I was raised by a cross stitch artist. My mother would work for hours a day on incredibly elaborate pieces. Some of them took her months to complete, and the finish product looked closer to a painting than it did to fiber arts. While I inherited her inability to keep my hands still, I did not receive her patience.
As a mental health professional, I know first hand the value of focused, repetitive activities. But it's not just about calming the mind, it's about activating the catharsis. It feels great at the end of a long day to sit down and stab something a few hundred times. It feels good to be a little subversive in your grandma hobbies.
Cross stitch pattern design is my creative outlet. I can't draw to save my life, but I can make X's on a grid look like something. I hope folks enjoy my patterns for their brevity and levity!