Taking Time for Mom Thursdays

My how time flies when you're a busy mom. This post would have been up earlier, but I had to take the truck to the mechanic for some regular maintenance today, clean house, and do laundry. Yawn.

I was wondering what are some of things you do to relax. One of the things I used to do a lot of is cross-stitch or needlework on plastic canvas. I had forgotten how much I used to craft until I saw Ellen's post about Embroider Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp over at Confessions of an Overworked Mom.

My mémère, or mémé as we usually called her, first introduced me to printed cross-stitch when I was around ten or eleven. I still have the tin container she gave me to carry my wooden hoop, needle and floss (I'll dig it out of my craft closet one day soon and take a picture of it so you can see it). I worked on printed cross-stitch kits for years before I felt comfortable switching to counted cross-stitch. With counted cross-stitch, you have no pattern, just a blank piece of Aida cloth. You fold the cloth to find the middle and begin stitching from the middle out to the edges.

While I was a single parent, I often had to rely on homemade gifts for family and friends. Counted cross-stitch certainly came in handy back then.  I subscribed to magazines so I could find new patterns. The Lil Diva was just a toddler and the Lil Princess still crawling around when I stopped cross-stitching. Blogging, writing and reviewing books have taken its place. I miss it. I'm hoping once the girls are teenagers and I have a bit more time to myself I'll be able to pick it up again. We'll see.

Do you like to craft? What is your area of interest? Do you give handmade gifts for special occasions? How many--if any--unfinished gifts do you have in your craft closet? I have to admit to at least two.

Spare Time Hobbies--Cross-stitch

My mémère (grandmother) introduced me to cross-stitch when I was around ten years old. Over the years I have completed numerous cross-stitch projects. When I first began, I used stamped cross-stitch projects, where the image was stamped--usually in blue ink--onto the fabric, and I simply had to use needle and embroidery floss to cover the stamp, ending up with a beautiful picture.

For many years now, I have preferred counted cross-stitch, which is where you purchase a kit or just the supplies--hoop, floss, Aida cloth, and needle--and create an image using a pattern. Craft stores, such as JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, sell these supplies, in addition to many pattern books. We have a JoAnn's close by, and the problem is that when I visit, I usually end up buying more than I went in for.

The nice thing about crafting is that it allows me to spend time with my girls. They enjoy cross-stitch, plastic canvas, painting, and drawing.

What are some of your spare time hobbies? Do you work together on projects with other family members?