I've been in a slump and not wanting to stitch, I'm afraid. I'm tired of doing the things I can do rather than what I want to do.
I love reading, I'd read lot even if I weren't disabled and alone mostly, but if I were active I wouldn't read over 100 books a year. I'd have other stuff I wanted to do. I'd rather be playing soccer in the park with my niece and nephew, or taking long meandering walks around town to take pictures. I'd rather be working 60 hours a week in the bookstore or really anywhere than creating and stitching cross-stitch so much.
It's just hard, and I'm not doing well coping with my life lately.
In any case, here's my progress on Rome. Getting close to the finish, though taking a break today to finish up reading a library book that's due soon. It's The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox, about the decoding of Linear B, and a woman who deserves a lot of the credit but died and got none. Story of womankind right there.
Well, I finally tore myself away from Christmas gifts and started working on the second-stitching of my Roman mosaic. There's just enough done to look super creepy and Halloweeny.
This was the first "pattern from image" that I created, and the largest thing I'd stitched the first time around (probably still the largest, really, in terms of individual stitches). I was still a novice in every way, and didn't think too much about the design once it was done. I altered a few things while stitching, but not much.
Now of course I'm altering plenty, to give it smoother lines and curves, and taking it further from the original mosaic. When I stitched this the first time I only left a border of three or four squares of blank fabric on any side. I didn't use any sort of frame, either. It amazes me now, but that's the only way I knew to do it then.
I need to write down all the Christmas stitching ideas, as I keep forgetting them, thinking I have nothing planned, and then suddenly remember that I have almost everything planned. Sigh! Honestly I'm feeling dreadfully behind on shopping, and I've got two birthdays to plan for before Christmas as well!
