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One woman's secret of life: Cross-stitch
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Forget the back rub or the long hot soak in the tub at the end of the day to relax.
When Vicki Brothers wants to relieve her stress or just slow down and put her feet up, chances are there is a threaded needle in her hand.
Then the counting begins.
One, two, three tiny stitches in a bright red to the right, and 10 stitches down in a soft, baby blue.
That's how Vicki spends two, sometimes three hours a day. Counted cross stitch works better than a massage or a bottle of pills to help her keep her life on an even keel. When she's in the middle of a big project, like a Christmas stocking for a member of her family, she admits life gets in the way of her stitching habit.
Vicki is the office manager at Knox Brothers Funeral Home in Maysville, working with her husband, Bob Brothers.
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"I only work a few hours a day, sometimes more when we are very busy," said Vicki. "But this job definitely cuts into my cross-stitch time."
Vicki never tires of the excitement of seeing a picture come to life with every stitch.
A tiny Christmas ornament takes no time to complete for this cross-stitching expert. Bigger projects sometimes take months. But with every colorful stitch, a little more of what the finished product will look like is revealed.
That's when it's hard for her to put her needle down.
"Bob says when I'm stitching, I forget to eat and drink," said Vicki.
Many of Vicki's Christmas creations are on display at the Mason County Library through Christmas. Her husband encouraged her to share her work with the community.
Vicki grew up in Montgomery County and stitching started at an early age.
Cross stitch was quite different in those days.
She was 12 when her mother, Betty Highley, showed her how to complete her first project -- a set of dish towels.
"The design was stamped on the fabric," said Vicki.
Today it is called counted cross stitch and the patterns come separately. Counted cross stitch fabric comes in many sizes named by numbers. The larger the stitch, the bigger the finished project will be. The smaller the count of the fabric means the stitches are closer together resulting in a smaller design.
The miniatures, even though they can be hard on the eyes, are her favorite to complete.
Vicki says she stopped stitching for several years but started again when her sons, Russ and Jacob Pendleton, began playing sports when they were young. She stitched while sitting on the bleachers or while waiting in the car for practices to be over.
Vicki prefers to choose a pattern, either in a trade magazine or in a shop that shows a sample of the completed project. Her husband, Bob, chooses many of her projects for her.
A true test of the skills of the stitcher is the back of the completed piece. Because you don't knot the thread, the back of the piece can be neat or well, not so much so.
Vicki used to attend a "meet the framer day" at a shop in Cincinnati where she bought her materials. On that day, she would talk with a framer who would suggest the frame and matting that would be best for her completed project.
When one of her projects came back to the shop, the framer had framed it backwards because he couldn't tell which side was which.
"That was a big compliment," laughs Vicki.
Her Christmas projects have special meaning for her, especially the stockings.
The detailed stockings take weeks to complete. There is one for each of their children, Russ and Jacob, and Cindy Wulfekamp and Shawn Brothers, their spouses and their children.
She has taken into consideration what they enjoy in their lives when choosing a pattern for their Christmas stockings.
A golfing Santa is on Russ' stocking as a tribute to the sport he loves, and her 13 year old granddaughter Shelbie's stocking is probably the most detailed with all the things a young lady would love.
The Brothers Christmas tree holds some painted ornaments and some ceramic ornaments, but Vicki estimates she has stitched as much as 90 percent of the ornaments on their tree.
"We also have strings of popcorn and cranberries on the tree."
Vicki says she and Bob decided to string popcorn and cranberries in 1992, and they are the ones they put on their tree year after year. After they remove it from the tree after Christmas, they layer it in an old potato chip tin between layers of newspaper, and she says the strings look like they did the day they first made them.
She knows how much work goes into creating a piece so she also appreciates other people's work, especially when done by a family member.
Vicki says one of her prized possessions is a set of stamped cross stitch placemats that belonged to Bob's late mother, Wilma Brothers. The placemats were a gift to Wilma by Bob's great-aunt Mary.
"I also have Mary's handwritten instructions for washing the placemats," said Vicki
Another piece she loves hangs in Jacob's old room in their home.
"When Jacob was young, maybe 10 or 11 years old, he expressed an interest in learning to cross stitch," said Vicki.
Vicki says little boys don't always wash their hands when they should, so a barbecue stain on Jacob's piece is still there.
The stain makes the piece even more memorable for her.
Because she appreciates gifts that been homemade, every piece she has made includes a note on the back for who will receive it one day.
"Maybe our children have expressed an interest in a piece or something in it has special meaning to them, so they will appreciate it," said Vicki. "A gift that has been homemade is very special to receive. But it's also special to give."
Contact Laura Rains at Laura.Rains@lee.net or by phone at 606-564-9091, ext. 275
Photos by Laura Rains |
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