My Stitching Prodigies

Hello from the other side of a move. 

Well, sort of.  We're in temporary digs while we look for something more permanent.  Which means most of my stuff is staying packed for now.  Including most of my stitchy stuff.  It's a bit of a Catch 22, because having to repack everything when it comes time to move again would be really stressful, but without my stitchy stuff I'm having trouble finding a stress-releasing activity...

Anyway!

My brother and sister-in-law stopped through town to help us move for a few weeks and once we had a bit of free time he was able to update me on his stitching progress:

Not bad for a beginner!  Excuse the terrible quality of the photo, I took this with my phone and it's not a good picture even once it's touched up a bit. 

And although my sister-in-law already knew the cross stitch basics, I did get her started on a Soda Stitch pattern, which gave me the opportunity to walk her through how to do backstitch:

I just love my little stitching prodigies.  :)

Did you know cross stitch runs in families?

I suppose an update is long past due.

I actually don't have any of my own work to share today (I'm working on a gift, so it's a secret!), but I do have something to share:

Ta-da!

But this isn't my stitching, it's my brother's. 

My brother broke his ankle in early May, which followed with emergency surgery and several weeks of complete bed rest.  One day when I was chatting with him on Facebook Messenger to see how he was doing (he was pretty bored) we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: You need a project to help with the boredom. You should take up cross stitch. It's good therapy. 
Him: Meh.
Me: No really. I even have a pattern you'd like. Want me to show you?
Him: Sure. (you can tell he's thinking "yeah, right")
*I show him a picture of the pattern*
Him: Actually that's pretty cool.

Fast forward one day:

Him: So are you going to send me the stuff to do this thing or what? Cuz I want to get started.

Luckily I had already kitted up this particular pattern with the inention of starting it myself one day, so I pulled it out and was all ready to send it on the way to him when he informed me in no uncertain terms that he also wanted to be fully kitted out with a needle minder, qsnap, and grime guard.

Well, how can a sister say no to that?

Fast forward to a month later, and now I'm getting phone calls asking what happens when you miss a stitch, how to count not from the center, wanting to just have a day off work so he can work on his WIP, etc. etc.  Welcome another stitcher to the family.  :)  I think I may have gotten him hooked.