Lately the cold has set in here and time has been slipping away. I get nervous about all the things that must be done. Work in the garden, school work unfinished, the house slowly becoming dirty again. And, what with the shorter, colder days ahead…well, let's just say I am looking forward to the finish of school. At least that will be one less thing off my plate! While my mind likes to ramble incessantly during the day, at night, I tend to calm down and be at peace with my mild procrastination. Tonight "Gone with the Wind" is on the television, and I couldn't help but tune in. I have really loved this movie since middle school, and I each time I watch it I gain a deeper and deeper understanding of the characters and their own unique situations. I have yet to read the book, but I do own it. I hope to get to it someday. There is nothing so pleasant as sitting under a warm blanket, cross stitching while watching classic movies. It is really THE perfect winter-time activity (although, I could make a case for cross stitching being the perfect activity at any time of the year!). Something about the rhythmic up and down of the needle gives me peace. Which, honestly, is something I could really use at this time. Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and if your family it like mine, there is a lot of cooking done by only one or two dedicated persons. In this case, the dedicated person is my mother. I am dedicated to her, so in a way I am de facto dedicated to the Thanksgiving preparations, although I really cannot stand the whole family gathering for too long. I guess it is the noise of it all that is so wearing. Still, I will admit that it is nice to see everyone and catch up with their lives. What I can tell you is that the Holidays are never a time of relaxation for me and my mother. While the men drink and smoke on the patio (as is the southern way) and the women sit and discuss inside, my mother and I will be cleaning for the rest of the day and then, the following morning, taking down all of the Thanksgiving decor and setting out all of the Christmas bits. I will just leave you with the fact that my mother has a whole storage unit full of decorations and it ain't small…
Oh, I am becoming exhausted just thinking about all the work ahead! So, let me stray away from the topic at hand. Tonight, while enjoying my movie and cross stitch, I also whipped up some Peppermint Hot Chocolate complete with old fashioned marshmallow and chocolate covered peppermint swirly stick. You can get the trio from Williams Sonoma, but it will cost you a pretty penny! Still, it is very much worth the dough. It's not too sweet and it is not too like (like some european drinking chocolate I have had). It is the perfect thing to sooth the soul and lift the spirits. The weather outside may be bitter, tomorrow may hold some unpleasantness, but for now I am thoroughly entranced by the solicitude around me.
This is will be a "free-style" sampler. Basically, I couldn't decide which of my patterns to start on, so I took an old piece of linen from my mom's old cross stitch collection and began stitching various alphabet fonts. The British Cross Stitch magazine I subscribe too always gives a new chart in each magazine of the alphabet in a different font, and I decided to stitch them all so I would have a little reference piece. I have no idea what kind of floss I used as it was on an old and unlabeled bobbin, but it was the prettiest color of hand died blue (the color variation is normal). And what better way to use up unknown floss than in a sampler of my own creation. Now, that I have finished this alphabet, I think I will move on to another project, but I am excited to have this because now every time I become bored or stressed for time, I can do a little stitching on this. I will let you know when I choose my next pattern.
Because this is mostly just for practice I wanted to work on neat stitching. While the front appears neat, if you look on the back...
….you will see that the top three rows are slightly more messy than the bottom two. I really tried to be conscious here about "sewing in" the tails of old and new floss so there was less mess and lumps creeping through my work. While I think it would have been neatest to cut the floss after the completion of every letter, I think It worked out well enough this time. Compared with some of the items I made when I first began stitching, I think this is neatness at it's finest. I am planning on taking my needlework to mom's tomorrow, that way I will have sometime to focus me if the television and people get a little too zealous.
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