Gemmie Learns to Cross Stitch

Hello.

My name is Gemmie and I work for Hello Treacle. I do a bit of everything in my role but I jumped at the chance of working with the Fuck the Tories rainbow cross stitch kit because I absolutely love everything about it! I box them up but I have never actually attempted one. Amy changed that. 

When I opened the box I jumped with excitement at the contents. It was only after a pause I realised that I had no idea how to start, what to do and I couldn’t imagine how I would get it to look like it did on the website. I have this inability to believe in myself when it comes to new things and only when I am midway through a successful project do I give myself any credit or encouragement. I know I am not alone in this.

	If it had been crochet or knitting it would be a doddle, I would have accepted the challenge and got on with it, but here I was faced with a project of a craft I had never attempted. It looked too complicated for my starter level. So I did something I rarely do. I read the bloody instructions. I opened the box onto my work station and studied each bit. Amy had provided the threads all ready to go so I just had to pull two strands to start.
	I set up the hoop with the aida and I pulled out the first colour while putting everything back in the box. The box is just a box but it’s simply awesome to store it all while you work on the project. I mean, it does say reuse me on the back! Stops all the tangles and losing bits.  So I stuck my needle in to make my first stitch and I kept doing it till it looked like a h. I was on my way.
	Then disaster struck. Confidently I was sticking my needle in and out when it caught on the thread and knotted. I had to cut myself out of the mess I had made and push through the rest hoping that I didn’t actually need that much thread anyway and making a mental note to slow down. It’s not a race.
	So with two kids who demand my attention every time I sit down, this was a great project to pick up and put down over and over. It’s a great bit of self-care to be doing when your attention is rather scattered. My youngest, who thankfully can’t read just yet, loved to look at all the bright colours and liked to sit watching me stitching away. He enjoys watching me knit and crochet too so I am hoping that he will remain interested and pick up all these skills one day.

Now I am really terrible for reading instructions properly so at first all my stitches were loose at the back and I am still annoyed with this. There is a section in the instructions on how to tie your threads off. The difference it makes when going over your work has such an impact. I eased my pain by saying nobody would see the back and I will continue the tidy and neater way. I did. It really does look better and I found that I stopped picking up old threads from other letters when doing it the neat way. Lesson learnt and knowledge gained.  

I highly recommend treating yourself to a needle minder. It is invaluable and it saved me many times, especially when I got a knot and needed both hands to untangle myself. The needle minder kept my needle safe until I was ready to start again. Also get a pair of embroidery scissors! Pretty much everything else comes in the kit but do what I did, treat yo self! There are some cute ones in the Sewing Supplies section of the store.

So to summarise, I loved it. It's become a new hobby for me and I can’t wait to start a new project. I loved the ease, the guidance from Amy in the instructions and the message in the piece. Because, Fuck the Tories. 

About Gemmie 

Gemmie lives in the North East with her husband and two adorable boys - Eli and Niko. 

Gemmie loves rainbows, hates Tories, and fantastic at crochet (and now cross stitch, too!) You'll find her on Instagram at Rainbows_In_The_Grey_Crochet.