Go Slow

The words echo within my mind in the voice of each person who I have ever heard, saying them.

Go slow.

It's a lesson I had to learn, still, it's progress. 

As the world moves at such a frenzied pace around me, I learned to go slow. As I see people who are going, going, going. Forgetting how to just be.

They are more human doings than they are human beings. Constantly doing, doing, doing. Rush here, go there. 24/7.

People who rush around without enough rest are aging faster, noticing less, hurry, hurry, hurry. Their frenzied past with inadequate rest is more harmful to health than tobacco use, alcohol or any other substance abuse.

I learned to slow down at an age when many people are revving up. Perhaps I was initially attracted to needlework as I saw its beauty. As I began, teaching myself as there was no one to teach me. Really, needlework taught me more than I had initially imagined it would. It taught me to live life at a slower pace. Simply having a desire to create such beauty with an art form that was within my reach was the motivation.

It was clean (I hate to get my hands dirty), it was very portable. Initially, it was inexpensive, within 1 week of starting a first project, I was mesmerized at seeing the design appear before my eyes.

My crack was a needle, beautiful fabric, the DMC Floss plus the sparkling fibers that I discovered. 

Then?

The beads, the charms of little buzzy bees, charms that were painted in a porcelain medium. As I corresponded with a penpal who became my mentor in converting from Aida fabric to beautiful linens in a myriad of sizes, colors, textures. 

If I was only hooked in my pre-linen stitching? I was obsessed, now, with stitching. I am forever grateful to Lee O'Neil of Chalk Hill, Pennsylvania who taught me so much with her letters.

When I moved to Kaiserslautern, Germany to the village of Rodenbach, I walked through the village with my children. Many German homes had their large front windows decorated as such beautiful showcases. Many of them had Hardanger valances hanging above a beautiful window ledge arrangement. 

I didn't know what it was, yet!

Lee O'Neil did!

She put together a wonderful package for me, with such care & love.

She gathered small pieces as swatches of each type of linen. Different sizes, textures, colors. 

She wrote a long letter to me describing what each one could be used for, their names. There was Lugana, Floba, Heatherfield, Dublin, Cashel, Belfast, Edinburgh, Newcastle. All are made as a natural color as well as many different colors they are dyed & sometimes custom dyed with beautiful backgrounds.

My wonderful penpal, Lee, also gifted me such a beautiful heart shaped Christmas ornament that drove me nuts in a good way! Just as I taught myself to begin stitching, there was no one around to teach me to do this breathtaking beautiful form of needlework known as Hardanger.

Every time I take the beautiful ornament out, that Lee gifted me, I say a heartfelt thank you to her for her kind & beautiful gift along with the tutelage. The initial inspiration to learn Hardanger stitching to create my own beautiful works.

Lee also introduced me to the beautiful designs by Judith Kirby, Nan Caldera of Just Nan designs. So much more! Wherever she is in the world, I am deeply grateful to her.

The ornament that Lee sent to me was one in a series of 14. I have stitched 10, eventually, I hope to have stitched all 14. The ornaments are stitched on cream Belfast 32 (32 squares to the inch). So pretty!

Even better?

It was my pleasure to meet the designer. 

Emie Bishop of Cross n Patch designs. It has been my pleasure to go to one of the "Mecca" of needlework shops, Shepherds Bush, in Ogden Utah. Emie Bishop lived close by. 

She very gracefully entered the shop on one of the times I was there. She seemed to be a very quiet, humble, elegant woman who spoke barely above a whisper. 

When she walked in, I knew exactly who she was, immediately! 

She had some of her new designs in a wicker basket, bringing them in to be sold by the shop, Shepherds Bush.

It's a moment I remember fondly, happy that I didn't act like an idiot as my heart was beating so hard, so fast, at meeting her.

I have been so fortunate to have met some of these power houses behind the beautiful designs I love! As much as I admire the designs of Janice Love, I have most of her design books, have not stitched her designs, yet, I definitely could! After teaching myself the Hardanger method of stitching, it helped me to overcome being intimidated by the way it looks so complex. It's 4 different basic stitches repeated over & over. Sometimes other stitches are also used. So beautiful!

I have met: 

Alma Lynne Hayden of Alma Lynne Designs. She was just as fun, sweet, kind & was so generous with her time. I went to my first needlework retreat in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Alma Lynne's home as well as the place where cross stitch was reborn on St Pawleys Island spurred by Ginnie Thompson!

Pat Carson of Gloria & Pat Designs. An elegant lady who spends her time doing good works in the world with needlework.

Susan Greening Davis whose Quaker inspired needlework is the epitome of simple elegance.

Emie Bishop ~ Already mentioned.

Nora Corbett who is the designer of a few different lines of designs. Mirabilia, Little Stitches, Nora Corbett Designs. She was as kind, gracious & generous with her time. An elegant, artistic designer with a quiet voice & great sense of humor!

Paula & Dan Minkbinge of Crossed Wing designs. This wife & husband team create such beautiful designs of birds along with some insects interacting with birds. These 2, like so many other designers, were very down to earth, very kind, very personable. It was a thrill to meet them after having admired their beautiful designs.

Frances Johnson, whom I spoke with on the phone, didn't meet in person. Her Hawai'ian designs are well known by stitchers who love Hawai'i. The way in which Frances uses her art to capture the spirit of Hula, traditions, natural beauty of the islands is very heartfelt.

It's an honor, to me, to have met these designers. It elevates stitching their designs to a whole new level of enjoyment.

It has been said, in my presence, that it must take so much patience to do the stitching, I do. 

In reality?

Even if you have very little patience, stitching teaches patience. 

The greatest teacher of "Go Slow."