Then I probably have, or at least would, try it.
Lately, my sewing machine has been getting a workout. A skirt, a top, an apron, dress and a quilt have been keeping me sweating away in the sweat shop that is my game fiber room. There is no a/c in that room that has six windows across and three skylights.
During our recent heatwave, the temps in that room climbed to over 100 degrees. No worries, I was at the beach on those days, but in the evening I would turn on the a/c in the rest of the house and put a fan in the door to suck in the cooler air. Hot? Yes, but bearable? Weeellll..... almost, just enough.
The urge to quilt and sew has really taken over and I have been adding quilting blogs to my bloglines list every day. Inspirational quilting and beautiful photography keeps me saving posts and bookmarking tutorials. My mind must have been on quilting and cross-stitch (Gillian has taken that up, must be why the two were on my mind) in the early hours as I lie in that semi-conscious state between sleep and wakefulness (isn't that when things pop into your head, too?) when the memory of these little cross-stitch kits came back to me.
I wasn't sure I still had them and went to search the basement later that day. I had purchased these on a vacation to Cape Cod when the girls were quite small, probably fifteen or sixteen years ago.
I knew I had three little quilt kits, had completed at least one and had no idea of the status of the others. The blue Goose In The Pond Quilt was the first completed and the Dogwood Blossom Quilt was done as well. Stitching is complete on the Wedding Ring Quilt, only the finishing to be done. A stain on the top of the canvas is probably what put me off on that one, but it is located high enough to be almost entirely hidden when I turn it back to "hang on the line".
The best surprise (depending on how you see things, I guess) was finding two kits I didn't know I had. I have a bare memory of purchasing them at another time and like so much of my stuff, they got lost in the stash. I had the blue Storm At Sea out of the little bag and in a hoop in a hearbeat.
The stitching is addictive (the reason finding them might not have been the best surprise) and it is easy to sit with the intention of stitching one square only to find I have done four or five and time that I am supposed to spending doing something else is gone, gone, gone. I can't help it, I just love the order and neatness of those square stitches resting on the canvas backround. I know that among needlepointers, of which I am one, cross-stitch is like the poor relation, the non-craft of needlework, but I can't help it. The counting and the stitching is meditative and calming. And it does look purty. I'll let you know where I decide to actually put these, hopefully soon.
Eighty-three. Oh, no worries, I love most things performed with a needle, but you don't have to check my arms for tracks, I do draw the line there. I do think I might have missed my calling to be a surgeon. If only it weren't so bloody!
