A Give Away, A Gift and A Golden Oldy

Hello everyone, and greetings from soggy, swampy Florida!!  Tropical Storm Isaac - and the influx of Republican conventioneers - are upon us.  Nothing sinister from either one so far, though things are just today getting underway in both cases.

However, I was delighted to find early this morning that Isaac did land me a day at home, something I was more than happy to have.    About mid-morning the doorbell rang, which was a little surprising on such a wet Monday.  It was the mail carrier!  And she was delivering a big box....from Jeanne!

Molly couldn't wait to see what was inside...and neither could I.

So we opened the box together. Here's what we found:

And this....

Needless to say Jeanne, I'm thrilled to pieces - what a day brightener!  I just love the fun project bag and the needle pillow, both of which I'm sure are your own work.  Molly may have her eyes on the shortbread - do dogs and Brits both call them biscuits? - but they'll be safely kept out of paws way.  Thank you so much, Jeanne.  Talk about paying it forward!

So while we were taking pictures this afternoon, I thought I'd get some of the coolest gift I received recently.  Tampa has a chance to showcase itself during the next few days - weather allowing, that is - and one of the things the city is best known for is its booming pre-WWII cigar industry.  There are still remnants of it in the old buildings and unique culture around town, but one of the easiest things to identify with are the cigar boxes.

This one was given to me by my coworkers as part of a going away gift.  I was thrilled to see how beautifully finished the inside of it is.

It's already perfect for keeping stitching tools and treasures safely away from puppies who like to chew on things they shouldn't!

But it's also set the wheels inside my hot little brain turning...why not finish another box with a squarish stitching design on the inside lid??  I've been hoarding other cigar boxes left over from my old stitching guild days like the treasures that they are.  And goodness knows, I probably have at least a few charts and fabric that might work....ha!    So something else may be underway soon...I'll keep you posted!

And last but not least, I wanted to share this not-so-great picture of the first sampler I ever attempted on linen.  It's my way of honoring Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum, who passed away recently.

I don't remember now the name of the design, but I do recall how impressed I was with myself for choosing to do something so elaborate on a fabric as complicated as 28 count linen.  I tip my hat to Marilyn for the design that challenged me to take what seemed like such a big step forward.  The date I stitched on this piece is April 4th 1987.  My daughter was born in December of that same year, and she'll be 25 in 4 months.   Thank you Marilyn, I've had a needle  - and increasingly smaller linen counts - in my hand ever since!

Happy Birthday, Julia!

So let me say this right up front - the video I'm about to post is NOT directly stitching related.  But if it thrills you the same way it did me, it won't matter one bit.  In our house, Julia Child is something of a rock star.  I'm sure she's cooking for Elvis these days.  After watching this so many times I'm embarrassed to admit, my reaction ran for charmed and amused at first to mesmerized and touched .  Bon appetit....and Julia, you rock!!



 Now, on to the real deal....what's been going on in Jean Rattray's garden!  Since the last time I posted, I'm managed to complete the entire border - whew!!! - and get the Tree of Life in too.  Here's how she looked this morning:

You can see I've got a small start on the grove of pine trees that sprouts up in the middle of the bottom portion.  There are also some big flowering urns on either side to add in too.  I think I'll work on them as the grove of trees gets tedious.  There are nine trees in the grove, all identical in the same forest green shade.  Even though some of them also have a few birds and other wildlife perched in them, I'm anticipating a bit of a slog to get them done.  Margaret commented on the funny little figure on the left side of the garden and so I've tried to research a little more on the symbolism of it.  I vaguely remember reading somewhere (??) these little guys will sometime turn up in Adam and Eve samplers as another representation of Satan.  It's confusing though, because isn't that what the serpent is for?  Anyway, I don't remember now where I read that and all the looking in my stitching references didn't turn anything up.  If anyone else know something more or finds a good source for it, please share! Being the history geek that I am, I've delayed the actual start on my Atocha sampler until September 6th, because that's the date the actual shipwreck occurred.  Nerdy and sentimental.... yes, I know!  But there just seems to be honor it beginning a piece dedicated to a specific moment in time on the anniversary of its occurrence.  Delaying the start has given me a little more time to focus on Jean's Garden of Eden. It's also allowed me to go a little crazy choosing a complete color palette for the piece. Originally I was planning to use some of my hand dyed silks.  But since I'm making a full conversion with the colors, I wanted to have a broad range of choices within the "Gulf of Mexico" vibe.  After rummaging around in the DMC boxes at my local Michael's, here's what I'll be playing with:

Can't wait to get started - come on, September 6th!!

Here's hoping everyone is managing to stay cool and good natured during these dog days.  Tampa is about to be overrun with Republicans for the upcoming RNC.  Should be an interesting few days, but I'm not planning to go anywhere near downtown!

Off to find a nice glass of chilled Chardonnay and  make some progress on that grove of trees....

