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There is a reason why this blog has been so quiet. For the last 2 years, I have been working on my knitting and quilting stash. I have done a little cross stitch and finished a few projects I'd like to post photos of, but I have mainly been on a two-needle diet:)

I'm not sure if I am going to do this sampler in one single piece, or take each section alone. At this time I am leaning more towards doing each design singly. With all these large projects that I will be working on, I know I will need some smaller ones to get a sense of completions. They will also fit a bit better on my sampler wall than another large sampler.

If I do them singly, I am sure I am going to start with the lovely woman in the pink dress. She appeals to me so much! I just love the simplicity of the design and the candid expression on her face. She puts me in touch with all the young women who worked on their own designs and drew the world as they saw it. She also reminds me of my favorite kind of doll...the china head dolls with the painted black hair. I have several in my collection, two made by a 95 year old Mennonite woman that I came to know and love, Cornelia Heatwole. She was living at the Eastern Mennonite home outside Harrisonburg, VA. The home had a craft sale and I bought one of the dolls she had in the sale for $18. She had painted and fired the head, hands and feet and then dressed the doll in a Mennonite style dress. I wanted to have some more dolls made for a cousin and a niece, so I went by the home to make the arrangements. She was a charming person and I loved visiting her. Her dolls were well received and I ended up getting several more and each time I learned more and more about her and her world.

She came into my life during a time of intense spiritual confusion and she contributed to my growth in so many ways. I found myself stopping off to visit her even when I wasn't ordering or picking up a doll. God sent this woman to me during a time of great need and I would not be the person I am today without her wisdom and nurturing. Looking at this lady in pink reminds me of Miss Cornelia and of that cross roads in my life. My relationship with her reminds me of Hebrews 13: 2 "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." In so many ways, she was and "angel unaware" to me.

Another Project for this year

I started JCS a few years ago and like to get it out from time to time to work a motif, so I've put it on my this year's stitching also. It's a beautiful sampler and I wish I knew more about the young woman who did it. Reproduction samplers have tremendous appeal to me. They are a real connection to a person who actually lived and formed the same stitches that I am doing as I work on the sampler. JCS could not possibly have dreamed that in 200 or so years, someone would chart her work and that hundreds of people in a time period she couldn't imagine would be following her stitches to display on the walls of their own homes.

More 2009 Stitching

What fun it is to select cross stitch projects for the year! I am not sure why, but there is no doubt that the planning, kitting, and starting feels like opening a Christmas present. I've had the chart for Many Mansions for about 20 years, but just started it a couple of years ago. I've done it on an oatmeal Aida 16 ct. I really prefer linen, but there are times when I need a low light project and the Aida is just right.

(OT: philosophy alert )I have always loved this verse from the Bible. I don't know what heaven will be like, but the Bible tells us that we are made for Heaven, so it will suit us perfectly. [The Bible also tells us that if we believe that Christ died for our sins and accept him into our hearts, we know we will be with Him in Heaven. I add that caveat because I don't want people to think I am being over confident when I say that I know I will go to Heaven.]

So what is this needleworker's idea of heaven? Well, first, it will be like...Heaven! No more newspapers articles about 12 year old boys forced to be soldiers, no children being abused, no Middle East crisis, or terrorists...none of those things that make our planet a horror. Second, we will be with the God who loves us unconditionally and fills every self-doubting corner of our hearts with love. It will be like living with a perfect lover whom we are able to worship with every fiber of our being. We were made for this relationship with God and it will be far more wonderful than anything we can imagine.

Fourth, which gets it's own paragraph, is the ramblings of my imagination. When I see a beautiful photograph of some place on this earth that I will never get to, I console myself with the idea that I will have eternity to see every inch of this awesome world. I have the idea that God is not going to just scrap this planet when we have reached the brink of destruction. I like to think that it will be there for us to explore forever. We'll get to see the fantastic creations of God which only He sees now; things like beautiful sea shells that lie on the bottom of the ocean, lovely alpine meadows of wild flowers that live and die beyond the eyes of humans and my favorite image from poetry, "a host of golden daffodils." And, then, there will be the needlework projects that I can't manage to do in my lifetime. When I leave a beautiful chart in the rack at my favorites LNS, I console myself with the idea that I have all eternity to stitch to my heart's content; and maybe in Heaven, needles won't get lost and specialty fibers won't slither off my needle or fray.

