Coloring without crayons

It occurs to me that although I write a lot about my writing, which is my major hobby and ministry, I have not said much else about what I like to do. Well in case you were wondering, or not, here's my next favorite hobby.
I embroider. That's right, I embroider, by hand, not machine. What made me start such a detailed craft? Well when I was growing up crafts were really popular and I couldn't get the hang of crochet, the major hobby of the day, and which my Mom and sisters were great at, of course. The craft gene just seemed to have passed me by, until that is I discovered a craft I could do, embroidery, which I liken to coloring without crayons. You use thread instead. Of course it's not something you do in a hurry and it can get to be a bit of an obsession. Being the perfectionist that I am (I know, I know, God and I are working on it) I can never just do a simple outline stitch and leave it alone. Oh no, I have to do a satin fill-in or add French Knots, which took me forever to get the hang of by the way, and don't even get me started on those darn lazy daisies...sorry, I'm ranting again.
Anyway, I've done several projects over the years, some from transfers and some where I made up the pattern myself. And yes, I have been known to work hours on a project and then tear it all out because I didn't like the way it looked.
Right now I'm working on what is going to be a bedspread with a large peacock on it. Don't ask me why, I just always wanted to embroider a peacock. I thought the peacock would be hard, but it came together relatively fast and looks really good. Of course it had to be surrounded by flowers, and those darn things are taking forever to fill in. Too bad they look so good or I wouldn't bother.
That's the trouble with coloring without crayons, it leaves you too many options. Still I love it, even though it is a lot of work and takes a long time. But once you're done, you can almost believe God did give you some artistic tendencies after all.