Confessions of a Cross Stitcher

[amandadawn]

I thought it might be fun to admit some of our cross stitching secrets! (I stole this from a book blog, except it was confessions of a reader or something...) I'll go first:

1. I've never finished a kit completely. Ok, I've modified it so it LOOKS finished so I can turn it into a pillow/bookmark/whatever in time for Christmas or a birthday, but I've never actually finished a whole one.

2. I don't care about the back of my work. Not even a little.

3. If I accidentally use the wrong color, but it still LOOKS right, I'll leave it. I hate frogging and no one will ever know the difference because I keep the chart!

Ok, I can't be alone in having a few confessions! Anyone else?

[ivanputz]

When I buy a kit with 14 count fabric, I'll substitute 28 count because the large holes in the 14 count fabric are too noticeable once the piece is framed.

People at frame shops don't appreciate my level of scrutiny. The first thing I notice when I pick up a framed piece is whether the cross stitch is stretched straight against the mat boards.

The only people I make pieces for anymore are my wife and kids. They appreciate the time and attention to detail.

If I start a piece and find that I'm not enjoying stitching it, I'll put it in a box where it will never again see the light of day. Well this is not entirely true but mostly...

I care about the back of the piece cause I'm dopey like that.

[elliegirl]

When I stitch I take note of the time when I start and when I finished so that at the end of the project I can see how long it took to stitch.

I cant bear anyone touching my threads.

I tell little white lies about how much I spend.

[Fizzbw]

Elliegirl, yes, I do verbal acrobatics to hide what I'm spending!!

I hate Dimension gold kits, but I still buy them, but will I ever stitch one???

I don't care that much about the back of my work either.

I colour in symbols on charts of one colour to stitch them, then I shade them in with a pencil, as otherwise I get hopelessly lost.

I have way too many frames and a bad habit of thinking they should be in use....

I take bobbins and skeins with me if I'm going to be waiting somewhere so I can bobbinate, or when friends come over to visit as I can't stitch and talk unless it's a block of one colour....

Niki xxx

[Totality]

I'll admit to go through stages where i'll carry my work around from room to room (or away on holiday) and can spend days even weeks not actually doing any.

Over the years i have wasted a ridiculous amount of money on cross stitch magazines and yet I've only ever stitched two designs from them and that was only in the last year! I sometimes look at my stash of magazines and sum up how much they have come to =0/ oh well i figure i don't smoke or drink so its a guilt pleasure! I have now decided that when i have at least two projects i can only buy one magazine every now and then I should really get a subscription, be so much more cheaper!!

[steptash]

i don't care about the back either.

i may shorten the amount of time i say i've spent stitching actual time is usually longer.

i get annoyed when the kids want something (usually their tea) and i have to stop stitching

i use stitching as an excuse not to go to the mother in laws

i have a book in which i log when i start and finish each page of a pattern and when the whole project is started and finished.

all the cupboard space in my living room is used to store stash.

[karen4bells]

I am a HOPELESS stashaholic--have far more charts than I know I will ever stitch.
Also have far far too many finished projects unframed and sitting stored away in drawers!!
Yet, I continue to find new designs, threads and fabrics that I just HAVE to have

[rcperryls]

I also have to confess to being a stashaholic. I have a file drawer overflowing besides the new ones that are pdf's which are easier to store, which is a bad thing. And now I am starting to accumulate (even though I hardly have used them) all other kinds of floss besides DMC. I also pay attention to the backs because of all the years I only worked on afghans, I think. I'm sure there are other things I should be confessing to also. I have been known to stay up way too long because I need to finish ______(fill in the blank with the row, the column, the color, the page, the movie or tv show, the chapter I am listening to, etc etc etc.)

Carole

[MaggieM1750]

I leave mistakes in all the time and adjust somewhere else.
Wrong color?? Meh. Maybe according to the chart, but if it doesn't look wrong that I used medium blue instead of light blue.. I'll leave it too.

And I am similar to your #2. I do care about my backside.. minimally. Not to the point where it slows me down. But- I don't care what anyone thinks of it.
I really only think about the back when working on things where it is exposed- and even then, I don't think about how neat it is- I only care that my thread is secured and won't come undone by using and washing.

My confessions:
#1 I am an edge taper. I have a silly little hand held sewing machine- but its more work than its worth so I rarely use it. Tape is so much faster. I used to be *tsked* when going into a needlework shop- then I switched shops. I don't care about residue. I don't care if my fabric will break down in 30 years.

#2 I draw all over my fabric with a washable marker. I have a hodgepodge of lines on projects- some are grid lines or center lines, some are just to make sure things line up, some are edge of my project lines- or where a roof starts, a fence stops.. whatever. It all depends on the project. After a while I'll have to many lines and my whole project looks blue- then I wash it out and start over with new markings. But my projects look like a mess while I am working on them.

#3 I refuse to do the math on how much I spend on stitching. Either time spent or money spent. It is what it is- and I don't want to know the number

#4 I may take a day off of work this week so I can get a project done. I've never cared so much to have a project done in time- but this one I do. I'll see how much I can get done during the week- but I may be *cough* *cough* a little under the weather on Friday.

[amandadawn]

I have another one- I use the kids' pack 'n play to store my WIPs. I have 14 month old twins, they don't fit in it anymore anyway, but I do get funny looks when people come over. But it's like the ONLY place in the living room where I can keep them without the boys getting into them.

