Monogamous V Multi Project Stitcher (Flosstube Extra)

[@clbarner2002]

I also was a monogamous stitcher (for 35 years) until I discovered Flosstube. It seems like, especially since Covid, more of us are stitching and more of our favorite designers are killing it! 123 stitch, Etsy, Patreon, SALs, and social media, etc. make it sooo easy to discover your personal stitch style and find others in this wonderful community, to motivate you. Monogamous was what I always did, but I didn’t stitch as much as I do now as a multi-project stitcher. Of course, it’s all personal preference. I love it all!

[@leeannroberts9019]

Love these videos!!! I fill like I’m with friends. So much fun. Thank you both.

[@faithhammond10]

I'm a monogamous stitcher. I think it keeps me motivated because if I want to start that shiny new project, I have to finish the current one. I sometimes will do a two hour stitch to make a birthday card or something, but on the whole, it's one full coverage at a time. I think it's also a space thing, it's a lot easier to kit up and store a project, and it's super satisfying to watch steady progress.

[@ChantalS-mr4vh]

1 you girls always make me smile! Love watching you two! I have been stitching for 35 years and for about 30 of those I was pretty much a monogamous stitcher. The only time I would have more than one project was if I was visiting my mom then I would bring something small that I would start and finish while I was there. Then I would resume my current project when I got home. But in 2020 I did small projects on 32 ct linen, not something I was used to, and I was only comfortable stitching on them during the day because that's when I could actually see what I was doing. So I started doing other projects at night on fabric counts that I could see. That began my transition away from monogamous stitching. But I still kept it to 2-3 projects at a time. Then I discovered flosstube last April or so and it's been a real struggle to not go down the rabbit hole!!!😂 I have 7 wips right now, but I'm holding steady to that, and refuse to start anything else unless I finish something. Now kitting up and planning is a whole different story!!😄😄😄

[@dianecarey6664]

1️⃣ I stitched on and off for many years. I would get tired of the project and put it down for a while. When I found out “that you could have”multiple projects, said Hallelujah! Why didn’t I think of that! 😂 Now I stitch all the things!

[@compassionatecreativity5833]

1️⃣ 🐸 I’ve been looking forward to this video and it did not disappoint! Also Allison, your excitement when you remembered and then shared about phrogging was 💯. I have never been monogamous at anything but relationships, but Flosstube definitely shepherded me further down the road. I’ve always been ooh, shiny, let’s get all the things and then try several of the things, and then get more things when I realize what I bought first wasn’t really the best for me and so on. I would like to finish more things and I have a ton of fabric and quilting supplies that taunt me. My cross stitch stash isn’t quite that bad, but it’s possibly creeping that way. Having said that, I actually can’t keep that many projects in active wip state as I become really overloaded. I tend to be stitching on two or three projects at a time (about a month) and when I get a little tired of those I start something new and go back to older projects. I don’t ufo inactive sips, at least not in the cross stitch sense of the word, but I consider them dormant until I’m working on them again. So in that way the mental load feels a bit more manageable. I think I’m probably at about 20 -25 wips (I haven’t counted) and that seems like a reasonable range. You can maybe guess from this that I’m not a planner and tend to stitch as the spirit leads me. In fact, I love to make plans but hate following them, like really actively rebel against myself. Which is counter productive and so now if I want to get something done I have to kind of squint and come at myself sideways. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@Allisonatthemoment]

😂 squint! Sounds like you’ve found a happy medium for your craft! 🎉❤

[@Stitchinwithcatsss]

I’ve always been a monogamous stitcher UNTIL last year when I found floss tube and all these fantastic cross stitch groups and went on my first retreat!!! What a bunch of phenomenal enabling friends I’ve met😂 I went from one to prob about 30 wips, plus another 30 or more patterns, a planner, new tshirts, floss drops and scissors fobs, plus a collection of needle minders (and I only really use one cause I stitch in hand). It has been so much fun to give myself the permission to have more than one going at a time! I do think I’ll scale it back because I do find that I do like to finish them and display them, but it’s also fun to know what is next in line! Plus I like having a few for things like wipgo or stitching Olympics etc. Thank you for sharing your perspectives!

