Thursday, October 9, 2014

A Guilty Mom Moment + Free Cross Stitch Pattern




Let me tell you about one of the moments when I have felt most guilty since becoming a mom. 

Way back during Conor's pregnancy, I was determined to make a few cross stitch hangings for our wall in our kitchen. I had only cross stitched a couple times before, but I knew it was easy, and I was nesting so there really was no way around it. The straw in our nest had to be just so! And so I started to stalk eBay listings. I won a huge lot of embroidery hoops off of there, and then I bought some Aida cloth, embroidery floss, and cross stitch needles which are not as sharp at normal sewing needles.

I carted whatever project I was working on around all the time. For every bike trip, park trip, lake-to-see-the-ducks trip, I tucked it into my purse, and I'd take it out to work while Ryan scaled the playground or threw walnuts into the lake. Eventually, I lost the dull cross-stitch needle so I started to use a needle that was pretty sharp because it was what I could find. One exceptionally brisk fall morning at the park, it was cold enough and windy enough that Ryan really needed to wear a hat. I pulled his hat I had crocheted for him out of my purse and plopped it on his head. I've only had minimal defiance from him concerning hat wearing (maybe this makes him overcompensate in other areas??) so I was surprised that he kept taking his hat off. I kept putting it back on. Back and forth, we went so when he said it was scratching and hurting him, I ignored him because I thought he was just being a drama king. I was going to win the battle! I was! But as I went to shove the hat back on his head one more time, I saw that my sewing needle was stuck in it. It had been poking him! Oh, I felt horrible. 

So that was definitely the worst cross stitch moment, but the best came while working on a particular project while keeping busy in early labor and then finishing it up in the hospital with a dozing newborn in arms. The project was an embroidery hoop with the first couple of lines from our mealtime prayer. It reads, "Bless us, O Lord and these thy gifts." Although it was only intended to hang near our kitchen table, how perfect to have stitched those X's when we were about to receive such a gift?

Yes, perfect.

I made up a pattern for the cross stitch in case any of you would like to make one for your home! I noticed while I was making the pattern that I had accidentally left out a comma on mine so yours will actually be grammatically correct! I'd love it if you let me know if you use it. 

Do you have any guilty craft moments like poking your son in the head repeatedly? 

14 comments :

  1. I've never cross stitched before but your pattern has me itching to try.
    And did you make the silverware one too? It's adorable!

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    1. It is so easy. If you have ever used a needle and thread, you can do it.

      And I did! Thank you! Would you be interested if I posted a pattern for that one?

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  2. LOL Sorry - shouldn't laugh - but that's pretty funny. Apparently it didn't hurt badly enough that he would cry, though!
    xox
    giedre

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  3. Ooooo, I like this. I haven't done any cross-stitching in a while and this looks like it would make a nice Christmas gift too. If I can get my knitting done, perhaps I'll make this as a gift for my mother. I'll let you know if I do!

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    1. Please do! I know how hard it is to complete knitting!

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  4. Three cheers for cross stitch! (My momma is a cross stitch designer. :) )

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    1. No way! What a neat job. She would probably laugh at my simple, simple, simple creation.

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  5. I haven't cross stitched in FOREVER! I might just need to make this pretty piece for our home. :)

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  6. I haven't cross stitched in years. I might have to make this for my grandma for Christmas. She would love it.

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  7. How do you make your own cross-stitch patterns? I want to design a birth banner for my son (before the next one arrives, hehe) and haven't loved the ones available at Joann's.

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    1. I'm sure there is a better way to do it, but I just used Excel! I adjusted the column width and row height until the boxes were squares, and then I copied what I had made. There are some cross-stitch fonts on dafont.com and Pinterest that I looked up to get a picture of what I wanted in my mind when I made the cross stitch last fall.

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