Stitching Slump

I've been in a real stitching slump lately. Well, not actually just lately but for almost the past 3 years. When Mom died, Dad came to live with us. My free time for stitching was almost reduced to nothing. Oh, I was able to stitch a little in the mornings, but taking care of him and my family and working left me little time for my needlework. I thought when he passed away in Jan 2006, I'd get back to stitching but I've found it hard to get started again. My other problem is that I'm working on Gabriel of the Clouds for a friend and just can't seem to make progress on it. I vowed to not start anything new until it was done but even that hasn't helped. I am working on Cirque des Circles by Ink Spot designs and am making good progress on that but I feel guilty cause I'm not working on the other piece. So consequently I'm not really working on anything too hard.

I did start a needlepoint class last week at work. The lady teaching it is an old retired schoolteacher and, boy, does it show. It's her way or no way. Now I've been stitching since I was 7 and I've worked in the industry for over 12 years now. I do know I few things about needlepoint. But according to her, most of what I know is wrong. Oh well, I'll do it her way in class and my way all the other time. But she's a sweet lady who is a wonderful needlepointer so I could do a lot worse than learning from her. Now if I can just finish the homework!

Well, slump or no, duty calls. I think I'll go see how much I can get done on my angel, Gabe. Have a great day and try to stay cool!

I've been doing alot of thinking about doing a blog and finally decided to just bite the bullet and set one up. I've been in the cross stitch industry for 12 years now and have seen a a lot of changes. Some good, some not so good. So I hope this blog reflects my thoughts on the world of cross stitch and my love of the art. I do believe cross stitch is an art. You take a blank piece of fabric and use colored threads to create a design. Now in my case the design has been drawn by someone else but I've found that cross stitching satisfies the frustrated artist in me.

A little about myself. I live in Phoenix (hence the name of my blog) with an adoring husband (his words) and my oldest son. My daughter is home for the summer but will be returning to college in a couple of weeks. My middle child, also a son, lives in Minneapolis with his wife. No grandkids yet. I also have 2 dogs and the lovely kitty you see here is Squeak, my calico kitty. She also goes by the names of Brat, Demon or Monster depending on who's calling her. ;-)

I hope to be posting a few of my WIP's as well as some finished projects. I just need to figure out how to get the pictures from the camera to the computer.

A journey always starts with a first step. I hope you'll come with me on this walk through my world of cross stitch (with some knitting and a few other things thrown in).