I just finished this week’s section of the Peppermint Purple Stitch-a-Long 2020!
Category: Needlework
Week 25
I Finished It!
The Blackwork Bands project designed by Peppermint Purple is done and added to my page of finished needlework pieces.
Blackwork Project 2
I’m almost finished with the second blackwork project I started to keep me busy each week while waiting for the next pattern drop from the 2020 Stitch-A-Long. This one is also by Peppermint Purple. She calls it Blackwork Bands.
Stitching Post
I mentioned on my needlecrafts page that I’ve been enjoying blackwork lately thanks to Peppermint Purple’s 2020 Stitch-A-Long A Year of Blackwork. I described it to someone and she said she’d like to see it, so here’s a photo of what I’ve done so far.
Recent Finishes
I’ve been stitching away lately, and while I can’t talk about my most recent project yet, I did add my most recent two finishes to my long-neglected Finished Works page today. The first piece is a for-no-reason one, the second a baby gift which was also my first cooperative project (and a big success).
I’m currently working on a Mother’s Day gift (why yes, I’m late getting it finished), the hymn “ ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.”
What are you working on?
A New Hobby?
Plinky asked, “What new hobby would you like to try out?”
Camille Silverman — warp and weft
I would love to try weaving. I mean the great big loom sort of weaving, done with handmade fibers — maybe even with fibers I spun myself. The entire idea of weaving has always been so very attractive to me, and I adore all manner of fibers. The idea of having another way to play with colors and textures that would lead to big tapestries or rugs is so enticing that if I knew anyone with a loom they’d probably find it impossible to get rid of me.
Barring a big loom, I’d take even a lap loom, just something to get me going on it. I went to town making those potholders back in Girl Scouts!
Setting Up Shop
Plinky asked, “If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell? Food? Clothing? Books?”
Books and needlework items! My former partner and I used to dream about opening a combination book/stitching/gaming/coffee shop.
Of course, independent bookstores are nearly dead, and even Borders is dead now thanks to Amazon.
Little needlework shops have almost totally disappeared, because they can’t compete with the prices Michael’s and Joann Crafts can offer, or provide the same range of products that internet shops can provide.
I’d need a partner to run the gaming side, and I doubt there’s a whole lot of profit for that. The one gaming shop I ever visited regularly was The Warroom in Norcross, and it is long gone. The people who ran that place certainly seemed to know what they were doing.
Coffee shops have to compete with Starbucks, but that part was less for itself than as an adjunct to the rest. They only seem to have any hope of success if they have some kind of special draw, like live music (which I love anyway)
We talked about combining our passions knowing that any one of those things wouldn’t stand alone, and thinking that perhaps they could make it in combination.
We knew it was a dream, though — just a dream, nothing more. It would take a lot of capital to even start such a thing, much less keep it going. Then there was the little matter of me being 1) disabled, and not up to working even a part-time job, much less putting in the hours it takes to making a go of a small business; and 2) an introvert who doesn’t deal with a lot of people well.
It’s good to have dreams, though.
Gratitude
1) Time with my daughter
2) Delicious dinner with Katie and some lovely people
3) Stitching time!
Um, Thank You?
Look! TWO posts in ONE day! Maybe I’m finally crawling out of my pit of depression.
My very helpful child disapproved of how I was treating my small stitching project, so she sweetly put it in a huge Ziplock bag and “put it away.”
I have absolutely no idea where “away” might be, but it isn’t in my stitching bag, or near my recliner, or in the area where I’ve been sitting in the living room. Now she says she didn’t put it anywhere. Buh?
And we stopped at Michael’s yesterday to get the DMC I needed for it!1
I also got the fabric for two bigger pieces, though, so I can start one of those. Technically, I know that I have the fabric for Deep Peace around here somewhere, but I couldn’t find it, so I got a new piece. Now the original fabric will, of course, make itself known.
Smaller, less involved projects are better to do while in company, though. And it’s date night. The girl is, herself, out on a date, so I can’t even shanghai her into helping find the small project. Grump. She found supplies for a couple of different art projects while we were at Michael’s, too, so I expect heavy arting from her shortly.
We picked up dinner for the three of us at Little Azio’s on the way home, which was as delicious as usual. That was a lovely way to end a tiring, but rewarding, day.
1 I prefer shopping at an LNS, but my favorite went online-only and this was an instant gratification thing.