When I was a kid, I was always full of creative energy. Actually, probably I was just full of energy, but I learned how to channel it into creativity.

Like many others, I learned the beauty of handmade fibre art crafts through my Mom and my Grandma. On those days when I needed to get rid of energy, I would head over to my Grandma's and she would teach me some new craft. One of those crafts was cross stitch.

When I was ten, I worked on my first cross stitch pattern for a present for my Grandma, and years later when she died, I saved it and kept it in my kitchen like she did.

When I feel disconnected from myself, stressed, or anxious, I remind myself that those moments of creativity were outlets when I was a kid. In the making and stitching of cross stitch, I was able to enjoy a craft passed down through generations and use up my energy in a way that brought joy.

So a few years ago when I was dealing with the loss of my Mom and feeling a lot of big emotions, I saw that little cross stitch on the wall in my kitchen and decided to pick up a needle and thread again, 

Cross stitch is, in many ways, the perfect craft. It has structure and creativity. The end result is almost always easy to achieve. The stitching puts you in a flow state - a moving meditative state that gives your brain a rest and tells your nervous system to ease up on the stress.

You can stitch in different ways, vary your colours and number of threads. You can be neat, clean, and consistent, or create your own whimsy. 

Little patterns give you that instant gratification of completing a project. But big projects are stunning. So I decided to combine them both and use small patterns to create something much larger. A pattern a day for a year.