Reminiscing

The first piece of cross stitch I ever did was one of those 99-cent ornament kits. I think it was a little Amish/farm-style couple holding hands, and it came with a plywood heart-shaped frame. I picked it up in a craft store and convinced my mom to teach me. Now, she had done some embroidery in the past, but never cross stitch....however, we muddled our way through it. Including the 4 French knots that were the eyes of the man and woman!!! I was about....13, maybe?....when we did that.

I have no idea what happened to that little piece, but when Mom came out this past weekend, she brought something she'd found in a box in her sewing room. It was the second piece I did! I spent the better part of a summer slaving away on this one -- it frustrated my dad to no end (he is a big outdoorsman, and it drove him nuts to see me sitting on my bed squinting at this piece of fabric all the time!). It is really pretty nice. All my stitches are crossed the same way, the backstitching isn't too bad, and there aren't TOO many gigantically long floss carries on the back. hehehe And my penchant for "customizing" started way back then....it was designed to say "Roses" at the top, but I thought that was boring and changed it to my name. And yes, that is an honest-to-goodness French knot dotting the I! Of course, now it isn't really my style, doesn't "go" in any of the rooms of my house, and I can't sell it on eBay (unless someone else named Erin wants it!).

After seeing my little pillows and doo-dads, Mom thought I'd probably do something with it before she ever would (and she was right). I spent tonight playing with my sewing machine, and came up with this.


So for now it will live on the bed in the spare room....the bedspread is a minty green, and it looks right at home there. The sewing still isn't perfect, but neither is the stitching (and neither am I!), so I figure it all works out in the end.

Maybe tomorrow I''ll get some stitching done.....we'll see.