I know it's been a long time but my stitching mojo completely disappeared and so blogging became impossible for me as I'd nothing to talk about or show.
I've had a couple of weeks with no stitching whatsoever, but yesterday I decided to pull Cirque out and just see how I got on stitching for half an hour. When I picked up my needle I literally panicked, it was such a strange feeling, I didn't know where to start. Anyway, I put in the first stitch and felt better.
Then I realised that I was thinking "how much can I get done tonight"? That made me think, I'm always thinking this when I stitch lately, how much can I stitch in a session or how soon can I get this finished? Then it finally hit me why my mojo has run away....
At the beginning of this year I signed up to two SAL's on the HAED bulletin board, as well as signing up for a Quaker RR with
Sally and three other stitching friends. This was the first year I've signed up for any formal SAL's and I've never done a round robin before.
So a lot of my stitching time has been taken up with stitching on certain projects at certain times. The SAL's have found me trying to stitch as much as possible in the alloted time for showing progress pics, and the RR has meant stitching to a deadline which I'm not used to.
I've never liked being told what to do right from being a child lol, and even though the SAL's and RR are things I willingly signed up for, I've felt like I had to stitch on those projects at times when I didn't actually feel like it, and to get as much done as possible, which has resulted in my not enjoying my stitching.
So last night while stitching on Cirque I kept telling myself to slow down, stop rushing, just enjoy the process, and it worked!!!! I was so excited I was buzzing!! I thoroughly enjoyed the bit that I stitched and can't wait to pull it out again tonight! Whoohoo!!
So the result of all this is that I've decided to pull out of the SAL's. I'm due to get the last part of the RR around the 6th June and instead of pressuring myself to stitch it as fast as possible I'm going to practice my new mantra and "slow down and enjoy the process" lol.
I can't believe it took me 5 months to work this out and I am a bit sad that I've wasted 5 months of my life not enjoying my hobby which I've always loved so much. I've also been struggling badly with my moods and depression this last couple of months, and I'm wondering if my not being able to escape into my stitching has actually played a part. I guess only time will tell, but here's hoping the worst is over I have loads of fun stitching in my future!
