There is something soothing about making the same movement over and over again. About counting how many squares across and down you still need to go. About picking the right color thread. About seeing how much left there is to go. About seeing the work start to take shape. And then eventually it turns into a feeling of accomplishment when you see the finished product. What old lady hobby am I talking about?
Well cross stitch of course!
I think I've mentioned before that I love to cross stitch. I started it about a year ago as a way to pass the time. I wasn't even that interested in it. I found a dollar project in a bin at Michael's and I couldn't pass it up.
It came out pretty bad. The little kit I bought didn't have any instructions. Just a picture with the legend of colors to use. I had no idea what I was doing and I didn't know what to do with the outline. It was just a complete and utter mess.
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| I never even finished it. |
Fortunately I had bought more than one kit. For the next one I actually decided to look up some tips and tricks online before starting. This helped A LOT. By the time I was finished you could even tell what it was I was supposed to be making.
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| The back is a whole 'nother story though. |
By the time I finished the little kits I had bought, I was hooked. I bought a hoop and some cheap aida with a big bag of cheap thread in various colors. I started getting patterns from Pinterest, Google, Etsy. It was so much fun to make these little crafts. John even got in on it and would tell me which colors to use and fun accents to put on a project.
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| He'd also help in the naming. |
I loved doing the small, easy projects. Those that could be completed within a few hours. But after doing several of those everyone thought it was time to tackle a bigger project. I decided on a sugar skull pattern I had purchased off of Etsy. When completed it would fit into an 8.5x10 frame. Bigger than anything I had yet tried to do.
It came out great! There were a few spots I had to actually undo my stitches and redo them correctly but I love the finished product. I was going to frame it but the glass from the frame broke and I haven't quite gotten around to it again.
I love cross stitching. Even if the finished ones tend to end up crumpled and dirty hiding underneath books or strewn across tables. It's just a fun hobby, old lady or not.
What are some of your favorite hobbies? Any of you love cross stitching?
