Am I 25??

No, I think I may be an old lady hidden in a young body. Stranger still, is the fact that I have been an old lady since I was even younger than I am now. I go to bed early, I enjoy being suzy homemaker, I grew up watching old movies, and I relish in crafts.

My grandmother taught me to cross stitch years ago. I learned to crotchet and knit in college. I will almost always do a craft at work just so I can join in with the kids. Coloring? Huge stress relief when they have been off the wall! I am fidgety and I care for crafts because they gives my hands something to do.

Cross stitching was my first love though. I have been doing it since elementary school. Freshman year of college I did my biggest project to date. It took me about a year to finish- mostly because I didn't have lots of time to work on it. My mom even got it professionally framed for me.

Of course if you look very close they messed it up...

You have to make "lines" called back stitching to make definition- for example all of the bird house roofs. Well when they framed it, as you can see, they loosened all the lines somehow and now my birdhouses look crazy. Now I have figured out not to make those lines so long but do little bitty stitches instead- I guess sometimes you learn through mistakes.

When husband and I first visited New Hampshire- where he is from- I made him this project because it reminded me of the beautiful fall scenery. Although it also could easily be mistaken for our gorgeous North Carolina mountains.

And when I get really bored I do little projects like this one:

The thing with cross stitch is that I always buy nice neat little packages. In the kits you already have your needle, thread, fabric, instructions-everything you need! There is not a lot of room for creativity.

So I have now taught myself a new old lady craft. Embroidery. I am very excited about this craft for several reasons. It allows you to have almost limitless creativity. You can make your own patterns, choose your own colors, even choose what types of stitches to use. Plus embroidery has that fun, kitchy, vintage feel to it unlike cross stitch which usually feels, well, "country chic" on a good day.

I love vintage stuff and how it looks eclectic and unique all the time. So this week I started my first project. I also proceeded to go insane because I adored it so much. I have already bought myself a new sewing box, thread, material, and patterns to make more projects but here is my first attempt!

You know you like my sewing box!

He is ready for his close up

You know this owl is awesome. Just admit it. I know it isn't perfect- considering it was my first attempt- but I think I did fairly well! You can use colored thread but I like the simplicity of "blackwork" as they call it. I now have a whole plan of creating about five different sized blackwork projects, frame them in their wooden hoops, and then hang them in the downstairs bathroom. I will spare you individual pictures but I know I will update when I have them hanging in the bathroom.