Completed Cross Stitch – Karen Marie Zabroski’s “Seaside Cottages” for Sunset/Dimensions

Key West, Bahamas, opening scene (of Malibu) on Two and A Half Men as well as the lilting song spot of “By The Sea” in the movie Sweeney Todd.  All of the aforementioned scenes features glimpses of cute cottages or handsome homes near the ocean front.  Although in reality, it would be nice to own 11 islands like the magician David Copperfield and have as many fun sand huts as I want but, for now, this is all I can manage at the moment LOL 🙂

What is really nice about this piece is that it captures the essence of the sun, sand and breeze with no hint of corporate, clock-driven, hectic “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” schedule and so far I have not found anything “too” about it.

You’ve heard of the art form of “too-ism” right?  No?  Sure you have…”It’s too hot outside”…”I’m too full”…”She’s too (?)”…”He’s too (?)”…”It’s too spicy”…”Oh, I don’t do it too often”…”It’s too expensive”…”School’s too hard”…”The mountain’s too high”…etc. (Maybe that’s why the game show “The Price is Right” has lasted beyond Bob Barker?)

Seriously though, it seems (to me) that if anything is “too” in either a minimizing or maximizing fashion we seem to re-direct our attention towards something or someone that is not “too” much of anything in order to seek a comfortable equilibrium (with the exception of excess and pleasure until the after-effects kick in and the “too” cycle starts all over again).  We’ve alllllll been there! 🙂

So, as I was saying, this cross stitch project isn’t too hard or too difficult and despite that it is a larger piece, it has been very enjoyable to work on (with the exception of the time that I ripped out a lot of correct stitches that I miscounted as a result of being too tired…yeah, that realization wasn’t pretty :0))

The finished piece will be 18″ x 7″ on 14-count white cotton Aida (22″ x 11″).  This is a kit, so all of the floss is provided along with an organizer and two needles.  One for stitching and one for couching.  What’s couching?  Just fancy stitching on top of already fancy stitching for artistic effect.

As this work develops, you may notice a few details such as the light source (of the sun) seems to be of late afternoon (maybe 2-4 p.m.?) with a gentle wind travelling from west to east that you’ll see compliment the direction of the sailboats, flying kite and swaying grasses.