Treasured heirlooms

Let me start by saying that I have too many hobbies. I enjoy baking, cake decorating, scrapbooking, and knitting. Most of these hobbies I learned from my mom. My mom is a Nebraska farm girl. She was an active 4-H member from childhood through high school. Many people associate 4-H with raising livestock, but it also teaches skills like sewing, cooking, photography, and gardening. My mom did all of these things, but is especially great with fabrics. She made clothes for her children including matching dresses for me and my sister. She made stuffed animals and dolls, Halloween costumes and dress-up clothes, blankets and quilts. She sewed tiny clothes for our Barbie dolls. She even judged clothing entries at the state fair. Her sewing machine was often in use and next to that machine sat her orange "sewing" scissors. Everyone in the house knew that we had “junk drawer” scissors and “sewing” scissors and the two should NOT be mixed up.

When I was about 9 years old, my mom introduced me to my favorite hobby when she started making cross stitch Christmas stockings. I was so fascinated that she taught me how to cross stitch and I made my own stocking. Those four stockings still hang on the mantel every year at Christmas and are treasured heirlooms in our family. I was also in 4-H as a child and each year we had a public speaking contest. My speech was a demonstration speech. I was so enamored with cross stitch that I wanted to do a speech about it. So we made a blown-up model of cross stitch fabric and I demonstrated how to do the basic stitches. I kept the hobby up for several years, but let it go when teenage sports and music took over. I didn't think much about it for several years.....until my sister announced she was pregnant with twins. Mom asked me to make stockings for the babies. I finished those two stockings in record time. When we hung them up at Christmas, I decided to make stockings for my parents, husband, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Then came a couple of nephews and my own children and I needed to make more stockings. I made a set of stockings for my children at my house and another set for Grandpa and Grandma’s house. I looked for new and more intricate patterns. I looked for patterns that would reflect the hobbies and interests of the person who would receive the stocking. I stitched in the evening while we watched a movie or a basketball game. I stitched in the car on long road trips. By this point, cross stitch was my main hobby and I had accumulated dozens of patterns. I opened an Etsy shop to sell a few stockings and I received more requests than I could fulfill. People tell me that they remember having personalized stockings when they were younger, but do not have the time or skills to make their own. To date, I've made 20 stockings for family members and about 40 more for customers on Etsy.

The name cross stitch comes from the basic stitch, which is in the shape of an “x”. Designers create a printed pattern with symbols that represent specific colors of thread. Different symbols may also represent different kinds of stitches. The more detailed patterns may have colors of thread blended together or metallic thread to add a bit of sparkle. Some patterns add beads or charms. My puzzle-loving brain finds comfort in reading the pattern and symbols and creating something beautiful that people will treasure for many years. And just like my mom, my orange "sewing" scissors make every project possible.