Festive Flurry, a cottage and realizations...

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for your comments on my previous post!
As you might have guessed, the topic of that post meant a lot to me and I'm glad you enjoyed reading it:) As my dear sister pointed out, Grandma Mary would have turned 100 years old today if she'd been alive, so I hope she has a lovely birthday up in heaven and that she has access to internet and a cross stitch project in her lap LOL!

WE MISS YOU FARMOR (grandma) MARY!

Now on to present topics:)

I have done some more stitching on Festive Flurry, and I'm enjoying the process again. This is where I'm at now:

I'm really happy with my progress! Unfortunately I got sidetracked during the week, or I would have gotten even further...
Why is it that even though I have a pile of projects to stitch and to finish, a glimpse in an old cross stitch magazine had me diving through my threads and my fabric and before I knew it I just had to start stitching a small snowy cottage?! It just doesn't make sense, does it?! I've started to realise that it is quite often that we stitchers just don't make sense, do we?! And as if that wasn't enough, the 'small' design I picked had soooo much backstitch it felt like I was backstitching every single square... The magazine stated the stitching time to be 'a few hours'; it turned into a few DAYS for me.

From Cross Stitch Crazy issue 79
Designer: Debra Page

I thought I had finally finished it tonight, but when I took the picture I realised that I still hadn't backstitched the door...! Like I said, A FEW DAYS! Still, the cottage is very cute and I am tempted to stitch another one in the series. However, I'm going to wait a few days - at least - and I'll try to pick another cottage with less backstitching!

I've been thinking a lot about how to plan my stitching this year. I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions, but last year's stitching taught me a few things, especially about Xmas gift stitching! I started stitching the Christmas gifts way too late - obviously, since I only started in July LOL! That clearly wasn't early enough if I want to stitch gifts for all my family, so this year I am going to start just about NOW. Also, I realised that for me - slow stitcher, only aida, limited finishing knowledge/courage, limited resources - only certain kinds of charts are suitable for gift-making. Too elaborate charts tend to take WAAAY too long and put me off somewhere along the way. They also cost more to make as I have to buy more threads. And don't make me start on the backstitch!! I don't have a problem in general when it comes to backstitch, but it can take a LOONG time to do and therefore charts for gifts (with a set finishing date) shouldn't have too much backstitch - soo, no cottages as gifts LOL:) And I want to stitch charts with a limited amount of colours; saving both time on starts and stops as well as saving money on threads.

Of course, all these things do NOT apply to my own cross stitching projects; just so you know lol.

So, since it was so frustrating to not have time to finish all my stitched gifts for last Christmas, and having come to some realizations about my own limitations, I am now plowing through all my cross stitch magazines - maybe about a 100-150 magazines - for suitable charts for this upcoming Christmas. I'm also looking for ways to turn them into usable gifts - I don't want to bombard my family with only cushions and pictures...! I then plan to make a start and  do some sort of VERY loose form of rotation all througout the year between my own projects and my gift projects.

What do you think?? Does that sound like a sensible plan?
Time will tell, I guess.

Happy Stitching Everyone,

Annie