Day 60 - Cross Stitch Bliss

Cross stitch is perhaps my ultimate form of relaxation.  I absolutely love it and if I'm not careful time will slowly slip away from me as I work.  But the beauty of a finished piece is so amazing.  I'm not the only one in the family with a love of cross stitch.  My cousin Lori does beautiful work and she is wonderful with many other forms of needlework.  My mom started me with cross stitch at a very early age.  I still remember her iron transferring a pattern for me to work when I was pretty young.  She was a good teacher and led by example by doing some of her own nice pieces.

Since it was raining this morning I decided to stay in and work on a piece I had started for my mother in law that I simply put up when she passed away.  But it is such a beautiful verse I think I'll finish it and give it to my father in law on her behalf anyway.  Of course as I worked my way down the piece this morning I also realized I didn't cut the fabric piece accurately and will be very close to the bottom of the fabric.  Luckily, I think it will still fit - framing it may be a challenge though.

The boys all headed down to Des Moines to check out the Bass Pro Shop while I packed up and headed to an auction.  I came home loaded down with lots of aida cloth/fabric, linens and blankets all for needlework.  I won't have to purchase more anytime soon since there were literally two bolts of fabric in the one box!  All for less than $10.00 - can't beat that price.  I also purchased some great leaflets/charts and continue to add to my cross stitch magazine collection.  Although my best purchase of the day was a jelly strainer!  Yay!  I have been looking for one at sales for awhile now and this was the first I have found and it was in excellent condition.  Now to line it with cheesecloth and wait for my raspberries to ripen to try it out for making some jelly!  Note: this is not one of the new jelly bag holders/strainers you find for purchase on-line these days - this is the old-fashioned metal cone shaped contraption with holes and a wood press.  My father in law also uses his to strain applesauce.

After supper we settled down to watch the Toy Story Movies in the basement (where it is so much cooler).  While the boys played and watched their Saturday night movie I sorted through my new books and found some pretty designs that may be worked this winter.  I told Alan maybe next year my goal should be to try and stitch an entry for each cross stitch class (come now that's not so bad - only 20 classes).  Ha! We both had a good laugh at that - maybe I'll just shoot for half (or a quarter).