Little cross stitch kits
Hello everybody!
It's been a weird couple of months. And while for many people being stuck indoors gives extra opportunity to sew, the opposite is true for me, as having 3 little kids at home bouncing off the walls doesn't make for a safe environment to get out a load of sharp objects. And I have abruptly become a homeschool teacher, to kids who just aren't that into crafts.
To top it off, I have for the past 18 months or so been suffering from horrendous near-daily migraines. During the bad ones it is almost like I am having a stroke or early-onset dementia. I get confused, disorientated, angry, lose the ability to speak properly, and lose the peripheral vision in one eye. To try and stop them I have given up alcohol and caffeine, keep very strict bedtime hours - so no late nights or lie-ins - and wear my glasses all the time. The side effects of last year's meds also prevented me from running or doing much exercise in general which was not helpful at less than a year post-partum (I am back to running now). I have had lots of tests and the more serious causes have been ruled out, so my doctor and I are working on finding a medication regime that works for me. We haven't found it yet.
When I am in these states, even some of the milder ones, I can't do patchwork, even English paper piecing, or any complicated embroidery, especially if my thread matches the fabric I am using as a combination of the confusion and vision problems. This is the reason this larger cross stitch project is not getting a lot of time from me right now - too much purple-on-purple.
And the coronavirus situation is not helping me at all. It was hard enough in the beforetimes to find some peace and quiet to recover and being on lockdown makes it nearly impossible. And having given up a lot of things already makes the loss of freedom harder.
So what can I do in these states? Little cross stitch kits! I find these are simple enough that I don't get confused, and unlike my bigger projects, I don't particularly care if I make mistakes and have to unpick or workaround. It is also sometimes possible to make them with the kids in the room, as they only need small scissors and a fairly blunt needle.
There are cute ones produced by a company called Mouseloft, and I make the free gift kits on cross stitching magazines.
So here are some pretty pictures of the ones I have been making over the past few months.
I made this little wizard during a rare morning when I got to go to a cafe by myself. Such a thing was actually possible in November of last year.
A cute little unicorn.
A hummingbird.
A camper van, with a couple of in-progress shots. I love VW camper vans, we had a couple as our family car growing up.
A cupcake. This one was from a magazine.
This was not actually a kit, but a pattern from the same magazine as the cupcake above. I happened to have all the supplies easily to hand, including this gorgeous, sparkly, green evenweave. I am made it as a gift to a friend with a new little baby T. I am kicking myself for not taking a good pic of the finished product, but I was rushing to get it done in time for my last Post Office run before lockdown.
So that brings us up to date! I may frame some of these or sew them into a quilt at some point, but I am not putting any pressure on myself to do so, I am just enjoying the ability to do something even when I am unwell, and the sense of achievement from the quick finishes.
Hopefully, I will one day find a way to do more on my larger projects, even with locked-down toddlerd, but for now, these are helping me hold on to the small shred of sanity I have left.
Thanks for reading!
It's been a weird couple of months. And while for many people being stuck indoors gives extra opportunity to sew, the opposite is true for me, as having 3 little kids at home bouncing off the walls doesn't make for a safe environment to get out a load of sharp objects. And I have abruptly become a homeschool teacher, to kids who just aren't that into crafts.
To top it off, I have for the past 18 months or so been suffering from horrendous near-daily migraines. During the bad ones it is almost like I am having a stroke or early-onset dementia. I get confused, disorientated, angry, lose the ability to speak properly, and lose the peripheral vision in one eye. To try and stop them I have given up alcohol and caffeine, keep very strict bedtime hours - so no late nights or lie-ins - and wear my glasses all the time. The side effects of last year's meds also prevented me from running or doing much exercise in general which was not helpful at less than a year post-partum (I am back to running now). I have had lots of tests and the more serious causes have been ruled out, so my doctor and I are working on finding a medication regime that works for me. We haven't found it yet.
When I am in these states, even some of the milder ones, I can't do patchwork, even English paper piecing, or any complicated embroidery, especially if my thread matches the fabric I am using as a combination of the confusion and vision problems. This is the reason this larger cross stitch project is not getting a lot of time from me right now - too much purple-on-purple.
And the coronavirus situation is not helping me at all. It was hard enough in the beforetimes to find some peace and quiet to recover and being on lockdown makes it nearly impossible. And having given up a lot of things already makes the loss of freedom harder.
So what can I do in these states? Little cross stitch kits! I find these are simple enough that I don't get confused, and unlike my bigger projects, I don't particularly care if I make mistakes and have to unpick or workaround. It is also sometimes possible to make them with the kids in the room, as they only need small scissors and a fairly blunt needle.
There are cute ones produced by a company called Mouseloft, and I make the free gift kits on cross stitching magazines.
So here are some pretty pictures of the ones I have been making over the past few months.
I made this little wizard during a rare morning when I got to go to a cafe by myself. Such a thing was actually possible in November of last year.
A hummingbird.
A camper van, with a couple of in-progress shots. I love VW camper vans, we had a couple as our family car growing up.
A cupcake. This one was from a magazine.
This was not actually a kit, but a pattern from the same magazine as the cupcake above. I happened to have all the supplies easily to hand, including this gorgeous, sparkly, green evenweave. I am made it as a gift to a friend with a new little baby T. I am kicking myself for not taking a good pic of the finished product, but I was rushing to get it done in time for my last Post Office run before lockdown.
So that brings us up to date! I may frame some of these or sew them into a quilt at some point, but I am not putting any pressure on myself to do so, I am just enjoying the ability to do something even when I am unwell, and the sense of achievement from the quick finishes.
Hopefully, I will one day find a way to do more on my larger projects, even with locked-down toddlerd, but for now, these are helping me hold on to the small shred of sanity I have left.
Thanks for reading!
So sorry to read of your horrendous migraines, they must be so hard to live with, especially with a young family. Pleased you are finding a little relief, a s
ReplyDeleteD stitching pleasure, with your pretty little cross stitch pieces.
Keep well, and safe, during this difficult time right around the world.