The Work of Their Hands - My Mother

Dear Diary,

This is the last counted stitch embroidery my mother did. She died less than 2 years later and the last months were not good for her. She loved this type of embroidery and I'm fortunate to have it. Like her mother, my grandmother, my mother's hands were never still. Her knitting was amazing as well as her quilting. She could draw beautifully but the fine arts were never her thing. She loved hand work...the needle arts.

I majored in art at college and taught art for over 30 years. I attribute my love of art to my mother. She was sure there was always plenty of crayons and paper and other art materials around when I was young. We would sometimes make paper dolls together. She would help me with the figure and then I would design clothes for the doll. I still have one she drew when she was a girl.

We had a wall in the kitchen where all my art would hang. The refrigerator just wasn't big enough I guess. I have several of my mother's pieces but it is this embroidery that epitomizes my mother's work...her perfectionism and attention to detail...the best.

I have a picture of a ballerina I drew for her, probably for Mother's Day. It was the only work of my hand that was still in her possession when she passed away and it touched me immensely that she had held onto it all those years. My mother was not an overly sentimental lady so finding the drawing carefully tucked away was a lovely surprise for me. I wrote the following on the back of the drawing in purple crayon...

Mothe,
I love you more than any mothe in the wold.
Patricia

Apparently I had a bit of a problem with the "r" sound in some wods words!