Lost That Loving Feeling? Oh, Yeah.

Have you ever had a case of the “stitching blahs” where you just didn’t want to stitch? Or maybe it was more like you didn’t get to stitch because you were busy and that created a chain reaction sense of the “blahs” and led to even less stitching…. sort of like a case of “the Mondays” that we are all familiar with. How do you handle your stitching blahs and get back into stitching mode?

This is my reply to the Stitching Bloggers Blog Hop #1:

I once went nearly three years in the mid-1990s without picking up a needle except to sew on my daughter's Girl Scout patches. The project - and it was only one project - that drove me to ruin was a Dimensions kit that my dear MIL picked out for me to stitch for her newly decorated guest room. She'd gone with a southwest theme and the kit was DMC floss on a large piece ivory Aida. In itself okay. But I absolutely hated those pastel colors -pinks, aquas, blues and corals with these horrible shades of browns. Took me longer than it should have to stitch it, but I persevered and finished it. And the next time I was at her house, I framed it. I have the joy of visiting it regularly as it is still in the guest room. It took all the fun out of stitching for me and as I didn't have a local needlework store in that location, I was missing a regular source of inspiration. 

Fortunately for me, I moved. And then someone moved in next door to me. She was all about the rubber stamping - always running off to classes and shopping with the coupons at Michael's. Then I discovered stitching on the internet. RCTN, AOL's cross stitch boards. Suddenly my motivation was back. And I had terrific shopping opportunities, too! And my friend resurrected her love of stitching - turns out she had a stash hidden in her house, too! Before I knew it I was attending the Spirit of Cross Stitch and taking classes. 

I haven't stopped stitching since 1996. 

I still have days when I don't feel like picking up a needle and thread. But I've got a strict one thread a day rule. I try to put in at least one thread's worth of stitching a day. One thread frequently leads to more threads. On days when I've got the blahs, sometimes it's only 6 or 7 stitches. But for the most part, stitching is such a habit that those days are rare. And when the blahs truly threaten to overwhelm me, I can sit in my studio and organize things. Playing with threads is always inspirational. Or I come here and browse the blogs where it seems like everyone is making more progress than me! And that's okay because I've already made SABLE status and I'm okay with that. 

 

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.