I think, in life, we all have strong points and weak points. I’m kind of a black and white type person. Right is right and wrong is wrong and there’s not a whole lot of in between area for me. If I feel something is wrong for you to do, I’m likely to feel it’s wrong for me to do. I like straight, clean lines. I don’t really like abstract. If I see a painting of a tree, I want to see a tree . . not have to figure out if what I’m seeing is a tree or something else.
When I say to Chad . . “We’re going to eat at 3:30”, to me that means we should be sitting down at the table putting food on our plates at 3:30 . . not calling and saying “Mom, we’re almost there!” We’ve had several discussions about that. In their minds, somewhere close to 3:30 is good. I know . . if that’s the worst they ever do, then I’m a lucky mom. I could tell them we’re going to eat at 3:30 when I really plan on eating at 4 but nope . . not how it works for me. Yesterday they were early and they were so proud of themselves.
Last night Vince had gone to bed before I did and I was thinking as I was cross stitching and that’s what started me down this path.
I think I’m a pretty decent cross stitcher when it comes to left and right and up and down but angles . . they are hard for me and I don’t like doing them. If I had paid more attention to this chart, that one little cloud thing would probably have kept me from purchasing it. I know that to some of you, you’re looking at that and saying “piece o’ cake” but my tummy was in knots working on that cloud. Too many angles for me.
I wonder how many people do ALL things well. You know there are some. I guess learning to accept that some things are easier than others, some things we like more than others and then deciding if whatever we’re wanting to do is worth the effort and then living with the decision we make . . that’s what I need to strive to do.
Sadly for me, there was a mistake but it was way back in the easy part of the last brown row of stitching. I don’t know if you can see in the photo above but the top row of brown stitching on the cloud should have lied up with the gold stitching above it. I was one thread off. I went back, found the error, could not believe I had done it, briefly thought about leaving it, fudging it on the other side to make it work out but in the end decided I wouldn’t be happy unless I fixed it so I ripped it all back and started over.
Again, just like in real life . . I get overly confident and screw up on the parts I am familiar with, and pay closer attention to the harder parts. I’m way more likely to forget something in a recipe I make 100 times than I am to mess up a recipe I’m making for the first time.
Hopefully, I’ll pay more attention on every stitch today!
Deborah Stokes says
For stitching something angular, like your cloud, I find it easier if I stitch on X at a time. Visualizing the whole X when their are just half ones is really hard for me. Even if I get the stitches in the right place I’ll end up with at least one stitch with the too thread going the wrong way. Hope that makes sense. Anyway, that is what works for me.
Tracy says
I do the same, one cross at a time. Although if I need to come back up the line to go back into the main body of stitching, I find that counting the holes in a staircase pattern helps. Make the first leg of the cross, count two down and two over and that’s where the next leg starts. I find it easier than trying to do it on the diagonal, especially with linen threads, thick and thin.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s how I’m doing it but I always seem to make a mistake. It’s so much easier to go across or vertical. When I have a ton of horizontal or vertical stitchs to make, I do half the “x” and on the stitch that falls on the grid line, I make that stitch a whole “x” so every 10th stitch is a whole one. Also, for something like the cloud last night, it’s easier to do the half stitches, so if there’s a mistake, it’s easier to rip out half a stitch than a whole stitch.
Judy Laquidara says
It is easier but I was afraid I’d be off and have to rip back so I figured ripping one leg of the “x” is easier than ripping both legs but since I had to rip it all back anyway, now that I’m re-doing it, I’m doing both legs of the “x” at the same time.
Anne says
Ditto-finish the whole cross stitch one at a time- I think you will find it easier. I also find (for old eyes me anyway) that I like to do one whole cross stitch at a time when working on 40 count. I love working on 40 count I do not love pulling out stitches on 40 count.
Judy Laquidara says
I find it easier to count stitches if they’re half stitches. My eyes . . the whole stitches just blend into a row and I cannot count them. You’re right . . I love 40 count but ripping back isn’t easy. That’s why if it’s something questionable, I do half stitches til I’m sure I have it right. Easier to rip one than two stitches.
JustGail says
Whether I do half stitches then finish on the return trip or do whole stitches depends on many things, one of which is my counting ability at the time. And if I rip out and redo often depends entirely on if the error will be noticeable to anyone who isn’t holding the pattern and a magnifying glass to compare. So many of those old samplers and quilts – how many have… oddities (errors?) that are why we value them now? Odd spacing, that one patch using a fabric not quite the same as the reset, etc.
As to if there are people who do everything well, nope I don’t think so. In my experience, people who seem good at everything either don’t try a lot of new things, bluff their way through and don’t feel compelled to point out every mistake they made, or they hide their beginning efforts.
Linda in NE says
My son & his wife were always late to everything. It didn’t help when they had the kids. If I said Christmas dinner would be a noon they would show up around 12:30. That really irritated my daughter but it got to be kind of a joke. It got to the point where I always just planned on them being a half hour late & told them accordingly.
Therese says
I agree…whole stitches on angles or in places where there are a lot of scattered stitches in the same color are must easier to keep track of. In overdyes, you really have no choice but to do it that way.