[@tracibrookes894]

Same, girl. I went from monogamous until last year and this year I gave myself permission to do all the projects and I am finding it is giving me anxiety. Lol

[@gretchens_haus]

I have 12 wips. That gives each project two WIPGO pulls. When I finish one of those 12, then I start another project. Thanks for another thought provoking video. 1️⃣ 🐸

[@janetwendorf]

Many years ago (before FlossTubes) I only knew the monogamous way of stitching. Then I picked a hard project on black fabric, moved to a place with not much light and just put cross stitch away for several years. I wish I had realized I could just start something else. Eventually I made it back to it. I find 10 projects on a variety of fabrics/sizes is my sweet spot. I also enjoy your random stories (frogging) so keep that up! 🥇 And I will get back to that crazy project on black fabric, I think.

[@StitchingDowntheRabbitHole]

Fun conversation. thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have 5 cross stitch projects going. I spend 75% of my time on one, and touch the other 4 every week. I think of them as sheep and I'm a sheep dog - I don't want any of them to fall too far back and get lost. I resist stockpiling patterns, kits or even starts by keeping a notebook of things I see and admire. When I get the urge to shop, I go online and look at the list of someday projects. Often I cross one or more off, because I just don't feel them any more. When my focus piece is complete, I'll move another into lead position, and go shop for a new one from my list.

[@mm-qm9zh]

This is a great idea! Thanks for suggesting it ☺️! Meline

[@pattyso]

1 I cross stitched for 40 years (at age 16), Flosstube changed everything.

[@denisejeffries2675]

1️⃣. Always been a monogamous stitcher/crafter. I love it. Accomplish enormous projects, no stress. I have never been influenced by flosstube, for me it is entertainment.

[@CoffeeandCrossStitchNicola]

I love watching flosstube and seeing everyone’s multiple projects, but I much prefer being a monogamous stitcher myself. I currently have 5 WIPS as I have a couple of projects I want to gift, and I’m taking part in a SAL as well as well as my main project, however I’m finding it quite stressful! I love the craft of cross stitching; I enjoy the process, find it relaxing and I personally feel fulfilled from stitching on just one project without ever getting bored as the process is enough. I also like it when I finish pieces as I enjoy displaying them in my home or gifting them, and I feel that by stitching on one piece at a time I get them done quicker as I just pull out my project and stitch when I have time rather than spending time deciding which to pull out and organising them etc (I also keep skeins/ kit threads as they are rather than bobbinating/ organising them for the same reason). Also a bit of an odd one perhaps but something I’ve considered myself so I will mention it: when in the future I am unable to stitch (failing eyesight or ill health) I’d rather have one unfinished project that needs completing than multiple. Maybe I’ve thought about it because I did almost lose my vision at one point (thankfully it was saved by surgery). Once I’m down to one project I will stick to being a monogamous stitcher. Of course, I get tempted by lots of patterns and kits that I see on flosstube. If I see a kit that I absolutely love and I think it might get discontinued (I’m thinking in Dimensions in particular as a kit might be easy to get one day, then discontinued and hard to find the next!) then I will buy it and keep it aside for the future. Just knowing I have it is enough and I don’t feel the need to start it. I don’t have too many; I think hard about whether I/ someone I know would actually like to display the piece once finish before buying.

[@craftycatstitcher6658]

I used to be a monogamous stitcher but then Flosstube happened. And THEN I started my own Flosstube and decided it was fun to keep starting projects. LOL! But I'm fine with it because I do complete stuff every now and then! Fun video!

[@storyqueststitcher]

1️⃣ I have a todo list in every part of my life (work, adulting, parenting)-I want nothing to do with a todo list when it comes to my hobbies. I can’t even stand picking up too many side quests in video games. It’s too much mental overhead to have lots of WIPs. Every project I start is something my brain worries about constantly until I go back and finish. I’m also a product stitcher though, so I’m sure that contributes. Each of my projects has a purpose or an end goal in mind-often gifts, a specific display I have in mind, or just pebbling for my daughter. I really really want to finish them and so it’s disappointing to see them sit undone as well. I’m happy at my current WIP count of 2, because I have a small and a medium. I can take a break from my medium and knock out a small and then get back to the story quest.

