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...
