Crafty Rach: Cross-stitch - A Cure for Insomnia?

I thought it might be time to share with you another type of textile creation - my cross-stitch designs!

I had tried cross-stitch when I was younger, but I didn't really get it. I knew one of my best friends had been cross-stitching for her entire life, but I never understood this fascination. In 2010, I went on a holiday with a group of friends and watched one friend cross-stitching a design of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Honestly, I thought it looked like a great way to pass time. And, it looked like it was another crafty outlet for me!

Having something to show for what I did with my down time was appealing to me as I had been battling insomnia for months (and still am to a degree). I was seriously over spending night after night tossing and turning in bed, reading boring books/junk mail or watching infomercials on TV - so I commenced cross-stitching!

For months I have been stitching various designs, sometimes up until 5am - much to my doctor's dismay as staying up until all hours simply because "I need to stitch its nose", "Just one more row", "It looks weird without this colour, I'll finish this section and then go to bed".

I was a woman possessed. My walls in my house were filling up with the latest and greatest cross-stitch designs from kits I have had posted to me from all over the world. Even my dreams have been filled with cross-stitch conquests that at times seemed impossible to do! I have settled down now, but it has taken at least a year to reach that point! My local framer has definitely accrued more business through me, framing some of my completed designs too! Not a cheap hobby!

Here are some of my "littler" designs that I have finished. I will gradually post my other completed designs over the coming weeks/months.

A house-warming present: One of my first completed cross-stitch designs. Mounted and framed by myself. Painted the frame in Magenta paint, with iridescent medium painted over the top.

Glazed with gloss varnish.