Bittersweet happy dance

explorer wrote:
...I made an original blackwork
sampler for one of the lines of my family tree. My father thought it weird
that I went back all the way to the 1300's, others thought is cool and
something that could be passed down/on to someone else after I am gone.

You must have had some distinguished ancestory in order to trace your
lineage back to the fourteenth century - any royal (Plantagenet or
Tudor) connections?
--
Bruce Fletcher
btinternetDOTcomATricardian
Stronsay, Orkney
www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont
"Why does mineral water that has been stored underground for thousands
of years have a 'use by' date?"

Hi Liz,

I am moved by your story, and will never ever underestimate the
importance of spending time stitching, knitting, or painting - as one
day, it may heal someone else's sorrow or mean more than 'just
decoration'! What a generous and lovely gesture you made to that mother
- and how actions speak so much louder than words!!

Thanks Liz.
Take care,
Narjas

Liz from Humbug wrote:
You may remember a few months back that I mentioned a horrible accident
where three 18 year old boys died in a car accident ten days after they
graduated from hight school. Since one of the boys used to come into
the library regularly with his mom & three brothers, I wanted to stitch
something to as much to honor the family as to memorialize the one who
was gone. I decided upon "MY SON" by Indigo Rose, and added an extra
row with all four boys' names right above the hardanger section at the
bottom. We hadn't seen the family at the library since they moved into
town four years ago but "something" just told me that I should stitch
something special for them.

I delivered the finished piece yesterday afternoon and the mom's
response was all I could have hoped for. She LOVED it! ! ! ! ! She
cried, then I cried, then she cried some more & just kept looking at
it, noticing different details every couple of minutes. If I had had
any doubt about how this piece would be accepted, they were quashed in
the first few seconds after she answered the door. I had called the
day before and left a message that I wasn't sure if they would remember
me but that I had something for the family. She called me back that
afternoon & we set up a time. I told her when I gave it to her that I
had wanted it to be, not so much a memorial for Jonathan, but something
in honor of the entire family that will eventually make her smile when
she looks at it.

It is cases like this that remind me of how special our stitching can
be in the right situation. Not only will this piece remind her of ALL
of her boys when they are grown and married and gone, but it will
remind her NOW that there are people who care - not only in the days
immediately after the accident, but long after the sympathy cards and
flowers stop coming. She will always know that someone cared.

It was worth every stitch. :-) :-( :-)
Liz from Humbug

On 10/6/06 1:30 AM, in article ,
" wrote:

explorer wrote:
...I made an original blackwork
sampler for one of the lines of my family tree. My father thought it weird
that I went back all the way to the 1300's, others thought is cool and
something that could be passed down/on to someone else after I am gone.

You must have had some distinguished ancestory in order to trace your
lineage back to the fourteenth century - any royal (Plantagenet or
Tudor) connections?


One of my lines is traced to about 1250 or so. I don't have the records but
we know my father's family name to 1580.

Cheryl

On 10/5/06 11:13 AM, "Pat P" wrote:


"ellice" wrote in message
...
On 10/5/06 1:25 AM, "Liz from Humbug" wrote:

*snipping details*

It is cases like this that remind me of how special our stitching can
be in the right situation. Not only will this piece remind her of ALL
of her boys when they are grown and married and gone, but it will
remind her NOW that there are people who care - not only in the days
immediately after the accident, but long after the sympathy cards and
flowers stop coming. She will always know that someone cared.

Not to hijack this thread, but I kind of have a query for the group, and a
comment. Directly about this - stitching a memory, memorial thing for
family we've lost.

As some of you know - due to my irregular babbling - DH lost his parents
(dad when he was in college, mom about 13 years ago), and I lost my
parents
(more unexpectedly) 12 years ago, and all our grandparents before that. I
never knew his folks (I prefer to believe he's the true apple from the
tree,
and that my 2 crazy DSILs are, well, the slight aberration), and of course
he never met mine - though I know that they would adore him (he and my DF
are very similar in the jocks with brains who are really big teddy bears
kind of way). Question - you ask - where's she going with this?

*snip*

Oh, the question. I've been thinking - would it be weird to do some
needlework piece with some sentiment for our parents? I know we think of
*snip*

Okay - sorry for babbling - but Liz's kind effort made me think about
this.

ellice

Sounds like a lovely idea, Ellice, and certainly no more wierd than
researching the family tree! I`ve been doing mine and managing to obtain
photos of ancestors I`be never met. Wishing I COULD have met some of them,
too, like my maternal grandparents, both of whom had pretty awful lives from
what I`ve discovered, poor things.

Thanks for the encouragement. My cousin that emigrated to Australia 30
years ago has been trying to do some family research. Bizarrely, I seem to
be the one that remembers stories from the grandmothers. Her elder sister
remembers a bit from the greats... We have the Ellis Island name change
issue, and my paternal grandfather had the family change last name when he
was in grammar school as he got tired of being last in line (originally with
a Z, now an S).

