Winter Escape! Day 26: A Detour of the Heart

Monday, February 24, 2014:  Another lovely breakfast on Kathleen and Don's lanai this morning!  It was foggy on the lake but the ducks were visible, at work already.  Brotherly and sisterly good-byes were not teary today; we plan on meeting next month, closer to where I live.  So, it was a morning of driving north on the quite straight and familiar Interstate-95.  I put on a long-sleeved shirt in anticipation of cooler weather, 68 degrees in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

After visiting Kathleen and Don, I weighed my options: go directly home, staying at a motel for two nights because the trip is almost 1,000 miles from Port St. Lucie, Florida, to Lexington, Kentucky.  Peggy invited me to stay with her in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  And Patty and Raj asked me to stop off and visit them for a few more days.

What convinced me of my present plans was a request from Patty and Raj's daughter, Mallory, "Grandma, would you teach me to embroider?"  How could I refuse such a sweetheart!  So, yesterday, on my way back to their home in Jacksonville, Florida, I stopped at Jo-Ann's fabric store. I found exactly what Mallory needed to begin, in her favorite color, purple.  I bought 1/4 of a yard each of lilac and pink gingham (checked) fabric, embroidery needles, a purple and a yellow small embroidery hoops, small scissors, 3 colors of embroidery floss, a blue marking pencil, and a flowery lilac box for storage.

Learning from my past experience teaching Mallory's cousin, Claire, in Lexington, how to embroider, I knew that there are no 'kits' to teach young beginners how to cross-stitch.  I would have to make a simple design myself.  I had previously asked Mallory, "What is your favorite color?" and "What is your favorite fruit?"

When Mallory returned home from school with her brother, Johnny, and Patty, I surprised her with the lilac box of goodies.  She was thrilled and wanted to begin immediately.  Together, we put a strip of lilac fabric into the purple hoop.  We counted the number of squares in the center part where we wanted our design, then marked the area off on a grid, 18 squares by 18 squares.  Then Mallory herself drew the strawberry for the design. We filled in the area by penciling in rows of Xs.  Together, we cut off a length of the red embroidery floss.  We divided the six threads into half, three threads.  We threaded the needle and I showed her how to make the first two rows of Xs.  Mallory then proceeded to do a very good job with the remaining rows, taking time out only for supper, since she had finished her homework at the babysitter's house.  She was very pleased with herself and Patty and I were thrilled that she enjoyed what is one of our favorite past-times.

Mallory and I are designing a Strawberry to be cross-stitched.

Mallory is very talented and is making excellent progress!

Later, Patty and I watched an episode of "Downton Abbey" which we had missed, and made plans for Tuesday.  I feel 'Home' here now!