This is a picture of a house that my very dear friend owned for many years. When my original spouse and I moved to Chippewa Falls, WI, from Chicago, IL, back in 1978, I was a very lonely 26 year old. He had just graduated from dental school and had secured a position as a dentist in a tiny office that came with a small attached house. I left a great job in downtown Chicago and part of a MBA program at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University undone. He left for work each day by walking through a breezeway, and I was alone at home, wondering what to do next. A new doctor had just opened a family practice, and during a chance visit there I met his office person, Wynne, who happened to also be his sister-in-law. She, too, had recently moved to town from Madison, WI, and also seemed a bit eager to meet new friends. I found out their house was just a couple blocks from ours and was told to come over at any time. The concept of just walking up to a house and knocking on the door at any time was not my usual way, but I got the nerve, and over I went. We became immediate best buds, went on to have babies close together, survived bad perms, organized craft nights, sang together in the choir, counseled through a divorce, and retired to far apart towns. When I found out about the Spoonflower class in Durham, I was so excited that I not only would learn a ton, but that I could visit my friends Wynne and Paul who have a darling retirement home there. I wanted to make them a little something as a thank you for the hauling around they were going to do for me, and thought of their old house that was obviously so much a part of their history, but also so much a part of mine. I took the picture of the house, loaded it into the Bernina software, and outline sketched around it. I put this simple redwork embroidery on a tea towel - they are Cooks, and I thought it was fitting. A very small thank-you gift for almost 40 years of friendship that started with a knock on that house's door. Jerilynn
Awwwwww, the perfect gift!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I ever heard the whole story of your friendship with Wynne...love hearing it, and how cool to do the embroidery of their house on the towel as a gift.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I ever heard the whole story of your friendship with Wynne...love hearing it, and how cool to do the embroidery of their house on the towel as a gift.
ReplyDeleteJeri, I'm sorry it took me so long to find this great post about our friendship, and your thoughtful gift to us of this embroidered towel with our Central St. Home. It's especially satisfying that we've stayed connected through 40 years of the ebbs and flows of life, kids, marriage, parent care, and moving far apart. I'm so grateful for your help in rediscovering the joy of sewing in retirement. I feel like I have time and creativity to start anew, along with a new machine, and so many ideas percolating in my brain. I look forward to creating something fun for you that may even be worthy of your blog someday! Hope you'll come back to Spoonflower someday too. ��
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