Here I thought I’d write a little post about what Odd Thread Designs is all about. Or, at least, what I’m planning on it being about based on my background.
(And, I imagine with that epic hook of an opening line, 99% of the folks visiting this page will now immediately leave for something more interesting. *sigh* Ok then…)
Leading up to Now
Over the last 10 years I have moved eleven times. Yes, you read that right, eleven times. Honestly maybe more, since it’s really hard to keep track at this point. Most of the moves occurred early on during a first marriage that ended in disaster (secret/hidden mental illness, emotional abuse, and moving every 1-6 months took a serious toll). I escaped that situation with little more than a suitcase of clothes, a diaper bag, and my eldest child who was barely a year old at the time.
By necessity, I had left behind all the physical history of my life before that marriage.
I (re)started with nothing.
Learning from that difficult experience, I moved on and a few years later married my current husband who’s so much better that there’s no comparison… but we’re still moving almost every other year for work.
Moving so often, from one rental place to another, I’ve developed a deep longing for some sense of “home”. I desperately want to be able to enter the place I reside in and feel like I’m where I belong.
I long for that happy almost warm-hug feeling of familiarity and security upon returning home.
The house I live in at this point is just a structure now. There’s no warmth, no fond memories, no deep sigh of relief upon returning to it after a busy day… it’s just… a cold inanimate place with all my family’s stuff in it. A shelter that keeps the elements at bay and nothing more.
I know this house is not mine, that we wont be here for long, and there’s no way for me to alter the building itself to feel like a place of my own because, well, its not my own.
I can’t grow an attachment or fondness for this place because I just know we wont be here much longer. So why bother?
I know I can’t be the only person who feels this way. I’m sure there are many other families out there that move around so much that “home” is just where they kick off their shoes, hang their hat and that’s all there is to it. Some people might even be content with that. However, I’m sure many others have the same unsettled need for “home” that I do. Countless other families move all the time. Military families are especially notorious for moving frequently.
So, what can they do?
What can I do?
What can WE do?
Handmade Home
I’ve always been fairly crafty. Crochet, cross stitch, Swedish weaving, quilting, general sewing, even small dabbles in woodworking are all crafts I have enjoyed. I know (after a lot of searching the internet for answers) that one of the best ways to make a house feel like home is to fill it with handmade items, so I’ve finally decided I’m going to try that.
In reality, it’s not that big of a leap for me. All of my children have blankets and stuffed animals that I handmade for them, but I’ve never turned my attention toward making things for my husband, myself, or the place I live in.
Admittedly, I’ve never even viewed my crafting as something useful or beneficial. I’d often watch my husband build things with his woodworking and I’d just think, “Gosh… I wish I had a useful skill like this.”
Queue eye rolls.
It has taken a long long time for me to realize that my crafting skill can be useful too. Granted, I can’t reasonably build big “impressive” things like furniture with sewing, but a home isn’t only the structure or the furniture contained within. The details are where “home” is hidden. At least, aside from the memories that a place contains, but we’ve already established that that’s not really an option as of yet.
Future Goals
While it may be a stretch, I’m going to make my goal for 2021 to be making wherever I reside feel more like home by putting at least one handmade item in each room of the house. (Looking ahead already since 2020 is… well… you know.) Apparently I’ll blog about it too since I guess that’s what I’m doing now.
At the same time, I want to build up my little business of Odd Thread Designs into a community of like-minded people and make it a resource for others to make their houses/apartments into homes as well.
I know, right now as I’m posting this, there’s “only” cross stitch designs on here. Unfortunately it is going to take time to build this site into everything I imagine it being. With 4 very young kids to raise/educate, a house to maintain and home-ify, and now a “business” to launch on top of it all… I may have bitten off more than I can chew.
In fact, I kinda know I have.
But what is life without ambition and adventure? I say it’s worth trying at least.
So follow along on this journey! Join me on this quest for “Home” or just to see what happens. Who knows where this will lead us?
All I know is I can do it.
You can do it.
We all can do it.
All it takes is one Odd Thread at a time.