There are a lot of needs that can be met through doing cross stitching. For me some of those are: expressing my creative side, taking time out of the busy lives we live, relaxing, feeling grounded and as though I have some control over something in my hectic life, creating them as gifts or decoration and so forth. One of the main ones is the ability to express my self within each cross stitching.
Tessa Bowden (2003) stated that “ I love the raw materials, the excitement of imagining the end product long before it gets started, and then discovering ‘how to make it work” (p. 17). This is predominant in the cross stitching I do by me selecting the pattern that is expressive of my creative side or has meaning to me either from a crafts store or online. I love how the canvas and thread feel in my fingers, concentrating ever so hard while doing the cross stitch making sure that it’s absolutely perfect or it just won’t do and I will unpick the imperfect stitches. I believe that the cross stitch can not be fully completed unless I am fully satisfied with the outcome in all aspects. Being able to visualize how the end product will look when completely finished and in a frame with a border is exciting and gives me the motivation to complete it quicker. Most of the time there isn’t a deadline to work to unless it’s being made as a gift in which I would have put a lot of thought in what it will be of, how it will fit with the person it is for and envision the overall outcome of the product. Creating a piece as a gift, makes me feel connected to the person/persons that it is for. I feel competent in being able to select appropriate patterns for gifts and can reflect the person well in them. It also adds more meaning for me being able to give them something that I have worked hard on and that it can be kept for years, bringing back the memories each time it is viewed. Cross stitching also connects me to the origins of the tradition that has been past down from my grandmother to myself. This also makes me feel feminine in the sense that its usually women that create these sort of pieces and it most likely be something I will pass down to my future daugther(s).
Hi Nicole, this sounds great and is easy to see cross-stitching is a big part of your life. It made me want to pick mine up again, and get it finished. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour quote from Tessa Bowden(2003) reminded me what it's like for me finishing a scrapbooking page. It's great being able to imagine the finished product before you even complete it, and really enthused me to keep going, so I can start my next page.
i love the pictures of your cross-stitches down the side of the blog. I thought maybe you could put captions with them of when you did them, and why those particular patterns where used.