What I've Been Missing...

Like so many other quilters, I, too, was counting myself as one who'd recently returned to the world of counted cross stitch. (If you follow the blogs you know, cross stitch converts are everywhere!) I didn't go back all that willingly, if the truth were to be told; but, rather, hesitantly. I truly wasn't sure if I wanted to commit time to to hand embroidery all over again. Last Christmas Quiltkeemosabe made me up a little "kit" and introduced me to stitching on linen, over "two"; this was new to me and I had fun stitching up two sampler-style minis. I thoroughly enjoyed that! Hmmm, I thought, why did I ever abandon something that I derived so much pleasure from years ago? I purchased a few charts, bought all the called-for threads and dug out some old supplies. I was back in business, or so I thought. I struggled. A few stitches were placed, here and there, but it was much too easy to pack up and walk away from. Then, Quilkeemosabe and I began talking about thread drops. This concept was new to me. They were so cute, and colorful, and "dangly"; maybe that's what I need, I thought. She brought a nifty winding stick to show me, one more thing that I thought I required (floss is wrapped and cut for placement in the drops, making all the lengths uniform and even more attractive!); I became re-nenergized on the spot. 

I ordered tags and bought a hole punch to create my own "drops".

Mr. Goodneedle made me my very own winding stick, using Quiltkeemosabe's as a model. I was now out of excuses. I had the linen, all my flosses for the next project wrapped, organized and looking pretty but I still lacked the enthusiasm to stitch more than a few minutes before abandoning a now, more appealing (or so I thought), seasonal project. I wondered what was wrong with me. Was I truly returning to cross stitch or simply going through the motions? Around this time my glasses broke, they were pronounced unrepairable by my eye doctor. Luckily, I had an eye exam already scheduled anyway, and now, after that mishap, I'd be ordering new glasses. Well, as luck would have it, (if breaking my glasses could have been fortuitous) my prescription had changed; the timing was absolutely perfect! My doctor told me that the new glasses might take some getting used to because the prescription change wasn't a minor one. I picked up my new glasses on Monday. Oh! My!! Goodness!!!

This has happened since then, and I'm completely in love with stitching all over again! What was the problem? It wasn't that I was unorganized or working on an out of season project that didn't thrill me, I was struggling because I couldn't see clearly and didn't even know that I'd been missing! This had happened so gradually over time that I didn't even realize the difference! I've been marveling all week!

"I can see clearly now the rain is gone (current forecast not withstanding)

I can see all obstacles in my way...

it's going to be a bright sunshiny day!"

Life is Good!