I Finished a Cross Stitch Thing!

I am a crafty little dino dork.

And here's my first finished cross stitch project!

It's easier to read in real life, but it says "Goodness gracious - we've reached the late Cretaceous," which is a line from the Magic Schoolbus episode about dinosaurs. (That was such a good, educational kid's show; I can't count how often I quote it in daily life.)

Because I'm a nerd, all the animals featured are actually from the late Cretaceous.

Going clockwise from the top left: A tyrannosaurus skull, a parasaurolophus, dinosaur footprints, a pterosaur, two velociraptors (with feathers, like they had in real life), a hatching parasaurolophus (technically the babies weren't born with head crests, but then they probably weren't purple, either - I'm willing to take creative liberties for adorableness), and a sauropod.

The whole thing is about four inches square, done on 11 count Aida fabric with two strands of floss.

I thought cross stitch would be an good craft for me because my muscular dystrophy limits my movement and strength while my fine motor skills are generally unaffected. I had to cut the fabric smaller than I wanted because it was unwieldy, and sometimes my arm fell over while I was pulling a thread that was a little too long, but overall I'm very pleased with the experience.

My mom is less than thrilled at my calling it "analog pixel art," but I grew up recoloring Pokemon sprites. Working in tiny squares comes natural to me.

I designed all the patterns myself (I traced the outline of the skull from a picture). Here they are, along with some extras I didn't use. Feel free to use and share them if you want (and I can do custom designs if anyone needs anything).

 

Dinosaurs are just about my favorite thing ever. I've always been a dinosaur nerd. My favorite movie when I was 5 was Jurassic Park, and I so idolized Drs. Grant and Sattler.

I loved the chase scenes and the science, but one of my favorite parts of the movie is actually the boring beginning part before they go to the park. The dig. That's what I liked. I always felt like I should have been a paleontologist.

I think that's one of the few things that I can't do because of my disability that actually bothers me. But any time I learn a new skill, I use it to make dinosaurs.