Another Needle Project

As I mentioned in my post from yesterday, my mother became wheelchair bound in the last years of her life.  One of the things that I think helped to keep her sane (because my mother was always on the go), was when her cousin taught her to do counted cross stitch.  She loved it, and did amazing work.  Once when she was staying with us, she taught me to do it, and I also really enjoyed it, though I wasn't as adept as she was.  But it was long before I learned to knit, and I liked having projects to work on and making a picture suddenly appear out of thread!

Once I learned to knit, I seldom got out my other supplies to do cross-stitch.  But I still enjoyed looking at what others did, and looking through the choices of projects available.  It occurred to me a few months ago that I should get out some of the things I had and give it another try, and also count it as a change from knitting.  It's supposed to be good to challenge your brain as you get older, right?  So it would also be healthy.  ;-)

Then Dee started Tiny Needle Tuesdays, where she would post what needlework project she was doing.  Others joined in, and I thought, well, I should give it a shot too.  My final push came when I watched the latest episode of Stitching the High Notes, when Joanna talked about her plans for Stitch May-nia.  I got such a charge out of hearing her talk about all of her projects, I started poking around for what I had to do.

I recalled buying a kit a few years back that had a bee as the main image.  I was certain it was a small item, and was puzzled when I couldn't find it.  Then I found it.  It was not small, but rather what I think of as "full-size" - meaning larger than 3 x 5.  Anyway, I wanted to stitch a bee, so onward and upward and all that.

On Saturday afternoon, I completed this much while watching an episode of "Shetland."

That's nearly 1/2 of the bee's body, and I had so much fun with it!  I forgot how much it draws you in - just one more part, one more row, etc.  I told myself that when the episode was over, I would stop and I think that was a good idea for both the project and for my hands.  :-)

I'm so happy I poked around until I found this project.  It's nice to have something to do that is just as enjoyable as knitting, but not the same.  And since I have some of the stuff, I'm glad I'm using it instead of just letting it sit in a drawer indefinitely.  Maybe soon I'll have a honeybee picture to hang in the craft room/office/junk room/extra room that collects everything.  It can only be an improvement.  :-)

Also, in theory, it will make me clean out that room so that I can get to my sewing machine ...