My version of adult coloring

I don’t know if it is just a USA thing, or a world-wide phenomenon, but this past holiday season coloring books for adults were everywhere. (Or maybe they were just in all the book stores and craft stores, I didn’t do much other traditional shopping.) I did not receive one, and I am glad about that. For one, I have more than enough crafty projects to keep me busy for a long, long time, and I also never was particularly good at coloring, and I don’t think that will have changed as an adult.

However, while I was stitching, I realized that I was doing my own version of adult coloring, but using floss instead of pencils. This pattern uses a lot of the satin stitch, and it follows the same principle of filling in a set area.  Like my challenges with actual coloring, I have problems staying within the lines, and always going the same direction.  I have cropped out the top of this section where my stitches are  particularly wonky, but you can still see that even in the “better” part, there are gaps and slight diagonals where the stitches should be straight.

I am working on the piece because I love the pattern, and I have decided that I am not going to sweat the imperfections in my stitches. There are some types of crafts where I remove and redo imperfections as I find them. For this one, I’m just going to let myself enjoy the process and the progress…wonky stitches and all.

 

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Left or right?

While I was embroidering I noticed something. I was stitching with my right hand.  I am left handed, but throughout life have found myself occasionally doing things with the other one.  I have always cut right handed, but I attribute that to the lack of left-handed scissors available in school.  I write and crochet left handed, but use the mouse right handed, and now, apparently, I also do hand stitching that way.

I noticed in the fall when I was painting our porch that I switched back and forth depending on what side of the ladder I needed to reach.  Does everyone perform tasks with different hands? Is it a left-handed issue from living in a right-handed world? Or is it just me?

Just a glimpse into what runs through my mind when I am working on a project.

Winter crafts

Perhaps everyone does this, but I change over what crafts I work on depending on the temperature. Living in an area that has definite seasons, there are some things that get put away when it is too hot.

I hit the point on the baby blanket where I need to wait until I know if it will be for a boy or a girl in order to add a second color. That left me deciding what to pick up next. I need to make a push in January because I participate in a group blog called Thing-a-Day in February, and it has a way of side tracking any large projects.

I was torn between an embroidery project WiP and starting the hospice afghan. Both of these need to be done when it is not hot and humid In the end the embroidery won out. I keep picking this up and putting it down without doing any work on it. It’s time to make some progress on a WiP before I start a new project.

2016 crafty resolutions

I’m not one to usually make resolutions, but I was inspired by watching NanaCathy‘s progress on 15 for 2015 and her follow-up post of 16 for 2016.

I am in no way as ambitious as she is, but thought if I could come up with a list of 16 projects I wanted to finish during the year, it might motivate me to get to work on them and maybe complete a few.

There are a few long-term WiPs lurking among the bins and boxes of my stash.  Finishing these, and doing some stash busting, started the list rolling.

WIPs: These have all been started, some are years old

• Tulip embroidery 
• Tapestry needlepoint 
• Aran afghan 

Stash busters: Projects I have materials to make, but have not started

• Weaving project
• Quilt
• Hospice afghan
• Holiday table topper embroidery
• Feather tree felt embroidery

New skills: Knitting scares me 

• Knitting
• Natural dyes
• Wood working
• Cheese making

A new twist: Stretching to try new things on skills I have already learned

• Crochet a garment
• Springerle
• Silk-ribbon embroidery design
• Plarn 

I know I’ll have a bunch of other projects pop up along the way, but I’m hoping this list will help me focus.