JUST MAKING IT UP AS I GO ALONG...

Wow.  I am just agog over the kindness of the world right now.  THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for all of your lovely comments, notes, words of encouragement, and best wishes.  I floated around on them all day yesterday and put my head on my pillow last night feeling like the absolute luckiest girl on the whole entire planet.

You.  All.  ROCK.

Speaking of rocks....the ones in my head continue to rattle around as I play with Royal Gardens.  I really wish I could tell you why I get the bright idea that I can just pull threads and colors as I go and that the result will be spectacular, but alas, I am a bit dim-witted and have not yet learned from my past mistakes.  Every now and then a happy accident happens and the colors mishmash quite nicely and I don't want to drive my car over the piece, and other times I really do wonder if I should be left to my own devices.

The jury is still out on this one, but I am doggedly determined to keep plugging on until the bitter end. I actually love the combination and don't mind that it looks like I pulled threads in a dark closet at the bottom of a well, but...that's just me.  I can tell you that I'm having a blast stitching it, though, so if you like the design but hate my colors, I say go for it! My methodology makes professionals cringe, I know, but I basically dump out my threads and then pull those that make my heart sing and blow my skirt up.  Then, when I'm stitching the piece, I just look at what I've done so far, what the picture looks like, and then try what I think will look good.   It took a while, but do you know the most important thing that I learned by doing this?

If you don't like it....take it out!

Once I realized that nothing was permanent, I felt the freedom to really play.  Now, I know that there is an argument to be had about proper color theory and paying attention to thread content and texture, but that's another argument for another day.  For now...my goal was to get stitching again after a long dry spell, so suspending all of the "rules" was exactly what I needed to do to get going again.  If I were entering contests or taking classes or asking for my work to be judged, then I would certainly be a better citizen, but for now....it's all good, my friends.  It's all good.

Holy crap!  Is this what 50 is all about?  If so...I'm IN!  I can't wait to have this "let it all hang out" attitude with other aspects of my life, but I suppose we had better alert the public that the Spinster is about to get her groove on.

Wooooo hoooooo!

Spring has sprung once again, so the boys are doing their thing and driving me nuts by barking at the landscapers.  Stewey is zonked out in the bright patch of sunshine, but you can't see him because his furry little self is so sparkly white.  (Damn dog.)  Bosco (the one on the red blanket) has overtaken the perch as his very own comfy spot, so for now we're going to just go with it and hope for some peace and quiet.

I really do have to say THANK YOU again...I don't think it's a secret that I am not exactly the most well-adjusted spinster in the world, so having all of you say and do and write such wonderfully kind things is more of a blessing that I can adequately articulate. My day was filled with all of the things that I love....good coffee, good friends, stitching, blogging, reading, writing, a snoozy nap with my Little, and the knowledge that life really is swell and I'm going to do my level best to enjoy every moment of it!

We're off like a herd of turtles to the weekend's shenanigans.  I am heading over to House of Stitches with my Stitchy Sisters and am already telling myself to just be quiet and not suck all of the oxygen out of the room.  Do you think I'll succeed?