Carol's Needlework Blog

"Thank you for saving my life!" How often have you heard those words?

Maybe you did a kind deed for someone, or you had just the right item to hand at the right moment?

But what if the person who uttered those words really MEANT them?

I can tell you it is a wonderful feeling when you hear those words for real!

One morning the phone rang and a quietly spoken gentleman at the other end of the line said exactly those words to me. Then he told me his story . . .

Sadly his wife had died six months earlier, just after she had started stitching my largest cross stitch design, Mary. Her name was also Mary.

This gentleman was so depressed and lonely at that time that he contemplated ending it all. He had no desire to continue living alone.

However, he made a bargain with himself that he would finish stitching the embroidery his wife had started and then make the decision of whether to carry on. He had done some cross stitch before but nothing of this magnitude.

Well it took him six months but he completed the project. During that time he came to realise that life was worth living after all. His way of finally admitting that he had survived that awful time and that he was now looking forward again was to pick up the phone and thank me for designing Mary.

"Thank you for saving my life." he told me.

A phone call like that one, helps make me realise that my little needlework business, my passion, means more both to me and my customers than just making money. Time spent at the computer designing can make a real difference to someone else as well as the personal enjoyment I get out of it.

Thanks for being there to read this and I hope I can change your life too, even if in just a simple way.

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24-08-2007 - New 1920's blackwork design on the horizon

Well, I'm jumping the gun a little here, but a new blackwork design went off to the test stitcher today! As soon as she is finished it will be available as a kit and/or chart.

Let me describe it for you.

A man and a young lady sit on bar stools at the counter in an 1920's cafe. There is a third man (modelled on my husband) leaning against the bar. They are obviously deep in conversation and the lady looks like she is hanging on every word the fellow leaning on the bar is telling her. The other gentleman has his back to us and is slightly turned suggesting he also is listening to the other man speaking.

Both men are in suits, the sitting man wearing a hat. The young lady is wearing a cloche cap, a gold handbag, a floaty flapper dress and high heels. She wears a necklace around her neck. She holds a glass of something nice in her hand which is resting on the bar.

Behind them is the picture window with the word Cafe showing in reverse from outside the building. The design is worked in black, with the stools and wording in shades of grey. Gold highlights include the lady's necklace and handbag, along with the standing man's buttons and tie pin.

The design size is approx 11 x 13 inches in portrait format.

Julie, my test stitcher, is pretty quick and I expect her to have the design back to me by the end of September. So watch out in the next issue of Stitchin-Time for the announcement!

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