Life changes…fast!!! Sometimes I feel that I am constantly revising my long-term and short-term plans. Life has changed this year and more changes are coming. I turned fifty-one a few weeks ago and I am always tweaking my life chasing fulfillment and making more work for myself in the long run! But I LOVE NEW STARTS! I LOVE a new planner, although I rarely follow through with using it! I LOVE a freshly organized office or closet! My FAVORITE kind of new start is a new cross stitching project! And starting a NEW BLOG seemed to best way to show it off!!!
My newest start is Stitching Rules by Lindsey Weight by Primrose Cottage. Mentally, I wanted project that was super colorful, and this fit the bill! I am stitching on 28 count Zweigart Lugana in Light Taupe and I am using the DMC conversion provided on the back of the chart.
Not only is the chart full of gorgeous colors, but it really put me in mind of a Stitching with the Housewives Flosstube from several years ago. If my memory serves me, Chelsea was stitching either Halloween Rules or Christmas Rules by Lizzie Kate.
I stitched my very first piece around 1980. I was a stamped cross stitch piece wedding sampler for my first cousin once removed. I really have no idea if I whatever happened to it or if I even finished it! During middle school, my mother became good friends with Cindy who is an avid stitcher. I stitched a few pieces in middle and high school. While pursing my bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, I RARELY allowed myself time to stitch. I did make exceptions for special events like the birth of my youngest sister, Wendie! Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of anything from back then.
By early 2015 I had stopped teaching and had a tiny bit more time for myself. Two of my husband’s cousins were getting married that summer. I stitched a one for each of the two brothers that were getting married and a third for their sister because she was a sweetie! The pattern I stitched for all three was Lizzie Kate’s Two Shall Be as One. That was it! I was hooked! I continued making gifts of wedding sampler and baby samplers.
This love of stitching is what lead me to putting a craft section into the hardware store. I started with yarn and sewing thread and a small cross stitch section. That little start has grown into Big Bad Wolf’s House of Stitches!!! I am so happy with how far we have come in such a short time! The community of stitchers we have created makes me so happy!