This year I have rediscovered the joy of cross stitching. In the 1980s and 1990s I completed a considerable amount of cross stitch projects and have many of them hanging on my walls. I was originally introduced to the craft in about 1983 by a young lady friend who was always working on some stitching. I expressed a slight interest in what she was doing and the next thing I know she gifted me with some fabric, floss, patterns, and material. I quickly became hooked.
Over time, though, my life became busy and for almost two decades I stopped stitching. Two ladies at my church work at a wonderful local needlework shop called In Stitches Needlework that I first visited during the pandemic at their invitation. I bought a few new patterns, but did not really start getting back to stitching until earlier this year when I began to attend a twice monthly stitching session at the store. Stitchers of all skill levels sit around and work on individual projects and talk about a wide variety of topics—it is a wonderful community of people who provide me with lots of inspiration and encouragement.
The first photo shows my progress on my current big project, a pattern by Ink Circles called Reflections of Paris. This monochromatic piece includes a number of familiar Paris landmarks. I am about a third of the way through it right now (and already gone through two entire skeins of DMC floss). As you can probably tell, the motifs are repeated four times from the center, which is the square shown near the bottom of the image. As you look down the right and left edges, for example, you can start to see emerging portions of the same shapes that are visible along the top edge. I will be working on this patterns, which calls for 6944 stitches, for quite a while, but I find it to be really relaxing, so I look forward to doing a little stitching each day, if possible.
The second image shows a piece called Country Welcome that I stitched this spring. It was a pattern from the August 1990 issue of Leisure Arts, The Magazine. I used to subscribe to a number of different cross stitch magazines and have held on to the old issues. I tend to like cross stitch patterns that have a minimal color palette.
The final image shows another project that I completed this spring called “Do Everything in Love.” It was a free, but copyrighted, pattern by Silver Creek Samplers that I picked up at my local cross stitch store while checking out one day.
I realize that this posting is quite a change from my normal wildlife photos, but I thought it would be fun to share this other side of me with you all. On some of the days this summer when the weather and humidity make it tough to venture out with my camera, I know I can curl and stitch away in the comfort of my air-conditioned house.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Mike, how wonderful! Thank you for sharing this! I use to cross stitch in the 90’s—I should pick it up again. This humidity does make it hard to get out in nature!
I think that the 90s were the high point of cross stitch popularity. Nowadays there are even more gadgets and advanced techniques than back then and some people even use iPads to view their patterns and software to track their progress. I am still “old school” and mostly use pretty standard Aida cloth (particularly one variant called Fiddler’s Cloth), DMC floss, and a hoop. Some folks hand dye their fabric and I may try to experiment with that. The one thing I noticed now when I reengaged with cross stitch is that I need much better light than when I was younger. 🙂
Thank you, Mike. I would have to be “old school” I’m sure. I struggle with my eyes (chemo, treatments, etc.. have led to glasses and two new prescriptions in 2 years), so I need good lighting. I tied fishing lures for a resort in Branson a couple of years ago and struggled with “seeing” the line. I’m always up for a good challenge! Now I want to try this again!
Here’s a link to a fun free pattern that I may stitch when I feel a need to break away from my bigger Paris piece. As long as you stick with something like 11 ct or 14 ct fabric, you should probably be ok. https://www.silvercreeksamplers.com/dog-days
Thank you, Mike!!
“Dog Days of Summer” (as my little 3-legged rescue, Finn, lays by me!)
This is awesome! A very challenging pattern in my opinion. I used to cross-stitch regularly. Used to actually take it on planes with me (pre-9/11 of course, needles) to pass the time instead of whatever other entertainment options there were back then. I have 2 pretty large musicians I cross-stitched and I still have them hanging in my house. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Nicole. The first piece is pretty challenging, but the fact that there are no color changes, partial stitches, or backstitches makes it marginally easier. I too used to cross stitch on a plane, but have not flown much recently. I think that cross stitch needles may be ok, but there are strict limits on scissors that vary from country to country. I have seen some tiny scissors at my local needlework store that might be ok.
Awesome ❤️
Dear Mike, this is so beautiful, I am crazy with them too. I love to cross stitch, I did several projects but not as yours, I mean a big projects. This is really so exciting. Thank you for sharing with us, I know now who is behind the beautiful photographs. Have a nice day and weekend, Love, nia
Thanks, Nia, for your very kind words.
You are brave to do counted cross stitch. I have done it, but it has been years. I picked up knitting this summer after 50+ years of crochet. I learned how to knit once and then put it away. I had to re-earn how to cast on. It was good for many laughs in our sewing group. Enjoyed your sharing another side of you!!