First Thursday's Just For Fun: Crazy for Cross-Stitch

Because I am not enough of a walking/talking librarian stereotype, I have recently picked up a new hobby: crafting. More specifically, counted cross-stitch. I actually learned how to do cross-stitch when I was a teenager, but hadn't done more with the skill until fairly recently. But now? Now I've become obsessed. Here are my favorites of the projects I've completed:

This hummingbird was my gateway drug to an addiction that is only soothed with a trip to a craft store to purchase Aida cloth and embroidery thread:

Pretty, right?

I worked really hard to make the background of the next one look like a partly cloudy sky, so I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out.

This quote is from the sixth of the volumes that collected Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" comics.

And this is the project I just finished. I don't remember where I first encountered this line from Lemony Snicket (a.k.a. Daniel Handler), but it tickled me so much that it quickly became a favorite. When I started this down the road to xstitch addiction, I knew I had to do something with this quote.

Sounds advice, especially considering the expression the Persian in the middle is wearing.

I just finished that last one, but I'm already planning my next project. It's more along the lines of what I did with the Neil Gaiman quote, but this time it's inspired by and features a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke.

So what about you? Are you a crafter? If so, what's your poison?