Dreaming in the Attic

 

One of the many things that has been given back to me, has been my joy of stitching.  It has been such a huge blessing to be able to sit in the afternoon and stitch with the afternoon sun streaming in through the windows. This week, I worked on a counted cross stitch that has a little story going on in my head as I sew.
I have this Norman Rockwell plated that I bought in the 80s. It is called Reminiscing in the Quiet.

As I stitch, I think of this lady sitting by her humpbacked trunk dreaming of days gone by. There in her hands are maybe old letters or old stitchery projects.

When I was stitching before my eye surgery. I was always racing and I could never settle down to enjoy the work of my hands. Now I know because, I knew that this might be my last project before I finally couldn't see anymore. As the ability to see was going I started spending more and more time with my seam ripper. Even, I admit to throwing away things in the bottom of the trash can so no one would see how bad it had become. I finally had to put away the needle and the thread and the patterns. I started sewing with my Mom doing hand work when I was four years old. All of those things that were dear to me, even reading books or looking at the sky or seeing colors. The hardest was not seeing the faces of those I loved. But now...

Here is what I have been working on and I have loved every single minute of it. It is going to be for a lid to an old sewing box like you might find in an attic. I have all of these things that I want to put in it like old thimbles and needle books and I have a old Sunday school memory verse pin that was my Moms. Things you might find if you lifted the lid of the old trunk that you came upon in an attic up under the eves in the quiet. Old samplers and bundles of letters tied up with string.  The smell of wood ruff  or lavender or maybe dried roses pressed in a book of poems. Maybe even a loved doll with shoe button eyes, now faded but dearly loved.

 

  I made a mistake when I started the house. The house is supposed to be mulberry. I couldn't read anymore the little charts.  I decided to keep it as a reminder to myself, of the gift I now have and to be able to see the charts again.

It is so nice to not have that bit of panic I was living with all of the time. It is so nice to be able to be at peace.

 

After my eye surgery, I was so afraid of this bird. I had tried to make it before the surgery and I had finally given up and threw the whole thing away. So when I started it again, I was so scared. When I finished it I just sat and stared at it because I had accomplished something I never thought I would do again.

I hope to finish up Mrs. Rabbit this weekend. You know if I don't end up staying outside working in the garden and working in the flowerbeds. We have some glorious storms in the forecast so the first part of April might be what April is supposed to be, bringing May flowers.

 Can you see the kitty cat foot? I didn't notice that until I posted the picture. This bunny has a story but I have to think of it a bit more. I love hearing the stories that are going on in my mind as I sew and hook.
All I can say, is it a so good to be back. Every day is such a gift that I am so thankful for and hope I never forget what it was like to wander in darkness.
Have a fantastic Friday and I hope this weekend if filled with lots of spring weather.

~Kim~

" Lord, give me eyes
That I may see
Lest I, as people will,
Should pass someone's Calvary
and think it just a hill."
---Unknown---