Whatever Heaven really is, I know that it will fill the longings of my heart in every way. I know I am made for Heaven and it will be a perfect fit, so I content myself with the knowledge that if needlework is not part of Heaven, the longings in my heart when I see a new chart and the joy of stitching that I feel now will be filled with pleasures that go beyond the joy that stitching brings to me now.

Another New Year

Well, I haven't gotten as much done on my samplers as I wanted, but I am moved into my new house! I have a lovely little downstairs with room for 2 guest chairs, a tiny kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It's just right for me and I am surrounded by my bookcases full of craft books with projects just calling to me. I also have a lovely craft room upstairs and, while it is now quite jumbled, it will be wonderful when I have everything sorted out.

Downsizing is difficult, but I'm finding that it is satisfying. I'm working on old projects that I lost interest in and I'm seeing just how much stuff I really have. I challenged myself to not buy any new fabric, yarn or cross-stitch this past year except sock yarn and I actually have pretty much stuck to it. I allowed myself a "get out of jail free" card for one big blowout, but I didn't take it. I bought some fabric when I won a contest at a quilt shop...just to buy enough to not have to pay postage, but that wasn't too bad.

I am almost finished with the Meinen Sampler and should have it done by the end of the month. I am also just about finished with the Christmas Sampler, so I should have it done by the end of the month too! Yeah! Now I am savoring the prospect of starting something new. I still have my Dutch sampler and that now goes to the top of the list and I enjoy the Many Mansions that I have on an oatmeal Aida. I try to keep at least one Aida project on hand for low light situations. I have the border done on that. I'll also be working on Celle, but it's a little too much to think that I will get that finished by the end of the year too...still it would be nice.

I have Celle on tap again for this year's sampler stitching. I am at a hard place right now and will need some uninterrupted time to work on it. It would be wonderful if I could get this one done this year also. I will have time when I house sit for my sister, so maybe I can get that motif done.

Teaching little ones

Today I taught my 6 year old granddaughter, Eli, to needlepoint. She is a natural at it and did really well. After dinner, I watched her pick up her needlework while we watched a movie...something that she has seen her grandmother, aunts and great grandmother do countless times. It was just as natural as curling up with the dog. What a wonderful legacy we have from a long list of needlewomen stretching back in time.

We were talking about the subject over Christmas vacation and teasing my 88 year old dad at all the time he has wasted and trying to calculate how many afghans he could have made with all the time spent riding in a car, watching TV or waiting in a doctor's office. Why is it that it is usually women to seek to use up all those bits of time which would be wasted...or nonproductive at the very least? I hardly ever see the women of my family just sitting and talking. As soon as we sink down into a chair, our hands go automatically to the knitting bag, or other project bag.

There is such a drive in me to use my time twice, or even three times if I can. As I write this, I have a sweater for Eli sitting next to the computer. When I can't figure out what I want to say, I grab the needles and think. When I go to read my post to check for mistakes, I automatically pick up my needles. Why? Before Christmas, my mom said arthritis was bothering her hands and the first thing I asked was. "Is your Christmas knitting done?" I knew if it wasn't done, she was going to be feeling really anxious along with being in pain.

Don't misunderstand; I am not a type A personality who is rushing to get ahead. I just don't like letting one of my senses dangle when I could be using it. So, Eli is doing needlepoint and that means Addie will soon be doing it too. Addie also got knitting needles and yarn for Christmas, so that means knitting lessons are going to be part of her homeschool day also. They are the next generations to take up the needles and carry on a long tradition.

A Gift of Memories

I've been searching for something to give to my 20 year old step grandson. He came into our family when he was 12 and he is dear to my heart. He's moved away to his first apartment and I wanted to give him something for a house warming present that would say to him that he's as much my grandson as the ones I share genes with.

I gave him my "Old Fisherman." I worked on that picture for about 4 years. Just about everyone who knew me at that time saw it because I carried it everywhere. I loved working on it and locking in memories of our daily life...the life that John was not a part of at the time. I loved that piece; I still do, but it was what I needed to give to John. It was like giving him the memories of our family that he didn't have. Now I just have to find the words to tell that to him!

A Different Perspective on Homeschooling and Stitching

A while back I wrote about how homeschooling would take away a lot of hours I like to spend on my various needlework projects, but then I had a different thought. In Germany, boys and girls are taught to knit in 4th grade. It's something that should be passed down to all our children. My Father-in-law told me about how the old fishermen used to sit around mending nets, or making new ones. He showed me how to do it and it is just like Macrame.