The Garden of Eden

Good morning everyone!  I don't know about you, but my head is still spinning from last night's Olympic ceremonies.  I didn't get a single stitch in, it was all so mesmerizing.  Who'd have thought the Queen would enter on parachute, escorted by James Bond?  Well done London, well done!

I do have news from the Garden of Eden - I'm back fast at work on Jean Rattray! Last I posted about her, this is where I had left off:

If I remember that far back, I abandoned Jean in order to wrestle into submission finish Frances Burwell. So it made sense that I take back up with her now that Frances is finally defeated  done.

And I'm enjoying every calm, placid stitch of her!  There's nothing complicated or stressful about Jean, so she's suiting my mood right now very well.  I love the openness of her design, the rhythm of her stylized border and the fact that there's not even an alphabet to be concerned with.  Here's how she looked last weekend: 

. 
Since then, I've been working on the Tree of Life that goes in the open space next to Eve, and adding a bit now and then to the borders on either side.

I did give Adam and Eve a little bit of pigment.  The original design had them stitched in the same pearly white that the center of the blossoms are worked in.  To my eye, that made them look more like squid hanging out under that apple tree than people!

I'm hoping to have Jean all wrapped up by September 6th, which is the date I'll be starting work on my Atocha sampler.  So many plans!

And in other news from the garden, I can't stop myself from crowing a little bit about our success as okra farmers!   The growing seasons in Florida are very different from those up north, and it's taken a long time for us to learn the flow of them.  However, last winter we had a lot of luck with tomatoes, peppers and herbs in our patio pots.  On the heels of that success, we put in a packet of okra seeds in June.  Here are the results:

Much as I'm thrilled with the harvest, I also love the look of the okra blossoms themselves.  They only last a few hours, but are spectacular in their glory.  Guess I really have turned into a southern girl!

    Hope all is well in your corner of the world, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Today is the Day

Today is Friday, July 20, 2012.  Not a significant date in history, but an anniversary nonetheless.  On this day in 1985,  the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha was found off the coast of Key West.  Pretty cool stuff. Stuff that was a very big deal for Jim as a photographer and another explanation for our love of the Keys in general. 

But what does this have to do with my stitching?  Well, please just bear with me while I fill in the backdrop story and you'll see.  First though, here's how it began:

   

The Atocha was part of a fleet of Spanish galleons returning to Spain in the fall of 1622.  The fleet  left Havana loaded with treasure when a hurricane struck and washed it onto the reefs.

 

The Atocha was carrying the largest amount of gold and silver. It sank quickly and the treasure was lost.  That is, lost until July 20, 1985, when Mel Fisher and his treasure hunters found a debris field scattered with gold coins, jewels and religious artifacts  not far off the coast of Key West.  I won't go into the details of it, but if you want to know more about this man and his amazing find, check this out:

  

Now. here's where the story gets personal...and yes, we are getting to the stitching part of it! 

As you can imagine, this was huge news at the time, especially here in Florida.  Every day there were new reports of the wonders being brought to the surface.  And Jim, as the young ace photographer for the Tribune, was sent off to Key West to cover the story.  As luck would have it, when he checked into the salvage office, none other than Mel Fisher himself was there, on the radio to the salvage fleet.  "Today is the Day!" was always his mantra, and as it turned out for both Jim and the salvagers, it truly was the day.  Huge bars of silver had just been brought to the surface.  Mel was taking a boat out to the site  and he offered to give Jim a ride out with him.  What a thrill!  My own husband had the chance to photograph Spanish silver breaking the surface for the first time in over 300 years.  How cool is that?

Now, on to the stitching part of the story...if you're still reading this, thanks for hanging in there!

I've been thinking for awhile now that I would love to do a Florida themed sampler, but couldn't find anything that didn't have flamingos and flip-flops all over it, much less looked like the sort of antique sampler I usually fall for  Then I happened to find this illustration of the Atocha   and it got the wheels turning in my head...

  

Where had I seen this before in all my stitching treasure?  A quick deep sea dive through the closet turned up this lost artifact:

See the similarity?  

My plan is to use most of the original design as is, but substitute the wording with an acknowledgement of the Atocha.  I'll also change the date and the names of the ships to those in the Atocha fleet,

And best of all, I spent this afternoon plundering for booty in the depths of my stash.  I don't think those drab Prairie Schooler colors suit what I've got in mind, so I salvaged around and came up with a palette of Hand-Dyed Fibers that says "Gulf of Mexico".  I may just choose the specific colors as I go, but at least now everything is kitted and ready to set sail.  What do you think?

I can't wait to get started - after all, today is the day!

Blood, Sweat and Tears

At long, long last.....Frances Burwell is done!!

As I was putting the final stitches in her last night, I realized even though she was reaching her finish, she'll carry with her  - as most tangled relationships do - a bit of my blood, sweat and tears from now on.  Let me explain....

