Once Upon A Time Mini-Finish: January

One of the reasons I love participating in statch-a-longs (or a SALs) is that each segment feels like its own small finish. That said, I'm not exactly good at finishing each piece on the intended timeline.

With that, I bring you my finished January block of the Once Upon a Time Sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. And yes, it's almost the end of March. :) I had a *really* good start on this one and high hopes of staying on track. Then there was an unfortunate counting issue that ended in frogging every bit of the border I'd completed up until that point. I cried real tears and blamed it on post-partum hormones, but they were actually genuine tears of stitchy anguish. If you've been there, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I absolutely love stitching this one. The hand-dyed threads in the border are from Weeks Dye Works and oh my, they are swoon-worthy. The Frosted Pumpkins' whimsical style makes me smile as I stitch. It's difficult to capture in pictures, but the linen (28-count Cashel Linen in Crystal Dubloon) has a glittery thread woven throughout that gives it a beautiful shimmer.

How about you? Do you enjoy stitch-a-longs? Do you stay on track with the deadlines or do you stitch at your own pace?

Beginnings

Well, here goes nothing. :)

This blog has been a long time in the making. I haven't been physically working on it, but it's been swimming in my head for a ridiculously long time. I have several stitchy friends to thank for finally getting the courage to put it out there.

I've been stitching for about 25 years (more on that soon), but I don't know many people in my everyday life who stitch. Lately I've discovered a vast online community of cross stitchers who share my passion. It started with a FB group that I've been part of for many years. We started chatting crafts and I discovered that several ladies shared my favorite hobby. When I started the Woodland Sampler, I discovered that there were hundreds (maybe even thousands?) of stitchers over on Instagram. Soon I also found stitch-a-long groups, blogs and YouTube videos and forums all devoted to cross stitch.

I'm looking forward to this blog for sharing my WIPs, hauls, favorite things and other stitchy stories. Even more than that, I'm looking forward to connecting with other people who love stitching as much as I do.