Since we homeschool, we have the option of making a curriculum that fits our kids and I'm going to set aside some time each week to pass on a tradition. I won't be able to do it right away, but I will try to work it in.

Celle and Memories

In years to come, when I look at this sampler, I will think about the long conversations I had with my mother and dad while working on this sampler. Since they are 88 and 84, I really treasure this time.

I don't know about anyone else, but I stitch in memories when I do my needlework. I can look around my house at my needlework and remember when and where I stitched so many pieces. I see my son as a toddler when I look at a crewel surrounded mirror. When I see my flower thread sampler, I think of the yearly trip to the Peaks of Otter in Virginia. My needlework charts my children's growing up years and when I go to the houses of some of my friends and relatives, I see the pieces I have done for them and remember that time again.

When I look at Celle, I will remember this vacation and the time I spent with my granddaughter, Eli (Elizabeth Anne), sitting on the porch watching the birds, and the time I spent talking to my folks. I'll also remember the genealogy side trip to Boonsboro, MD where I saw the same mountains and hills my ancestors knew, and the time I spent with one of my favorite cousins when I researched my Hawn family in PA. In every stitch, I think there is a memory.

I also stopped in Charleston on my way back home and saw the Southern Girlhood exhibit there. It was fantastic and being alone, I could spend as much time as I liked viewing it. I went back and forth between the samplers and a nice little bench out front where there was an antiques magazine on the exhibit. Of course, I would love to have had someone to "ooh and ahh" with, but only a sampler lover would have wanted to take the time I took reading each description and looking over each sampler thoroughly.

Free Rice and my Vocabulary

FREE RICE

What fun! This is a wonderful website. You improve your vocabulary while contributing free rice to the world's poor. Not only is a fun, but the vocabulary words chosen are linked to your score, so they are always appropriate for you. If you miss a fairly easy word, you are given more words at that level so you are never overwhelmed.

Why am I not finished?

Well, I've stitched and stitched last year, so why aren't my favorite projects finished? If I had an answer to that, I'd think I won the lottery. Yes, I've stitched, but it seems like my favorite projects have had to take a back seat to the projects I made for others. Why, oh why, haven't I taken photos of them? If I did, I could look at this list and feel like I have accomplished something even if I didn't meet my goals.

So, my New Year's resolution is to take a photo of everything I stitch, no matter how small. I wonder how long it will take me to slip up on that one? Still, if I make a resolution, I will be more apt to do it eventually rather than not at all. I am also going to resolve that one of these projects gets done this year. My best bet is "Grandma Meinen" so that is going to be my target. I also need to get some Christmas ornaments done. A good friend is stitching with me and she is also doing Christmas ornaments so we can keep each other on track. Anyone else is free to join us.

Stitching by candle light

In homeschool, we did something very different. I had kits for the kids to make felt animal toys. They were shaped as a ginger bread boy and a frog. The kids had to thread the needle and stitch in the small holes already provided and then stitch back the other way. The trick was that we were doing this as pioneers. As soon as the weather was cool enough to make a fire, I had their dad build one and we got 2 candles. The kids and I sat in the very subdued light and talked and sewed. They learned how it felt for our ancestors when there was no electricity. There were some unexpected dividends too. We all realized that all the family members would be sitting around the fire together and talking while they worked on their various tasks. Harnesses needed fixing, and tools needed sharpening, so Dad and the boys had things they needed to do also. Sometimes it would be a piece of whittling to make a whistle for the little ones. Mom would need to knit clothes to keep the family warm over the winter and the girls would also be assigned knitting tasks. The family would be together, talking about this and that and spending time together. Our lives today fling our families apart...to different rooms and different states. We learned to cherish our time together.

New cross sitch project

My sister has returned from Alaska and she brought a some neat cross-stitch patterns she got in Anchorage. She's asked me to do one of a Sea Otter for her Christmas present. That's like getting two presents (for me). I get to stitch a great piece and I check her off my Christmas list. I like this! It is a darling design, but I can see that it has a lot of floss that is of a similar color. I'll have to hope for good weather so I can stitch in natural light. I've found that even the new Ott lights don't work as well as being outside, although they are a vast improvement.

