The more I work on organizing charts, the more I realize I have more charts than I’ll ever even come close to stitching.
This morning I’ve gone back through the pdfs in my inbox as well as my Etsy purchases, and made sure all of those have been saved to Dropbox. I’ve also printed them and made a bag labeled “PDF Charts”, and I’ve set them all up in Pattern Keeper. I may not stitch them all but at least I can find them when I want to decide what to stitch next.
I’ve gone through the Facebook groups and removed myself from many of those. I’ve learned that I want to buy everything I see, whether it’s something someone has started, finished or just purchased. Getting off those groups will save me time and money. I have no trouble finding things on my own to buy and I have plenty to stitch . . I can always go back and rejoin those groups if I find I’m missing them.
I’ve gone through the flosstube subscriptions. Some are nice and funny stitchers but I can only watch so many – especially during gardening season.
This morning I had an email from a shop with some out of print charts that had been reprinted. I put a few of those in my cart and then said “No!” There are so many cute charts I have to stitch . . don’t need more. Then, I had an email from a favorite shop and they have a SAL starting later this year and there’s a cute little sampler, floss, bag and a few other items. I put it all in my cart, then said “No!” I have so many samplers I love. I can’t stitch them all so I don’t need to buy more unless there’s a chance all the ones I have here are about to be finished and I would have no more samplers. Not happening!
I feel good. I feel like I’m making good choices. Will I keep it up? Who knows??
DebMac says
Good for you, Judy! I was watching Vonna at the first of the year and she commented that she was making a decision to stitch stash as she had so many things she loved and wasn’t stitching them. I am trying to do the same but I gave myself leave to purchase things that are older that I’ve liked for years and just never picked up (withing reason and at a good price). I find samplers I like and ask what are the odds that I will actually stitch this? I know I won’t stitch something that is too fussy and jammed packed. There are so many good things coming out so I also ask would I rather stitch this than something I already have? That being said, I sometimes say the H— with it and buy it anyway. Doing better but not perfect.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I do the same thing (deciding to buy new knowing I’ll never stitch other things I have here that I love) and while it isn’t a big deal if I do buy some new charts, I just want to be more selective and not buy everything I see. Working on these projects five days has really inspired me to work hard to get a lot done and that means less shopping time. I may fall off this wagon but for now, I’m loving how it’s going.
Joyce in Iowa says
I haven’t been able to stitch all year because of a floater in my eye and had to stop watching Flosstube as I wanted to buy everything I saw without knowing when I’ll be able to stitch again! Sure freed up a lot of my time and I’m getting more quilts finished in the process. I’m looking forward to stitching again, though.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I’m sorry about your eye and I know it’s hard not to buy things. When I was quilting and it would be late at night, I’d end up shopping when I was too tired to quilt so I can imagine it was hard to stop watching the floss tubes and shopping – that probably at least felt like it was keeping you connected to cross stitching.
cindy says
I read somewhere about the things our kids will do with what we leave behind. Knowing my son will either put it all away in the garage never to be seen again or throw it all away, I decided to organize all the scraps of fabric i could find and then work from scrap and yardage stash as much as possible. Given that my retirement money has been greatly reduced, and i have a lot of bills to pay, I decided that not buying in where i am at right now and the challenge of working from stash is one i am enjoying. I hope that you keep up your resolve to stitch what you have.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I am quite sure Chad will sell everything in big bunches of who knows what but I’m not the least bit concerned about what happens to any of it once I’m gone. I’m living for today and if there’s something I really want and think I will need, I don’t think twice about what happens to it when I’m gone. Example: We bought an electric sausage stuffer not long before we left Texas and I can’t find it anywhere. Vince may have sold it for all I know. I bought it because Chad had it and loved it and it’s so much faster than using the Kitchen Aid attachment. I decided to get another one, even though Chad already has one and there may be one here somewhere (or maybe not). I use it when stuffing sausage and I don’t feel bad at all about buying it.
If the money gets tight – who knows what will happen with pensions and social security in the future, we may need to make some changes too.
Cindy F says
Good on you!! I’m trying to reign in what I buy too as I’ve been doing the 5 days on a WIP and getting such joy working on things I’ve set aside. I really need to do something with all my PDFs as I’ve forgotten what I have! When I first got back into cross stitch I would print everything out but as I downloaded more and more I quit doing that. I think I just need to set aside a block of time every day and print out a few at a time. I also need to relearn how to use my Samsung tablet and move those files off my Mac to use them in Pattern Keeper. I did it once but because it was so long ago I forgot. I will write down the process next time so I have it for reference. lol
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I’m trying to add all the pdfs to Pattern Keeper as I get the pdfs because the picture shows up on the app. Even printing them, I tend to lose the papers or forget about them. Good luck with getting it all set up the way you want it. I find that the better organized I am, the better I feel but I have so far to go and may never get totally organized.