The Wind Cries Mary

Sorry for the radio silence in the last couple of weeks!  I have had a lot of exciting developments in my life that I will explain later.  (I will tell you that no, my husband and I are not expecting a bouncing baby stitch.)  These changes have left me with little time to stitch or write, but I am getting back in the swing of things.  In the meantime, my mom sent me pictures of Mary's poem, which she had framed and gave to Mary.

Mary loved it so much that she hugged it.  It will be there to remind her of her husband's promise to be there in the breeze.

Project Update 6/23/2015

At the half-way point of 2015, I have already finished more projects than I did during all of 2014!

I finished another Christmas pattern, Frosted Pumpkin's "Christmas on Gingerbread Lane."  This one is for my friend Cassie.

This was really fun to stitch, with lots of bright colors and 5 different colors of hand-dyed thread.  It also has one color from DMC's Light Effects line.  As a metallic thread it is . . . substantially less fun to work with, but I soldiered on.

I also completed the June frame for the Story Time Sampler.  This month's story is Peter Pan.

I was very excited to see this month's selection.  Peter Pan was my favorite story when I was little, and the Disney movie re-release is one of my earliest memories of going to the movies.  The first acting role I ever had was as Wendy in a children's production.  (I am not entirely on board with Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  I watched a bit of it when we were visiting a young cousin, and I think it is weird that they softened up Captain Hook to make him cuter.)

Now that I have completed several larger projects, I am happy to start some new ones.

Kick it Up a Neotch

It is summer, and that means that it's time for the Mystery Steotch-Along!

Steotch is a cross-stitch pattern company that combines old-fashioned pattern styles with pop culture references.  I love the way that they take classic motifs and turn them on their heads, showing that cross-stitch doesn't have to be dainty and proper.  Those with finer sensibilities might find their patterns to be . . . ribald.  (One of these days, I will find the courage to enter "Return to Shady Thicket" in a State Fair.)

At this point, irreverent cross-stitch companies are a dime a dozen on Etsy.  What sets Steotch apart from its imitators is the complexity of the patterns.  Until now, the cross-stitch patterns I have done have all been beginner-friendly.  They used only regular cross-stitches and some backstitch for definition.  Steotch uses what are known as "fractional stitches," which are one-quarter or three-quarters the size of a standard cross-stitch.  This requires inserting the needle in the middle of a square of aida fabric.  It takes some getting used too--you want to gently wiggle the needle between the fabric warps and wefts without piercing them.  These stitches result in images with finer details than ones that use only standard cross-stitches.

This is also my first time using an effect called "tweeding."  Instead of stitching with two strands of one color of floss, you use one strand each of two different colors.  The result is stitches with subtle color variations.

This is third time Steotch has had a mystery stitch-along.  Two years ago, they began with a picture of Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction with the (fictionalized) Bible quote from the movie.  It had the same level of complexity as their standard patterns, so people complained that it wasn't beginner-friendly.  Last year, the pattern was one of Snoopy that you could customize with a number of Snoop Dog quotes.  It was much easier for beginners . . . but people still complained about enduring weeks upon weeks of white stitches against a white background.  This year, the pattern will be more like the one from the first year, but it will be spread out over a longer period of time.

Here is how my project looks after Week #1.

I'm hoping it has something to do with Ron Swanson from Parks & Recreation, whose pithy statements have become a favorite in the craft world.  ("Never half-ass two things.  Whole-ass one thing." Words to live by . . .)

For modern cross-stitchers who are looking for a challenge, Steotch provides the answer.  I love the idea of creating a project that not only matches my sense of humor, but also helps me grow as a stitcher.

For Mary and Terry

My mom met Mary when they were both working at Children's Hospital in Chicago.  They became friends quickly, and soon my parents became equally close with Mary's husband, Terry.  For almost 40 years the two couples would get together socially, talk on the phone, and celebrate milestones.

Last winter, Terry passed away after a long struggle with colon cancer.  Part of his process for saying goodbye was writing a poem for Mary that he wanted included in the program at his funeral.  Afterwards, my mom asked me if I could make embroidered art of the poem.  I'll admit that I was hesitant at first because I had just completed my first commission.  (It's been several months, and I am still getting nightmares about my client calling me on the phone to scream, "I HATE IT!  CHANGE EVERYTHING!")  But even when I wasn't trying to think about it, I began to form ideas in my head of how this piece would look, so I agreed to do it.

These are the last two lines of the poem.  I wrote them out in swirling, flowing lines evocative of the wind imagery in the piece.  The first line is dark blue, with each subsequent line in a lighter shade of blue.  The last word is two strands of white thread with one strand of silver Kreinik.  I'm going to mail this to my mom, who will frame it.  My mom loves the final result and I hope Mary will, too.

Mary,
Develop a sensitivity to soft breezes
because if the dead do come back,
it'll be my words against your cheek.
Always remember, my love,
that walking through life with you
has been an honor and a pleasure.

Project Update--6/2/2015

I've been on quite a productive streak lately.  Here are some projects that I haven't covered in previous posts.

