List #14: 1997

Things get a bit hazy between 1997 and 2003. Having reached the end of my first project record book, I either wrote the date right on the pattern or on the sheets where I kept track of my 10-hour rotation. When I finished, I just wrote the date in the rotation box. And then I obsessively saved those papers. I did buy a new book to record the projects but I didn't keep up with it. After my great search to find it ended last night, I discovered there's nothing recorded in it--only a few photos stuck in. And a gift certificate to Yankee Cross Stitch from 1997 that has .50 left on it. What kind of a loser can't spend $100 at a cross-stitch store. {Ironically, perhaps, I have spent hundreds there since 1997.} I'm sure I didn't write in the book because I had too many projects on the go. A person could record something in the book when she started it and eight years later still have a blank where the photo and completion date would go. {And you know how I know.}

You'll have to excuse the vagueness of the lists that follow. Aren't you glad they invented blogging? Now I know when I complete my projects.

• Pins and Needles Lauren Sauer finished pin cushion 4/27/07. Finished other pieces much much later. (Sacramento SOCS)
• Watermelon Angel Douglas Designs 5/5/97 Stitched for my aunt's sun porch that was watermelon themed. Finished as a pillow.
• Stumpwork bee skep Liz Turner Diehl (Valley Forge SOCS) 7/20/97. I hang this on my Christmas tree every year.
• Beaded needlebook Judy Marcinkiewicz 8/97 (still needs finishing) I took this as a class at one of the SOCS festivals, but this was just the practice piece...







• Fishing Fools Twisted Threads 11/22/97. For my aunt for Christmas. The framer put this in a shadow box made from a wood that looked like weathered barn board. It looks great with the stitching and with the bathroom (gasp) in which it hangs. It's a little-used bathroom and it's right near the door, in her defense.
• Santa Cup Leisure Arts Magazine (Linda Gillum) 11/23/97 Stitched for my great aunt of the fudge recipe. She used to have us all over for these little Christmas parties, and I like her family; they're the only people I know louder than us. This was one of those plastic hot beverage mugs that has the vinyl weave insert. But it came out cute...
• Stumpwork thistle Liz Turner Diehl. I stitched this one for my Scottish MIL after I gained confidence in the bee skep class. I forgot that I was supposed to stitch over one, so it came out huge, but made an awesome box insert . When we shipped it to England for Christmas, all the gifts were stolen. So this is gone for good, not even a photo to remember it by.
• A Mother's Poem converted to a wedding sampler for graduate school friends. I wish I knew the name of the magazine this was in. On amaretto jubilee with DMC floss--great colors.
• Small "African" mask--from Jan Eaton's Around the World in Cross-stitch Stitched for my cousin's graduation from St. Lawrence. She had spent the fall of her senior year in Africa, and she brought me back some awesome African fabrics which I have not done enough with. I stitched this over one and finished it as a necklace backing it with the fabric she brought me.