Permission

          When MJ and I went on our road trip back in March, I picked up this great Ewe and I canvas.  It just looks happy.  I am a big fan of Ewe and I designs but I must admit I have trouble with their colors.  This canvas grabbed my attention the minute I saw it, but I kept putting it down.  I couldn't figure out what threads to pull for it.  The blues and pinks were easy but I just kept getting stuck once I tried to branch out to the houses and the background.  What could I use for that taupe background and more importantly did I even want to have a taupe background.  I fretted and stewed as I walked around the shop.  Finally, I asked for help from one of the shop employees.  To my great joy, she validated that it was a fabulous canvas but that the background just wasn't working for her either.  She asked if I was willing to take a leap of faith and then grinned at me.  Sure - why not?!  She walked over to the Vineyard Silk display and immediately pulled out a vibrant green called Shamrock.  It is glorious!  That set us up for vibrant pinks, bright robin's egg blue and then we really switched things up by making the houses off white with eggplant roofs.  It is beautiful and will be a joy to stitch.

 

             Her suggestions and the subsequent "pep" talk gave me permission to step out of the box and to use colors that I like.  She told me that she got to a point that she didn't enjoy stitching anymore because she couldn't find canvases that she liked that fit her house and her personality.  Then one day she had an epiphany.  Just stitch those canvases with the colors I like.  Give yourself permission to change it up. 

           Have you ever been in that situation?  Do you give yourself permission to do what you want and color outside the lines with a different color crayon?

SFS - 2009

Let me tell you a bit about our written contract. The goal is to stitch as many needlepoint canvases as humanly possible. *** The canvases MUST come from our stash. No new canvases can be added to our stash for the entire year UNLESS they are acquired for a class or convention (aka needlepoint camp). Threads may be purchased for the sole purpose of stitching on stash items. A minimum of 4 hours per week must be dedicated to stitching. Progress reports are due monthly and must be reviewed by the Goddess of Rules. We each chose a friend to be our needlepoint police and motivator. I am probably going to break the rules more often than MJ so I have actually chosen 2 Goddesses of Rules. The first GOR is one of MJ's co-workers whom I have never met. The other is my buddy Jane. I am hopeful that the 2 of them will be able to keep me out of trouble. Details about my choices and my progress will follow in future posts. Pictures will also be added to this blog as soon as I figure out how to do that. :-)

*** - I am a very slow stitcher so I have chosen 8 canvases to finish by the end of the year. MJ on the other hand is an uber stitcher and has decided that she will finish 24 canvases!