I couldn’t help myself but do some cross-stitching for this Daily Create. I’m not very good at drawing, which is what the prompt suggested. I knew I could find some adorable pixel art to base a cross-stitch project on though. I’m not technically finished with it yet, but I have enough done so you can tell it’s a pig with wings.

The process for my creation starts with this GIF that I used for inspiration. I found it on gfycat.com, but there wasn’t an author listed. I took a couple of screenshots so I could get a still image to make my pattern, which I did with graph paper and colored pencils. Once the design was sketched out, I collected my materials. The fabric I used for this cross-stitch is called Aida, and you can tell from the picture that it’s basically just a bunch of holes that are equidistant to each other. I had some small pieces leftover from another project, so I measured and cut out a piece from that. I picked out the embroidery thread I needed too, which was basically just 5 or 6 shades of pink. The trickiest part is figuring out where to actually start your stitches so the design is centered on the fabric, and it requires a little bit of basic math. However, once the first stitch is down, all you have to do is count a lot.

Cross-stitch is a lot more time-consuming than you’d probably think, but this project, which is small and simple compared to what I usually do, took me about 3 hours just to get to a halfway point. My bigger projects often take months to complete, although I do have other things going on, so it’s not continuous. Despite this, I find the entire process so relaxing, and even though you have to use some brain power to make sure you’re counting right, you really don’t have to think much. I’m glad I got to do it for today’s Daily Create because it helped me decompress after working all day.

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