My grandfather was a tanner and caught an awful skin disease from the hides.
At the same time, grandmother had been taken to hospital with tuberculosis.
Grandfather cut his own throat at the ripe old age of 31. The details in the
inquest report are pretty horrendous but the saddest thing is that if only
telephones had been available to the ordinary working man in those days, he
might have been able to contact his mother at the other end of the country,
instead of waiting for a letter in reply to his own letter to his mother,
asking for help. It`s so very tragic.

Truly tragic. Poor man - that must've been so awful for your grandmother,
and the whole family.

You go ahead with it - it would be a lovely tribute, and will probably be
much valued by your own descendants if they ever want to research their
family tree.


Thanks again. Of course, part of the issue is our being childless - though
with the 4 god children (all 1 family, and the only way we can explain the
relationship), and the nieces & nephews (though more distant than the
godchildredn) not sure who'd care. Wee do have the discussion with the
godkids especially that we realize we're financially irresponsible, have no
parents to care for, no children to see educated & wed, and have been to
grad school, and have long-term care insurance (and good equity in the
house) - hence in some future the picture is of us alone, drooling in
buckets, and trying not to drool on the needlework! It's our explanation
when queried about the seats on the glass for an NHL team, the theatre
subscription at Ken Center, and the like......

But, I do think I'm going to work on figuring some dsign that would suit. I
don't know if I want to do a traditional type sampler or maybe a spot
sampler. Will see.

ellice

On 10/5/06 11:46 AM, "Karen C - California" wrote:

ellice wrote:
Anyone with ideas about wierdness in doing a sentimental thing for people
you've never known? OR what would be a good piece?



A couple years back, Herrschners had a kit with a floral heart enclosing
"When someone you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure".

That's a really nice sentiment. I'm thinking actually of taking something
from some Jewish liturgy - for a change I was paying attention reading some
meditations, etc. When I figure out something - I'll post it. We actually
had a short poem read at our wedding at the start of the service to remember
our families, and I think I might use that. When I find it....

ellice

On 10/5/06 1:24 PM, "Jere Williams" wrote:

I'm stitching that exact quote right now -- for a woman DH works with whose
husband died recently -- though not Herrschner's version. The one I'm
working from is a chart I bought in Solvang, CA, that was made up by a woman
in memory of her young son, and the proceeds of the sale of the charts was
to go to the Lompoc (a nearby town) library.

How nice of you. And I love the idea of the chart proceeds going to a good
use.


I like the quote. It's a lovely sentiment.
Agreed.

ellice

ellice wrote:

Not to hijack this thread, but I kind of have a query for the group, and a
comment. Directly about this - stitching a memory, memorial thing for
family we've lost.

Anyone with ideas about wierdness in doing a sentimental thing for people
you've never known?

I did this for DB & SIL when they lost their baby girl in her 8th month
of pregnancy. I stitched a Precious Moments design of an angel on a
cloud dropping heart "mail" over the edge of a cloud and added "Our
precious angel" and her name and date. They have it hanging next to
the baby pictures of their boys.

I don't think it's weird at all and they obviously didn't think so,
either. I say go for it.

Joan

On 10/6/06 10:13 AM, "Joan E." wrote:


ellice wrote:

Not to hijack this thread, but I kind of have a query for the group, and a
comment. Directly about this - stitching a memory, memorial thing for
family we've lost.

Anyone with ideas about wierdness in doing a sentimental thing for people
you've never known?

I did this for DB & SIL when they lost their baby girl in her 8th month
of pregnancy. I stitched a Precious Moments design of an angel on a
cloud dropping heart "mail" over the edge of a cloud and added "Our
precious angel" and her name and date. They have it hanging next to
the baby pictures of their boys.

Sounds like you did the perfect thing. What a hard time that must have been
for them, and your family.

I don't think it's weird at all and they obviously didn't think so,
either. I say go for it.

Joan

Thanks - I've been thinking about it. Lately several nice quotes, etc have
been rambling around my noggin, so ...I'll get to it eventually.

BTW - Summer Garden bands 1 & 2 are done - but I think I'm going to redo the
lazy daisies in band 2 - they look kind of weird - it's hard to tell her
intent from the chart, and I'm going to shift them to point up. I didn't do
the little bit of trellis on the greenery of band 1 - I like to leave some
of that loose, white stuff for the end, beads, too. Also - since I'm using
Splendor in place of Mori - I played abit with how many strands of silk to
use. The tree trunk - in Waterlilies has 3 - it looked flimsy done with 2.
The gazebo - I thought 3 would look better, but then it looked heavy, so
frogged it, and redid with 2 strands of Splendor. And I did the over 1
sections with 1 strand. I think I'll finally set up my .mac place where I
can post some shots - then you guys can dog me on the process - and give
valuable criticism.....

ellice

On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:25:52 GMT, ellice wrote:

Thanks - I've been thinking about it. Lately several nice quotes, etc have
been rambling around my noggin, so ...I'll get to it eventually.

snip
My favorite quote (usually used after telling a story about the
departed):
May this memory lighten grief

Alison

Liz from Humbug wrote:

a very touching story snipped

It was worth every stitch. :-) :-( :-)
Liz from Humbug

I'm not surprised you both cried, I'm sitting here sniffling myself!
What a wonderful gesture, Liz. I can't be any more eloquent than anyone
else has been, but you do help restore my faith in humanity, in
general.
Tegan