[tiffstitch]

I have a lot of the same confessions most of you do, don't care about the backs much, too much stash, stay up late to finish pieces, etc.

New confessions:
1. I lose needles a lot. My husband tends to find them with his feet.

2. I leave my projects on Qsnaps, just loosened.

3. I used to mark original charts, I don't anymore, but I have worn through original charts from folding and unfolding

[JA Fan]

I have a Magazine obsession!
I kept telling myself that cross stitch magazine subscriptions were expensive so I wouldn't get one. THEN I would go right out and buy two particular UK ones whenever they were available here. In the last year, I have spent much more than what a subscription would have been. How stupid is that?
I've now finally realized how dumb it all was and got a subscription to Cross Stitch Collection.
But,lets face it, in the end, how many of the designs in those magazines will I actually stitch?

2. I leave my projects on Qsnaps, just loosened.

I have been told at a LNS it's OK to do that. I hope it is because I do the same!

[Mrs Milkybar Kid]

I guess aside from being a stashaholic (more the thread and fabric obsession as I seem to have "cured" my magazine and chart addiction!) I am guilty of stitching things and then just putting them in a drawer! However since starting HAEDs and Chatelaines I am now much more committed to getting things framed and on the wall as I really loved stitching the pieces and they deserved to be displayed! I still have a lot of smalls that need to be made up though..........!

[cristaltipps]

I often stitch upside down as my wide frame makes my arm ache keep reaching round so for the far left I turn it upside down
I sometimes take my stitching to bed at night just to do this "little bit" that often turns into a couple of hours at least.

[LastingAllure]

1. I will stay up until the wee hours of the morning, usually once I hear someone stirring I will quickly and quietly run off to my room and they will think I wasn't up that late.

2. I hate when its my turn to cook! I just wanna stitch

3. I am like Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, I get completely lost when someone is sitting in MY spot. I can't find anywhere comfortable to sit and stitch since I am used to the lighting in that one area and I can manage to spread all of my colors out on the seat beside me and there is the perfect height table beside me for my Ott Lamp.

4. I am really bad for starting and never finishing projects, but I think I am getting better since I have managed to finish 3 WIPs so far this year.

5. I am a sucker for projects with Krienik and beads...I love the sparkles.

[Rose]

It annoys me to no end when you show some one the stitching you are working on and the first thing they do is turn it over and look at the back. It makes me want to scream.

As long as a bird does not use the back of my work for a nest I think it is just fine.

Every piece of work I can think of that I have done has at least one mistake that I did not go back and fix.

All but 3 projects that I have stitched are made for friends and family.

I have stayed at home to stitch instead of going to work with my hubby.

I will change a pattern either leave off parts or add fractional stitches to make it more my style.

I don't like evenweaves......I think they are eeeevvvviiiillllllll..........

I love to work with waste canvas......it is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

I leave my work in a Q-snap or a hoop and I never loosen it.

I have more charts then I could ever stitch and I still look at new ones.

I love to stitch snowmen patterns!!!!!!!! I love snowmen......

[Mystonique]

I'm enjoying this topic WAAAYYY tooo much lol

1. My therapist says it's good for me to honestly (not anally) assess if the mistake is noticeable and leave it in sometimes ... something about overcoming being obsessive about perfection.

2. I cry, literally, because I can't make my backs neat enough (truly embarassing - I mean it's not really important in the grand scheme of things) 8{

3. I have delusions of becoming creative - that is I imagine what I could do if I was imaginative with a project in terms of changing it up. I have the pretty threads but the truth is I don't have the artistic flair to pull it off so it never actually happens. EG. I had a beautiful white lady that in my mind was brown ... she ended up boring white, I just couldn't get my head around changing her skin colour.

4. I have more projects than I'll ever finish and I still look.

5. I desperately want to display my projects but I don't live in my own place so they're all scrunched up in storage.

[lucyloo34]

This is a great thread so here goes...

1. I tell fibs about what I spend everything is bought in a sale
2. I am a neat freak with the backs of my projects why I waste time with this I've no idea
3. I have more designs than I'll ever do yet I'll still buy one if I really like it, however now I have a stitching daughter I can always give them to her so I don't feel so bad
4. If I make a mistake I have to correct it, because I know its there

Reading this thread has made me realise I am completely normal so its all good

[Amanda G]

Hmmmm...... confessions of a designer allowed? ....last year my friend Hannah got married on 2nd July. I made her wedding dress. I designed a cross stitch based on her wedding dress with bride and groom names and date, flowers and ribbons. It was bought by WOXS who published it at the end of July....but....here it comes .....I put 4th July on the finished design!! The mag editor then kindly sent me the finished piece to pass on to Hannah and hubby. I had to unstick it from the backing mount and frog the date and put the correct one in! Hannah and hubby saw the funny side luckily!
The thing that makes it even sillier is that my son got married on 4th June 2011 so I got the dates all mixed up. At least I got to both weddings on the right days!!

[Fizzbw]

LastingAllure, I SO know what you mean about your seat! no-one dares sit in my chair, partly because they might well sit on a needle, a pencil or a pair of scissors! But mainly as I get incandescent when people sit there! How dare they!!

Niki xxx