A piece of someone's cross stitching life💝

Hello Stitching Friends!

Recently I was contacted by a stranger, a lady who appearently follows my Swedish CHRISTMAS BLOG every year. She had seen some of my Xmas stitching and wondered if I would be interested in some stitching material she had inherited from her grandma. Not knowing anything about stitching herself, she wanted to see the material come to good use. She sent me some pictures and I could see that I would be able to use at least some of it. She also told me that her grandma's name was Ingrid and that Ingrid had loved doing her crafts and had stitched the most beautiful pictures. And for Xmas Ingrid always sent stitched Christmas cards to all her loved ones💝.

So the other day I received a big parcel filled with bits and pieces from grandma Ingrid's cross stitching life. It was a very emotional experience to go through someone else's leftover stitching💔. To see loved cross stitch projects halfway finished and other projects not yet started but clearly something another stitcher had fallen in love with. I could tell that Ingrid loved various motifs from nature like flowers and birds, and that she liked to stitch on evenweave.

And it made me emotional to see that she used to do exactly what I do when I stitch a readymade kit; write the symbols on the pre-sorted cardboard thread organizers.

There were some small projects that had caught her eye at one time and were waiting to be stitched.

And various pieces of white aida fabrics.

It was also obvious that she indeed loved stitching Christmas cards. There were a couple of Christmas card kits, and even though she had already stitched the actual cards, the kits still contained the charts and the leftover DMC threads. 

And luckily this Swedish cross stitching brand, SVARTA FÅRET,  always lists their threads by symbols as well as the correct DMC number, which means that I can reuse the threads.

There were also some leftover cardstock to use for new Christmas cards.

And plenty of DMC's bright red Christmas colour, DMC 666😁.

And some metallic threads...

After I had spent a few hours sorting out all the leftover DMC threads from Ingrid's projects on my cardboard bobbins, I had built up quite a stash.

It surprised me how emotional it made me feel to go through someone else's stash and unfinished projects. I felt extremely honored and humbled to take care of Ingrid's legacy and it made me feel like I got to know a part of her. Which is a strange feeling to have since I never met her...💝

Otherwise, I have managed to stitch a little bit more on my Christmas doily and made a start on the second Christmas gnome.

Informally, I'm telling myself that if I can stitch one side each autumn my doily will be finished in 4 years... Fingers crossed🤞!

Happy Stitching,

Annie