Ready to settle in for some winter crafting...

I'd like to say I made great progress on the ripple blanket I showed last week, but it took me a while to get it figured out.  I wasn't liking the pattern I started with and not finding one pattern that did what I wanted it to do, I looked over several and blended together things I liked.  That said, there was a lot of crocheting and frogging before I hit upon the size of chevrons I liked and the number of chevrons that would give me approximately the size blanket I want to make.  

And then once I got the chevrons down, I kept changing my mind about the slight contrast color being gray or black, and when I decided it should be gray I had to try two different shades of gray. Or was it three?  All of this was kind of exhausting -  and frankly, if my son hadn't asked for this and requested the colors (while giving me some discretion in choosing what I thought looked best), I might have just given up already.  Or I would have made this a little more free-flowing than it's going to be.  Anyway, the finally decided upon Dark Heather Gray doesn't show well at all in the picture below (it's between the blue and the white), but I think it works well in person.

Oh, and I almost forgot...  I had to do the math (several times) to figure out how tall each color section should be - because I'm graduating the heights of the white sections while leaving the blue and gray sections the same - the end goal being a blanket that measures somewhere around 72 inches long.  

While it will take me a while to finish this, hopefully it will be fairly smooth sailing from here on out. 

BTW, Marsha asked me last week what color the blue is.  It's Vanna's Choice in Colonial Blue - a brand of yarn that's gone out of production, if I understand correctly.   Colonial Blue is a slightly muted royal blue - more muted than it appears in the picture above.

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And then there were a few hours of stitching on my Linens & Threads cross stitch.  But not enough that a photo does it justice, so I'm not posting one today.  I'm just letting you know it got some love this past week.  😊

~~~~~

And I've got my Advent Project of Projects all bagged up and ready to begin:  

I look forward to showing you next Sunday how much (or, I suppose, how little) I actually tackle of this.

I've already forgotten what's inside!  Yay!

We're supposed to get snow this week, 

and it looks like I'm ready to settle in and craft!

Give Thanks!

Being an out-of-the-ordinary, quiet Thanksgiving day here this year, with a small turkey breast in the oven and some time on my hands, I thought I'd visit my blogging buddies - not really expecting many to be posting.

Fortunately, Cheryl's post at Thinking of Home was the first post I landed on and I was so blessed by the song she linked to, I am inspired to follow suit and share a word of praise to my Heavenly Father -  the One who provides, the One to whom thanks is due, the One in whom I place my trust and faith.

Before clicking the link on Cheryl's post today, I don't think I'd ever before heard the hymn Behold Our God, but it's truly a beautiful song - in word and tune.  Simple and easy to sing.  Do visit Cheryl's blog and listen to the version she linked to. 

And just because I was curious, I went looking for other versions of this song.  I'm always fascinated by technology that allows musicians to do things with voices and instruments that couldn't have been done even 20 years ago.  If you're so inclined to click on the video below, I hope you not only enjoy what Michael Lining has done with technology, but that you let the words and music touch your spirit.

I hope you have a blessed and truly thanks-filled Thanksgiving today.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of lights, 

with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

~ James 1:17 NASB

Making space - week 4

So...  this week is an odd little hodgepodge of things leaving.   Putting the autumn decorations away (which were few), clearing the last of MIL's things from their spot in the living room, and sorting (a bit) through a closet and the pantry, I was able to see my way to removing an odd assortment of items from our home. 

It was so freeing to finally reclaim the last corner of the living room from the last bits of things I'd brought home from MIL's and hadn't quite decided what to do with.  Several of us bloggers have talked about decluttering in layers. I didn't realize what a weight this layer has been.  

You know... I feel like I've reclaimed my living room several times over the last 6 months, but the truth is things keep migrating back there.  I think because it's near the front door and putting things in a pile in a corner of the living room is my way of saying "it needs to go".   But too often things just sit there.  And collect.

I think I may need another staging area for stuff needing to leave the house.  Or, perhaps better yet, I think I'm going to start taking things directly out to my car once they start "stacking up".  Of course, that's what the decluttering "experts" say to do.  I just have a stubborn, "gotta learn it for myself" streak that's a mile long.  To go along with this new way of doing things, I may take more individual pictures, as opposed to collecting stuff together for several days before taking a group shot.  I can put my collage skills to work again.  Figuring this out as I go... 

So what do we have here...  Plastic containers I finally admit I really don't like using.  Cereal stays fresher left in its inner bag (rolled down well and fastened shut) than it does in these plastic cereal containers.  I almost never think to put pasta in the pasta holders (probably because we don't eat much pasta anymore).  The gloves have a hole in them, the boots don't fit anyone (did I take a picture of these another time?  They seem familiar.)  Anyway, son that they used to fit said to give them away.  A vintage manual hair trimmer (not valuable, but someone might like it for its vintage appeal - maybe).  More googly eyes and a little crafty hanger thingie.  A head set that doesn't fit any of our current electronics.  A couple of potholders that came free in the mail (in MIL's name, no less) and are so useless they should probably just be thrown away.  And lastly... I think I count 11 hangers there.   I wonder if I kept a running tally of hangers leaving the house if I'd be shocked at the number?  We have a lot of hangers...

And that's it for this week!  

Making Space: 90 things gone

One Thousand Gifts online Bible study...

Well, as is somewhat normal for me, I've started a thing a bit late, but it's so good I thought I'd share about an online Bible study - in case anyone reading would like to jump in. The study started last week, so really today is only one week late.  Totally surmountable.

At https://www.faithgateway.com/one-thousand-gifts-obs-registration/ one can register to participate in a free 5-week Bible study on the topic of Thankfulness.   The study is based on the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

While I just got started this past weekend, it was easy to catch up.  I'm not a stickler for filling in every blank of a study book, but in listening to the audio book (downloadable for free from Hoopla) and watching the videos, I've already gained so much!  The e-book of One Thousand Gifts, as well as the Study Guide, are both also available free on Hoopla.  I get access to Hoopla free through my county library system.  You might want to check to see if you do too!  For this or any reading - and movies too!

Anyway...  if you're interested in a Bible study and think you'd like to learn a bit more about being thankful, this might be something you'll benefit from.  With Thanksgiving this week (in the U.S.) it seems like the perfect time to begin.  Just a few days in and I'm hooked.

If you're interested, you can click on the link above or on the graphic below to get to the site where you can sign up.  A caveat:  As with many online things, you may find yourself receiving e-mails you didn't ask for.  They are easy enough to delete and/or unsubscribe from I'm finding.  

I hope you have a very happy, contented Thanksgiving - whether it's with friends, family, or with just yourself.  Honestly, I think focusing on things we can truly be thankful for (instead of disappointment in what we may be missing) can make this year's a most blessed Thanksgiving day.  If you're reading this and don't live in the U.S., well...  I hope you have a blessed and thankful Thursday too.  :)

Love and peace to you all!

A little of this and that...

Having gotten myself in gear with my Linen & Threads sampler I managed to make a bit of a dent in Part 4 this week.  While you can't tell from the picture (below), Part 4 is a BIG design. While I spent hours on it this past week, it's probably only about a quarter done.  Why does one big design feel bigger than two or even three smaller ones I wonder...

Even though it's slow going, it's always fun watching a design take shape. 

