Saturday, May 17, 2014

Cross-stitch takes a LONG time

I started a cross-stitched family tree for the new edition to the family who was born last November.  I started it during the school summer vacation last year.  I have quite a bit finished, but am anticipating being able to do more in a couple of weeks when school is out again this year.  It's taking SO long that I've asked a friend to finish it in the case of my early demise!  It's taking a LONG time. The friend laughed, but promised to carry through if I'm hit by a truck or something.  I hadn't done any needlework for DECADES.  I don't remember previous efforts taking this much time, but almost forty years probably makes me a wee bit slower too!

UPDATE:  It looks like I never posted a picture of the final results.  The following is a picture I found, taken in 2015.  Seems to me like it took..... can't remember if it was three months or three years....  seems like even longer, whichever it was!!!  It shows Ellie as the youngest child.  I had to add to it a few years later, when Jeffery Matthew Cook was born in 2017, giving Ellie a brother.  I cross stitched my name and the date into the margins of the cloth canvas, where it's not visible, but can be found by future generations, I hope.



Note to self

The school year is coming to a close. Things are a little slower the last week and a half as we move toward semester exams.  I thought I'd post a large multi-page family tree on my classroom wall to share my hobby with my students.  I'd shared a few things from my research over the school year - my Salem witch connection, and the connection to the Lewis & Clark expedition by their food/booze supplier Elijah Galusha.  I thought those things would be interesting to ninth graders.  I quickly realized I need to make a note to myself before doing it again next school year.  Seems the thing they found most interesting was my BIRTH YEAR!  Sheesh - guess I'll take that off the chart next year.  I saw some students look at the chart then whisper to the student next to them.  I took the initiative when I realized what they were doing and said, "yes, those are birthdates (and death dates) on the chart."  Sigh.  One student came back to his seat and said "You don't LOOK 64."  I wonder what 64 looks like to a 14 year old these days?  I guess I should be glad he could subtract the numbers, after all it is a MATH class (Algebra actually).