I never thought I'd make it!

Yay! It's a long weekend. Please pardon me as I deflate into the couch and don't move for about 72 hours or so. Ugh.

I'm still decompressing and don't have anything that witty to write about tonight (do I ever, though?), so I'll catch up on some more Stitchers' Blogging Questions:

11/16/05: How do you feel about staying totally true to a pattern? Do you feel that you have to rip out stitches to fix a mistake or do you feel it's acceptable to incorporate a mistake into the design?

Several years ago as I was learning to stitch, I came to my mom with questions about being perfect with my stitching. She told me to strive to be as accurate as I can, but don't beat myself up if there are a few errors in the design-- "that way, you know it's yours," she said.

I guarantee that every project I do has at least one or two errors in it when I'm done. BUT... that's usually due to either not noticing it as I go along, or deeming it as not vital to the piece at large. For example, I have a complete miscount at the bottom of The Castle along the rock line-- I'm off by a full row for a part of it, and by looking at the pattern, it looks all screwed up. But looking at the piece-- eh, not so much. I just adjusted a few stitches to clean it up and left it as-is.

If it's something that will completely screw up a centralized count-- especially on a huge piece like a Teresa Wentzler, I'll rip the stitches out and fix it.

11/23/05: Do you always sign your projects? If not, why? If so, do you use your first name, initials or what?

This year was the first that I ever signed a piece. I'll probably continue it where I can find a good place to put it-- I think my first and last initial, plus last two digits of the year will suffice.

11/30/05: Do you have rules in the way you stitch? (i.e., Do you start in the middle? Do you determine which blocks to stitch first? Do you always start from the top or the bottom? Do you have special paths to prevent wasting thread?)

With few exceptions, I start in the middle and work out in whatever direction suits my fancy at the time. I don't stitch by the 10x10 blocks, but rather stitch by color. In any particular area that I'm stitching, I try to determine the primary color of the area and fill that in, and then put the complimenting and contrasting colors for that particular area of the pattern around it.

As for wasting thread-- I admit to being a bit careless at times, but generally I simply try to stitch until I physically can't get the needle through the fabric any more for a normal stitch without the thread slipping through the eye.

12/7/05: Have you done any charity stitching, been in one, or would like to organize one?

I haven't yet, but have heard of it. I"m not sure if I'd want to do any charity stitching. I think that between my full-time job and my sometimes very weird availibility to actually sit down with a hoop, I probably wouldn't be suited for charity work.

12/14/05: Take a minute to reflect on your blog reading habits and preferences. What do you prefer to read in stitching blogs? (Progress, tips, family life, experiences, etc.) How much do you think you are influenced by other stitching bloggers?

I definitely have been influenced by other stitchers in how to present my crafty updates. No doubt there. As for other things, I'm not influenced that much-- I started writing in my blog nearly five years ago, and didn't involve myself with stitchers' blogs until last December.

I don't have a preference on what I like to read-- if something doesn't interest me, I just move on... but I like a mix of just about anything. It all depends on my overall feeling for the day.



Off to bed and hopefully a chance to sleep in!

~ Mel.