Oh, No!

Yes, this is titled Oh, No! because I’ve gone down the rabbit hole while in Tucson.  I picked up cross stitching again after not doing any for 30 years, and my has the cross stitching world changed.

It all started because I can’t sew in my RV.  I do go to quilt clubs in my resort and across the street, but that’s only 3 days a week.  What am I going to do the other 4 days?

I do walk everyday, I do socialize with my friends every day, I do go shopping, and do cook and clean.  That still leaves a lot of hours of the day with nothing to occupy my creativity.

When I’m home, I sew every single day.  I walk into my studio – who am I kidding? I have taken up 2 rooms in my house, so I have a choice of machines and projects – and am immediately transported to a place of happiness – even when I make mistakes and have to rip out stitches.  It’s all part and parcel of my creating.

So back to Tucson and RV life.  I was getting a wee bit high strung – just ask my husband.  I needed something to do in the evenings.  I have been watching Anna from the Woolie Mammoth as she cross stitches, but wasn’t tempted to get in on the cross stitch bandwagon at all.  I enjoy her personality, and like seeing what she is doing, but we definitely have different taste in cross stitch projects.

Then I made the mistake of googling the top 10 floss tube channels.  My, oh my.  The Russian cross stitchers blew me away.  The Irish and UK cross stitchers blew me away too.

Two kits were ordered – both I’d seen stitched by Luda.  A scroll frame was borrowed from a friend, and I was just waiting for the kits I ordered to arrive.

While waiting on the first kit I ordered to be shipped, i started on the second design  – The Finery of Nature:

This is on 16 count black Aida cloth with 2 strands of DMC floss.  My other kit is on 26 count linen, and I have a third I’m contemplating, but that’s on a smaller thread count, and is done 1×1 – which means one strand of floss over one thread of the cloth.  I’m going to need a good light and a magnifier for that, plus it’s big.  I’m holding off on it to see if I still love cross stitching after the two kits I already ordered are complete.  I do exercise some control.fd

The Finery of Nature was a PDF file.  After a trip to Hobby Lobby for the floss, it was ready, set, go!!!   PDF files are the bomb.  I downloaded the design to my laptop and my iPad.  I use my iPad to follow the graphs by enlarging the heck out of them, and  I especially love the PDF files that let you edit them, so you can highlight the stitches you’ve completed.  It’s a whole new world for cross stitching, baby!!!

I’m not exactly doing a great job of it, but I’m having fun.  I need to do better with my tension, and part of that is because I can’t get the fabric in the scroll frame I’m using taut.  Part of it is me.  All I know is I’m having fun, and that’s what it’s all about.

Hugs…