~~~~~

Next up...   Lucy at Another Day blog gets credit for this next idea.  Last week Lucy mentioned that she is bagging up mini skeins and creating her own advent calendar.  What a great idea!   Lucy explains her motivation for making her own, but my motivation (in addition to not needing any more yarn) is that I've lost some interest along the way, and this might just be a kick start I need to more seriously dig back into my yarns and crochet threads. 

I decided to come up with some easy projects that I might be able to complete in a day or so.  I'm packaging up different yarns and threads, with the plan being to open up a bag each day of Advent and hopefully be inspired to make a thing.

Lest you think it might get overwhelming, or simply not possible to complete a project each day, I've thought of that already...

First, I've chosen very simple, and familiar (to some degree) projects.   And we're talking dishcloths, small doilies, bookmarks, small cross stitch motifs to add to my Linen & Threads' sampler...  stuff like that. The point (in my mind, anyway) isn't so much a variety of projects, but rather the point is to dig into my yarns and get my fingers busy with it again.

And secondly, keeping with my "go with the flow" sort of attitude when it comes to crafting, I'm not going to burden myself with rules and expectations of having to finish everything.  In fact, I give myself permission to completely skip a day (or days) of opening a package.  If I end up with unopened packages at the end of Advent, then the fun just extends beyond that time frame.  

So you see, it's all good!  I'm even using up some years-old paper bags, so I'm decluttering as well.

I don't think my large basket is going to hold it all as I've only got about 8 days of projects bagged up here.  I've got another week to decide on what projects and yarns and threads will get bagged up.  Shouldn't be a problem to pull it all together by next Sunday's post and then I'll be ready to begin.

