My little family of three is staying with my father-in-law while our household goods make the slow trek from Greece to California. Over the years, this has been the norm, but it is much different this time because my mother-in-law is no longer here to run the household. That now falls to me. While I’ve cooked in this kitchen off and on for 25 years, it is so different now actually doing instead of just helping. I find that even my tried-and-true recipes aren’t turning out the same. Very strange. I’ve begun making notes on my computer so that I’ll have some idea of what I’m doing right or wrong. Luckily, I won’t be in charge of holiday meals this year!

I have similar problems in machine embroidery. I’m rarely satisfied to leave things exactly as the designer suggests or the embroidery patterns insist on. Of course, sometimes I just understand they my machine will be happier if certain adjustments are made. As long as I think things through before making changes, all is usually well. Of course, these are intentional changes and not the weird, unidentifiable ones happening in the kitchen.

There are several things that can go wrong, though. If I set up a design to stitch over a pocket, I may have to adjust the machine to center the embroidery design exactly where I want it. I love that I can do this. However, what happens if the power goes out? Instead of panicking, this is actually the easiest problem to recover from IF I haven’t skipped a step. What is this miracle step? I simply write down the adjustments I made to the embroidery machine before starting. That makes it possible to reposition the machine to exactly where I started the first time before advancing to the area where I need to continue stitching. I even note it when I’ve made no adjustments so that I am never confused.

Then, there are those very in-depth machine embroidery patterns for things like cutwork embroidery doilies or free-standing lace 3D boxes. I don’t make any changes to the actual embroidery designs, but I may change what I do to create them. If they don’t turn out, I can try again. If they do turn out, though, I’ve got a winner that I’ll stitch over and over again. IF, that is, I didn’t skip that magic step.

For example, if I modify a project so that my doily comes out to a different size than the embroidery pattern specifies, I need to make extensive notes and keep them somewhere safe so that they are there if I ever want to recreate the project. No notes? No easy way to recreate it. Machine embroidery thread also comes in so many wonderful colors; if I don’t make notes about those I chose, I can’t color-match properly.

Sure, I’d much rather just be stitching, but these extra steps keep my embroidery humming along once I do get started. Now, if I could only figure out what I’m doing in this kitchen and have my notes be as helpful, I’d be happy!

It was early afternoon today when my son and I realized that we hadn’t seen our two kittens since early morning. On any normal day, this wouldn’t have been much of a concern. On a moving day, though, all bets are off. Especially when the kittens’ favorite hiding place is inside the couch and those couches have been fully encapsulated with cardboard and tape.

It’s not a good feeling to think of what could have happened. Luckily, with the help of the movers, we were able to find them and remove them from the couch before it began its 12-week journey. The scare was horrid, but the joy at finding them soon overshadowed it. Still, I was rattled for quite a while.

I find myself responding like this more often these days when creating my beloved machine embroidery designs. Once I get the machine set up and going, I tend to do other things until the next color stop. If I leave the room, I keep an ear open for audible changes that could signal disaster. After four years here in Greece, my embroidery machine is making strange noises more and more. Taking it to the dealer for service is something I look forward to.

The problems got worse and worse as the noises became more frequent. I became flustered thinking that I was somehow forgetting my knowledge of machine embroidery. I thought the mistakes were my fault, instead of the fault of a machine that needs some tender loving care. Regardless, each mistake or problem makes me more jumpy than the last. Finally, I watched every stitch as it formed. That, along with listening closely, helped me to finish more projects.

When I become nervous about something, I do a lot of research on the subject until I feel certain that I can overcome any issues. With embroidery, I end up at my favorite embroidery design gallery instead. It’s so much more interesting than reading about a million and one machine problems. I’d much rather be finding new embroidery patterns! And I’m always guaranteed of finding a new free embroidery design for my efforts. Much more fun than research!

Now that I’m an experienced embroidery artist, I think I need to remind myself of the lessons I learned as a newcomer. It’s important to take time to get the project hooped properly. Take a little more time to study the embroidery designs before they stitch so that I am familiar with them. Then, just stitch. If it gets messed up, it gets messed up. There will always be some flaws or issues with machine embroidery, so it’s important to just go with it as much as possible. Agonizing over mistakes or what ifs will only suck all the joy out of the endeavor.

One thing that I do enjoy about watching every stitch form, though, is the knowledge I gain in how each embroidery design is created; how the beauty forms. If mistakes didn’t occur, I probably wouldn’t remember to take the great opportunity of this. Much like my cats hiding in a sofa and scaring me so badly, mistakes in embroidery offers a wonderful silver lining.

My number one tip is to just enjoy the calm after the storm, although dancing in the rain can be fun, too.

During our four years here in Greece, I’ve has so many people get excited when they find out that I do machine embroidery. They always say they should have me create this or that project. In that time, only one of them actually did so, and I had to turn down the commission because the project was both against copyright laws, and would not have been a proper project to highlight my skills. Strangely, now that we are leaving for home in a couple of weeks and my embroidery supplies are packed up, everyone seems to want me to create something for them.

When it rains, it pours!

When I have to turn down every request, I get one of two responses. The first is a glad assurance that their project will just take a second. Really. The second is a knowing look followed with the sudden remembrance that moving is time consuming. Regardless of the response, I’m reminded of a good reason to move. None of these people have offered true neighborliness, instead asking me to do something for them when I have very little time for myself.

My friends and family at home aren’t much more helpful, but at least they understand how time-consuming a well-made embroidery project can be. My sisters-in-law understand that they can request projects all year long, but each and every project becomes their birthday or Christmas present for me. They understand that the time I spend on them is time I’m not using for myself or my own embroidery patterns. I wish everyone else was as understanding!

Being overseas, I don’t mind not doing projects for others. I have to get all of my embroidery supplies through online mail-order, so running out of the perfect color of machine embroidery thread half-way through a project was always a possibility. For my own projects, I could just switch to a similar thread, but this isn’t good practice when the project is for someone else.

This is another good reason to move home. Easy availability of embroidery supplies, quilt patterns, thread and more is very attractive. Revisiting my favorite fabric stores where I can actually feel the texture and see the colors almost has me wanting to jump on the plane tonight! I’ll have to be very, very careful of my budget in the next few months as the excitement of physical shopping might just overwhelm me!

If you haven’t already picked up on it, I am not really looking forward to leaving Greece. I knew we could only stay for 4-5 years, but the reality of it doesn’t mean I have to like it. When I get blue about our upcoming move, I start reminding myself of all the good things of the move. Donut shops. Sewing machine dealers. Fast food. Faster internet. Well, I’m sure you get the idea.

Something I’m very thankful for is all the embroidery digitizers who offer free embroidery designs! When I blow my budget on stabilizer, bobbins, new tools, and donuts, I know that there will always be fantastic free embroidery designs for me to discover. It may even put me in a charitable enough mood to create a project for someone else, also free of charge.

I like that!