A Stitch in Time

Yesterday I spring cleaned my dining room. This house has more wall space than our old house. After cleaning and looking around and admiring my work, I realized it needed something. Something on the walls. Well that is when I pulled out my treasures that didn't really have a home in our old house. Things that I love and things that I made. Those things that are unframed but finished. Lots of time and labor went into these and I always knew I would find a home for them eventually. In pulling out my things, it made me realize that I want more lovely things to hang as we also have a huge living room, hallway, bedroom, family room with lots of wall space.

I started stitching when I got married. I got a kit of a vase with irises in it from a craft store that is no longer in business. I had no clue what to do and tried and tried and tried. It looked horrible and nothing like the picture. It was trashed. I couldn't do this thing called cross stitch. A couple years later while buying flowers I was back in this craft store and bought a geisha girl. This thing was huge. Way above my head so to speak. I started it and even found an LNS in the next town over. I went there maybe once a year. Then I stopped. When I became a stay at home mom in 1993, I needed something. I am not the type to clean from morning til night and while I doted on my son, he was a baby and took naps and ate and took naps and ate. So I bought this kit of a spring time bonsai tree. I worked on this and it clicked. I was hooked. It took me about a year to do and I took it with me when my son was hospitalized at 9 months old to have some surgery he couldn't have as an infant. This bonsai was my first finish and while my bedroom does not have an oriental feel anymore, it still hangs there proudly. It was my very first finish and the start of what has grown into full blown obsession, addiction, pleasure. You name it. You are stitchers. You know the feeling.

After that finish, I bought a cross stitch magazine. I got a subscription. I got catalogs. I found the next piece which is the hugest piece I have ever done and finished to date. It is called Village Alphabet by Cross My Heart. I bought it as a kit from The Stitchery. I started it in August of 1994 and finished it on November 8, 1995 (it says so on the sampler). I enjoyed every stitch but something happened during that time of stitching. I discovered the Spirit of Cross Stitch Shows which have now evolved into CATS. WOW!!! My sister in law and I went to the last two of the Spirit Shows ever and my eyes were so opened. I fell in love with the work of Mirabilia and Lavendar and Lace earlier angels and brides and so many more that I didn't know exist. I started collecting Mirabilia charts but because I didn't have internet at the time, I didn't realize about rotation and WIPS, UFOS, stash enhancement, etc. I thought I had to work until finished on one project. I bought my first Mirabilia "My Lady's Garden". I started that shortly after Village Alphabet. It took me a year to do or so it seems. DS highlighted my linen (thankfully her dress covers it), he also spilled juice on it. But he never did so again.

Something happened during the stitching on My Lady's Garden which is the third finish I ever had. My stash started growing. I mail ordered and went to this little LNS and just bought and bought and bought. Mostly they were Mirabilias. I was getting stitching gifts and learning about linens and evenweaves, scissors and fobs. I was subscribing to magazines. I finished My Lady's Garden in 1996. I put her away as there was no where in our old house for her to hang. I stitched other smaller things, discovered the internet, round robins, secret stitchers, etc. But my love for Mirabilia never left me. In 2000, I started Le Nouveau Sampler. I just love the castle in the background and the profile of the lady of the castle in the middle. I stitched this while my son was in 1st grade and my DD was 2. During that time my DS got scarletina a form of Scarlet Fever after a bout with strep throat. Le Nouveau kept my sanity during those long 10 days that DS was so ill. After I finished her, I put her away with My Lady's Garden. Never forgotten, just put aside for when they would be perfect to display.

Yesterday was the day!!! I ran to my stash drawer and pulled them out. I already bought a frame for Le Nouveau Sampler so I bought another frame for My Lady's Garden. I gently washed both and ironed them. From the back of My Lady's Garden you can see the purple highlighter that DS used and on the front there is a tiny juice stain that just won't come out. That is okay. I will always remember how it got there and who did it. Le Nouveau Sampler was my first time with lots of metallics and beads. I attached the beads with plain old floss and my metallic could have laid nicer. But I remember how ill DS was when I was stitching that. I remember sitting awake listening for him and stitching into the night. I will never forget that.

Tonight DH is going to frame them. He needs to cut a mat for Le Nouveau Sampler but if not, at least my Lady's Garden will be framed tonight. I can't wait. I am so happy to be able to hang something that is unique, something made by my hand. Something I can look at and remember the time not so long ago. Something I am proud of. Something my family is proud of. Something priceless!