler this large.  I do have a backup plan for it though 😀  If I don’t have a good piece of fabric in my stash for the copper I may use the red and order some 40ct white.  Not to be worried about now though as I cannot start it until next month at the earliest because I am going out of town next week.

I am stalking my postman for Brooke’s Books Wizard of Oz.

So see, shopping when I shouldn’t be, or don’t need to be.

And I have quilt stuff coming in too.

But! This post has gotten so long and my phone is currently charging so I can’t show you what the top of my guest bed looks like.  It’s covered with fabric, patterns, etc., from the quilt side of my room AND fabric, fibers, and fabric from the cross-stitch side of my room while I go through the buckets and baskets mentioned above trying to reorganize and sort into a better working order for me.  I’m slowing myself down because I have to look at it, and touch it, and remember when I bought it, before sorting it into a pile to place it better in my room.  I’m dreading getting to two particular stitching containers because I have lots of already kitted small things that need to be added to that list up there and put into that Rubbermaid container (which is full!).  I know I won’t get it put away any time soon as I still have some excavating to do, so I’ll share a photo next time I post.

I forgot to show you some stitching!

Since my last post I have finished my Sugar Skull by Mill Hill

And my version of Be Thankful by Country Cottage Needleworks

and block 7 of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings (currently working on block 8)

Now I’m off to write my WIPs in my Journal and do some stitching.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll dig the rest out of their hidey holes.