Love, Aunt Dorothy – We Miss You

When Sue and I were young, a long, long time ago, we owned a cross stitch shop.  Our love of cross stitch came about from my sister-in-law, Nancy, teaching us one Fall day.  We were hooked immediately, and it became a passion that lasted a few decades.  Luckily enough, we were able to share the passion with several good friends and relatives.  One of those relatives was my Aunt Dorothy.

Aunt Dorothy the Employee

Since Sue and I both worked full-time, we needed some employees to man the store for us.  My Aunt Dorothy, along with her good friend Pet and my sister, Pat, worked in the store a few times a week.  We needed models to hang about the shop, so we gave them free rein to stitch whatever they wanted to.  Since our store offered a framing service as well, it was easy for us to pick out frames and mats that enhanced the designs as they were completed.

Above is one of the pictures Aunt Dorothy made for the shop.  It has a pale pink top mat and a cream underlayment along with a rather ornate gold frame.  The pale pink perfectly matches the pink in the dress.  It’s such a nice remembrance piece and we have many others throughout our home.

Aunt Dorothy Passion

We had to close our shop rather abruptly in 1992 when we lost the lease to our space.  Thirty days notice sounds like a long time but it wasn’t enough to move our whole store.  We took it as a sign and that it was time to move on.  Our love for cross stitch as well as Aunt Dorthy’s love for it was in no way diminished by the closure.  She went on to stitch these pieces, and this is a small representation of them.  I just adore the wings on the first piece, stitched with a special shiny thread and featuring some beadwork.  The second piece reminds me of Dignity, the 50-foot monument sculpture in South Dakota.

The blue angel below took her four years to complete.  It really makes me happy to know that her passion continued and that she had so many framed pieces hanging in her home.  Uncle Bob shared these photos with us and gave his blessing for this piece.  That makes me happy as well. ~smile~

Aunt Dorothy Quilting?

Unwittingly, Aunt Dorothy and her twin sister, Aunt Doris, had a hand in getting us into our first quilting venture.  Aunt Doris asked us if we could somehow finish off these Santas that Aunt Dorothy had stitched.  It was a surprise birthday present for her, so we couldn’t consult with Aunt Dorothy as to what her vision was for them.

We put our thinking hats on, squared them up, added sashing and a festive border and there you have it.  Although there wasn’t much quilting involved, I believe it is a nice wall hanging that is still being enjoyed.  I had forgotten about it until I recently came across the photo.

Love, Aunt Dorothy

Aunt Dorothy passed away this year in February.  She was a kind and very gentle person, and we were lucky to have called her Aunt.  My mom was 16 when the twins were born, and she loved them like her own.  ~smile~  Christine from Stitch All the Things and I were sharing information about our love for cross stitching.  Aunt Dorothy has been on my mind lately, and I knew it was well past time to share some of her work with my friends.  Her love of cross stitch lives on in us, and maybe we’ll be able to pass on that love to a certain little sweet girl.  One never knows.  ♥ ♥

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