Now I'm happy to say she was one of the good hoarders, very clean and well organized. Everything was stored in clear plastic containers. All her fabric was sorted by colours and her craft supplies by projects. The fact that these containers reached to the ceiling and there were so many the poor woman could barely find her front door, well I guess that's what qualified her for the show. She had actually worked hard at organizing her hoarded materials but the crafting acronym STABLE definitely applied...STASH ACCUMULATION BEYOND LIVE EXPECTANCY.
I could tell the counselor liked working with her. For one thing they didn't have to get an exterminator like they do for many of those houses, and this lady didn't fight the changes she needed to make like so many of those poor souls do. Some of them go down fighting, but happily, not her.
In the end, she had a garage sale, donated some of her stash, put some on ebay (where a lot of it had come from), and gradually whittled it down to a manageable size. A lesson for us "lovers of all things needlework".
There's just so much good stuff out there, I recognize the temptation and identified with her, really I did.
Which brings me to one of my latest acquisitions (speaking of temptation), ordered during the catalogue retail therapy I was applying to myself in late spring.
I fell in love with crewel work a long time ago and always like to have a crewel project in the wings as it were. One of my "to be stitched things" I ordered recently is The Acorn, a William Morris inspired design by Nicola Jarvis. Nicola, now a freelance designer, is a graduate of and tutor at the Royal School of Needlework. Her website, Nicola Jarvis Studio is chock a block with the most beautiful designs available as kits and features a section of William and May Morris inspired designs.
I was so happy to get it. It will be a challenge for me to work in wool again.
There is a wonderful story associated with The Acorn and in fact, that was how I found out about this kit. The Acorn, A Story of Stitching can be read at the Unbroken Thread web site.
Other beautiful designs by Nicola include this one called "Loveday". I think it is stunning and I will have to save my pin money for awhile to afford it, but it would be worth it.
This is a crewel piece and I think it would bring you joy just to work on it.
Finally completely finished all the work on my Wren and Magnolias piece. There were many little outline stitches and half cross stitches to work here and there. These are a little fiddly but help to define the various shapes, so necessary. As soon as I get it pressed I'll give you a look at the finish.
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