I have been a cross stitcher since I was in third grade, much longer than I have been a scrapbooker. I'm drawn to a few types of patterns, first classic samplers, which I put together on a sampler wall in the guest room:
Next, Noah's Ark samplers, which I keep with a few Noah's Ark craft figures in the living room:
And finally, garden patterns, which I mostly keep in my bedroom:
(Side note: it's really hard to photograph framed cross stitching behind glass!)
I am a quick and prolific stitcher, so I have many that I have not yet framed, like this one, which I imagined framing in two circular mats, sans cat hair, which seems to be on it now:
I also have many classic samplers unframed, like this one, which will go in the guest room:
And many small Noah's Ark patterns like this one:
And then in 2002 I stopped cross stitching when I had kids. With my sons constantly on my lap, I couldn't imagine needle crafts. The lighting was so poor by the time they were in bed, I just put it away for a while. Recently, though, I realized the lighting at my sons' taekwondo dojang was excellent, so I pulled out and finished the pattern I stopped stitching when my eldest was born:
Then I picked up another, a Halloween pattern, that I finished quickly:
Somewhere in here I also made a few geek patterns I picked up on Etsy or in other places. These patterns were so simple I could finish them in a day:
This next one is in my husband's cube at work:
So why am I mentioning this? Now that my boys are bigger, and I have found a well lit place I will be in for a few hours every week all year, I am dedicating myself to picking up my stitching habit again. My goal is to stitch between 3-6 patterns by the end of the year. In addition, I want to frame 3-4 patterns that I have already made. My longer term goal is to design a classic sampler pattern myself based on Star Wars; instead of a house, I want the skyline of Mos Eisley, and the verse "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy" along with the phrase "Home Sweet Home." I haven't found one I like to purchase, so I'll have to design it myself!
Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you set goals for revisiting hobbies you have set aside but intend to go back to.