In this episode, I share 10 ways cross stitch has changed and improved my life over the past 10 years. You can listen to the episode below or keep scrolling to read the blog post.

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10 ways cross stitching has improved in my life:

10 years of having an active hobby and 10 years of running hannah hand makes. I never thought I would get here. And I’ll be honest this year I have started working more in my 9-5 but I still work on the business 3 days a week too. 

It’s a hard balance and I thought I would only run this forever. But the reality right now is that I do need a stable income alongside the business. 

But I’m not going anywhere anytime soon!

1 It led me to find other hobbies and showed me I’m allowed them

 I can’t even list all the hobbies I’ve tried in the last 10 years. But starting cross stitching regularly showed me I do have the time for hobbies if I make the time. The other hobby I now regularly do is reading and these 2 things bring so much joy to my life.

2 It saved my sanity in the early days of motherhood

I was blessed with a first baby who did not sleep. He had many medical issues that led to countless sleepless nights. I’m not exaggerating when I say he didn’t sleep. Most nights I would be rocking him until 3 am trying to soothe him. The first time he slept through the night was when he was 13 months old, and that was a one-off.

Even as he got older he started having night terrors and then after those eased he started sleepwalking. In between I had baby number 2. Having cross stitch and reading just made things easier. I would stitch while they slept on my chest. With baby 2 I would read on my Kindle during night feeds.

I was so overwhelmed at the start of motherhood that having something to look forward to at the end of the day that was just for me made the sometimes very long, mundane days easier. 

3 It led to designing patterns

 I have always loved to draw but I’m not amazing at it. I can do the basics. But the basics are enough to create a cross stitch pattern. Even now, 10 years later I design patterns by drawing them first and importing them to PC Stitch. I don’t always see this as a hobby because it’s part of the business. But, after the actual stitching, it’s my second favourite thing to do. 

4 It allowed me to start a business

 Starting Hannah Hand Makes 10 years ago I knew literally nothing about running a small business but it has been the most amazing ride. I have learned things I never thought I could such as coding and SEO and how to run marketing ads.

And I love to learn things. I love to dive into a topic I know nothing about and soak up as much knowledge as possible. When running a business there is a never-ending list of things to learn.

5 It got me through COVID

Covid was tough for many reasons, but running the business and cross stitching helped me get through it. I hope I helped some of you as well. During lockdown, I ran a stitch along which was £4ish to join and I hosted the cross stitch circle to help people connect online.

I was busy every single day, so I didn’t go crazy sat at home all day with 2 kids. I was so grateful for so much during that time even when things were extremely tough.

6 I have made friends from all over the world

Inside my membership, I can truly say I have such good friends in there. Some weeks I spend more time with them online than I spend with anyone in my real life, my kids excluded.

And even though I am absolutely terrible at social media at the minute because my mental health hasn’t been the best, I am so glad we have online meet-ups every week to connect. In fact this week we are doing another retreat day where we spend the whole day together stitching.

7 It actually relaxes me

 I have lots of hobbies that I love. But right now I am only cross stitching and reading and I’m so relaxed in the evenings. I have been tracking my heart rate while I’m awake. Usually, it sits around 83bpm for work, cooking, being mum, driving, etc. When I’m reading it drops to 68 and when I’m stitching it drops to 70.

There is actual evidence of it relaxing me. One thing I’m trying to do right now is lower my stress levels. Knowing these hobbies are part of the way I manage my stress makes me so happy and grateful that I actually have them. And I’m more likely to do them during the day now I see the evidence. 

8 It lets me play with colour

I have lived in military housing for the past 9 years and it is so beige I just can’t even. You can decorate but for years I was like what’s the point, we might have to move, etc. Which is the attitude of a lot of military families. Now, I wish I’d just painted the walls, but here we are.

Cross stitching lets me use so many different colours and it’s also up there with my top thing to do – picking colour palettes. Sometimes it’s hard but I also love it. I even created a colour palette guide that I’m hoping to update slightly this year. (Grab it here*). I just love playing with colour – which I’m sure you all know from SALs where I have given you 3 different colour palettes for one pattern.

9 It gives me a sense of accomplishment

Although this isn’t as true any more, in the past this was huge. There were days at home with the kids when they were younger when I didn’t see anyone. I felt like I didn’t do anything or contribute to anything and it was tough. Having a small cross stitch project was the perfect remedy.

With small projects (which is all I used to stitch) even if you only do a small amount of stitching you still make a lot of progress and I needed that. I needed to see that I was physically making something that would last. So much of early motherhood is cooking food that gets eaten or thrown on the floor, changing nappies that get thrown away, the cycle of laundry that is never-ending, the picking up the toys for them to be all over the floor 2 seconds later. This is pretty much still my life actually, minus the nappies. But it does seem never-ending, it’s like you make no progress all day.

Cross-stitching a pattern made me feel like I had made some progress.

10 It opened my eyes to the world of wellness

 I learned so much about mental health. Why we act the way we do, and why it’s so important to do things that bring you joy and relax you. It even led me to therapy in a way. I do not think I would be as mentally healthy as I am now if it wasn’t for stitching. Which I know is a bold thing to say. But I also know that if you’re reading this you understand and get it.

And even though I am struggling a little bit right now, its more with the social side of my life. I am having serious doubts about social media and my kids are at an age where they will want to be on it soon. I just don’t know how I feel about that. So I am trying to not be on it so they aren’t exposed to it either. Sort of setting an example. But of course, that’s hard when you run a business.

More to come on this soon, but number 10 is just how it led me to a life I never planned but couldn’t be happier with. I am so lucky that I get to do something every day that brings me so much happiness. Even when things are terrible in other aspects of life I can always pull my project out and take 10 minutes to connect back to myself.

I guess that’s it actually  – it helped me find one part of who I am. I think we all spend our lives searching for different parts of ourselves. The reason this hobby has stuck out of the hundreds that I have tried is that it is a core part of myself. And I feel very lucky to have found it. 

Extra episodes and posts

• 5 Spring rituals
• How to plan your Summer reading list
• Mum guilt, lockdown and stitching with Louise
• Why I wrote a cross stitch book
• Are you really relaxing?

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