I had never planned on buying Christmas-themed patterns for obvious reasons.  Then last December, the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery ladies gave me their Christmas Celebration Sampler for free.  They wanted to show their appreciation for the way I encouraged people to enter their patterns in state fairs.  The pattern was just so adorable, I couldn't NOT make it.  I decided to make Christmas patterns to give to my friends.  Ironically, right after I bought the Christmas patterns, two of my friends told me that they were studying Judaism with intent to convert.  (I'm drawing the line with Christmas patterns.  I will not make any Jesus ones, even if they are references to Simpsons episodes.)

I made this one for my friend Julia.  It has a lace border made of reindeer, snowflakes, and snowmen.  The pattern shows pictures that represent each letter in Christmas.  Can you guess what they are?

Luckily, I finished this one right in time for a 50% off framing sale at a local art store.  I'm glad I waited for the sale, because I had a LOT of projects to frame.

I also finished the May frame for FPS's Story Time Sampler.  This month was Charlotte's Web.

Some pig.

I just got the pattern for June, and it is one of my favorite children's stories of all time!  What characters do you want to see?

Remember Belgium

This past weekend, my friend Julia and I went to a local historical site, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.  For my readers outside of America, Herbert Hoover was the 31st president of the United States.  He began his career as a mining engineer, then organized humanitarian efforts before becoming the Secretary of Commerce.  He served only one term as president before being voted out, and he has had a less-than-stellar reputation due to the Great Depression starting in his first year of office.  However, he was the only president to be born in the state of Iowa, so his museum is a popular destination for elementary school field trips.

You might be wondering why I would devote space on my blog to this attraction, and the answer is because they are preserving a fascinating chapter in needlework history.

During World War I, the country of Belgium was disproportionately affected by German submarine blockades.  They had previously relied on importing food, and they did not have enough land to grow the amount of food necessary to support their population.  Hoover became the chair of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which organized food and monetary donations for Belgium during the war.

I don't know why I thought they had a real ship.  It was a parade float.

A large portion of the food relief came in the form of 50-pound flour sacks.  CRB organizers were concerned that the empty flour sacks could fall into the wrong hands.  There was a risk that people would fill them with inferior flour for reselling.  If the Germans got them, they could use the cotton for manufacturing ammunition.

To reduce these possibilities, organizers carefully kept track of the flour sacks, then sent the empty ones to professional schools where women were learning to sew and embroider as a trade.  Some women embellished the company logos on the bags, while others stitched elaborate messages of thanks to their American benefactors.  These embroidered flour sacks were used to raise money for the relief effort, and Hoover received many as gifts.  Today, the museum has a large collection of these flour sacks.  They have about five on display at any given time, rotating them out every several weeks.

The museum also has a display of Belgian lace.  The CRB worked to preserve this centuries-old industry by creating job opportunities for 20,000 female lace-makers.  Hoover's wife, Lou, used her connections to find buyers for the lace.

Bobbin lace

The exhibit is a reminder of the power that handmade objects held.  For every world-changing event, women were there to comment with their needles and thread.

Pretty Little Syndey

I am lucky to have really awesome in-laws.  My husband's parents love me like I am their own child, and they have been a big source of support to me.  They celebrated their 40th anniversary last summer, and I wanted to give them something special.  It was around that time that I discovered Satsuma Street Designs, a cross-stitch pattern company, and knew that one of their patterns would make the perfect gift.

Jody Rice, the designer behind Satsuma Street, likes to create patterns that combine retro shapes with bright colors.  She is becoming well known for her line of Pretty Little City patterns, which depict recognizable landmarks in cities around the world.

My in-laws are world travelers, and their house is filled with unique items from their travels.  There's the batik painting of Shabbat candles my mother-in-law made during a class in Indonesia, and a kiddush cup they had custom made when they went to Iran before the revolution.  They are social workers by day, but my father-in-law runs a boutique travel agency as a hobby business.  Last year, they lead a group trip to Australia and New Zealand, so I figured that they would enjoy a cross-stitched cityscape of Sydney.

Working on this made me realize just how little I actually know about Sydney aside from the Opera House, so I would look up the buildings as I went.  (Now the Pretty Little Sydney patterns come with a key for identifying landmarks.)  Still, the picture is fun to look at even if you aren't familiar with the city.  I like the bright palette of blues, greens, yellows, and oranges.  It was simple enough to be beginner friendly, but has enough detail to make it distinct.  My friends especially love the little surfer made of only a few stitches.  I just put it in a hoop for the picture.  I'll need to get it framed, and hopefully the lines of the buildings won't go wonky in the final version.

The other patrons of Home Ec's Saturday breakfasts were surprised over why I was making this.  When I told one woman it was for my in-laws, her eyes grew wide.  "Wow.  You must REALLY like them."  Yes, I do!  I didn't exactly complete it in time for my in-laws' 40th anniversary.  (It still counts if it is one month before their 41st, right?)  Luckily, they loved the picture I sent them and are willing to wait a bit longer so I can enter it in the State Fair.  I could probably spend the next several anniversaries giving them stitched versions of places they've visited; however, as a Chicago native I think I need to work on the Pretty Little version of that city next!