Perhaps I have lost my mind

I suppose that if I were smart I would have embroidered the letters for Charlie's atara/neckband by machine.

I was thinking about what a great kid Charlie is. I was thinking about the great dynamic between Charlie and his parents and his little brother. I was also thinking about how much I love Charlie's great aunt and uncle...

So I decided to hand embroider all of the letters.

This is not a rational decision.

It is an interesting mental exercise following the outlines of the letters from the underside of the atara and then forming the stitches on the front of the piece.

There is something sort of zen-like about doing the work. Embroidering the outline of the letters takes a great deal of focus, filling the letters in takes much less focus.

I play mental games with myself to keep working. I work on random bits of the letters all over the piece. It allows me to pretend that this isn't quite as much work. Each stitch catches the light. the end result will look wonderful.