Stitches

654.

That's approximately how many hours I've spent cross stitching over the past year. 

Today officially marks one year that I picked up cross stitching as a hobby. 

I took an interest in it after seeing this beautiful piece that my cousin made for a Christmas gift. 

I remember thinking to myself "what an awesome, unique gift". 

I like to give meaningful, special gifts to people. 

I started researching the tools I would need, the best way to get started, things of that nature. 

I decided to reach out to people through social media to see if anyone had any tips on the best way to begin and lo and behold I had a ton of people give me tips, tell me stores to go to and even offer their old materials to me that they are no longer using. 

Sweet Mrs. Carol Noelle took the time to invite me to her house, let me look through some of her pattern books and choose some of them to take home with me to get started with. I remember walking away that afternoon so grateful for the time she took to sit with me, give me pointers, show me how to get started and share with me her beautiful work that she's done over the years as well. That was a great afternoon! Mrs. Carol is actually who I got the patterns for the letter I've ended up making for people all this time. She had me over just in time to get these supplies before we went on our annual family beach trip. 

I spent the following week practicing at the beach, asking my Mom for tips & pointers,  and figuring it all out. My first stitch was this tiny little angel with a heart. 

Jason actually uses it as a book mark now! 

When I got home I took on the more (what I thought then) daunting task of one of the most beautiful letter patterns I had ever seen. I love the instant gratification that comes along with cross stitching as you are working. The piece comes alive before your eyes and I oftentimes find myself thinking "man, I really love the way this is turning out". 

You can tell from the picture I was just starting out for I didn't even center it in my hoop! 

Since then I've had many other women in the church provide me with their materials that they no longer use and their tips/tricks to cross stitching. This is information and time that I've been so thankful for--thank you again Mrs. Robin, Mrs. Jeanette, and Mrs. Pat--you ladies have helped make this possible for me :)

Many months after I started stitching I decided to post on the internet and see if there was any interest from people to purchase these "floral letters". The response was so positive and I made the decision to take on the task. Since September I've had an ongoing list of letters to make for people. 

As of today, I've completed 26 letters and I am so happy to know that these will be displayed in the homes of these people for years to come. I've had many people tell me they plan to pass it on to other family members years down the road, etc. and that's exactly what I envisioned when I decided to start making these for other people. 

These are just a few of the letter's I've completed since then for different people/families.

People choose their own color schemes and some choose their own frame while with others I will find the frame for them. Although cross stitching is very time intensive (takes me over 24 hours for one letter--over the course of about 9-14 days) I really enjoy it and find it relaxing.

So, Happy 1 Year Anniversary to my favorite hobby and here's to another year and the remaining 12 letters on my list of "upcoming orders" with hopefully many more to come!