Why it's never wine o'clock for me

I got out the habit of drinking alcohol in the evenings when I was pregnant and then breastfeeding. I acquired a taste for Beck's Blue Alcohol-Free Lager and have continued to drink it ever since. It's particularly nice on a sunny evening like yesterday.

There are some advantages of not drinking wine in the evenings any more. I sleep more consistently, and am less likely to snore. Plus it is nice not to have hangovers. I think my skin looks better. And drinking fewer calories means I can eat more cake and chocolate without getting fat.

Linking up with this week's Photo Gallery at Sticky Fingers - check it out if you want to see what other people are drinking.

Why stitching does me good

The picture above is a photo of 'Two Elephants' which I stitched for my parents to celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary. I had been planning to do something with names and dates, but my mum said she would prefer a picture and she has always liked elephants so I chose this.

The kit came from Jolly Red, but I used mint green aida instead of the beige aida supplied in the kit. I finished stitching this in the run-up to the birth of my little boy, so it helped me to avoid fretting too much about what lay ahead.

I am very grateful to my friends who introduced me to cross-stitching about a decade or so ago. I honestly think that stitching has helped keep me sane.

Here's a few reasons why a little bit of cross-stitching does me good:

• I find it relaxing to stitch
• once I'm in the flow of stitching I can't fret about anything
• a real sense of achievement when I've finished - especially if I stitch a picture to brighten up a wall
• I particularly enjoying stitching things to give to other people
• I don't tend to snack so much (don't want to risk getting food on my stitching)
• I can't drink much alcohol (unless I want to end up unpicking stitches the next day)

This post was inspired by this month's Needlework Days at Feisty Tapas, which includes the following suggestion:

Cross-stitching: try it, it's good for you...