When I was a little girl I remember the summertime in Primary (the children's group at church). Each summer after a young girl turned 8, her teacher would introduce a program designed to teach the girl homemaking arts; knitting, crochet, and crossed stitch embroidery.
To be honest I can't remember which one came first, however I remember struggling through trying to learn them all and make something worthy of the effort.
To be honest I can't remember which one came first, however I remember struggling through trying to learn them all and make something worthy of the effort.
Knitting was a complete disaster! We were given some yarn, patient instruction and a pattern to follow that would wind up being a pair of cozy slippers. I struggled and struggled and never finished the slippers. I felt horrible and as if I had failed, because in reality, I had. I still don't know how to knit, and now as an adult there is that little voice inside that begs me to call on the gal in our area who teaches knitting. I want to learn to knit!
Crochet was something that was a struggle as well, but I remember being able to catch on. I was successful enough that I made a pretty little baby blanket and was inspired enough by the "ooh"s and "ahh"s of admiring adults that I made a full sized afghan with an even more complicated pattern. Unfortunately I dropped the crochet habit until well into my married life and well, I can remember one certain stitch, but after that, I am an example of "use it or lose it" when it comes to this talent/skill. Again, there is that seed of desire that begs me to pick out the prettiest skein of yarn I can find and crochet something marvelous.
Cross stitch embroidery came very easily to me and I have kept this skill all my life, adding to my skill and precision and also the the variety of stitches and patterns. I find new pieces all the time which inspire me and artists who make the most lovely patterns!
My first attempt was a basic cross stitch on a plain piece of soft fabric. I ironed on the pattern and followed the tiny blue "x"s to create the piece above. I was way into symbolism even back then as a little girl and so I decided that I would add symbols to my piece and make it my own.
The words state: "I will bring the light of the Gospel into my home." For me, that meant I would bring Jesus Christ into my home. In the Bible and other scripture Jesus was often described as the "Light", in my mind this should be thread in white, the symbol of purity. So I stitched it with the brightest white I could find. The "Gospel" was worth more to me than anything I could think of because it was the Gospel of Jesus Christ that would not only "save" me, but bring me back to my Heavenly Home and lead me through a good Christian life. That word had to be thread in gold. I had been taught that I was a literal Spirit daughter of God, so I had worth. The "I" had to be in gold also. My "home" would grow and grow with children that I knew it had to be in shades of green and blue...the colours of life and growth. The center of my life is my heart. All of my feelings direct my thoughts and the word "into" meant that the Gospel would be the heart of my life, so it was shades of red and and pink, for hearts and love. My life would be filled with so much experience that it would be very colourful, so all the other letters/words would be a variety of colour. Even the little house was coloured symbolically, red roof covering the house in love, white walls to surround our home with purity, and golden windows to reveal the Gospel of Christ within. Yup, I was serious about symbolism.
Unfortunately I didn't think about how the colours would look on the creamy beige fabric... a mish mash of lettering and the most important words almost invisible! But, as I look back on that one piece from my childhood I remember how important it was to me and how important the Gospel of Jesus Christ was and is.
I kept the cross stitch all those years and a few years ago had it framed. I love to see it everyday and it still reminds me of what is most important in my life and that it is up to me to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those in my home and also those in my life.
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