Who knew?

About 10 years ago, I decided to give cross stitching a try. A friend, Donna and her mom, introduced me to counted cross stitch and to a lovely store that a group of women met at each Thursday to stitch, chat and get inspiration from each other. Sadly, the store is no longer available to us, so a small group of us meet almost every week, taking turns in our homes. From this craft, I have made many of the most wonderful , loving, generous and talented friends. If I were to stop stitching tomorrow, I would have these friends for life. They are family to me.

Speaking of family; many years ago, my Uncle Jim in Maine, watched me stitching while we were camping. He told me that he had started a project back in the 80's,( during a very long, cold winter and between wives), but never completed it. When we returned home, he found it and gave it to me. It sat away for about 7 years, my having almost completely forgotten about it.

Then, last year while doing some cleaning, I again came across it and decided to tackle it. It wasn't a really fun stitch. It was almost completely solid stitching and a mirade of color changes to boot but I was determined.

I delivered the finished piece to Uncle Jim this past fall.. He had stitched the entire tower section of the lighthouse. I finished the piece by stitching our initials on the bottom and the dates.

JL 1988 and RL 2009.

He loved it and was quite pleased when I told him it was his to take home. It gave me a great feeling of warmth and pride to share the love of my craft with my Uncle; himself is a very talented man in many fields.