Then each week during advent I'll enjoy showing in my weekly YOP post what I've completed that week.

~~~~~

And finally, this weekend, I got started on a large project that I hope to have finished by Christmas.  Youngest (25 yo) son asked if I'd make him a new crocheted blanket.  He picked out the colors and asked for a ripple pattern.  

Just a peeky peek this week!

A lot of rows to go, but other than figuring out widths of the color changes it's a pretty mindless project.   And while I'd love to have it finished by Christmas, I'm not going to stress over that either.

In case you haven't picked up on it, I am very much about not stressing right now.  It's been an eventful year - in so many respects.  I'm going to do my best to keep my little corner of the world peaceful.

Making Space - week 3

 

Week Three!  Yippee!

Spending just a little more time in the bedroom (and master bath), I pulled together just a few items this week.

But first a bit of a back story:

Many years ago when we were house-hunting, at one house I opened a linen closet and it was so completely full of disheveled sheets and towels I'm not sure what kept them from toppling out.   

Never mind being surprised that the sellers didn't think to remove some of the linens and neaten it up (if only for the sake of making the closet look more spacious), I still remember feeling kind of badly for these people at how frustrating it must have been to rummage through that mess of linens just to make a bed, or find a clean towel. And that when they did find what they were looking for, it would be wrinkled and no longer fresh looking.  For the record, we have lived in our current home for 22 years - so this memory is at least that long ago.  Which goes to show, I'm thinking, the degree to which the impression of this closet was made on me. While we've never had such a fully-stuffed linen closet, I decided right then and there we did not need nearly the number of sheets that we ourselves owned.

A related thing is that at some point (I don't remember when) I developed the habit of stripping the beds, washing and drying the sheets and pillow cases, and putting them right back on the beds.  Whether this habit made easier my decision to whittle down our sheets, or my whittling down sheets made developing this habit easier, the fact is these two things fit hand-in-glove with each other.

At some point in the raising of three boys and having four beds to regularly launder linens for, my idea of a necessary minimum number of sheets became to have one sheet set per bed, plus one extra set for each of the different sizes of beds we owned.  The only reason I kept an extra set of sheets per bed size was in case someone became sick in the night and a quick sheet change needed to happen.  And yes, I've been thankful that on several occasions I was able to instantly pull out a clean set of sheets and quickly remake a bed for a sleepy, ill child.  

Anyway, the years passed, and each son took his bed (and sheets) with him when he moved out.  We've been down to just one queen-sized bed for a couple of years now and I must have forgotten my rule at some point because somehow I've managed to amass quite a few more sheets than I ever intended to.  I got rid of some in the October minimalism challenge, but it's time to get rid of the rest of the superfluous sheets.  

I know what's pictured above doesn't look like much compared to the length of the back story, but it is this week's "declutter".  There's actually a bed skirt and two mis-matched sheets above.  The pillows have been on our bed for years.  They're a bit flat and really... no longer attractive, so out they go - finally.   The brushes and combs never got used (except for maybe once) because they don't work well with my hair, and the hairdryer parts don't fit on my current hairdryer (let alone that I never used them with the hair dryer they came with - however long ago that was), and then there's a small plastic box with too-small-sized compartments that are just fiddly to me.  

This next part is a last-minute (but important) edit:  

To be completely honest, when I first wrote this post, I wrote an admission that I was hanging onto to three sheet sets - one still new in the package that I brought home from MIL's this summer.  But today it came clear to me that I will be happier rehoming those brand new sheets.  And here's why:

It's a sheet set identical to one we had many years ago (I'm sure, given to us by MIL) and looking at it, I know I'm not going to really like them (neither the pattern, nor the feel of the sheets).  Truthfully, it's probably a more expensive sheet set than I will buy when we need new ones as I much prefer a coarser sheet that is crisp when new - so someone else will (hopefully) be extremely glad to find this set at the thrift store. 

I so appreciate how this exercise causes me to look honestly at things I'm hanging onto for no good reason, or for reasons that don't respect where I am in life, or what I know to be true about me and what I like or need.

So, for week three of my Making Space challenge, my running total of items outa here is:

Making Space:  67 items gone

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If you'd like to join in a low-key decluttering activity that fits with the pace of life, see my post explaining this Making Space endeavor.  Check out the bottom of same link for graphics you can feel free to use.

A bit of stitching...

This past second week of November saw the finish of Part 3 (sounds so much better than "March's section") of the Linen & Threads' 2020 Mystery Sampler:

I am soooo behind on this project, but I'm glad that when I got back to it, I was happy to be working on it.  Gives me hope that I will finish it.  

Someday.  😉

This may be my shortest YOP post ever, but that's all I got!

Making Space - week 2

Well, here I am at week two of this challenge!  So far, so good!  

Knowing we were having a last blast of heat before the pre-winter chill down, last week I decided it was time to go through my clothes closet.  The thought that I might do some serious purging was foremost in my mind.

I know there are those who advocate for taking everything out of the closet at the same time so that one can see everything, know what's in there, and I guess more easily decide what isn't needed.  The thought of doing a closet sort that way has always felt overwhelming to me.  Nevermind that we'd need the bed for sleeping before I'd likely manage culling through everything.  So I decided to do the sort by categories. And each category on separate days.  Frankly, my closet is already sorted by categories, so at least that part was already done and the culling through each category maybe took an hour or so each.   

So, my suggestion (if you're like me and don't think it would be wise to pull everything out at the same time) is to sort things inside your closet by category first. And, frankly, keep the closet that way.  That part isn't hard, in my opinion.

My ultimate goal with this task was to only have in my closet items I wear.   So with that in mind, I broke the categories down as follows:

1st - tops

2nd - bottoms

3rd - shoes

And, again...  I did each of these categories on separate days - just because that's how it was going to work for me.  And I think that was a very good idea.

Here were my steps:

First, after everything in one category was out of the closet (and on the bed), I removed any items that I could tell at a glance I no longer wanted taking up space in my closet (or home).  These were items I either I knew are uncomfortable, or weren't my color, or for some reason I always passed up for something else.

Second, assuming everything left passed the test of being something I knew I liked to wear, I tried everything on.  If it fit and felt comfortable, it went back into the closet, if it didn't fit I made the decision to either donate it, or box it up for the possibility of losing some weight and wearing it someday in the future.  I was both happy and a bit embarrassed that the vast majority of items fit and went right back into the closet.  The good news is, at least for the duration of our socially distanced existence, I have plenty of clothes to wear.  The bad news is I still have a closet full of clothes...

Anyway, the routine was pretty much the same for the tops and the bottoms.

And then it came time to sort through my shoes.  Now, seriously...  I don't think I really have a shoe problem, but the pile of shoes I came up with to rehome challenges that notion:

For the sake of camaraderie and maybe having something to say to help another declutterer, I thought I'd make some confessions.  There are two pairs of shoes here that are brand new and didn't get worn partly because they aren't comfortable.  And several other shoes I bought because they were kind of cute, but even though I gave them a go, they ended up being uncomfortable to wear too. The others... I got a good run out of them.    

I told myself (yet again), Stop doing this!  Stop buying shoes that I know are going to be uncomfortable!  For me, this is mainly shoes with no arch support, and too narrow of a toe box.  

And then, for the sake of moving towards this being a productive exercise instead of a self-defeating one, I decided to focus on the idea that somewhere out there are some women (probably with younger feet than mine) who will love those new shoes I'm no longer going to torture myself with, or berate myself over.  

Figuring that most of us have thrift stores and such that we know gladly receive our cast offs, I thought it might be interesting, even helpful to others decluttering, to give mention to places I become aware of that may not be widely known about.  In this case, Hubs recently found out about a local organization called Changing Footprints that collects shoes to be distributed to agencies that serve a variety of people in need.  In addition to giving good shoes new homes, they will also accept old, worn shoes and these they ship to Nike who recycles the components of the shoes - to minimize what may end up in a landfill.  Hubs found out about this local-to-us organization at the physical therapy place he went to this summer after his knee surgery.  So keep your eyes and ears open, folks - you never know what you'll notice as you go about your activities.

While today's post isn't a big haul in terms of clothing pieces, it sure feels good to lighten my home of other things from my closet, like hangers, shoes, a couple of purses.  All in all (counting a pair of shoes as one item), a few items of clothing, a couple of purses, and counting the hangers individually...  today's count is:  38 items.  Added to the running total:

Making Space:  53 items gone

If you'd like to join in a low-key decluttering activity that fits with the pace of life, see my post my post explaining this Making Space endeavor.  Check out the bottom of same link for graphics you can feel free to use.

A little finish...

I almost can't believe I started and finished the little cross stitch below since I was last in here.  I just haven't had much stick-to-it-iveness when it comes to crafting lately.  Having another of this Little Sheep Virtues series (Faith) I'm torn between starting it or working on something else.  I am finding that I'm enjoying focusing on one small project at a time these days, but I've been feeling the pull again to get back to my longer-term cross stitch piece.  We'll see come next Sunday, I guess, what I end up doing.