We picked her garden and my daughter-in-law's and managed to get a lot of tomatoes, so we spent all day putting up stewed tomatoes, chili and salsa. It was so nice to spend the day working together and just visiting. I feel such a kinship with the women of the past. Our modern world doesn't make room for a lot of the ties that sustained our grandmothers.

She also brought me some wonderful hand dyed wool for making socks. This has been the focus of this year's knitting goals. I wanted to master all the skills you need to make socks and the only way I could figure to do it was to just makes socks and more socks until I was totally comfortable making them. A friend of my mother's taught me an easy way to graft the toes of the socks and that was a real key. That's the hardest part of making socks, at least for me it is. My sister also got some sock yarn for herself too and wanted me to show her how to make them. There's another thing that hearkens back to an earlier time...in two ways. First, women handing down traditional crafts and second, spending time together. When you add that to how hand knit socks feel, you can see why they are so popular.

Drought

This peaceful stitching vacation is turning out to be more like going to one of those weight-loss camps where they keep you so busy exercising, you don't have time to eat! Virgina is having one of the worst droughts in many years. Actually, I began to see signs of it as soon as I crossed the Florida/Georgia line on my trip up here. The crops are in a pitiful state and it made me feel like crying.

My sister has a lot of plants in her several acre yard and a large garden also. I'm spending most of my days lugging hoses and sprinklers from place to place, hoping that the plants I watered in the morning can survive until it's their turn for water the next day. I feel like I do triage every morning and then head out to treat the most severely wounded all day long. I've never seen such drought. In the evening I hear thunder rumbling in the area and I see dark clouds gathering, but I have yet to see where it rained. I check with my daughter-in-law who lives nearby to see if they got the rain, but they haven't gotten a drop. It isn't the kind of rain that does much good anyway...just a few minutes of downpour and then the steam evaporates before your very eyes. Still, I'd love to have even that little bit of rain.

The garden is struggling along, and I am picking it and canning and freezing what I can, but it isn't much. We have had tomatoes and beans, so I am getting them put up, but there should be three times as much. Last year I had wonderful meals of veggies that came right from the garden to the plate. It has caused me to think of our ancestors who had to live almost totally from what they had grown. I guess I never thought of what a disaster is was to have a season of drought. I shouldn't complain.

So, I haven't had the time to stitch like I wanted. It's also hotter than blue blazes outside, so sitting on the porch isn't as inviting as it was last year. I spoke to someone at the grocery store and she said it was 106 in her back yard. That is beyond miserable. I have managed to do a lot of quilting in the air conditioned house though. I started a wonderful quilt for my granddaughter made from multiple shades of pink which she will love. I also cut out several quilts so I could have them ready when I went home. I shouldn't complain.

Stitching on vacation

It's been so long since I have sat down with Celle and done any work. I'm house sitting at my sister's again and thoroughly enjoying the time to sit on the porch with my books on tape and stitching in hand. I've done very little in these past few months because of homeschooling. I used to grumble about some of the text books I used to have to use, but I am seeing that creating your own material has some disadvantages too...mainly the time it takes.

My time is divided this vacation. I have a lot of quilting that I have to get done and I won't have the time to focus solely on my stitching. Still, it feels good to be working on any of the various needlework crafts that I enjoy.

A New Leaf

Spring is the time of new beginnings and this should be a good time to switch projects. I have worked very hard on Celle and it is now time to work on my other samplers. Since I will be going to Virginia to visit my parents, and house sit again for my sister, I am going to work on the Meinen Sampler. It is in honor of my mother's grandmother and it will be nice to stitch in some memories while we are chatting. This is one that is close to finishing, so I hope I can get it done while I am there.

That means adding some photos, both of Celle which I am thinking about retiring, and Meinen Sampler which is now active. I find it so interesting that I can be tired of a project and have no motivation to work on it and then 6 months later, I just can't wait to get back to it. I'll do a l.ittle more on Celle and then let it rest a while

Homeschooling and stitching

My daughter and I have decided to start homeschooling her son, Jacob. For many, many reasons, we are unhappy with his school situation. The biggest is that Florida has the FCAT and the teachers are having to teach to the test at the expense of true learning. Add that to the fact that the school has been in lockdown twice this year, first when a man committed murder and suicide and second when the police were chasing a criminal. The latter just as the parents were picking up the kids. This school is in a nice neighborhood in a small town and yet, we can't feel like we are sending our children to school in safety. Add that to the wonderful results relatives have had, and the fact that the last regular grade I taught was 5th grade and it tipped the scale in the direction of homeschooling.

