Stitching memories

I learned how to sew in Colorado in 6th grade Home Economics.  We traced concentric circles and square mazes with a treadle sewing machine.  I think I made an apron.  From then on, I began sewing my own clothing and I still have the machine I received as a high school graduation present.  Throughout my 20's I made most of my own clothing for school and work and when my son was born, I made many sets of overalls and shorts with deep pockets for him.  I made matching warm up suits for the whole family (big fail!) and Halloween costumes. 

My career took me travelling and I spent many, many hours on airplanes.  Cross-stitch was sewing I could do while flying and I collected patterns over the years. 

This group of booklets reminds me of the baby clothes I embroidered with the "Alphabet Children" and the store-bought sweater I embellished with embroidery. 

The Cactus design I used to embroider some squares for a quilt that one of my aunts put together for my Grandmother Mary Emery Schwab. 

My eyesight isn't great anymore for counting the tiny squares involved in cross-stitch.  You'll find me coloring digital paint by number pictures now on my Google Chromebook.  Time marches on.

China Doll

A beautiful gold and white porcelain tea pot, it's spout tipped up like a lady's left hand with the handle her other hand on her hip, her gown scattered with golden leaves.  I got this as a gift from either my mother-in-law or her mother-in-law to go with the teacup collection they gave me over the years. 

And then several years ago in the Spring of 2008, my friend participated in a fundraiser for a theatre group.  The group was hosting a fashion show of theatre costumes by local smart set ladies during a elegant luncheon with the teapots filled with flower arrangements as centerpieces.  I donated it for the occasion and it was auctioned off with the other ones to a lovely home I hope.  My dear friend cared for the donated teapots before the event, arranging them in on the shelves in her garden room window, like these on display at the Juliette Gordon Low museum in Savannah, Georgia that I visited in June of 2009.

teapots on display at Juliette Gordon Low museum

A memory of holidays past, where tea was served after dinner with dessert in delicate china tea cups to guests full from dinner, settling their digestion with a bit of sweets and hot sips. 

Lacy underthings

slips, teddies, lacy underthings

Coming to terms with what I *really* look like vs what my mind tells me--what no longer fits, both physically and in my imagination.  These lacy things I' been gifted or bought as a gift for someone else to enjoy seeing me in.  They made me feel pretty, the silky full slip creating visions of Stella in "Streetcar Named Desire", the teddy's either Victoria's Secret model or Rocky Horror Picture show, take your pick. 

Desktop Detris

Desktop Detris

I've been lax on posting about items I've gotten rid of over the past.  I have several pictures to catch up on.

This group of items were in my home office and have now gone on to better adventures.  The saying about work was a picture given me by an employee I supervised in the 80's.  She was quiet spoken and recognized I was living at work.  Unfortunately, I struggled to get my priorities straight and lived at work until I was laid off.

The Creative Whack Pack was a clever deck of cards to inspire innovative thinking and problem solving.  I think I might have used it to inspire writing but more importantly it helped expand my thinking about what I could do and how to do it.  The Maxine button was a little giggle that always made me smile!  The aqua mermaid was a gift from a work friend that was given one Christmas to honor the feminine side and the little hands clip a way of lightening up those stacks of papers everywhere. 

The picture of sandhill cranes I picked up on my first visit to the fields in Wilcox, Arizona with my girlfriend and my nieces. A special memory of a trip we took before I met my future husband.  It still confounds me how little pieces of my past persist into the present.

Sears Box

I'd had this old Sears gift box for years.  It held cards and notices and pictures from long ago.  I'd brought it with me from my mother's house when I left for college and shortly thereafter when I got married.  I'd been organizing pictures and this was at the bottom of a cedar chest.  I don't remember all that was in it...probably letters and cards from those early years; some of my school papers from high school I think.  I kept those and tossed the box.

Memories from Spain

Back in the 90's I attended a meeting of the International Standards Organization in Madrid, Spain.  I was the editor of the ISO 8583 standard that defines how to exchange credit card messages for authorizing and settling transactions.  The meetings lasted a week and as was my practice, I would fly in the weekend before to do some touristing.  This trip I traveled to Toledo (Toe-Lay-Doe) where I wandered narrow cobbled side streets of tiny shops.   

I bought a set of steak knives that I still have, as Toledo was supposedly known for its cutlery; I would never have been able to bring those home on the plane today.  I paid a pretty penny for some saffron spice too. There's a frilly fan on my bookcase and the usual bookmark and thimble I would collect when I traveled.  We toured the Prado Museum in Madrid where I saw original El Greco and Picasso paintings in brilliant colors and have the book to remember them by.  

I picked up the sunny blue and white sundial tile in the picture because I liked the message, Carpe Diem, and the colors and the multi-purpose use as a decoration and a sundial. I put it in my courtyard out front and it eventually ended up by the backyard fountain.  It was trampled a couple of times and is rusted and cracked and is being trashed.  Goodbye good memory.

Run, Run, Run

5K race bibs

A few years ago I ran in several 5ks.  The passage of time and lack of activity had packed on the pounds and I had to do something to chase them away.

I've never been able to do something without a purpose; there had to be a goal in mind and it had to contribute to something more than just the activity itself.  Thus, 5ks, an activity that would contribute to weight loss and provided measurable benchmarks of improvement.

The best I did in any of the races was 41 minutes.  Since a 5K is 3.1 miles, I managed to do about a 13 minute mile.  Not stellar by any means, but an achievement for me, someone that spent my required time in P.E. classes volunteering to keep score to avoid any exertion.

In June of  2012 I took a trip to Aravaipa Canyon to a B and B with my BFF.  We hiked the canyon and I remember feeling strong and confident as a result of those races.  I'd been wearing a step tracker for a long time and tracking my food intake.  On that trip I was unable to connect to the tracker and broke a streak of consecutive days of tracking. Funny, it was incredibly frustrating and demoralizing. I ran a couple more races the next year and then gave up, adding back some pounds and losing flexibility in my back.

In 2014 I tossed all my bibs, thinking I'd still remember those accomplishments but in reality I think I was getting rid of the evidence of having given up.  See, running in races is not like taking a college course or completing a project.  It's a continuing test of your abilities and it can be a celebration of just living, without a goal, without judgment, without an end.  It might be time to revisit the outdoors on foot.