Way back when, much longer than I have been keeping this blog, I started collecting cross stitch patterns. I've always loved cross stitching, so it was a natural thing to do, but I never quite seemed to find the time to stitch anything that required more than five or ten hours. So for years I've had this growing pile of patterns in my room, just begging to be stitched one day. Between writing essays and work I would occasionally look at the pile remorsefully, hoping to one day actually get to stitch something. The intent was always there, but the timing never perfect. A couple of years ago, the local craft store was selling most of their cross stitch supplies. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to buy some cool stuff before the store's selection was reduced to embroidery floss, needles and hoops. And that's when I found the blanket.
The blanket to end all blankets. THE BLANKET.
Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic here, but for a tea loving, book reading, cross stitching, loves to curl up under a mountain of blankets girl it was pretty awesome. And it was fifty percent off, so my wallet was happy. Except I still didn't have the time to actually do any cross stitching.
And then came that horrible word at the start of 2015: relapse. If there is one word I hate above all others, it's relapse. Aside from it's meaning, I just find it really unpleasant to say. Anyways, I relapsed and knew that I would have to deal with my health problems at some point. The thing was, I wasn't that sick at that moment. My infectious disease specialist said it would have to be treated at some point but that it wasn't urgent and my surgeon thought it might be best to wait until after I graduated and got a job. You know, because health insurance and stuff. But I knew it would have to be taken care of at some point. And because I'm organized and worry way too much about the future, I started thinking about what I could do to pass all the months I would inevitably spend stuck on the sofa in my pajama pants. That's when I remember the blanket. It was like an "Aha!" moment. I didn't have to waste a year of my life binge watching stuff on Netflix. I could actually make something, be productive, while watching said stuff on Netflix.
If you've been following this blog, the rest of the story is pretty self explanatory. I got much sicker with the bone infection than we ever thought I would and it was decided (or my body dictated - I didn't have much choice at that point) that we would treat the bone infection sooner than later. Sooner being last August. That's how I finally got the much sought after time to cross stitch. That's how I make lemons into lemonade.
I had the surgery to remove the infected section of my tibia on August 26th. I started working on the blanket around September 12th, just over a week after I was discharged from the hospital, and I've been stitching ever since. It was a really big learning experience. Just forcing yourself to keep working on the same project can be difficult. I think it helped that the blanket was divided into different sections. Even though I was working on one big project, it felt like many smaller projects, making completing the project more conceivable. Each section had that lovely beginning when you are excited to start something new, the middle when you've got a fair bit done and are just happily stitching along, and an end where you're kind of ready to finish the project and start looking forward to the next thing to stitch. I had a tremendous amount of fun! Between picking colours to stitch with (or sometimes sticking with the colour key), mixing and matching patterns and playing with the layout of the blanket, I got a lot of satisfaction. Plus the opportunity to use my brain. I spent a lot of time in a narcotic induced haze, but stitching was something I could actually still do. My only complaint was the fabric itself. The finished product is beautiful, but I will never work on fabric like it again. It wasn't your standard aida fabric or, worst case, evenweave. If you made the cross stitches a certain way, the thread would somehow pull through it and you'd be left with half a cross stitch or a big mess. It was just horrible to work with. Never again. In the end, it took 540 hours to complete. At least, that's the number of hours it took to stitch. I'm not including the time spent picking patterns and colours, playing with the layout, and so forth. I didn't keep track of those things. But the actual stitch time was 540 hours. I kept track of how many hours it took to stitch each section too. It's amazing to see how different patterns that took varying amounts of time to stitch look when put together. The quickest patterns took fifteen hours an the longest took fifty.
So, without further ado, here are the pictures I have been promising for months on end!
Last December, stitching late into the night. This was the eighth square I completed.
Much needed break at Christmas to stitch something else...
January - look at all the pretty colours! About to start a new section of the blanket.
Tying up loose ends.
It was really difficult trying to get a picture of the entire thing, so I will post pictures of the individual squares in the next post (which I will be posting tonight). But here it is: my blanket. The blanket I made. Who can say that now a days? I actually made a blanket XD No matter what happens with my leg, it's going to be one good beautiful thing that came out of all this. I finished it on May 18ths, about nine months after starting it and two days before the fixator came off (albeit unexpectedly). I find that fitting in many ways. I'm so glad I did stuck with it. There were days I stitched for ten hours and weeks on end I didn't pick up a needle and thread once, but here it is. Now I just have to find some lovely fabric to back it with. My mum is going to help with that since I'm not so handy with the sewing machine.
Oh, I'm also onto my next project already, but that one will only take fifty hours to stitch!
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