Last night I completed my first big piece since my fire. I know most of you will remember that I had a house fire in 2004 and lost everything. Well since then, I haven't been able to cross stitch because it made me cry and broke my heart. (I had 40 framed pieces on my walls that I had stitched over the years.) I took up needlepoint, but it's not the same.
Well, several months ago, I hurt my shoulder and have a large bone spur. I didn't have the arm strength to pull the thread through the canvass. I thought, hummm maybe now is the time to start cross stitching again. I started working on a piece that I had in my UFO pile before the fire and really liked it so I bought the kit again (changed the fabric and fiber). Some of you might be familiar with it - Eva Rosenstand Water Pump. I started stitching the piece shortly after the fire and had about 20 hours in when I realized that I started stitching it too low and didn't have enough room for the entire piece. Since back then everything made me cry, I had a good cry. But being the stubborn person that I am, I decided to start it again on another piece of fabric. I stitched about 50 hours on it and put it away because I was tired of it making me cry. That's when I took up needlepoint since I still had the desire to stitch. Well last night I finished it and took it to the frame shop today!!!
I'm so happy to be able to cross stitch again. Now I'll have to start a needlepoint/cross stitch rotation because I've purchased several (probably more than several) hand painted canvasses and can't afford to let them become forgotten.