airport | Mr X Stitch

My First Column! Hello! Well, this is all new and exciting isn’t it? I’m Kirsty and I am Extreme X Stitch. I’m a freelance cross stitcher too (also known as a model stitcher) for Mr X Stitch‘s fabulous magazine XStitch and Cross Stitcher Magazine. So, where did this all begin? Many MANY years ago I had tonsillitis and my mum decided I wasn’t spending the whole day in front of the TV, so she popped to the shop and picked up a Country Companions (remember them?) cross stitch kit. Mum showed me how to get started and off I went. I suspect this is what started the “I’m bored, I’ll stitch something” thinking that now dominates any spare minutes I have. I will stitch anywhere. I actually enjoy long flights (remember those?!) as it’s hours of uninterrupted stitching time. A couple of years ago I was on a flight to Dubai and there was a businessman sitting in the seat next to me. You should have seen his face as he realised I was happily stitching away in the seat next to him – he was not impressed and immediately got his laptop out as if to prove how busy and important he was. I’m pretty sure I enjoyed the flight a lot more than him, as I stitched away while watching Coco and Paddington 2. On a plane? Why not! Stitching is a great thing to do at the airport too, when you’ve checked in and you’re waiting in the departure lounge – just make sure you keep an eye on the time. During the same trip I was happily stitching away in the corner of departures when a fellow traveller came over to ask me what I was doing. We got chatting and she mentioned she’d run out of charge on her phone. I always travel with my chargers in my hand luggage so I let her borrow it for half an hour while we were talking. She told me she only came to speak to me about stitching, but as luck would have it I could help her out too. It was a great and very random way that stitching helped pass the time, got two lonely travellers talking and helped someone out. It gave me that warm fuzzy feeling in what sometimes seems like a very impersonal world. Good deeds at the airport. Which brings me on to the question I get asked most often – “Can you really stitch on a plane?” Yes, I’m pretty sure anywhere you can read a book you could cross stitch. Although in the current “new normal” that seems entirely irrelevant....however wouldn't we all want to be somewhere warm right now? Wouldn't we all want to be doing Extreme X Stitch on a beach?