Category: Blog (Page 58 of 101)

Never one to waste so much as a sapling, Nancy started on the cover of this tablet:

I thought it would be nice to get Nancy’s art out into the world, so I’m asking people to hold the cloth version every ‘n then. Today’s stitching is held by my friend Lori Grillo. I met Lori through the Twilight Theatre. My daughter, Alison founded the theatre in October 2007, and I quickly became the Managing Director. Lori and her entire family were in a summer stock production, and like so many other people, they were hooked. Every single one of them. Both daughters, her husband Bob, and Lori. For the past several years, Lori has been Twilight’s Production Manager, and let me tell you, she is amazing. And we couldn’t do it without her. She thinks, she plans, she laughs, she cries, she tends to all sorts of details that far too often go unnoticed but never unappreciated, she performs, and she always cheers for Twilight. In her life outside of Twilight, she works for College Options Foundation, and she preserves personal and family histories in scrapbooks. For these reasons and for so many other good reasons, I love her.

p.s. I know, I’m all over the place with the numbers. It’s a long story. Let’s just call it Jeanne Learns That There Is No Such Thing As Perfect, shall we?

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

Why, yes we are skipping around because we are traveling,
and I somehow managed to leave my stitching bag behind.
I did, however, manage to bring several panels
starting with #43,
so we’re improvising our way through the next few days
and I will get us back on track
when I am back up on top of the mountain.

Whether they’re in numerical order or not, she draws:

And I stitch:

Today, we are in Florida visiting Nancy,
taking her to ride in our rented convertible,
because let me tell you:
this girl LOVES to ride in a convertible.

Here’s our artist in action (hint: you might want to hit the mute button).

She filled another 3 notebooks today,
so I guess we all know what I’ll be doing
for the rest of my life.

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

Her 32nd drawing:

My 32nd cloth:

I see her initials (NC)
and an ear.
How ’bout you?
What do you see?

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

She draws:

I stitch:

39 years ago today
I married Nancy’s brother, Andy.
(which just goes to prove
that I’m much smarter than I look).

Nancy was 14 years old then.
Isn’t she adorable?

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

She draws:

I stitch:

You might’ve noticed a difference in size. The first 27 drawings were done in what was left of my small, pocketbook-sized (1/4 of a sheet of letter-size paper) journal and the promotional notepad I swiped from beside the telephone (a wee bit larger than my pocketbook journal). Nancy went through those 27 sheets of paper fairly quickly, so Angela forked over the blank pages left in her journal, which happens to be 5.5 x 8.5, or the same as 1/2 a sheet of letter-size paper. I am trying to remain as true as possible to the originals. Angela had 14 blank pages in her journal, then we move to the full-size composition books, 8.5 x 11.

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

First, she draws:

Then I stitch:

I’ve decided to post a week’s worth every Sunday,
so we can see them side by side.

Week One, 1-7:

Week Two, 8-14:

Week Three, 15-21:

Week Four, 22-28:

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

First, she draws:

Then I stitch:

This project is
changing me in ways
that are beyond the realm of words.
Today as I prepared to
snap a photo
of #28 on a boulder beside
the waterfall at our front door:
magic.

Awe is a sign
of allowing ourselves
to be touched by beauty’s
transcendent quality.
Wonder connects us to
a childlike openness,
to the world’s possibilities.

(Sorry I can’t remember who said this.
I wish it had been me,
but it wasn’t.)

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

first, she draws:

then i stitch:

Soul receives from soul that knowledge,
therefore not by book
nor from tongue.
If knowledge of mysteries
come after emptiness of mind,
that is illumination of heart.
~ Rumi

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.