College Daze

I haven’t been at the computer much lately. My laptop has been commandeered by the family for the college selection process. When I finally get my turn at the keyboard, all I seem to do is read other people’s blogs. It’s so much easier than tasking my brain to write something clever myself!

When last I posted, Lily from Block-a-day commented on a piece of needlework in the background of my photo. It's a needlepoint that goes as far back as our own college days.

My husband started a graduate program at the 
University of North Caroline, shortly after we marriaged.

We left our familiar life in the Midwest,

and the comforting support of family and friends,

to journey southward,


where the countryside was different 


and people spoke with a drawl (ya’ll).


I bought this needlepoint canvas and
stitched my way out of being homesick.

It Takes a Village

Please help me celebrate the completion of a needlework project I started 15 years ago! It didn’t actually take me that long to stitch this reproduction cross stitch sampler. But it did take years to bring it to fruition.



The sampler spent more time wadded up in a basket than it did in my hands. And when my hands could no longer manage the tiny stitches worked over a single linen thread, it sat untouched until I found friends who could finish it for me.

My cousin, Lynn, skillfully stitched the few remaining inches and returned the sampler to me last Christmas. Back to its basket it went, waiting to be laundered. Over the summer, my friend, Sheila, washed, blocked and pressed the piece; then took it to the framer. This fall, my dad picked it up from the framer and delivered it to me. It sat propped up against the wall for weeks until I called my neighbor, Barb, who hung the needlework while another friend, Linda, snapped photos for my blog.

You’ll think, upon reading this, that I can’t do anything for myself and you’ll be close to right. It “takes a village” to care for me and my needlework. I’m so grateful for dear friends who shared my enthusiasm for this piece and joy in finally getting it up on the wall.

The original sampler (shown here) was stitched in 1839 by Ann Rayner of West Yorkshire County, England. It was reproduced by Nancy Sturgeon, from Naperville, Illinois, who charted and kitted the sampler for her needlework business, Threads Through Time.