Family gifts

In my frugal Mennonite family very little goes to waste. When relatives clean out their closets I am the beneficiary of their unwanted textile supplies. My grandmothers, my mom, and many of my aunts are (or were) gifted in the needle arts. Even my Opa (grandfather) got in on the act and hooked rugs. Some work(ed) from kits, others design(ed) their own projects. To date, I have received sewing notions from a cousin, three aunts and my two late grandmothers, and I put them all to good use. When I am stitching with floss from Erika, Hilda, Edna, Irene, Katja, or Helen, I think about them and am grateful that they are part of my work. I'm also mindful that my hands are using notions that they once touched. It's corny, but true.


Aunt Irene gave me the colourful nest in the top photo and aunt Hilda's floss is in the bottom three pictures. Aunt Hilda wrapped leftover floss from cross-stitch kits around carefully cut and labelled cardboard. When I've used up the floss, I'll incorporate the cardboard in future collage projects. As I said, very little goes to waste. If you look closely at the bottom two pictures, you'll see that one of her projects was done close to Christmas, because the leftover floss is wrapped around sections cut from a Marzipan box. Thanks to my relatives, I haven't bought embroidery floss in a long time.