This however is going to really put a crimp in my stitching. There are the lesson plans, correcting papers and gathering material that I'll be doing in the evening plus the actual teaching time. I foresee much fewer hours available to stitch. Isn't a shame that life gets in the way of stitching?

July Stitching - on vacation

In years to come, when I look at this sampler, I will think about the long conversations I had with my mother and dad while working on this sampler. Since they are 86 and 82, I really treasure this time.

I don't know about anyone else, but I stitch in memories when I do my needlework. I can look around my house at my needlework and remember when and where I stitched so many pieces. I see my son as a toddler when I look at a crewel surrounded mirror. When I see my flower thread sampler, I think of the yearly trip to the Peaks of Otter in Virginia. My needlework charts my children's growing up years and when I go to the houses of some of my friends and relatives, I see the pieces I have done for them and remember that time again.

When I look at Celle, I will remember this vacation and the time I spent with my granddaughter, Eli (Elizabeth Anne), sitting on the porch watching the birds, and the time I spent talking to my folks. I'll also remember the genealogy side trip to Boonsboro, MD where I saw the same mountains and hills my ancestors knew, and the time I spent with one of my favorite cousins when I researched my Hawn family in PA. In every stitch, I think there is a memory.

I also stopped in Charleston on my way back home and saw the Southern Girlhood exhibit there. It was fantastic and being alone, I could spend as much time as I liked viewing it. I went back and forth between the samplers and a nice little bench out front where there was an antiques magazine on the exhibit. Of course, I would love to have had someone to "ooh and ahh" with, but only a sampler lover would have wanted to take the time I took reading each description and looking over each sampler thoroughly.

June Stitching

House sitting for my sister in rural Virginia provided lots of opportunity to stitch and I got a lot accomplished. My sister has dozens of plants and hanging baskets on her wide wrap-around porches and a porch and yard full of bird feeders. I got books on tape from her library and sat on the porch watching the birds and stitching. Doesn't that sound like heaven? She also has a large flower garden with a goldfish pond and waterfall, benches and ornamental trees and a food garden as well. It's idyllic, but takes a lot of care, hence the house-sitting.

I also got my granddaughter, Eli, 4, and brought her over to make doll clothes and have a picnic on the porch. She enjoyed watching the little hummingbird defend his feeder from his "wife" and "children." He was so selfish, she thought he needed to go to "time-out"! Hummingbirds will share their feeders during the courtship and nesting, but once those hatchlings fledge, it's every man for himself! We enjoyed seeing the fledglings hiding in the bushes and attempting to sneak a sip of nectar.

Just as hummingbirds are more aggressive than I ever imagined, we also saw 2 bluebirds dive bombing squirrels at a feeder. What a shock! I had no idea they could be so aggressive either. Since they don't really use the feeder much, we figured that they must have a nest near; probably in the tree above the feeder.

There was even more raw nature to hear about when Mary Beth and Bobby returned. They have a screech owl box with a tiny camera in it and we have enjoyed seeing the owls care for the little babies, but one night an owl got a cardinal that was feeding on one of the feeders. Bobby checked the owl-cam and sure enough the owls were feeding the cardinal to the babies.

Meinen Sampler for May

I finally have all the siblings names done and am starting the border across the bottom. I didn't work on the sampler as much as I usually would since I was also doing Matter's Choice for a local needlework shop, but I am looking forward to doing more work in Virginia while housesitting for my sister. You can click on the picture for a better view of how the names turned out.

The more I work on this, the more enthused I get. Along with stitching and finding out historical details, I find that I am searching my own mind for memories of Grandma Meinen. I was 9 when she died, but I do remember her. On one visit, we drove up a country road to the house and I remember that she was out in her garden weeding, pinching back plants and picking radishes. She grew the long white icicle radishes. What an odd thing to remember! Still, it tells me something about her. My sister was a baby, so she must have been in her late 70's. She was still hard at work even then. By that time, Uncle Gib was doing the farming, so she didn't have that responsibility, but I am sure there still was plenty to do.

I think this was the same visit when we kids had a wonderful time climbing to the top of a huge haystack and rolling and tumbling down it. It seemed to me to be far better than playground equipment! Life on a farm seemed like the most wonderful thing but, like so many other things, the reality was a lot less enchanting. I can only imagine how much work there was to do.