I finished up this cross stitch after taking a 4-year break from it. It was the perfect project to finish at the beach. I used dark teal floss on a light brown linen. The pattern is by Mary Riggs inspiried from Quaker samplers. I can't find the pattern online, but it's from her Sampler Ornaments 8, if you want to ask your local needlework shop about it.
There are a few mistakes and some lazy thread floats on the back, which you can see through the linen, but I still love how it turned out. I have already started a similar pattern with red thread which I have messed up in a bout of over-excited stitching and am now taking out. Or plan to take out, but haven't yet. I really have mellowed with my cross stitch angst. I usually don't do well with projects sitting for any length of time. I need to get them done. With this new one, I know I may not finish for 4 more years and that feels just fine. If I only work on my stitching at the beach or on vacation, so be it. It might not fit into everyday life right now. That makes it even more special in my mind.
Like with knitting, the wanted to do this after watching me. And, similar to knitting, they had tried cross stitch when they were younger, and it was too hard. Now seem to really enjoy it. I made sure to pack a little project for the older girls to take to the beach just in case they wanted to try. The 5 year old uses sewing cards, the hard cardboard kind you sew with shoelaces, which she loves.
My knitting has cooled a bit. The sock class I took in April, while so interesting, kind of burnt me out. I just don't do well with knitting homework, especially on size 0 needles. But I have some projects in my brain. And I certainly have a lot of yarn.
unrelated-
We saw Brave and liked it a whole lot and Pete and I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild, which had some beautiful imagery—but overall I was disappointed. I think I read too many "this is the most amazing film ever" type reviews.
