I bought two little pieces of needlework at the antique shop the other day. one is just very beautiful in a simple way – and the other I just felt sorry for. Yet the one I keep looking at is the cross stitch piece – not the pretty, well-stitched doily. Click the images to see them closer.
I find myself wondering who stitched this piece of uneven crosses and questionable color choices. And, of course, it will be the one I post detailed photos of here! The crosses aren’t even real crosses in that they don’t cover a symmetrical number of threads in many areas. The brown stitches are carefully begun and ended, yet there is a 3 inch float of the pale pink across the back between the two ladies.
The silhouette at the top, which could be beautiful, is done in such a pale pink that I can barely see it against the linen (which is high-quality) yet it is this piece that makes me wonder about the stitcher —
- was she very young?
- was she very old?
- was she limited in her thread choices?
- was she actually a “he”?
It just goes to show that imperfection makes for character. I wish I could meet the stitcher. 
So much care and love is obviously put into this piece… and yet it isn’t nearly what we would consider perfect. This ties into my newfound personal work of art journaling it’s not an end result of perfection I should be striving for, but just enjoying the journey!
