BACK IN THE STITCHY SADDLE! YEE HAW!

I've always known that I am a moody stitcher, but I had no idea the extent to which those moods can make or break my stitchy mojo. Sheesh.

As has been painfully chronicled on this here blog, my stitchy slump was not at all pretty. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't seem to find a project that made me sit up in the buggy and push my reading glasses up my nose.

I should have known what the problem was....I am in a very CANVAS state of mind and cross stitch was the only thing in the basket! So I hiked upstairs to the studio and pawed through my stash to see if I couldn't remedy the situation.

Here's The 4 Santa Patch Sampler by Just Libby Designs. This is a line-drawn canvas that comes with a stitch guide, so all you need to do is add threads and....viola! (Well, maybe it's not exactly THAT easy, but it sure is doing the trick of blowing my skirt up lately, so I'm not going to question it.)
I started with the Santa in the lower right since that was the easiest part to reach with my stubby arms and ridiculously bad stitchy posture. Here's how far I've progressed after the weekend:
I'd love to tell you that he looks so cool because of my stitching prowess, but the truth is that the chart pretty much tells you exactly what to do.

Aunt Chrissy and I were talking about stitching this weekend, and we decided that the reason most cross stitchers are able to easily convert to canvas work is that they know how to read a chart. And, if you've ever cross stitched a piece that involves "specialty stitches" and not just cross stitches, you're already on your way to being able to do almost anything you want.

(Or you could just be delusional like me and forget that you know absolutely nothing about anything at all and just jump in with both feet and muck about until you learn something.)

(This works really well when you're involved in learning how to do new forms of needlework. Heart surgery...not so much.)

So I'm officially out of the slump and loving my time in the Happy Chair once again! Stewey is thrilled that I'm not pacing around the house with "a puss on" (as I see he told you), so life seems to be quite swell for now.

(Well, as swell as it can be with an obsessive compulsive spinster and a little dog that insists on peeing on the drapes.)

Ciao!