This week I haven't stitched very much. There's a lot going on at school with the end of the year coming up. Here in Berlin we go to school until June 28. I know that sounds like a long year, but we do get lots of one and two week breaks throughout the year, which I quite like. So some days I've come home and just collapsed and done not much at all but read a good book.What I have done is to get quite a bit of the white chain stitch border finished on the RSN Prep Sampler. And, when I did sit down to stitch, I found it so relaxing.When I stitch, I'm usually thinking about color, the changing stitches, the design and a myriad of other things that make it such an involving activity. In many ways it's like making music: I have tools and a set of skills that all come together to make something beautiful.This week, however, it's more like playing scales. One stitch, over and over, in one color, in straight lines. Nothing changing, my only focus to make each stitch the same length as all the others. At the beginning I was bored. I watched TV or listened to something that engaged my mind. Then, late yesterday afternoon, I decided I needed a bit of peace and quiet. I turned off everything and just stitched, one little chain stitch after the other in straight lines. The longer I went on, the calmer I felt. It was meditative and peaceful.My shoulders relaxed, my brain stopped flying around from one thing to another, my breaths were deeper and I felt centered.

This doesn't look like much, I know. White chain stitch on linen twill. Not very exciting. But every time I look at it from now on I will remember the feeling of serenity that arose while I was working.Aaahhhhh...