One of the mishaps I had along the way with Frances was spotting the left side of the linen with a drop of blood.  It happened when I picked her up too soon after checking my blood sugar levels.  I've spared the gory details by cropping the spot out of the picture, but it doesn't take much imagination to know what my reaction was upon finding it.  Fortunately, the spot is far enough to the edge that it will never be seen on a framed piece.  Now I can say it's been marked for posterity with my own DNA ...

 

These little structures in Miss Frances' neighborhood remind me of the picnic shelters in the park where I walk during cool weather.  When I first started my morning jaunts, I was only putting in a mile or two.  But by the time summer arrived and I had to retreat back to my treadmill, I was distancing 5 miles at a stretch, returning  to my stitching out of breath and more than a little bit sweaty.  I'm sure Miss Frances carries traces of my walks, just like the walks themselves were spent thinking about how work was going with her. 

And tears...

I began Miss Frances during Halley's turbulent first year at college.  I remember feeling so glad for her bright colors; they offset the worries I stitched into her.  Perhaps that's why her satin pansies got so laborious and complicated. Other sadnesses have occurred since then - family losses and employment uncertainties - so Miss Frances carries her share of tears as well.

With all the blood, sweat and tears that have become a part of her fabric, Frances' bottom lines, or maybe the lack there of, are the most sentimental part of the entire piece for me..  The original Miss Frances worked her first name there and then moved on.    Just like what lies ahead, she left it for me to decide what comes next..

Hard Times

I've found myself fascinated with the era of the Great Depression this year, probably because the current Great Recession has brought so many unforeseen changes to my own life.  During my morning walks, I've listened to everything I could find about Franklin Roosevelt.  I've thought a lot about the town I grew up in and how it was reconfigured.  And more than anything else, I've considered my own family and how their lives and circumstances have shaped my own.  Which brings me to my dad, a little boy during those hard times; quite elderly today.

I thought I'd start this off by sharing a picture of him.  Little did I know when I started looking through my file of old family photos that I'd find this one.  It perfectly captures this story, though when he shared it with me last Thanksgiving, he admitted I was the very first person he'd ever owned up to it about.

Dad told me that as a little boy, there was great excitement in town when the WPA crews came in to begin work on local improvement projects.  For the east end of town, that meant new sidewalks on every street.  And for my dad, it meant a summer of watching impressive, hardworking young men  dig the frameworks and run the paving machinery.  He followed them everyday; the work, the progress and the machinery were all fascinating.  One day though, he got too close and one of the men yelled at him to stand back.  He tried to keep out of the way, but couldn't help inching nearer and nearer.  Then suddenly a belt snapped on one of the machines and whipped out to catch dad on the leg of his overalls.  His leg was cut and his overalls were torn.  The workers stopped, cleaned his leg, then sat him down for a cold drink. The funny thing is, at the end of the day, he never mentioned it to his mother, for fear of the scolding he'd receive from her.  Over 70 years later, and I was the first one he ever told.  But what he remembered more than anything was the hard work, the camaraderie and the kindness of those men to a little boy without many prospects.

.I feel so lucky that my dad shared this with me.  The wisdom behind it is that kindness can be given without cost and will be remembered for a lifetime, but it must be passed on.  I love you, Dad!

Down the Home Stretch

Hi everyone!  At long last, I have an update on what I've been doing with my new best friend, Frances Burwell.

When last I posted about her, I think I had just cleared my way out of that endless twisting forest of vines and overgrown satin stitch pansies.  I'm soooo happy (and relieved) to report now that since that time, she's been docile as a lamb,  Here's how she looks right now:

I know, I know...the rumpled linen makes her look like she's been stuffed in a sleeping bag and dumped in the woods, but I really did give her a good pressing before the photo shoot!  Guess that's what working with a hoop will do for you.

Anyway, on to some details...like the blackwork bands that were up right after the end of the pansy expanse.

And here's Miss Frances' neighborhood, though the landscaping is still under construction.

I'm really tickled with the birds and trees.  This same one will go in the vacant lot on the left.

Believe it or not, even once the landscaping is finished, there's still more to go underneath that.  3 funky looking structures that remind me of band shelters - go figure! - and then her name and  I think a date.  But even with all that in mind, my eye is definitely on the prize.  She'll be done, or I'll be dead.... which ever comes first.

I'm finding it nearly impossible to believe  it's now the middle of June and summertime has sagged down around us.  Breathing the air in Florida from the end of May until the middle of October is like swimming in jello,  Mildew grows on the driveway and mushrooms spring up everywhere overnight.  It's definitely damp!  But we've managed to get in some amazing early morning beach strolls over the past few weeks.  When we can do that, I'll put up with strange fungi and slippery pavement the rest of the time. That must be the home stretch too!