A New Found Love
The lockdown period hit hard on us all. Work from home, completely shut out from friends and family, no social engagements, no shopping, and no maids. TV was a great company to many but was so full of negativity it felt like an aftertaste from a bad coffee. Anyway, I don’t watch TV too much. My boys were happily watching cartoons and eating snacks to their hearts’ content. After the chores were over, I felt I had nothing to do. My little ones were not interested in academic work and going for a walk seemed so scary. So I took up a new hobby, embroidery.
My paternal grandma taught me embroidery. She is no more, but the memories of her embroidering and knitting are ever fresh. I neglected the nuances of stitching and embroidery in the past, but when I wanted to take up embroidering again, Anchor Quick Stitch Kits came to the rescue.
When I had gone to purchase lining materials in January 2020 for upcoming events and weddings, I saw these stitch kits lying along on the counter. I was browsing through some of it and my little one started pestering me to buy a few so we bought a Ganesha, a bunny rabbit, a pink lotus and a peacock kit. The kit had all the equipment. It has skeins of thread, a needle and a printed canvas with instructions and colour schemas printed in a paper. I started with the Ganesha which was pretty easy to work with and anything new started with Ganesha’s blessings is sure to be successful.
As the days of lockdown progressed and only phone calls were allowed with near and dear ones, travelling prohibited, holidays cancelled, my romance with stitching continued. I was twitching to start the masterpiece peacock, but I was skeptical. Will I be able to finish this or will it be half done and forgotten? I took the courage to start it, and I did it little by little. As the lockdown progressed, so did my peacock. It was a beautiful picture and peacock and a peahen facing each other and sitting in a branch of a tree, with beautiful flowers surrounding it.
The finished picture would look like a Miniature painting. A little bit of time here and there, conversations with my boys while I was working, teaching them the basics of needlework while doing this picture made the whole time fun and engaging. More than me, my boys were interested in the progress of the work. And they commented on it as well, saying ‘Its coming along nicely mummy’.
The instructions said start with dark colours and as you advance through the picture, do the lighter colours and I followed the instructions to the T. The work was becoming alluring and charming as it evolved from a mere canvas to work in progress. There were minute spots, and it took me about two-and-a-half weeks to complete the picture. It thrilled my mom that I took up embroidering after my grandma and her and I felt delighted and fulfilled that a hobby has turned into a passion and a newfound love and I started doing it regularly even after the lockdown
