How it all started.

I saw a really adorable baby shower gift someone made this morning and I thought, "Wow, I would have LOVED that as a present!"  It was a gigantic mason jar (the gallon sized one) and someone had stitched a little blue teddy bear for the lid.  Inside it was baby necessities like a onesie, a bib, some baby powder, some Desitin, a thermometer, a nose sucker, and a baby sized nail clipper.  It was very, very cute.  I think whenever my friend and her man-friend (I wish he would just pop the question already!) start thinking about kids, I'm going to borrow that idea for her.

It's funny, I was thinking earlier about how I came into cross stitching.  My mother was always stitching on something when I was growing up and she tried to teach me.  I was interested, but I think she started me too young as I had a hard time understanding.  So, I dropped it.  I was 10 or so.

When I was 14, we were at a Michael's store in Great Falls, Montana (my hometown) and even though I didn't stitch, I still wanted to learn, so I looked at the kits they had.  When I asked my mother if I could get the Oriental Butterfly, she said, "No.  I tried to teach you and you didn't want to learn."  She was right.  At the time she was trying to teach me, I really didn't want to learn because I was too confused by what she was trying to show me.  Again, I believe I was too young.

I pined after that Oriental Butterfly for years.

When I moved to California, I was at Michael's because I wanted to see if they had any latch hook kits.  I wasn't a stitcher, but boy did I love to do latch hook.  I still have the kit I bought that day, unopened.  This kit, that someday I WILL do:
6+

While looking for this kit, I happened by the cross stitch stuff.  I remembered all the times as a kid going with my mom to the craft stores and picking up different colored threads and pattern books.  So I thought, What the heck, I'll check it out.

There it was.  Right in the middle.  That Oriental Butterfly I had wanted to stitch almost ten years ago.  I tossed it in my shopping basket.  When I got home, I opened it up immediately and observed my threads, my painted aida, and looked over the pattern.  I remembered the basics from when my mom tried to teach me, so I got started.  

Now, I've only been stitching actively for 3 years.  I have a three drawer plastic bin, a big one, full of cross stitch kits, various sizes, counts, and colors of aida, linen, various sized hoops and scroll frames, almost a complete collection of threads, and patterns galore.  All it took was that one kit.  It's probably a good thing my mom didn't let me get it when I was younger as I'd have broken the bank.

My mother doesn't stitch anymore.  She stopped when she went to school and started working as a nurse.  I hope she picks it back up one day because I remember how much she enjoyed it.  I remember hoping that I too would one day have a hobby I loved like that.  Who knew it would turn out to be cross stitching?

I thought I would share this, it was just something I was thinking about today for some reason.  

I need to go do something with my day as I have a pretty severe ear infection and have been nothing more than a lump on the couch the last couple days.  My home made heating pad, Tylenol, and antibiotics have been my friends, not to mention my good friend Remy from SpriteStitch (she's such a sweetheart <3).

Rambling again...Happy stitching, everyone!