What's In A Name?

Have you visited Siobhan lately to see how she honored her husband's ancestor Honoria by stitching her name on a sampler? 

I've been doing some genealogy lately--it may be that the family legend that the Senecals were run out of Rouen for being horse thieves turns out to be true--and I've been collecting some family names. The women's names are good: Euphrosine  (fourth great grandfather's half sister), Philemise (great great grandmother), Philomene (third great grandmother), Albina (another great great grandmother),  Mestai (Philemise's sister), Petronille, Harmeline.

But the men's names! Oh, the men's names: Exise (Philemise's Brother), Euclide (grandmother's uncle), Napoleon (great grandfather), Magliore, Nazaire. My mother's great uncle Desire (de ZEER) may be my favorite though. (It sounds better when you remember he was of French descent.)

These are names that belong on samplers. I'd better get to work!

Anna Van Schurman Online

When people find out that Anna van Schurman is not my real name, they often wonder why I chose it. At long last, the Brooklyn Museum has put Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" online! You can read about the real Anna van Schurman here. If you've ever seen the Dinner Party--and if you haven't you should try--you may remember that Anna's place setting is the only one that uses cross-stitch. That's because she was vehemently opposed to it during her lifetime. She believed, rightly, that cross-stitch was a substitute for real education. (I'm using that term because I believe it.) So, yes, it's really overdetermined, but would you expect anything else from me?

I'm sorry posting has been spotty lately. It's complicated and not, you know? Also, I am working on the tutorial I promised. They are harder to put together than you would think. More on the tedious side than complicated. And also, I have to fake some photos that I don't have. But the dude is going to be gone part of this weekend and all of next, so I will be able to dominate the computer.

Um, whaddyacallit? Stitching Bloggers QOTW

How do you explain cross stitch to non-cross stitching people? Do they get it or do they say “Oh, right.. you do knitting then (or sewing, or needlepoint)"?
As I've reported my father calls me Madame Defarge to which I reply, "she knit!" Some days I think he's just baiting me. I usually tell people that I do needlework and let them think whatever they want to about it. Sometimes while I am doing it--and I do it publicly all the time--people will ask about it. They tell me that their [fill in female relative here] did [fill in craft here]. If I do the things they're talking about, say knitting, I say "Oh, I knit too." It distinguishes what I am doing now from what they are talking about. I always correct people when they think I sew. I don't try to teach them how to do it, unless they're little kids. Then I'll let them pull the needle through the fabric and tell them to stop pulling when the tension's right. They dig that. I will pull my work away and shout, "don't touch" no matter how young or old the toucher is and I'm willing to give a long lecture on the conservation of linen fabric and cotton floss. I mean how rude is that?