{"id":44072,"date":"2013-11-04T00:08:06","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T08:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=44072"},"modified":"2013-11-04T00:08:06","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T08:08:06","slug":"cross-stitch-merit-badge-intermediate-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/44072","title":{"rendered":"Cross-Stitch Merit Badge, Intermediate Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/a>, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20147,653 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/a> \u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For this week\u2019s Stitching and Crafting\/Cross Stitch Level Two Merit Badge<\/a>, you may think I\u2019m preoccupied with autumn going into winter.<\/p>\n

And you\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n

Sewing is the best when done in the autumn, with a mug of something warm, a blanket over your cold toes, your pet of choice snoozing next to you, and the fall lineup of your favorite shows just starting. Autumn is when I get all my best crafting done, winter is when I reap the benefits, and spring and summer are when I attempt to get my lazy patootie off the ol\u2019 couch.<\/p>\n

I may have to cross-stitch that mantra on something.<\/p>\n

One of the best things about cross-stitching is it that gives you the excuse to really go nutty in the embroidery-floss aisle at the craft store. Those twisty loops of rainbow thread are almost better than a fresh box of crayons. And that, my dears, is saying something, ‘cuz there ain\u2019t nothing better than a fresh box of crayons\u2014am I right?<\/p>\n

You know I am.<\/p>\n

Add to my floss addiction (No, dear dentist of mine, the other kind. Don\u2019t get too happy with me; I still only floss after eating corn on the cob and five minutes before my check-up.) the addition of a coupon and a fun, little box for organizing my new collection, and I was a golden girl. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a time commitment requirement for this particular badge, but if there was, I would have fulfilled it just lovingly arranging and rearranging my embroidery flosses. They were as happy as clams at high tide in there, and I beamed every time I opened my box.<\/p>\n

But seriously. Time to get cracking. And stitching.<\/p>\n

I educated myself on the fabrics of cross-stitch: Aida or Evenweave. Or as I like to call \u2018em, Sunday fabric.<\/p>\n

‘Cuz it\u2019s holy.<\/p>\n

Get it? Holey?<\/p>\n

Just a little cross-stitch humor there. Ahem.<\/p>\n

Now, Aida and Evenweave come in various sizes, depending on how many stitches per inch you\u2019d like. I know, I know, we\u2019re sneaking some math in here. Badges are sly like that: You never know what you\u2019ll end up learning.<\/p>\n

Not being one to ever overestimate myself (ha!), I went with the most common and standard of the cross-stitching fabrics: a 14-holes-per-inch Aida.<\/p>\n

What are you making, Jane, you might well inquire at this point? Well, I\u2019m glad you asked. I\u2019m making a Christmas stocking.<\/p>\n

What? I like to get a jump on the holidays.<\/p>\n

Also, my old stocking got a little too close to the roaring fire I was roasting chestnuts on last year. (It\u2019s okay, it was too small, anyway. Santa knows I\u2019ve been VERY good this year, and I\u2019m expecting some serious loot. I mean, look at all these Merit Badges I\u2019ve been earning all year. He has to be pretty proud, and I\u2019m sure that will reflect in the amount of dark chocolate in my new stocking on Christmas morning.)<\/p>\n

Of course, I had to choose my most Christmas-y of colors out of my floss collection, and I spent a merry afternoon cross-stitching.<\/p>\n

The only drawback is putting my new creation away until Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, I\u2019m in the mood for chestnuts.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20147,653 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ Wondering … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}