Let's play a little eye-spy game, why don't we...  Can you spot the mistake?  Actually, there are two mistakes, but the first one I made (in the snowflake) I was able to disguise pretty well, but if you see it, kudos to you.  I know where it is and I can't even see it.

The other mistake I didn't see until I had downloaded the pictures of this I had taken.   This was my first time working on linen and boy, was it a bear for me. I ripped out and started over many sections. The mistake that is screaming at me as I look at the picture was something stitched early on when it was harder for me to see when I was "off".  I ripped out and started over many sections and I'm sure this little project took me nearly twice as long as if I was using, say, aida cloth.

So many people talk about how they fell in love with linen once they started stitching on it, but other than its looks, I have grown no real love for it.  Yet.  I have a smoother piece of linen that I'm going to give a go.  Though, somehow, it looks even more challenging to me than this fabric did - even though they're both the same thread count - 30.  The above is just coarser and the spaces between the threads are larger. 

I so wanted to like linen. 

At the moment, I'm feeling no confidence that I'll grow in like with it, but I'm not going to give up yet.

Making Space - week 1

Making Space graphics used in my weekly posts, or any found here, 

can be used by anyone participating in this decluttering challenge.

For the first week of this Making Space challenge, I decided to go through my jewelry.  Left to my own natural inclinations, I'd probably own a couple earrings, a watch, a few fun necklaces and my wedding ring.  The only things I regularly wear is my wedding ring, and a pair of hoops or other dangly earrings.  I haven't had a working watch in years, and while I have some necklaces, I've gotten out of the habit of wearing one.  How many ways can I say I'm just that into jewelry?   

That said, I own some interesting (mostly costume) jewelry my mother had, and this summer my sister-in-law offered me the opportunity to look through and take home some pieces of my MIL's jewelry - which, of course, I was really happy to do.  And it has sat in boxes at the foot of a dresser for months.  This week it was finally time to sort through everything and make a place for what I wanted to keep.

So I pulled everything out, consolidated items, and considered what I might wear vs what I know I will never wear - e.g. taking an honest look at myself in the mirror, I can accept that choker-length necklaces will likely never be flattering for me again (nevermind that I hate the feeling of anything circling my neck anymore), but putting on a vintage bracelet and enjoying how it looked I did decide to try wearing some of the ones I'd inherited -  just for fun.  If jewelry doesn't enhance something or simply make you smile, what's the point in it?

And just like that I was able to make some decisions. Knowing what I won't likely ever wear again is just as valuable as knowing what I will wear.  So touching every item, I was able to fairly easily decide to rehome some of it, and throw away some things that are just old (and of no value - don't worry).  And several things got put in my craft supplies for possible harvesting for something else someday.  

I added a few items after this picture was shot, so consider this picture just a representation  of what was parted with:

I also didn't include in the picture some pieces with beads or dangly bits that are now in my craft room since technically they are still taking up space.  I guess some of the earrings above are too, but we'll not worry about that...

For the sake of enjoying how much I end up removing from my home, I'm going to try keeping an approximate running tally of all that leaves, so I skimmed the picture and counted around 15 items (counting a pair of earrings as 1 item). 

Making Space:  15 items gone

They are just small things, but getting rid of them "made space".

I also suspect I'll revisit jewelry at some point in this Making Space challenge.

If you'd like to join in a low-key decluttering activity that fits with the pace of life, see my post explaining this Making Space endeavor.  Check out the bottom of same link for graphics you can feel free to use.

And you might want to check out this video from The Minimal Mom:

Good food for thought!

Making Space...

Having completed the 30-Day Minimalism Challenge in October, and wanting to continue with house clearing in some fashion, I've come across an idea (iow, it's not original) for doing this in a less intense, but still effective way.  And I'm inviting anyone who'd be interested in joining me to do so.  (If you're reading this and it sounds familiar, it is.  I've cut and pasted from a previous post and decided to create a separate post dedicated just to this for making it easier to refer to if I want to in the future.)

I have decided to set a goal of creating one weekly post accounting for items leaving the house that week.  Personally, I'm going to aim toward the goal of 10 items each week, but I'm not going to stress at all over the actual number.  I'm simply hoping the goal of a weekly post and a reasonable number of items leaving will keep me going with clearing my home of unwanted and unnecessary stuff.  I am sure there will be weeks when I remove more than 10 items, but there will probably be weeks when I don't come up with that many items, and maybe some weeks I won't post at all - because...  well, life.

