Tag: stitchings (Page 27 of 36)

Nancy draws (using 5 pen strokes):

I stitch:

“Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled —
to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float
a little above this difficult world.”
– Mary Oliver

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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.

Nancy’s drawing (made with 2 pen strokes):

My re-creation in stitch:

Today Nancy’s art became a bib
or maybe a tie for
Spring Chicken.
He is part of the menagerie I call
my yard jewelry.

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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.

Nancy’s original drawing:

and my re-creation in stitch:

I ordered a large ledger book. 300 pages, 11 x 14 in size. I thought I could use it as a sort of linen press, putting one cloth between each page to keep them flat and clean. The ledger book came today, and while it’s beautiful (I’ve never yet met a blank book I don’t love), my idea isn’t going to work, so back it goes. Oh well. I ‘spect two thick pieces of cardboard and about a yard of colorful ribbon will do just as nicely.

There are 5 separate pen strokes in this drawing.

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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.

Nancy’s original drawing (made using 2 pen strokes):

my re-creation:

Stitched this one while watching a documentary on World War II and how the Nazis exterminated people like Nancy because of their imperfections. The intent was to create a pure and superior Aryan race, but of course the Nazis dressed their depravity in a pretty dress. Said it was a humane thing they were doing, to put these precious spirits out of the misery of having to live with their deformities. And hey, it was not just the Nazis who felt this way. History shows this was the prevailing scientific, medical, and cultural thinking long before Hitler came to power. It was quite chilling, actually, to be watching this show while stitching Nancy’s drawings. And maddening – oh my goodness, it was maddening beyond description. I think not just about history, but of all the alien movies and wars and feuds, and I wonder: when will we – will we ever – stop being afraid of those who are different? Will we ever open ourselves to learning from those who are different? Will we ever stop conquering, dismissing, and exterminating just because someone doesn’t look or sound like us? Just wonderin’.

And wishin’.

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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.

Nancy’s original drawing:
(The lighter lines and “freckles” are bleed through from the previous page. There are 4 pen strokes in this drawing.)

my recreation in stitch:

Three days ago, Nancy was at the dentist, and when the burr being used on her teeth went missing, she was whisked to the ER for x-rays to determine if she’d swallowed it. Nothing showed up, and last we heard, she was back home enjoying hamburgers for supper. Such is the way of our Nancy who can’t tell you in words that something hurts or point to where something is amiss or feeling different in her body. She doesn’t run a fever either, which can make it quite interesting when things go awry physiologically.

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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.

the original drawing:

the recreation in stitch:

I thought you might like to see the original drawing and the cloth version. Maybe I’ll go back and add the original drawings to the previous posts and include it from here on out. Nancy flew through the 14 pages left in my small, pocketbook-size journal. I happened to have this promotional notepad in my pocketbook, and she quickly filled it up, too. The womanchild was on fire, I tell you. I couldn’t keep blank pages in front of her. This is the only two-color drawing she did, and I opted to stitch it only in purple because I want the focus to be on the message she’s conveying, the story she’s telling, the conversation she is having.

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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 comes her drawing:

Then comes my stitching:

Stitched this one as my daughter and I sat and watched a movie around dark: thirty. Got the starch while on an outing today, and it does make a difference, but I still need/want to restitch the first 11 drawings because I’ve changed the stitch I use, and this new stitch works eversomuch better. Starched, ironed, snapped and uploaded new photos of 1-14 out by the falls today, but it was dusk, and the quality of the photos still isn’t very good. Oh, fiddle-dee-dee, I’ll do something about that tomorrow. Or next week.

(p.s. This one kinda’ makes me think of Julius Caesar.)

(p.s.2: There are 6 pen strokes in this drawing.)

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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:

Then I stitch:

i promise
cross my heart
and hope to die
(which never sounded quite so
seriously serious
before now when
i’ve gotten a bit of
age on me.
age that makes me quite fluent
in worry)
that on sunday,
if not tomorrow night,
i am going to lightly starch,
iron, and find better lighting
to snap new photos.
then i think we’ll
really be cooking with gas.

(There are 2 pen strokes in this drawing.)

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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 (using 2 pen strokes here):

Then I stitch:

Stitched this one as
my daughter and I
rode back up the mountain
this afternoon.
(She drove.)
Spent last weekend with my son,
this weekend with my daughter.
Sweetness.

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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:

There are 2 pen strokes in this drawing.

~~~~~~~~~

She draws, I stitch.
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.