Cross-Stitching and Reading

I am not actually talented enough to do both of those things at once (unless you count listening to War and Peace on my iPod as reading), but these are a few of the things I’ve been up to lately. I bought this cross-stitch sampler in January as part of a goal to try some new crafts (why yes, I am already excited about the ones I am going to try next year!) It was on sale, so I got it, even though it was by far the most ambitious cross-stitch project I’d ever even thought about trying, and there was a good chance that it might be just totally out of my league. I am really happy to say that it is going really well so far, and I won’t even mind if I don’t finish it until 2017.

I am finally reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall after putting it on my Kindle for our Greece trip in September. I have mixed feelings about it, but I’m trying to keep the jury out until I’ve finished it. It’s strange to read a historical novel in the present tense, but I think my main qualm so far is that the style is a bit too modern and choppy for me. I am a nineteenth-century psychological novel kind of girl, dyed in the wool. But there are some lovely turns of phrase, and I am hoping I will like it more as I go.

This is what the cross-stitch will look like when it is finished: an ode to two of my favorite things! What are you working on and reading lately?