[@elizabethkillian2686]

🥇 fruits of plenty has a rhythm to it. You can do it! Can’t wait to see lady of the flag when it is complete

[@mrhickswife]

2️⃣ I worked on my first big piece monogamously for a month and I really got burnt out. I still have a hard time looking at 986 green, which was highly used in that project. I much prefer having multiple projects to switch up the color palette. I did not start stitching to decorate my walls, but for relaxing. Sometimes I'm sad to finish a project, but a finish does mean I get a new start! I do try to work on each project every month, and work on it for a day or 2 and put it down before I'm ready to - so I will be really excited to pick it up again. It's fun to be really excited for my projects everyday. But I understand people who feel the weight of the projects and prefer just to have one at a time due to the mental baggage. Really big projects (over 60,000 stitches) do weigh on me, so I currently avoid them. Thanks for another great video! Happy stitching!!

[@kcassanello]

I was a monogamous stitcher prior to my hiatus. There are more projects now, but I keep it under ten. And I have about another six or eight in various stages of being kitted up. Flosstube is most definitely an enabler. Great discussion today. 1️⃣

[@annemousseau8757]

1 🍓not sure if I did emoji correctly. It was funnto listen to both of you. I stitch monogamisly for awhile then dona new start and go back to monigomist wip.

[@clipperrn]

1️⃣ I have been 99.9% monogamous stitcher because in the past everything I stitched was a gift. Now that I'm picking this up again I will probably still only work on a limited number of projects. I'm thinking 5 or less, but that would let me work on a gift and something for me. This time around I am going to do some projects for me to keep.

[@annae.4606]

great video, as always! I was a monogamous stitcher for 15ish years, and only recently started having multiple WIPs. I tend to finish a page on each project before I rotate them out, which allows me to get a lot of work in each time and gives me the opportunity to stitch something else if I get bored.

[@jacksonreal]

1. i am a monogamous stitcher for many years. Having said that i only do littles. i never get bored because the longest i work and finish a project is a week and a half. i thoroughly enjoyed your stitching table at Midsummer stitch and hope to see you guys in more events like these. You were very inspiring and I'm still thinking of a project for the ideas you discussed. Very fun

[@theshakystitcher]

1️⃣ I enjoyed this video! Thanks for posting 😁

[@TheCarolinaStitchers]

You girls are a hoot! You know I stitch a million things allll the time ❤ Happy Stitching!!

[@AmniconStudio]

I bounce around with the number of projects I have going on. When I watch a lot of flosstube I have the urge to start more. Imagine that! 😆 Currently I have two projects I'm actively working on, with a couple put away until I feel ready to work on them again.

[@christinemay4756]

Great video ladies. I currently have 29 WIPs. I am participating in WIPGO this year and I've been enjoying it. Years ago when I was a monogamous stitcher, I would quit stitching and didn't realize then it was because I had project fatigue and was just sick of looking at it.

[@jaxcreativeinspirations]

Ok…. Do “Frogger” must have planted seeds about the “murder house”, 😂🤣😂 I literally walked into your room after you had initially started that conversation, and spent about 15 minutes going “huh?!?” What in the world are they talking about?!? That was so much fun to listen to, and today’s discussion was a delight as well!! 1️⃣

[@LesliesLakeLife]

I was always a monogamous stitcher until this year. Not to say I didn’t have kits ready to go, had plenty. Flosstube has caused my straying. LOL. But I love it. Stitch on whatever I am in the mood for. 1️⃣ made it to the end but never going back to just one.

[@tarafurnas861]

🥇

[@patriciabrown5524]

Love your flosstube! I have three products just because two are quite heavy with confetti & relief is needed I’m in awe of those who have loads I really need to be able to finish what I’m doing otherwise I don’t see the point in doing it I get much satisfaction in the finished product & a sense of accomplishment I also knit & have recently taught myself to crochet I find all these crafts give me a sense of wellbeing & comfort Now that I’m retired I have more time to do them The only problem is I sometimes find it hard to decide! Just as well I don’t have to get up at 3.30 anymore!

