YUP! I've done lost my mind!

Little (ok, a LOT) background first... Back when DH made Chief I cross stitched the Navy Emblem for him (I've also done a Marine Corps one for the guy who we named Shorty after but that's a different story ) on Khaki fabric to celebrate his making Chief. Well, we got it framed and were originally going to give it to the mess so they could hang it up in their room (I've no idea what it looks like, never went on the ship the entire time he was there ) and the frame matched all the wood in there. It was GORGEOUS after it was framed. Mahogony frame, khaki fabric, hours upon HOURS of stitching little tiny x's all over.

Well, we ended up giving it to his sponsor instead of the mess. Which was fine, I was cool with that, he seemed to really like it and both he and his wife seemed pretty impressed with it (it was gorgeous after all )

DH actually seemed kind of bummed about giving it away so I decided to stitch it AGAIN! Just for him to hang on his "I love me wall". Not that we *had* one at the time, but we were planning to set one up. But I digress... I got almost ALL the stitching done on it. Seriously, I just have 2 colors of backstitching left to do on it. Its been sitting in the bookcase (through 2 moves I might add) since roughly 2003.

it currently looks like this:


Now that I am working with Navy Relief I have picked my stitching back up. I haven't done much since I started quilting back in 2004 or 2005 so I bought a small kit that I started last week. I figure if we have many more days like last week I'm gonna need something to stay sane!

FF to this morning... I scanned the emblem to show ya and (this is where the part comes in) have decided I am going to stitch it yet again and have it framed to hang somewhere in the office at Navy Relief. I seriously think I've lost my ever loving mind over here!

Oh well... should be fun, right? Or at least interesting!

I'd knit while there but since I knit layettes I can't "double bill" my hours so its just easier to knit at home and work on my XS while there I'm a little scared! This is a huge undertaking!

To give you an idea of how long it will take, DH was selected for Chief and I decided to work on it in early August I want to say (whenever the CPO Selectees list comes out ). His pinning ceremony was in mid-September (want to say the 15th or16th) and the Khaki Ball was in October (like the 2nd or 3rd I think) It also took about a week to have it framed.

I started the thing when he started going through the initiation process and it was done by the time he was pinned. We took it to get framed a couple days after he was pinned.

I literally stitched for hours at a time EVERY SINGLE DAY for like 3 weeks to get this thing done, people! and now I'm gonna do it again? Yup... I'm certifiable!