A bit of other things from the past

I realized these two pieces were tucked by my desk, and really need to be put away until December rolls around again.
I think my very first true crafting love was counted cross stitch. I loved all the wonderful detail and shading with the many colors of floss. I created several things, and finally found a lovely woman who did custom framing in her home. This was the first piece I took to her. It is part of a book of patterns by Vanessa Ann. I liked it because it wasn't traditional Christmas colors. If you enlarge the photo you can see my dating in the lower right corner. Yep, it was a 3 year project. The framing was over $80, but I love how it came out. My plan was to do the whole book of patterns, but alas, it was not to be. More about that later. I did the second one done though.
My dating is just inside the fireplace. Aren't they cute? Why didn't I do them all? This is a sad, but true story that to this day is hard for me to tell.
I am a bit obsessive/compulsive (anyone surprised by the statement?). From about 1985 until 1995 I had collected every color of DMC floss. I had hundreds of patterns. I had many, many ufo's. Two I remember distinctly and still make me tear up. One was a scene of two kids playing on a bed, that had a lovely quilt on it, and their window that they were gazing out of had Santa and his sleigh traveling by the moon. I had worked on this project for years. I distinctly remember stitching on it while flying to Hawaii. All that was left to finish it was the outlining. The other project was a 3 part Amish project that was amazing. I had the first one completely done, carefully preserved, rolled and waiting for the other two to be done. I was working on the second at the time of the "incident". There were other projects in varying states of doneness. I kept all this collage of "stuff" in one of those large plastic bins. It was green. I kept it stashed underneath a table in my laundry room. Many of the projects were in plastic or paper bags. Anyway, one day I went to take it out, I think the days were getting shorter and late fall/winter were the times I would spend doing this handwork. It was a nice sanity saver while raising three very active boys. Also while I was attending nursing school. So I pulled the box out from under the table, took off the lid, and the box was full of a couple of old blankets. I thought maybe I had lost my mind. I was literally in shock. It made no sense. Hours of work. Hundreds (okay maybe more than that) of dollars in supplies. Gone and replaced by old blankets. I was devastated. Crushed. Where had it all gone? No one seemed to know, or would ever say. To this day. I searched through every inch of my garage thinking maybe I had moved it. No. It was gone. Are you gasping yet? Truly I still get misty eyed thinking about it. I've gone through all the grieving process, isn't that silly? I think what hurt the most wasn't the fact that it was all gone, but that however it disappeared was never resolved. It just hurt so much that my hobby/craft/sanity saver was so disrespected. Can you imagine coming home and having all your books be gone? Or your fabric? Your yarn? Your photos? That is how it felt. And still feels. I have tried not to think about it too much, and though I have done bits and pieces of cross stitch since then, it never felt the same. But now it is starting to and I am again collecting floss, patterns, cloth. One of the things I lost was a sampler. It was from a magazine and had a poem that started out
Clock, crocks, ladderback chairs,
Tie back curtains, patchwork squares".
It was probably about 24 lines, but I can't remember the rest. I've made attempts to find this online, but have had no luck. Gosh I would love to find that again. Any thoughts on how else to search? Maybe eBay.....
Anyway...this turned into a book!!! I am going to say though right now, that it was after this happened that my weight began to get out of control......something I'll bring up with my therapist next time I see her! Could it be connected? Am I being ridiculous? So I'll be adding some posts with some of my other few Cross Stitch projects to change things up a bit.
Thanks for staying with me, for those who made it to the end!!