It’s been a while since I posted regularly, and today I will share why. I’ve been a little obsessed with my latest project, a cross-stitch based on a Sandhill Crane nest that I photographed in 2014. Long-time readers of my blog will remember that I actually got to see a colt hatch from its egg. It was such an amazing experience that it was the first image that came to mind when I discovered a new program to convert images to cross-stitch patterns.

I started this project on New Year’s Eve and finished it on March 5. It contains just under 40,000 stitches. This was my first time stitching on 25 count fabric. That means you make 25 crosses per inch – in other words, it’s really small. Rich calls this “high definition” cross-stitch! This was also my first time stitching on black fabric, which turned out to be challenging but manageable. Every time I’d step back and see what I was creating, I’d squeal “oh my gosh!”

I’ve been cross-stitching since I was a little girl, and I’ve always wanted to make a video to show the progression of a project. So with this project, I took a picture every time I completed 1% of the total design. I aligned the images in Photoshop and stitched them together to form a video. I hope you enjoy it!

I titled this one “Esperanza”, which is the Spanish word for hope. With the arrival of the spring, I hope to have more special moments to photograph and share!