My Other Obsession
This is probably going to blow my headbanger cred all to hell, but I wanted to share my other major hobby besides listening to heavy music and writing about the men who play it (and the women who love them).
Back in 1995, I was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Phoenix, stuck in a loveless marriage and working at a dry cleaner’s for minimum wage (and all the free cleaning I wanted, but I didn’t own any clothes worth dry cleaning because I was a broke-ass loser – IRONY!). On day, we got a new downstairs neighbor – a veterinarian from Michigan who was a single mom. We helped her move in, and she offered to show us how to trim our cat’s claws so we wouldn’t have to take her to the clinic for that. Being a broke-ass loser, I took her up on the offer with a quickness. When I brought Olga down to her apartment, I noticed a stitching frame in her living room. “What’s that?” I asked, thereby opening the door to a whole new world. All it took was a quick demonstration, and I fell right down the cross stitch rabbit hole, never to come out again.
Oh, I know it’s not very Rock-and-Roll. But I love to stitch. I go through phases where I work on my projects every day, and phases where I don’t touch them for months. Right now, my main focus is writing, but needlework gives me a nice respite from typing. Just for the heck of it, I decided to take a picture of all my works in progress (WIPs, sometimes called UFOs for “UnFinished Objects” – snort!).
Clockwise from the top, they are:
Queen Mermaid – Mirabilia
Halloween Victorian – Judith Kirby
Crystal Symphony – Mirabilia
Winter Quilts – Herrschnerrs
Hummingbird Society – Sunset
Exotic Fish – Sunset
Carson House – Nancy Spruance (in the middle)
As you can see, they range from barely started to almost there. Some have intended recipients and some don’t. I have yet to keep a finished one for myself. Yes, I have finished a few…believe it or not! So call me boring, call me old-fashioned…just be sure to also call me when there’s a big sale on embroidery floss.