[@sarahcooper6948]

Thanks for sharing! I would love to see a finish parade! 🔂 I consider myself monogamous, even though I have previously started a few projects that are in" deep storage ". Now, I work on one of those projects until it's finished. Or I start a new thing. In my mind, being a multi-project stitcher means you work on multiple things within a span of time- week, month, etc.

[@stitchingbytheshore]

I am firmly in the multi project camp! But fun to hear the monogamous perspective.

[@postergentle3476]

I have a 12 project rotation which get 12, 11, 10, 9… 1 hours each; so some project are fast tracked and others are slow coach. I use the multi-timer app to keep track of time, and start new projects at the bottom and move the others up an hour. Works for me! I’m not religious about the number of hours if I’m having fun or if the frog has come to visit too much. After all, it’s MY rotation!

[@Linda_James]

I don’t like assignments either. I have about 5 WIPS and I have been slowly working on getting each project finished. 2 of them I have had for years because I had a several year break from stitching

[@TessLynnxo]

Although I bought almost every cross stitch pattern know to man, now that I have started stitching, I think deep down Im a 1️⃣ BUT… I have also learned the benefits of working on more than one so maybe im a 2️⃣. For me, I like a big project because it makes my heart happy and a small project so I can have those good feel(ees) on completing something on a regular basis, and then a fun one for me. So three or four is my comfort zone So I guess I’m a 1.5😊

[@estherovalle7909]

I have 3 projects Spring, Summer, Christmas that i'm working on. I get bored easy with the dark color. Thank you for sharing Happy Stitching 😊

[@sleepycalico]

I also didn't even know until flosstube that you could have more than one project. It just never occurred to me. Also, I was so poor, there was a long time when I couldn't even have one. I had a friend who got to be a stay-at-home wife, and she had many nice things and plenty of time for whatever she wanted. She wouldn't share her cross stitch patterns, claiming it would be in violation of copyright law. As if you couldn't loan a friend a book.... (eye roll). So one day I asked if I could borrow a pattern so I would have something to stitch while I watched tv at night after work. (All of my unessential money went into affording cable tv (of what, maybe 20 channels back then?) which I needed to watch to zone out from my actual life.) She said sure. I stitched multiple things for her, but I wanted to ask her about places where I would use a different color, so usually she had a few stitches in every project. One day she gave me the alphabet pattern with Kate Greenaway children and lectured me to just put in whatever color I wanted. But that felt too nervy to me, and I did the same thing I always did, so she had maybe twenty or so stitches to put in when I gave it back to her. I had hoped, as always, that she would consider with me the different color options where I would make a change, making it a cooperative friends activity. I was fine with stitching whatever color we would decide on, but I wanted to talk it over. But she was just took it back, really angry because by now she had told me on multiple occasions that she didn't care. As she took it back, she said something that rambled around and boiled down to now she would have one cross stitch project for each of her children. She had so much trouble extricating herself from that sentence, I knew she was going to tell her daughter that she had made this. (She had in fact made a pillow for her son.) Not long after this, I was invited to her house along with a friend she had just made at one of the crafty classes she had just taken. She was eager to show her friend something she had just done. We all walked into her daughter's bedroom, and there was the Kate Greenaway alphabet framed and hanging. The friend oohed and ahhed. I said, I made this. They both ignored me. I said it again, I MADE THIS. They didn't even turn their heads to look in my direction. I never felt more invisible. Now, I KNEW that woman was going to lie about having made it, but I didn't know she was going to lie to my face. The depth of contempt it takes to treat someone like that is breathtaking to me. I was a natural-born railroad stitcher, a term I never heard until flosstube. She stitched in a style I called to myself crunchy granola, a kind of lumpy texture. I didn't exactly think it was worse, just vastly different, just as handwriting differs from person to person. Did you ever meet a railroader who would randomly make a patch of crunch granola for one color? Ahem. So if you ever see one of those, most likely, I MADE THAT. What was the question, again? lol The answer for me was one. One thing at a time. I love flosstube. People are so nice here.

[@clipperrn]

@sleepycalico I want you to know that you are not invisible here! Many thoughts run through my mind at reading your post. I think how simple it would of been for her to give you a chart or even help you get a free one or point you to a public library where you could of borrowed a cross stitch book. Instead she took your work and lied about it being hers. It makes me angry and sad. I hope things are better now.

