I am getting these ready to display in the stairwell. These little cross stitch pieces are a delightful hobby for me.
Category: Miniature masterpieces
stitching
I had a friend who did a lot of hand applique work on her quilts. She said she had time to do it as she sat with her husband who liked to watch crime dramas. I cross stitch in the room with the boys as they watch football. There has been a lot of football this winter.
I am also making a baby quilt to hug our grandson when I can’t be with him.
They are stacking up.
It’s time to go shopping for frames for these tiny cross stitch projects. These are not gifts this time, but I am making them for our house. I would like to create a gallery in the narrow, framed-in panels of our stairwell.
Work in progress
I am getting pretty close to finishing this little project, which is based on a very famous painting. I know what it will look like when it’s finished, but it’s still a mystery to me how this is all going to come together. What a metaphor for my life.
I planning for a few months of ward conferences, so despite winter telling me to rest, I have a very full season ahead. My first counselor, on whom I depend so much, is carefully watching over her husband in his final days on earth. These years of serving in our stake callings have not shielded us from life’s challenges. My second counselor Susan passed away suddenly in 2022. Among the women in my presidency, which have changed over time, we have faced milestones along with the challenges. We’ve sent 5 missionaries into the world, had 3 children get married, and had 1 grandchild and one great-grandchild born. We have led during a pandemic and experienced two major surgeries with long recoveries. And now, my counselor’s husband is in hospice care.
There are some challenging days ahead, but if I have learned anything through my service, it is that my Heavenly Father will give me the strength to do what he has called me to do. He is doing the same for my presidency and for you.
A glimpse of each day
We are in a very full season of life with so much going on and so many things I could share, but I can’t seem to sort these things into words.
Wishing you the best,
-A
Renoir, da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Van Gogh
I’m not producing these projects as often, but I try to keep one on the embroidery hoop to work on when I feel like sewing. I have many more patterns waiting, and perhaps DaVinci or Michaelangelo will be next. Each time I make Van Gogh’s Sunflowers for myself, I end up giving it away. I think I’ll make the Sunflowers again…and keep it this time.
Monday
Who would have thought there were so many things in the world which I do not want! That happiness consisted in not having many, but in needing the fewest things.
Thomas Traherne, Centuries of Meditations
Priorities
Richard, Mark, and I sat down together and made a list of the things we wanted to do this month under the categories of service, fun, and films. Then we plugged everything into the calendar. We should probably do this every month, but we only think to do it at Christmas time. Now we have a plan, and there is so much to look forward to!
There won’t be time to cross stitch until after Christmas, but I am glad for the hours these “miniature masterpieces” have provided to reset my mind during a very busy year.
Color
Sometime during the pandemic, Richard and I watched a movie about Vincent Van Gogh. I don’t remember the name of the film, but William Dafoe was the actor who played Van Gogh. I learned in the film that I have mispronounced his last name all my life, that the light in southern France is magical for painting, and that his paintings were not popular until after his death.
It’s a small thing, but as I make these little cross stitch creations, I learn about different artists’ use of color. Van Gogh is fearless with color, and I love recreating his paintings with needle and floss more than any other artist so far.
Looking back
There are years that ask questions and there are years that answer.
Zora Neale Hurston
I have thought about this quote a lot this week. At first, I agreed with it, but changed my mind. I don’t think our lives show up as one thing one year and another thing the next. Life is more nuanced than that. Yes, some answers are better seen after the experience, but I want to say that answers are always in the works.
I think it’s our tendency to generalize about time. I might say I had a bad day, when really, the bad stuff lasted a few minutes. We might have a tendency to say the past few years have been uncertain, but when I look at what I have learned during this time of really tough experiences, can I really say I have lived without answers? No! These years of poor health, deaths, and uncertainty have given me extra life experience and many answers in a consolidated time. Looking back, I am able to see more accurately that answers were always descending, helpers were prepared to do their thing, and clarity came, one adjustment at a time.