Behind the String: Amazing Grace or How I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew

I have talked about this piece before but it bears repeating with more details.

Amazing Grace was the second piece that I ever stitched (although it was the third piece I finished).  I had finished the Learn a Craft stamped cross stitch frog that summer which taught me how to stitch.  I was in the local craft store, Accents (an independent craft store that is sadly out of business now) and I saw the kit for this piece.  It was just after Thanksgiving and I thought "hey, that would make a nice Christmas present for Mom."  So, I bought it and brought it home to start it.  It is stitched over 2 on 28 count evenweave, which I had never done.  I had to read the instructions in the kit to figure out how to do much of the stitching.  By Christmas, I only had the border around the words in the middle stitched.  I was also keeping this a surprise for Mom so I had to work on it when she wasn't around.  I would stitch on it in my room all the time and have a pillow handy to throw over it if she walked in so she wouldn't see it.

Instead of having it done by Christmas, I had to done by summer and then got it professionally framed.  The backstitching of the notes and the staff and the lyrics took as much time as stitching the border.

My Mom loved it and it hangs over her bed.

And that's the story behind the string.