[@sleepycalico]

@@clipperrn Oh, thank you for saying hi! Oooh, I wish I had thought about patterns from library books back in the day! Yes, life is a lot easier now and has been for ages. I could stitch absolutely anything I wanted, and I have good friends. People in flosstube constantly delight me. People sharing their wonderful finds. Offers for stitch-alongs. The belief that a pleasure shared is a pleasure multiplied. It's what I always wanted but never expected. 🥰

[@clipperrn]

@sleepycalico and a pain shared is diminished. I'm so glad to meet you here. And glad to hear that things are different now.

[@stitcherinalabama]

Enjoyed your video today … 😊 Dena

[@gabyf001]

1️⃣ I've tried having several WIPs at a time and gave me too much anxiety because I wasn't finishing anything. So, now I keep only 3-4 at a time and I'm much happier.

[@RedPandaHomebody]

Re: quilting - tied quilts is such a legit historical option though - I remember my grandmother telling me that was how her mother finished quilts. Like my grandmother honestly liked tied quilts better.

[@RedPandaHomebody]

1️⃣

[@britches__get__stitches]

I am HANDS DOWN a multi-project stitcher and no way am I ever going back to monogamous, hahaha! Flosstube and this community ruined that for me and I'm so grateful! I tend to have focus projects that get the majority of my time, but then still get lots of work done on others. I mean, I've got over 85 WIPs, gotta get some work on them some way or other!

[@Cherries_n_Stitches]

1 - Can you guys do a Video explaining the different types of Patterns? Fancy Ladies / Samplers / Primitive / Replicas… etc.

[@Allisonatthemoment]

Great idea 💡 ❤

[@TurnbullsThreads]

1 😅 I did get to meet you at midsummer stitch and I will never be a monogamous stitcher. Learned this with my knitting where I like to have a ton of projects going, I can be semimonogamous for a while if I have a deadline or get invested in a project but even then I like to have something hard and something easy on the needles and that same philosophy has followed me to cross stitch

[@lisahurst4208]

1️⃣ I currently have 4 WIPs. 2 I would consider big and 2 I would call small. Enjoy bouncing back and forth between the 4 as the mood strikes me. I have plans for starts and projects kitted and ready to go but I'd like to have some finishes done before starting a new project. I don't think I could ever be a monogomous stitcher. I know this is strictly for my enjoyment and no one else around me likes it.

[@MarissaMcConnell]

🥇 I have a TON of WIPs because I did #100DaysOfDifferentProjects and I worked on a completely different project every day for 100 days. I definitely ended up with a LOT more than I started with!

[@Karen3263]

❤❤❤1; I started 4 month ago and have around 15 WIPs 😂🤫

[@Catmumcraftseverything]

I was a monogamy stitcher in the before times, but since I've come back to stitching I think the most monogamy I could manage is monogamous may, but mostly I switch projects every 5 or 6 days

[@klparker76401]

1️⃣ I’m a new stitcher with 2 projects finished. Now I have 3 projects going….

[@mizscarlettdragon]

1️⃣lately I am a mono stitcher. Only because of the limited space. I have tons a projects ready to go.

[@rjbuller]

#1🎉

[@EnchantingStitching9697]

🧚‍♀️💕

[@andrewilliams1954]

🪡👍🏽

[@yarnhooked]

I was a monogamous stitcher until I found SALs, and it all went downhill from there 😂

[@Janstiffstitches]

☝️

[@mm-qm9zh]

1️⃣

[@clipperrn]

Speaking of Fancy Ladies are there any Dapper Gentlemen? You know just asking for a friend. 😉

[@sarahcooper6948]

I have been asking this of flosstubers and LNSs for 2 years now and have found none!!! There are some mermen and one obscure Reverend someone suggested. I'd love to have a fancy person wall including fancy fellas and fancy ladies!

[@clipperrn]

​@sarahcooper6948 I'm so glad to find someone else that agrees with me. Men's fashion can be as interesting as women's. I would even love a series of men in uniform. As ZZ Top says "Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man."

[@laurievottero9676]

🕐

[@BeckStitchesEverything]

Lol at - Why does it have to be weird?