This is Edith. She was a wife, a mother, and for almost 38 years, she was my grandmother. After 87 years on this earth, we said goodbye to her last month as she headed for her next destination. 87 years is an amazing lifespan, and we were incredibly lucky to have her around that long.
Some of my fondest memories are of sitting next to her on the couch while she worked on a cross-stitch or embroidery project. She'd poke the needle through the fabric, then let me pull it through. I developed a love of the calmness of crafting, of the rhythm of a needle passing through fabric, and of the joy of a design appearing where none had been before. Through her, I learned that handmade items make beautiful, heartfelt gifts.
Let me backtrack a little bit, because the story of this blog really starts a few months before Grandma passed.
Earlier this year, via the magic that is Facebook, I came across an article that a friend shared and it really got me thinking. Go Deeper, Not Wider (seriously, stop everything and go read this article right now, I'll wait. It's worth it, I promise) made me consider everything I have in my house- the books (fiction and non), the instruments, the craft supplies, an entire home full of things that I was planning on getting to someday...but when exactly was that someday? The author was right. Going deeper was exactly what I needed to do. I started by reading a few of the books I already had on my shelves, interspersed with the library books I've been getting through interlibrary loan (more on that in another post), and started working on a piano piece I'd bought from a book sale earlier in the year.
And then my grandma died.
For years, Grandma's Christmas gifts to me were these beautiful hand-embroidered dishtowels, which I used (and am still using) until they went to tatters. The cheerful designs and sunshiny colors she had chosen never failed to make me smile. Years ago, after Grandma's health had declined, my mother had mentioned those towels in passing and said, "Enjoy them, because there's not going to be any more." That phrase always stayed with me, and I thought of it often when I used one of those towels, or hung one out to dry.
After Grandma passed, I started thinking about her embroidery and what my mother had said, and I thought, "It doesn't have to be like that." Sure, maybe there won't be any more towels that Grandma made...but there can still be towels. I can still carry on that tradition, carry on the things she taught me, and in a way, it's like having part of her still here. While I'm proficient at cross-stitch, embroidery is a little beyond the skill set I'd developed, so I pulled out a book I'd bought years ago on embroidery, and I started to read. Two days later, my phone chimed with a text.
MOM: Hey, honey, do you do embroidery?
I sat on the floor of the library where I'd been picking out books for my daughter, staring at my phone, laughing at the ridiculousness of the Universe. My mom and aunt had discovered my grandmother's stash of embroidery and cross-stitch supplies, and Mom wondered if I'd want them. 'Of course!' I texted back. I hadn't even considered that Grandma had a stash. Four days later, this is what she brought:
There's a LOT of stuff crammed into that little box. Four stamped cross stitch aprons (not started), at least two sets of stamped pillowcases, plain white towels, stamped towels, scissors, at least one embroidery hoop, and floss- DMC, Coates and Clark, J&P, marked and unmarked. And then there was this:
A table runner, specifically Bucilla's Festive Fruit pattern, partially completed by my grandmother. With it came four napkins, also with a little bit done.
Most likely, my grandmother stopped doing her needlework due to her health. In her later years, she developed a problem with one of her hands; it kind of froze in one position and she could no longer open it (I believe they offered surgery, but she refused). But I'm sure Grandma didn't expect that the last time she put this project down, she would never pick it up again, and it would be passed on to me to finish it as a joint project.
That's really been on my mind lately. What will I be leaving unfinished? How many projects will my family and friends look at and go, "Huh, guess she never got to that"? And the answer is, a lot. I have two boxes of yarn downstairs, shelves of fabric, enough books to start my own bookstore...It's time. Time to go deeper, not wider. Time to finish what I start...or in this case, help Grandma finish what she started. Thanks for the inspiration, Grandma.
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