In fact, it was the intensity (especially toward the end) of the 30-day challenge that made me realize I was forgoing concentrated cleaning and decluttering for the sake of the challenge.  I'm glad for the challenge as it jump starts something, but what I hope to accomplish now is decluttering in a more purposeful way.  A way that may make messes, or take longer than a day.  If I decide to sift through craft items, or photographs, or my closet...  anything...  I can take my time to do that as thoroughly as I want.  My goal isn't just to get rid of things, but to make the space we live in as nice as it can be.  To live in, to invite others into, to create in.  I've learned over and over that too much stuff stifles my desire to create.  I believe we all need space in our minds and in our physical surroundings to go about the often times messy business of creating, making things.  Even just making our spaces better usually involves a bit of mess before "better" happens.

If you'd like to join me, just for the sake of camaraderie and mutual inspiration, that would be wonderful. There is no commitment to a time frame, or even a regular post.  There's just the opportunity to post however regularly you want to post about decluttering.  The beauty of this, I'm thinking, is that there is no pressure to post, there's no "getting behind" or feeling like you need to catch up - ever.  There will just be a weekly (that's my personal goal) opportunity to share the camaraderie of however many of us are working to make more space in our homes.  

I only have one personal rule for this - for me, decluttering a thing has to be an intentional decision to let something go, and then taking action.  Things I throw away or recycle as a matter of course, I won't be counting.  That doesn't mean there won't be things that will go straight into the trash or recycling bin.  Here's an example of what this might look like:   If I open a jar of spaghetti sauce for supper and I wash and recycle the jar as I'm cleaning up the kitchen, I wouldn't count the jar as something I decluttered.  But if I've been hanging onto jars thinking I'll do something with them someday and I finally decided to just recycle them and clear some space - that I would definitely count.  You make your own rules.

I have some ideas of things I'd like to share in posts...  photos, for sure, since they make this personal and relatable; podcasts and videos I come across throughout the process that I find motivating; books I may read or listen to that inspire and motivate me; and links to blogs - perhaps yours and others that share inspiring tidbits, or prove as good examples of diminishing the amount of stuff in our homes.  And, of course, stories - if I have any.  It's stories that we all share of why we've been saving things and how or why we set them free that can help break the hold some items may have on us.  Don't get me wrong.  We should keep what is important to us to keep. For whatever reason it may be important.  It's just that sometimes we hang onto things we don't even really want to keep, and all it takes is an instant shift in perspective from someone else's experience to set us free. 

I'm planning on making my post mid-week -- Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, whichever day works for that week.  If I don't post, it may be that I didn't have the time or maybe just the inclination.  Hopefully others will post and keep the inspiration going.

What to call it?  I know it doesn't sound very original, but I'm calling it Making Space.  That phrase encompasses not only making space in our homes, but making space in our lives and minds and hearts for things that truly matter to us.  If you join along, feel free to use that title if you want - and I've come up with a graphic that anyone joining can feel free to grab from my blog to use if they like.  

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Of course you can make your own graphic, or feel free to grab (copy to your own computer) a graphic on this page or any of my Making Space posts if you want to use it for your Making Space posts.  

I couldn't stop fiddling with the background color over at Fotor.com  😄

And a few different ones just for fun...

Goodbye October...

 Yes!  I finally finished my October stitch!

I originally thought I'd make these monthly stitches into flatfolds for easy display (and easy storage when not in use), but now I'm just not sure.  Mostly, I'm just not sure I want to make twelve flatfolds.  

No hurries to make a decision about that since this is the only one I've finished and I won't be contemplating displaying it until next October.  I'm all ready to start the December stitch, though.  Yes, I'm going to skip November for now as I doubt I'd finish it before the month is over.

These are very simple stitches (as far as cross stitch patterns go), but the cuteness is what drew me in.  

~~~~~

Oh!  And one more thing!   Looky what I found in my 30-Day Minimalism Challenge last month:

I knew I had put it somewhere for safe keeping.  

And that's exactly where I found it!  😁

While the October 30-Day Minimalism Challenge is over, if you're at all interested in joining me and others in a low-key, on-going decluttering effort, see the second half of my post here.  It's no stress, you set your own goals, come and go as you like...  Really, it's about as low-key as it gets.  The whole point is to have company on the journey to making space in our homes for the things that matter most to us.