Spring Destash!

Yes I know, it's been a while!  There is a very simple reason for my absence - I have not done any stitching since my last post.  No you read that correctly, your eyes did not deceive you, I have not picked up a needle and thread since 1 January 2017.  With this being a stitching blog, that sort of gives me very little to write about lol!

I thought I might stitch as January went on, but alas no.  February was the same and then I decided to pack away my Lowery and stitching accoutrements, as I was sick of the sight of them sitting there unused.  I don't feel optimistic about March either, so maybe April will be my month?!  Who knows!  To be honest I'm not worried about it, although it feels odd not to spend most days doing a little bit of stitching as I have done for the past 6 years, I have neither the time or the energy for it at the moment.  I still have a few projects swimming around in my brain that I am excited about, so I know the desire is there and will surface at some point.

Ultimately eating away at me is the fact that The Drawer is full to the brim and the spare room littered with poster tubes full of completed stitching - is there any need to add to it with more of the same?  Maybe I have come full circle and am back to where I was in my teenage years where it was enough to complete a project here and there as the mood took me once or twice a year.

Anyway, I hadn't touched or been near my stash in about 3 months and I knew that it might help my lack of stitching if I had a good sort out so that I could see the wood for the trees so to speak.  I finally summoned the nerve last week and the result is a little Spring Destash Sale, so if you want to take a look, click on the For Sale tab at the top of the page. (Edited to add: all items have now sold - thank you!).  Some of the fabrics I dearly love - but 28/32ct just isn't my jam anymore so there is no point holding on to them.  I have kept a few pieces (I could never part with my nom de plume fabric!) but it's mainly all about the 36/40ct these days.  Threads are always hard to part with but there are only so many you can stitch with and only so many varieties of the same colour you need!

If you've reached the end of this post thank you and to all of you that have messaged and emailed me during my stitching hiatus -  thank you.  I hope that I will stitch again at some point this year, but until then.........

Happy Stitching - put a few in for me while you're there!

Hard Habit To Break......

Every year for the previous 6 years I have always had a New Year's New Start.  With me currently stitching next to nothing, I thought that 2017 might be the end to that little tradition.  I've put a few stitches in Band Sampler over the past month, but I haven't looked at any of my stitchy accounts/groups on FB or IG for weeks and have just been enjoying the hour or two I have spent stitching for me.

Current progress on Band Samper - another band bites the dust!

So 1st January rolls around and at about 7pm I decided that yes, I will have a new start please and that it doesn't matter that I probably won't finish it until the end of the year if that!  It's a design I've had kitted up in preparation for 1st January and one I have had in my stash for five years so it deserved to see the light of day:

 

It is Elle Brode des Lettres Carmin by Reflets de Soie and I have this pattern spread across several issues of GOSM from 2010, but I think it has been recently re-released by Isabelle.  I love samplers, I love anything French, I love fonts and lettering and I love red silk and flax linen so this is pure joy to stitch for me.  Despite using AVAS Soie D'Alger on quite a few pieces, this will be my first time using Soie de Paris so I am looking forward to seeing how it compares to other filament silks I've used in the past.

 

The stitch count is 250 x 400 and I'm using 40ct, so as it is stitched using only 2 colours of silk (and a bit of ribbon work) it is perfect for me to pick up sporadically as and when the mood takes me - especially as it is an alphabet sampler band sampler.  Here is what I managed to do for a couple of hours on 1st January:

 

 

 

 

 It is a strange feeling to love a piece very much but not feel the need to stitch on it for hours on end taking up all my spare time as I have on other pieces prior to this.  I'm not complaining at all - I feel much more balanced than I have for a while.  Rather than stitching taking up all my free time, it now occupies a fraction of it, leaving me time for reading (currently reading Julian Fellowes' latest, Belgravia) and other interests that I have never really talked about "publicly" such as diet, nutrition and wellbeing.

 

 So the blog may be quiet for a while, I will post when I have some more substantial progress to show.  Keep your eyes peeled for a destash post soon as I have threads and fabrics that really need to find a new home instead of just sitting in my stash when they could be better put to use in yours :)!

Happy Stitching!