The Quaker Sampler is one of Carolyn’s most lovely stitched
pieces. She explains here why she chose this pattern.
(Oh, and she wrote this post a couple months ago but never
published it. I nagged her so much that she finally just sent it to me to
publish.)
I’m obsessed! At
least for now I am. I’m off school for
the summer, so I have a little more time, and I am obsessed with cross
stitching. I cross stitch all year long,
but during the school year, so many other things take precedence. I have kids, so their activities have always
come first. There is always homework. They always want to eat, so there is supper
to fix. And I teach. So there are papers to grade and lessons to
plan. So during the school year, stitch
time is at a premium. But right now,
it’s summer! And I’m obsessed. I have been stitching like a mad woman. And I love it!
One aspect of stitching that doesn’t get finished all the
time, however, is the finishing. I
completely stitch the piece, but then what?
It needs to be finished into an ornament, a box, or it needs to be
framed. Framing can be very expensive,
so the big pieces get rolled up and put away sometimes. Actually, they get put away most of the time. But the other day, I pulled out the box and
decided it was time to get something framed.
And there it was. The piece. I knew which one I needed to get framed.
I stitched the Quaker Sampler several years ago. I had just started cross stitching
again. I had been introduced to
stitching on linen. I had only stitched
on Aida cloth before. Linen was
beautiful! When I chose the Quaker
Sampler, I had to choose which size linen to use, and I chose the 40 count
linen because of the size of the pattern.
It’s a large pattern, so I wanted to use a count that would make it smaller. You see, 40 count means there are 40 squares
per inch. That’s tiny! I already have progressive lenses. I had to use magnifiers clipped to my glasses
to stitch this piece. (Boy, was that
attractive!) But I wanted that pattern
and the challenge of 40 count linen. You
see, it was a challenge. It was linen,
and it was tiny. I love a challenge.
There was something else about that pattern, too. It was the words: Harmony, Honesty, Peace, Truth, Unity,
Integrity, Simplicity. I love those
words. I want those words in my
life. I want to live those words. Speaking of challenges…. Did I mention I have a family and I teach
school? Plus I have friends in my life,
and I go to church, and I interact with the public on a daily basis. Those words…. How can I live those? How can I speak those every day? It’s a challenge. With all the negative in the world, how can
these words work? They have to! They have to work in MY world. I have to rise to the challenge of living
these words. If I give up on this
challenge then evil wins. I have to
challenge others to live these words! If
I don’t evil wins.
Maybe I’ve found a new obsession….
