During the first year that my boyfriend and I were living together, we became acutely aware of the collections we have and the amount of space they took up. Me and my craft and he and his fishing. At times I would comment in amazement on another package arriving for him, containing more squidgies (aka hard and soft plastic lures) to become part of his collection. Whilst he would occasionally comment on how long I spend in a craft store and how many threads, patterns and fabric I’ve purchased. My boyfriend is amazingly patient! I’m not sure what he would do without his phone to keep him entertained whilst waiting for me to finish up in the craft store and I love him to bits for it!
My boyfriend and I also have a running joke about me leaving my stuff all over the place (not just craft stuff) and how he has displaced it since we moved in together (we’ve been living together for about 7, nearly 8 years!). My man does a fantastic job of keeping his gear to the office and garage and I have my craft room…which can then creep into the living room or lounge room – depending on where I happen to be hanging out at the time – and a little bit in the office. But only because my filing cabinet is there and I’m yet to move it from the office to the craft room. And I’ve had my craft room for about 2 years.
So…my craft room and my collections. Thinking about it now, it’s somewhat out-dated. I have my favourite magazines and books that were purchased several years ago [insert picture of bookshelf in craft room]. Many of the patterns that are in the filing cabinet were purchased over the last 10 years – the most recent purchases being about 2 years ago [insert pictures of filing cabinet]. Majority of my purchases have been fabric and re-stocking my threads as I need them.
I have recently purchased what I thought were some kits, but they’ve arrived without the patterns! I had made the assumption upon purchasing them that the kits contained the patterns, but alas I have the fabric and thread and I need to purchase the patterns separately ☹ Alternatively, I could repurpose the fabric and thread ‘kits’ for other projects. The question will be which projects?
I’ve tried to keep myself restrained and not purchase too much, as I tell myself that I can’t purchase anything until I have completed however many other projects I want to do or am in the middle of. It is with this in mind, that I think I’ve hindered myself in the process. You see, when I’m taking a break from some of the bigger, intense projects, I enjoy stitching birthday and Christmas cards to give to friends and family and friends. The part where I end up stitching myself up (pun intended) is when I go to choose a pattern for them. I end up reverting to the same old ones I’ve stitched time and time again and I feel myself getting bored because I’ve stitched a similar pattern before but for a different family member or friend.
The other reason why I’ve tried to restrain myself from a lot of purchases, is that I want to convert a lot of my photos [see my Pinterest boards] into cross stitch patterns. My intention to start entering them into a variety of craft competitions such as the Sydney Royal Show, the Ekka and Canberra Royal Show and see how things go.
Where my stitching obsession kicks in is the amount of time I spend working on my craft and/or thinking about it. I stitch every day if I can. The only times when I’m not stitching is when I’m super tired from a long day and I know that if I try to do some stitching, I’ll more than likely have to unpick it the next time I pick up the project because I’ve mis-counted or used the wrong colour or something along those lines.
What about you? What does your cross-stitch addiction look like? Have any family members or friends try to tell you that you have too many threads, patterns, kits or accessories? Also, how often do you talk about your addiction? Are you supported by family and friends who feed your addiction through gift vouchers and similar things?
The XStitching Runner 