A journey ever winding....

 I suppose that would be the case here. There has been so much happening, both in stitching and real life responsibilities, that it would take pages to describe. And frankly I just don't have the luxury of time or the energy to do it. Blogging rather fell to the wayside even more so than hobbies, so I haven't been keeping track of anything here.  But just the same, here are some highlights...

I no longer use Etsy for my patterns, I guess that's a big change. I do not agree with thier policies or some of thier practices /partnerships so that is that.  

   At some point I will be offering my patterns again, but it's something that needs full on concentration,  and currently real life is flexing its hold on me. 

 I do however, get a few minutes here and there throughout my day, and when 2024 began I actually made a resolution that STITCHING be a priority this year. 

With that in mind, I got to work and made some goals for myself. 

One of the first things I did was actually stitching. And I chose my 3rd oldest WIP, Midsummer Night Fairy by Mirabilia. She had very little left to do and so I spent New Year's with a renewed sense of determination. She was finished later that month and will get her own post. But resurrecting an old wip and finishing it was a goal accomplished. The next few goals however, are vastly different 😅

My next goal then, was to organize all my Chatelaine patterns and materials. I've collected the patterns for years, and a smattering of materials for them, but it struck me that some of these have been with me 20 years and still haven't been kitted, started, or done much but have thier cover photos be admired and a few threads in baggies.  

 So then, I organized everything I had to do with Chatelaines; thier charts, materials I had and materials that I still needed for them. I was pleasantly surprised that several were in fact close to "start -able " and these are moving up the que for this year. Fairy Garden Mandela being one, but that shall have its own post as well. 

  I then took my oldest Chatelaine, Persian Iris Garden, and put it on the scroll bars for some progress,  and that shall get its own post too. 

(This post seems to be serving as a sort of checklist for me 😅)

  The next endeavor was to get Pattern Keeper installed on an old kindle and load up what Full Coverage patterns I could onto it. The majority of my Full Coverage patterns are older paper ones, but after hearing about how great Pattern Keeper is, and the recommendations of several friends, I am convinced that it will help. And lol, my old kindle now has a bunch of Heaven and Earth Designs pdf charts in for just such an experiment, that I'm quite looking forward to.  What took a bit longer was recording my progress already done for the projects.

And I still need to figure out all the features of this Pattern Keeper, but it'd be nice to figure out how to load in my older charts, and the Mystic Stitch ones, and other various designers of Full coverage designs. 

 So it is only February and 3 major goals have been tackled already. 

 Goals that remain are rather simple: 

1. Chatelaines are the priority this year, to kit up, and get started. The Gloriana situation being what it is, I will simply look for a substitute if it can be done. Waterlillies, Thread Gatherer, and whatever else come in a wide range of colors so I'm sure there's something close. I'm also going to rely on my old method of getting materials to get the project started and kit as i go. 

2.  Ann Medd Sampler

This huge sampler is already started and has progress. I love working on this one, and she has permanent residence on my floor stand until completion. The lighting situation where that floor stand is currently, needs improvement. The goal for this one is progress. She tends to be a "summer project" just due to her position as furniture lol, and not being portable.

3. The Hannah Alexander Mucha Disney Princesses 

These too are a joy for me, and huge projects. What I'd like to do is complete my collection of these charts and continue progress on the ones started. I'm only missing a few of the Disney Princesses in the series. And I think there was a Sailor Moon series in the works last I checked...

Miscellaneous: 

In this category are "Consider the Lillies" sampler, "Seven Sheep Sampler" and various other ones that I'd like to see progress on.

March Lavender and Lace Celtic Ladies:

As per my custom, I will be devoting a priority to get progress on these during the month of March