Goodbye and good luck

Many years ago, when I was a student at UT Austin and we had to call in (on phones, no less) to do our registration, the kindly Texan automated voice we called “Tex” would always wish us “goodbye and good luck.” I’m not sure why I think of Tex every time I say goodbye, but I feel there’s no better way to describe what I’m feeling right now!

I have been thinking for some time now that it is time to say goodbye to our Feeling Stitchy experience. It’s been such a good one! We’ve had SO MANY volunteer bloggers over the years who have helped to make this blog the positive, interesting, unique experience it was. I am in good health - so this announcement is not about that. But having cancer did help me re-evaluate the choices I’d been making in my life for years now.

As Editor, I find myself in the strange position of being the longest-running presence on the blog - my personal goal for Feeling Stitchy was to enrich the online community of stitchers and provide a positive environment where people of all skills, ages, and backgrounds feel comfortable to create, learn new things, and be inspired.

I never wanted to sell anything, or commodify this blog which is why we never placed ads. This began from a place of feeling like our entire lives we are being sold to - I wanted an ad-free place where all the learning we did came without a price tag.

Over time, however, I came to realize that everyone’s voice and time has value, and I became more and more conflicted about people volunteering their time on Feeling Stitchy. Many of our bloggers had businesses of their own, and I wanted to find a way to reward their time, but making the blog a money-making venture never felt right to me.

It became my goal to highlight crafters and small business people in our community who were selling a product - products that I found valuable, creative, interesting, and lovely. So again, without these sellers reaching out to me for publicity, I sought to highlight their patterns and stores, with nothing to gain except the enrichment of our crafty community.

I sincerely hope you’ve been inspired by anything you’ve seen here!

The craft community has changed quite a bit since I began this blog so many years ago- March 2007, to be exact. I see a lot of convergence in crafting styles, with many creators seeking to jump on trends more often than producing something unique.

But there will always be unique voices, and those are the ones I sought to spotlight.

One thing that has not changed, in my opinion, is the essential kindness and generosity of the crafting community as a whole. There are such good people here, undoubtedly! When I finally talked about my struggle with breast cancer, having had it twice, in 2015 and 2018, I was touched by the kind messages of encouragement I received. And when I lost my sweet cat Dot in October, your kind messages were a bright spot in a dark week.

But, it’s time. I look now with nostalgia at the first crafts I made over a decade ago, and realize they are now old enough to be vintage. Feeling Stitchy was always a group blog, and it doesn’t feel right for it to be anything but that. As I began to feel things winding down, I stopped asking for new volunteers, partly because of my hesitance at asking people to volunteer their time for free, and partly because I felt it was time.

This last year I blogged pretty much on my own, but it was a fun year and didn’t feel lonely, because all of you were encouraging me every step of the way. I was in a creative slump for numerous reasons before, but 2019 was outstanding for my crafty productivity.

I think that for things to be most effective in life - they must have a clear beginning and an end. When we see an end in sight, we naturally work harder, and put all our heart and energy toward that goal.

Thank you to anyone who has had the forbearance to read this far!

You will still see me (perhaps) on my personal Instagram, @nyfloresita. I will leave the posts on Feeling Stitchy where they are, from time to time doing my best to archive, but otherwise allowing this to be a living museum of our crafty times together!

I hope that in the time we have written we have shined a light on something that moved and inspired you. I hope you use that light in turn to shine on someone else. I hope you all never stop encouraging each other, and believing in yourselves.

May God bless you all, in everything you do, and may the light so shine in you, that it may draw others to be curious of that light, and share it in turn, with the world.

You are all lovely, wonderful, kind people. You make the crafting community what it is.

Goodbye, my stitching friends, and good luck!