I could do this all day.....

Cross-stitching that is. I know. Immediately your mind conjures up images of grandmothers sitting in a circle of sofas knitting tea cossies and sharing lamington recipies. Well, that could be the case in some social circles but not in mine. No, my nan and I prefer sherry and a cheese and sundried tomato platter while we go about our crafty business. Nan could be doing anything from making curtains, cutting out toy patterns to sewing lux lavender bags or hems. I can't do any of those things but I can cross-stitch and have been for 5 years. I really enjoy the challenging designs such as the ones that require petite point stitch, blended colours or that have quite big. Whichever way, I like the ones that require a lot of concentration and that could function as a room centrepiece. I guess I should start from the start as to what I've completed and what I have eagerly stockpiled for myself to complete in the future. I've recently decided to ban myself from ebay. Even buying from the UK is relatively affordable and really, that doesn't help because that's where most of the good designs are from.

Anyhow, I digress. My first project was a china vase full of spring flowers in beautiful pinks, oranges and yellows. It was for my Nan for Christmas. I showed it to my Poppy about half way through it and asked him to keep it a secret from Nan and he said he would. My Nan kept taking me to spotlight meanwhile, encouraging me to take a craft up, completely oblivious. I nearly had the whole thing finished when my grandfather passed away just before Christmas. When Nan opened the wrapping paper she thought I'd bought it except I'd put my signiature on the bottom. I told her Poppy knew about it and she just cried. She loves it though because it reminds her of Poppy...and how sneaky he could be. I think I'll have to upload photos of these in the near future because no amount of description could do them justice.

Another project was the Noah's Ark for my little cousin in New Zealand. That was the first project in which I swapped some of the suggested colours for my own because I thought they didn't quite suit. It's nice when you can feel comfortable doing that. Another was a plate sized design featuring an English cottage in the centre which was surrounded by a thich border of flowers. I also replaced the prescribed 'Primrose Cottage' caption for 'Elstead Cottage' which was the name of my Auntie Sue's dad's cottage that he grew up in. The project which was a bit different was was the one I did for my mum which was an art neuvou design of a lady in flowing, elegant robes, holding a champagne glass in one hand with glass beads for bubbles. 'Sante' it read in French which means 'Cheers' in English. It was completed in backstitch which took hardly any time at all even though the background had to be tiled in a diamond design as well. This one could have sat in a bar.

Now, most of these designs had only taken 6 months at the most to complete, which includes say a couple of fourtnights of having a break. My next project took me 3 years. It's just lucky I'd already decided to keep this one for myself anyway. It was called the 'Midnight Geisha' in the magazine and I fell in love with it straight away. It had beautiful blues, purples, poka dots and petite point stitch AND it included an opulent crown of glass beeds to finish as well as star sequins. I was hooked. However, my stepmum and I had to find the blessid material first. Ooh, I should probably mention that it was actually my stepmum who gave me the impetus to actually take up this interest. Just as well because she had to guide me a bit as to how to approach the petite point and how to clean up the ends of my threads. Ah well, all in the journey. Anyhow, Once I got started with this project, it was a treasure to watch grow but it really did take concentration and a lot of patience when it came to the slippery rayon thread. I took many breaks from it as I went through harder times with my course but always came back to it after a while. I only just finished it about 4 months ago and it only came back from the framers about 3 weeks ago. The framing was my Christmas present from my Nan and now the Geisha is hanging up in my room. I'm happy. Ah, I think I'd better leave it there, it's getting late and I'm surprised at how much I can ramble on about this subject. I'll just have to save it for next time. Good night.