Welcome to my ramblings about what keeps me sane...stitching! Ooh, "ramblings" implies something less than sanity. Oh well. I use needlework like an anti-depressant. It calms me, most of the time, and helps the logical left side of my brain shift over to the creative right side. Which, believe me, is not an easy thing to do and frankly, the left brained part is what makes counted thread work so enjoyable for me. Hence, my love of band samplers and hardanger and drawn thread. I love the logic and symmetry of it.
I've been stitching for over 30 years. As a teenager, I taught myself counted cross stitch in order to make a gift for my parents. I found that it allowed me to create something beautiful using my natural, logic oriented skills. I was thrilled. I was hooked! All through high school and college I used stitching as a stress relief mechanism without even know it. Then when I went to work in the real world, it became even more important. I stitched during my lunch hours and most evenings. Then when I got out of the software biz, I not only shifted gears, I changed cars! I opened a cross stitch shop! Boy, if I had known how little I really knew, I would never have done it. Ignorance truly is bliss.
It was a great experience and I made a lot of friends and learned a lot. I learned that I love to teach needlework. I learned that most people learn to stitch on their own and once they are exposed to the vast expanse of patterns, materials and techniques of needlework their lives change forever. Sounds a little pretentious, doesn't it? Sorry, I don't mean to, but so many of us use it like Prozac or a therapy session without even knowing it. I think it's important that we not devalue our stitching. It serves an important purpose in our hectic lives. Some people shop for therapy, some people work out, we stitch. Let's celebrate that and make time for it.
I hope to continue to expose people to more needlework options. As I figure all this blogging stuff out (my 15 year old nephew will probably be my mentor), I'll be posting all sorts of stuff about my stitching and beading life. (And probably some stuff about my dogs.) Please share your opinions and projects and questions and comments.
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