Finding More WIPS

Being on "The Wagon" has made a great difference in how I look at my stitching. When I see someone's postings now, I don't drool and don't get into the "have to have it" mode any more. There are things that I like and some I may even buy one day, but I don't put in huge orders at Needlecraft Corner any more. There are times that I do send a nice order in for supplies, but only for patterns that I have on hand. I do miss talking with Drema - she's such a sweetheart, and my goal is to one day go to Baltimore to see the shop and say "HI!!" to her in person.

After lots of ripping on the White Bindweed Fairy I needed some quick gratification, so I went to my WIP box and dug out the Mill Hill Strawberry Basket that I had about 3/4's finished. I was chugging right along, doing the flowers on the basket, when I found that there weren't enough beads to do all of them. No biggie. Since it's a Mill Hill product, I just might have these beads in my stash. The number sounded familiar, so I went looking. Yup - got 'em! So I went to work on it more, and found that even though they are the same number, the beads are a different color!! Hmmmm.... Will this now be a UFO - not on your life! So, I just bit the bullet and did it in the different color, hoping the flowers in the basket would be far enough apart from the one in the corner to not really show up. Well, it does to me, but DH didn't notice, so it can't be too bad. And here's the finished product:



Yup - to me it shows up like a sore thumb. I may just rip out the corner flower. I'll just have to see if it's something I can live with. I guess the fact that Mill Hill either didn't get their directions correct, or has changed the color of their beads makes me a little TO'd, but it is an old kit. I'll have to keep an eye on my older beads in my stash to make sure there isn't a color change on some of my larger projects. Either that, or just buy all the beads that I need at the same time.

While being on "The Wagon", I've also found out something else about my buying habits. I buy to medicate myself when I'm feeling down or stressed. It was a hugely difficult year this year with 4 deaths in the family, a flu that turned into a month and a half sickness for all here, my father going into the hospital/nursing home for more than 3 months and with his amputation, his lifestyle has changed, and in turn, changed ours somewhat. Plus the normal everyday routine stresses that become bigger when something something else is going on. Yah, I could have spent a bundle this past year, and really wanted to some days. That's when I realized that stress causes me to hoard.

While searching for the beads for Strawberry Basket, I came across 2 more WIP's!! That pushes my WIP's back up to 36 but this is the first year I can remember where my WIP's and UFO's have actually been the same amount as my FO's and soon to be less. That is a major accomplishment for me!!