Cross-stitch - Get Hooked

When I first started doing cross-stich I didn't realised how addictive this hobby would be. The desire to finish one colour to move onto the next. Seeing the picture take shape, it was wonderful. I truly allowed every spare minute to be taken up with wondering when I would be able to pick up my aida.

Aida is the name given to the cloth you use for cross-stitch and it comes in different sizes and counts, obviously depending on what your pattern requires.

This really is a hobby anyone can do. I had no instruction from anyone, and picked it up as I went along. Maybe my early works don't have the polish of my later works, but it's trial and error.

I started with kits. In the kit there is usually a pattern, all the required threads, a needle, the aida and easy instructions. Be warned though, before long you will be picking up patterns when you see them, have boxes and boxes of threads and enough aida that you could run an on-line business selling your spare.

When my children came along I loved decorating their nurseries with my cross-stitch patterns. From cute little animals, we progressed to Winnie-the-Pooh images, alphabets and numbers. By this time I was able to take an image from one pattern and mingle it with an image from another pattern to make a whole new picture.

Friends loved them and asked me to design and make them for their nurseries. I had to decline as by this time I didn't have the time to dedicate to cross-stitch as my own family needed my attention. As a consolation I would cross-stitch their babies names into a picture with a relevant theme attached to each of the letters. Then I was able to get that framed, at a professional framers as this was not something I could do, to match the color of their nurseries. A unique present that they know has been made with love.

I often buy threads, aida or cross stitch patterns even when I have no idea when I am going to be able to start a new pattern. If you like it buy it. It doesn't take up much room, and I get frustrated when I'm ready to start a cross-stitch to find I don't have a pattern to suit my mood, or the occasion.

When I was expecting my children I started doing cross-stitch for their nursery. I loved Winnie-the-Pooh as you can see from the cross stitch below.

I now find that I get great pleasure in giving framed cross-stitches to friends for their nuseries after they deliver their babies. I often cross-stitch the new baby's name onto the aida to make it personal.