Handwork and The Craft

Unicorns and Threads of My Childhood.

I was about 12 when I discovered the basket of woolen embroidery threads and decided to create this charming unicorn. I remember thinking how wonderful it was to create such a creature -- and then, as life has it, I was drawn away to other activities and it sat for over 50 years in the basket. Taking it out now has me thinking about finishing it .. and why not? My grandchildren love the image, and have been giving me advice on colors (one wants a pink Unicorn, another a purple version.) I'll play with it over the next month and see if I can finish something that will satisfy at one or two of them.

The threads belonged to my great-grandmother and grandmother -- from a time when they too did so much embroidery. So it feels right, to be finishing now -- if only to keep those old skills I haven't used in many years new again.

 

 

Mistakes and Forgiveness

It seems to me these days that we live in a world that condemns everything and forgives nothing. It is rare when making a mistake -- even an honest one -- that we are allowed to fully repeal it or get past it. Except here in this sampler I started years ago and only recently have returned to thinking about adding to it. But there is that second strawberry-- a row out of alignment and it's making me crazy. 

So forgiveness, and undoing of a miss-doing. To be then start over, a clean slate and make it whole and right, Would the world were so accommodating. Some patience was needed in picking out the threads, for they were tight and true -- just in the wrong place. 

Stay tuned for the new version -- as it should have been...

Last Minute Mending

On my way to Sunday mass, and all my jeans except for one pair with a ripped knee were in the wash. A quick mend using vintage fabric from my mother's childhood.

Joining the Mending Movement.

After discovering that I have quite a bit of clothing in need of creative mending, I took it as a sign that it was time to learn a few more needle and darning skills. It's helpful, especially as I am not interested in buying a lot of new clothes right now if I can make old favorites last a little longer and show off a bit of textile art. 

Here's my patched knee... the second knee is on its way to joining it...

A Sweet Scrap of Embroidery: Roses and Buds

I have a large container of these beautiful scraps of embroidery -- all done by the maternal fore-women of my family. Sometimes the original finished piece had served long enough, and rather than ditch the whole cloth or garment, all the beautiful hand done embellishments were carefully cut and stored, hopefully to find new life in other ways -- a length of filet crochet as a new edging on a pillow case, a sweet patch like this to decorate a crazy quilt, a bit of handmade lace to adorn the cuffs of a new blouse. 

**I am adding in this photo I took after we moved to Boulder, Colorado. Tucson has no reference for the rose my great grandmothers on the plains embroidered -- the small, wild pink rose that hunkered between the strands of tall grass. But when I saw this beauty while walking through the fields below the Flat Irons on the Front Range, I felt that spark of recognition: these flowers live here.