IN WHICH WE PAUSE TO PONDER

I'm participating in the #commonthreadedstitcher challenge over on the Instagram, and today's theme was "Most complex/complicated finish".

Most of the participants are cross stitchers and are showing fully finished objects that they have completed, but as we all know, fully finishing objects is just not my forte'.

(Remember the tragic glue gun incident of 2008 and the weeks and weeks in which I was grounded from my studio and anything remotely related to finishing? Stewey bitched about the glitter and debris in the rug (and in my hair, his hair, on the happy chair, and everywhere else) for months.)

So my share was Tony Minieri's Stars for the Millennium, because in the sixteen years or so that I've been stitching I have never been more absorbed by or proud of or moved by something I've stitched.

I stitched my version of Stars in 2011 during the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. I knew I wanted and needed a piece that would help me remember and reflect, and what ended up happening was I found a piece that helped me pray.

Each block was more intense than the next with dozens of intricate composite stitches, but as I completed them, I felt my mind clear and my heart open up and my dialogue in my head became more about others than the usual stuff about myself. I thought about those lost, those saved, those who rose, and those who fell. I remembered both the horror and the pride, as well as the feeling of being so incredibly vulnerable, but thoroughly brave at the same time. When the last stitch was taken, I felt calmer and more peaceful than I had in a long time...like I had walked through something that reminded me of both my capabilities as well as my weaknesses.

I sat with this piece for a few minutes this morning after the hustle and bustle of getting to Mass in time, grabbing a few groceries on the way hone, and getting the laundry started. I took a minute to really look at it...to examine almost each and every stitch and thread and color, and to give myself a little pat for good work.  Given the amount of self-flagellation that normally goes on in my tiny little brain, it was nice to feel a bit of confidence and hear an "Atta' girl!" escape through slurps of damn good.

Do yourselves a favor, Dearies. Go grab your very own Stars and give it a good look-see. No negatives allowed...just bask for a few minutes in the wonderfulness of whatever it is that you created...whether it's a stitchy piece, or knitting, or coloring, or diamond painting, or pottery, or watercolor, or a fly fishing lure, or a chocolate cake, or a jigsaw puzzle....anything that cane from the work of your very own hands.

You did that. You put that into this big beautiful world of ours. You.

Enjoy that feeling, my friends! I know I will for just a few more minutes before the day takes me where it will.

Happy Sunday!