Thread is how you can tell what my stress level is like, specifically if I have time to floss my teeth and whether I get to cross-stitch at least once per week. It has been a stressful month, but I have flossed my teeth most nights, and I have managed to make progress on my current stitching project. I started working on it in January, while we sat around the hospital for the kids' MRI scans, and it is shaping up very nicely. I think I can finish it in a few more weeks. Of course I have about 10 projects lined up in my basket, waiting. I can probably finish all of them by the time I turn 40. Maybe. I'm on the shady side of 35 now and it is hard to fit in time for hobbies. I really wish I could figure out how to read and cross-stitch at the same time, but I find that trying it means you don't do a good job at either. I do manage to read about 500 pages per week, almost always non-fiction. I can read and style my hair, or read and shave my legs. I just can't manage to count threads and read a cross-stitch pattern and a book at the same time. My idea of a great break is to cross-stitch while listening to audio lectures from the Great Courses, or of course watching my favorite show, available on YouTube, Time Team. When I was about 8 years old my main goal in life was to be an archaeologist. It seemed a perfect fit, since I loved digging in the dirt and loved studying history. When I found out that I could watch old episodes of Time Team online I felt like I had hit pay dirt!
Here is my current project. It is from a painting called the Madonna of the Streets, and I am using a Holy Needle pattern on evenweave, 28 ct. Jobelin. This is my biggest project ever on an evenweave fabric where I have to count over two threads. It is a bit wrinkled since I'm trying stitching without a frame and just rolling and folding it up to hold in one hand. Mary's cheek has a crease in it, but I will iron it before framing.
Here is my current project. It is from a painting called the Madonna of the Streets, and I am using a Holy Needle pattern on evenweave, 28 ct. Jobelin. This is my biggest project ever on an evenweave fabric where I have to count over two threads. It is a bit wrinkled since I'm trying stitching without a frame and just rolling and folding it up to hold in one hand. Mary's cheek has a crease in it, but I will iron it before framing.
Here is a close-up of where I am working. Baby Jesus' little arm and hand has taken me several weeks.
