Yesterday, I was supposed to make some extreme stitching progress.

In the morning, I psyched myself up for a grueling, record-breaking day of embroidery.

I wanted to accomplish two things: preparation of website content (I had a few tutorials in mind), and arriving at the next stage of the Mission Rose project, which has stalled somewhat due to website work.

But this is what greeted me when I went out to my workroom:

After several months of working on the Floral Sampler Alphabet and the Mission Rose project, as well as a million other little things for Needle ‘n Thread and several other projects needlework-non-related, my workroom had morphed into The Very Large Mess.

Sometimes, I wonder if I use “Tidying Up” and “Organization” as an excuse – as a delay tactic? Deep down, I probably do.

But I know that if I tidy every day – if I take 15 minutes at the end of a work day and tackle the clutter-prone areas – then things will not get out of hand, and it won’t take a whole afternoon to re-organize and tidy up.

Yep! I know this! But… I don’t always practice it.

And after a couple months with little regard for those Nefarious Clutter-Prone Spots, when I sat down to stitch yesterday, I was visited by the Disorganized Workroom Blues.

I tried to ignore them.

First, I attempted stitching two Stitch Fun Tutorials and photographing them. 136 photos later, and two C-R-A-P-P-Y examples of embroidery later, I switched to the Mission Rose.

Big Mistake!

When even your basic embroidery stitches are not turning out, don’t switch to goldwork.

Finally, at lunch time, I realized there was nothing for it…