Anna

I've finished the lettering. I've finished the circle.

Now comes the part of my embroidery that Eyal calls "the fussy bits." The grapes and figs and pomegranates and dates and olives. The respective vines and leaves flowers. Oh, and wheat and barley.

I got one grape done today. It was an experiment, actually - to see if satin stitch was the right way to go on filling in the grapes. It was successful. I like satin stitch - it's pretty easy, just rows of straight stitches of varying lengths. The only bitch is making sure that they're sufficiently close together to get the eponymous effect. So I figure it'll be satin stitch on the grapes, wheat, and barley. Haven't decided about the other fruit and flowers.

This ends Anna's geeking out about embroidery.

I really enjoy embroidery. After having abandoned it for a few years (why? who knows?) I decided to get back into it. Now, I was never particularly good at it, so I went for a beginner's set of kits that concentrated on teaching the stitches one at a time, building up to more and more advanced stitches.

It's fun. I like going up to my office, putting on some music, and concentrating on stitching.

The other thing I've started? Keeping a paper and pen journal. For some odd reason, I feel like my writing is far more spontaneous and genuine. This is rather important when you're keeping a journal not just to record daily life but to achieve self-growth. Every day I do two prompts that...aren't easy to answer.

Yeah, I don't pick easy stuff. Which is counterintuitive for a former gifted child addicted to the rush of finishing projects with praise who is easily overwhelmed by even relatively simple projects like making macaroni and cheese.

Process not product, people keep telling me. It's hard to keep in my head. And if I remember it, maybe I can get over my huge writer's block.

Nothing I do is going to be perfect. And that's okay.