{"id":4899,"date":"2017-06-01T18:01:45","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T18:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=4899"},"modified":"2017-06-01T18:01:45","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T18:01:45","slug":"womens-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=4899","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s mail held a treasure I’ve been looking forward to seeing! \u00a0Last week on Etsy<\/a> I found a vintage bedsheet with matching bolster pillow that had been embroidered in counted cross stitch and bordered with laddered hemstitch. \u00a0The sheet itself is a luxurious, heavy weight French ‘metis,’ which is 65% linen and 35% cotton. According the to vendor, Hanky Heiress<\/a>, this fabric blend was developed to be an ‘easy-care alternative’ to 100% linen sheets. \u00a0Look how beautiful it is!<\/p>\n

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Here it is opened up across my bed. \u00a0The blue and orange cross stitch look wonderful on my vintage, machine woven, overshot bedspread! \u00a0I’m thrilled!<\/p>\n

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The seller of this sheet and bolster set believes it’s\u00a0from the 1960s, and she speculated that that they have never been used. \u00a0Now that I’ve seen it firsthand, I agree with her. \u00a0Who knows where it originated; by the time I found it, it was residing with an Etsy vendor in Cheshire, England. What a sad thing that it may have spent 50 years<\/em> in a drawer or closet. \u00a0I have been imagining various scenarios in which this might happen, and the only that makes sense to me is that someone made this as a gift for someone else. \u00a0Perhaps it was a wedding gift, with the two initials signifying the union of two different names. \u00a0I can only imagine that the woman who did this put so much love into this gift. \u00a0It is truly a treasure! \u00a0And I’d like to think that the woman who received it loved it so much that she was hesitant to actually use it. \u00a0Well, I intend to use it, and I intend to enjoy it. \u00a0I will always think of this story that I have created to go with it. \u00a0I feel it has good potential for being true!<\/p>\n

It amazes and inspires me that women (and men too) have been making and embellishing textiles since the dawn of humanity. \u00a0There’s a reasonable chance that textiles are older than pottery, as Elizabeth Weyland Barber has speculated. \u00a0It seems we are hardwired to surround ourselves with the work of our hands.<\/p>\n

In early April I learned that our friend Hank, had arrived in Havana on his boat and would soon try to deliver all the all donations of lace-making materials to the woman I met last year. \u00a0I wrote about the lace makers last year while Bob and I were visiting Cuba on our boat<\/a>. Due to lack of communication in Cuba as well as while sailing offshore, I did not get confirmation of the delivery until mid-May. \u00a0What an emotional moment that was for me! \u00a0And I understand there were few tears shed by Hank and his wife, along with the women who received this bounty, and even the male interpreter! \u00a0I cried myself when I saw the photos and this wonderful video that Hank and Seale made for me.<\/p>\n