I have been wanting to try this for some time. I am by no means a stitcher or have any experience in stitching. I vaguely remember doing some child-stitching in school as a little girl and I remember this because while I was stitching, my mom and gran's words kept playing over and over in my head: "it's not successful if the back is a birds nest and that the back must look as good as the front." I kept flicking my piece over to make sure it was neat. How interesting that was so deeply engrained in my memory?

I took a picture of my reverse side and although it's not perfect, I do kind of love how expressive it is. I know this might be strange to say, but I might even like it a little more.

In many ways, the act of stitching and choosing colors felt so much like painting but also different. I had to think in basic terms how to create values. I loved the journey though. I didn't have a massive selection of color threads to choose from but I definitely got the feel for it.

I worked from beginning to end on this small piece, around 4.5" x 4.5" and it took me around 6 hours. It felt slow, intentional, gentle and therapeutic and I got to sit with my family by the fire. A perfect way to see a cold winter evening in. Doing something so creatively different for me, felt so good.

So for me it will definitely be... "to stitch".

And I can't wait to start my next piece, which by the way, is all ready in it's ring, calling my name.