Napping with needles

Here's a recent ditty I shared on my website..........

I have always been a fan of first using what you have in the house when approaching any project. I understand that being a designer may mean I have more than the ordinary amount of random decorative things lying around, but the practice is a good one in itself. At the very least its the new combination that is enticing when you introduce a new object or material to some of your old friends.



In this case (or pillow-case) my old friend was a simple but vibrant needlework that has from time to time begged me to put it to use. Its been 23 years since I carefully stitched it as a child one summer visiting our family in Greece. My brother and sister and I had a very diffcult time getting used to the entire country falling asleep for a few hours in the middle of the day, a common thing in Europe. Our mother however, had the even more difficult task of keeping us occupied and quiet, since our eyes simply would not shut. For us girls she bought a pile of "kendima", a sort of generic term for needlework. Even at eleven years old, I was no stranger to handiwork, but this was a new and structured process, which I typically would not have subjected myself to unless forced. I can remember watching my sister, Eleni, accomplish her perfect stitches, not too tight and not too loose, but perfect, like a machine.

While my kendima is not perfect, and it took years for it to find new friends in my line of Bohemian fabrics, it was a relationship well worth the wait. My mother and I worked on it together, me arranging it, and she expertly crafting the construction.....a very typical scenario for us. I layered it in front of some Greek embroidered pillow cases that were given to me by one of my aunts for my wedding. I thought it most appropriate for the new creation to adorn a favorite napping spot in the guest room, where I often have no trouble shutting my eyes in the middle of the day.


Tomorrow, another cozy moment from one of you!

xoxo,AnnaMaria