XS: What Started You Stitching

[amora]

My maternal grandmother knitted, crocheted, sewed and did all types of embroidery.  She was raised parakeets and pekes dogs, and was overall a very special lady.  The Christmas before she died, one of my presents was a small stitching kit, with ballerinas stamped on pastel fabric.  She was going to teach me to stitch with it.  By the middle of the next summer, she had passed away, a victim of cancer.  My mother doesn't do any of those things, but through the years, I found out how to do all of them, and have special passion and affinity for counted thread work.  I think it gives me a sense of being connected to someone who provided a warm and cherishing environment, and who was completely non-judgmental in her love for me.  I still have some of the things she made for me and for others, and just recently, my aunt gave me some of her old knitting and crochet patterns from the 30's, 40's and 50's.  They are very special to me, and surprisingly in style right now.