In The Sticks: When I Find a Spare Moment...

Back in my early high school days, my mom got me started on cross stitch. At the time, we were living in a tent/trailer while my parents built their house. It was fall and the weather wasn't that great. We also didn't have TV. So, my mom tried to find some fun activities for us kids to do. Mom gave me a little Christmas greeting card kit to complete. The kit she gave me wasn't really for a beginner, but I attempted anyway. I remember I found it very tedious and frustrating. I would do a few stitches and then find something else to occupy my teenage brain. I kept it and worked on it over a period of several years. It still isn't finished...it needed some fancy stitching that I didn't want to figure out how to do. Anyway, I dug it up...

Then, one day a few years ago I was doing some Christmas shopping. I had this coupon for Michael's craft store for 50% off one item. I drove ALL the way to 185th (25 minute drive from my house at the time) with Synnove just to look for a particular gift that I was hoping to get at 50% off. Of course, I couldn't get it, cause it was already on sale...as was any other gift idea that popped into my head. I was ticked, and gosh darnnit, I was gonna find something to buy! I wandered to the cross-stitch section and found a birth announcement kit that I thought was alright...so, I bought it. Just so you know, I've grown to very much dislike Michaels's for their sneaky/misleading ads, and rude customer service....but on with my story.

When I purchased the kit, I knew that I was going to be trying to get pregnant within the next month, so I bought one that could fit a boy or a girl. It wasn't my favorite, but I tackled it anyway. This was my first real cross-stitch project and it was bigger than I had expected. I worked on that thing for hours at a time and finished within 6-7 months. Of course, I was pregnant at the time, so I wasn't able to completely finish it till Soren was born (had to put in name, and info). In the meantime, I had felt bad that I didn't do one for Synnove, so I found a really cute one online at Brooke's Books Publishing (check out her "Sunshine Lines" collection...she has quite a few!) and started it up immediately. It only took me 1-2 months and it turned out smashingly!

I finished Synnove's just before Soren was born, so I didn't have time to start anything new. When we moved in with my parents I had some free time and decided that I wanted to do a different birth announcement for Soren that he might want to keep in his room a little bit longer. The one I did from Michael's was so generic and babyish. So, I ordered another one from Brooke's Books Publishing. I started it up in November of 2007, quit, and got ready to move. While I was still living at my parents house, I decided to order a couple of wedding cross-stitch charts. My sister wasn't engaged yet, but I knew it would be soon, so I ordered one for her and one for myself.

Within a week of us moving, my sister got engaged. And, as soon as I was able to get all of the materials, I started up the project I picked out for her and Chris. I hadn't stitched on linen before and it took some adjustment. I also used hand-dyed thread that has variations of color for a vintage effect. The linen was also "aged" for effect. I worked non-stop on that project for at least 4 months. I was able to get it framed and have it ready just one month before the wedding. I don't have a photo of it, but this is the chart I used...and it shows exactly what mine looked like with different initials, of course.

After that, I was burnt out on cross-stitch for a while. I finally picked up the birth announcement that I had picked out for Soren and began to finish it a couple of months ago. I'll be picking it up from the frame shop next week. I love the way it turned out.

I have now started on the "wedding row" that I ordered for myself back when I got the chart for Elise. I haven't gotten very far yet...but here's my progress...