A New Year will soon be upon us,
but first we will celebrate that most beloved Holiday,
Christmas...
...a time for rekindling loves, showing appreciation and giving freely of ourselves.
With this, the First Newsletter for Deare Ladyes of Threade,
I wish each and everyone of you a most joyous, happy & healthy Holiday Season...
may you each be blessed with your dreams come true.
xxxxxx~xxxxxx~xxxxxx
I am fortunate, that I have such good Friends in my life ~ both local,
and some not-so-local...
mostly, my internet Friends are the ones I speak with on a daily basis...
the internet has enabled otherwise strangers to become close-knit groups of friends.
I want to thank the members here,
who have participated by emailing me your contributions for the newsletters...
this one, and those to follw.
If you don't see your contributions soon after you send it to me,
it is likely to be chosen for a future newsletter...
and with that said, here are a few of our first member contributions:
This story & sampler photo is from Sherry ~
A friend of mine told me (in passing) about a needlework piece she had acquired years ago. I was genuinely interested in knowing some more about it and she informed me that she intended to toss it out. She never liked it very much and it just didn't mesh with her decor. I told her to send it to me instead. I would be glad to give it a good home and show it off as I was sure it deserved.
When I look at it, I wonder about the person who made it. How old was she? Was she married? Where did she live? There is a connection among women who work with fibers (such as needleworking and quilting) that is as strong as the fibers they work with. Our work tells a story written with needles and threads instead of pen and ink to pass on and live through the years. A story of our lives, our loves, our passions. I am proud to be connected to these women from the past and the present. May our stories from the needles we use inspire someone in the future to join our ranks....Very insightful, Miss Sherry,...thank you for your thoughts.
Sherry may be contacted at
birdwatcher17@aol.com I wholeheartedly agree, we have a connection to our fore-mothers through the acts that we enjoy today...today they are our hobbies, but to them it was a formal education is learning their alphabets, numerals, wording, the bible and sewing skills...
all of which were needed to be practiced and honed
...they brought with them into marriage
the skills needed to mark their precious linens and homespuns, and taught these skills to their children....their children eventually became,....us.
xxxxxx~xxxxxx~xxxxxx
Here is a beautifully written story from Joshua...
he will be contributing more of the story as the saga continues....
Zebediah’s Sampler
By: Joshua Durst
(A Gentleman Among the Ladyes)
Heiskell, Tennessee
She sits by the warm glow of the stone hearth. The warmth acts as a balm to not only her weary body, but also to her weary soul. It has been months since she has heard from Zebediah, her beloved son. Off fighting for the cause, she wishes constantly that he was at home with her, not in some distant, unknown place. She knows the reality though and must simply wait. The waiting has almost become too much for her.
In the months that Zebediah has been gone, Clara has barely touched her stitching. Her heart just hasn’t been in it. Known across the county as a master stitcher, Clara has produced countless samplers for her neighbors and friends. Births, marriages, deaths – all rarely passed without a beautiful sampler from Clara’s hands.
All of that changed the day Zebediah hugged her goodbye and marched away from her with his fellow soldiers. She knew the smile on his face was only a disguise to mask the fear he felt as he left the homestead for one of the first times in his life. At seventeen years of age, Zebediah was still only a boy.
For some reason on this cold, November day, Clara decided to open her stitching basket. She ran her hands over the pieces of tan linen, took stock of her collection of threads, and located her needle. And then, she began to stitch. How good it felt to again be pulling thread through the linen cloth. In a soft madder colored thread, she began to stitch the letters of his name…
To be continued ...
You can reach Joshua at
joshuadurst22@yahoo.com or visit his blog at
http://halcyonthesedays.blogspot.com/Many thanks Joshua...can't wait for the next installment...
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Here are some thoughts to ponder while stitching...
How do you "sign" your samplers so that future generations may know of your work?
Do you include your initials & date in the work itself?
Do you include "hidden" initials/date?
Do you sign/date the back of your framed work?
Do you journal your finished work?
...all of these are excellent ideas for keeping records of the needlework that you create.
oh how I wish I did that earlier in my samplermaking...
nowadays, we can photograph our finished work, and create an album where the provenence of our work can be included...such a helpful referrence for our future generations...
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I will end this newsletter with a free chart that I designed for you~
Enjoy this for your own use please...& I would love to see your finished work!
Blessings to all,
Lori
