Well, Mom got her second vaccine last month. I got my first vaccine a couple of days ago. And Acorn got their first vaccine today, despite a phobia of shots so strong they can’t even manage a flu shot most years. The nurse did a really good job just prepping the site and keeping them talking while she gave the shot, like a magician, no “it’s about to happen” warning to tense up and Acorn didn’t even feel it.

Laridian asked me to post:

10 degrees outside. Have to search for gas today for generator. Pls let ppl know. I am signing off again to save battery. No ETA on power return.

In two hemispheres. (None of last night’s pictures of the North Pole came out.)





The anchors all around the bottom (seven of them!) are so his head doesn’t get lost in the clouds, says Acorn.

After a five-hour lawyer visit and lots of paperwork (plus homework, always homework) and no lunch, there was a tiny little knock on the door this afternoon. It was… the post office! Delivering a package to our door. I opened the box, moved aside a few things inside, and called Acorn. “Would you like to extract your own brain?” I asked him.

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Sewing the charms on will start later. Right now, just having the brains is a sheer joy and pleasure, all by itself.

All done.



Stretched, matted, framed. And cleaned of 42 years’ worth of dust. Now it’s behind shatter-resistant acrylic, so if some disaster were to strike and the “glass” broke, it’s very unlikely to harm the needlework.

There’s extra space now at the top and bottom, above the butterfly and below the signature, and I think it makes a huge difference in the look of the piece — in the old one, it seemed sort of crowded into the frame, at least in the vertical dimension. Now, there’s plenty of white space, and then more white space provided by the matting. It really draws the eye in to the center, and the thin gold mat draws out the gold undertones in all the brown animals (not to mention the gold in the lion!). Mom and I are both very pleased.

When I left off, I was about to remove the piece from the frame it had been in for the last 42 years. First I got through the layer of paper, then removed the fifty or so sharp little diamond-shaped metal teeth holding the cardboard backing in place. My next discovery was that Granny had been so unhappy with the piece with she finished it, not only did she not press it, she didn’t even bother hemming it.



I also found the difference in color between parts of the fabric that had been covered by other fabric and parts that hadn’t:



Which probably means that part of the color change is irreversible.

Mom held it up so I could get a pic of the copyright info. I haven’t looked up anything about the company that produced the design or anything yet, but it’s interesting to know.



Again, you can see clearly here that the color change isn’t limited to the front. Hm. (You can also see the foam that was mounted between the cardboard and the piece itself, giving a pillowed effect.)



Once the piece was out of the frame, I got to work and embroidered over Granny’s signature and the date.



That done, I washed it, following more or less the same procedure I would for washing handknit wool (though not the same kind of soap, since I suspect the linen wouldn’t appreciate having lanolin added).



This is what the water looked like after washing. Euch. (The water ran clear after rinsing.)



And now it’s laid out to dry on the kitchen table.



The fabric that’s been visible all these years (and some of the fabric that hasn’t been) is still discolored (and if you think additional washing would take care of that, speak up quickly! At the moment I’m working on the theory that it’s linen and has discolored with age and exposure to air and light), but the threads are vivid. The lion looks particularly stunning.

Next up: pressing, then taking it for framing.

Along with the blue heart for Home, my mother, and one of my sisters, we now have a yellow star for Acorn’s other grandparents, a pink star for one of my brothers (because no one knows what his favorite color is and pink was the only color I hadn’t already used nearby), and a green heart down in Houston for Laridian.

Now complete: the Mississippi trip (bright green, from NW AR to NW MS) and the San Antonio trip (middling purple, Arkansas to Guthrie, OK then to Dallas and finally to San Antonio).

I’ve gotten quite a lot done. Here’s a look at what remains:

French knots for:

Kansas City (both sides of the border)
Hometown
Dad’s family farm
Arkadelphia, Jonesboro, Russellville, Memphis
Tulsa, OKC
St Louis
Conway, Little Rock
Los Angeles
Overnight layover in Charlotte, NC
Helena Blues Festival
Atlanta, GA
Multiple visits to WI (Kettle Moraine, plus ???)
One long trip to MI (Mackinac Island, plus???)
One short but important camping trip to Minnesota
Visited DC with Granddad — outline
Houston to visit Laridian! — French knot
New York — French knot
New Jersey — knot
A trip to near (but not in) DC when Acorn was very small indeed — need to find out exactly where this was!
Detroit, MI
Atlanta, GA
In AR:
*Cotham's in Scott, AR which is no longer there, the Plantation Museum which is at Scott and the Toltec Mounds which is out in the Scott/Keo area of AR.
Petit Jean. Sugar Loaf? Diamond mine, twice. Hot Springs.
Heber Springs, Mountain View and the Blanchard Springs Caverns at least twice
Mount Pinnacle
Fayetteville
Ft Smith
Bentonville/Rogers
Bella Vista
Eureka Springs
Mountain View
Arkadelphia
Magnolia
Texarkana
Pine Bluff
West Memphis
Jonesboro
Harrison
Woolly Hollow
Paris/Mt Magazine

Hearts and stars:
loved ones in WA and WY, OK, TX, AR, NC

Road trips:

* driven from Durham to DC, up the I-85/95 corridor, and had lunch in Richmond, I believe. He's also traveled to Baltimore, MD. (aquarium, mostly), and the air and space museum in Herndon, VA.
* flown to Orlando, Florida, and traveled within Florida to Disney World, The Kennedy Space Center (at Cape Canaveral), through Tampa (had a meal there) and along the coast from St. Petersburg up to about Tarpon Springs.
Trip by train from LR to Chicago and back
Girl Scouts trip in senior year: road trip all around TX — contact troop leader for help remembering details — running stitch and French knots
Trip through IA to Kansas City — stopped overnight in IA due to blizzard
A week in MS — don’t remember where exactly, my brother might know. I was doing a favor for his friend. Acorn was very small, but he was a good traveler! knot if I can discover the city.

Within NC:
* Durham to Boone (and Tweetsie Railroad park), Asheville, Mt. Airy, Greensboro, Hillsborough, Wilmington (along 40), Topsail Island, Carolina Beach, Emerald Island, Kure Beach, the Outer Banks. He's been to the aquariums at Fort Fisher, and Pine Knoll Shores, and in Tampa, FL and Baltimore, MD.
AR:
*Gaston's on the White River, driving from Sherwood to Marshall, Harriet, Yellville on up to Bull Shoals and to Gaston's

Home stretch — completed!



And with that, I’ve gone from “I never embroidered anything” to “I made this” in one week. All states Acorn or I have visited (not including drive-throughs) are outlined.



After this, I’ll be embellishing the map to show cities we’ve visited, road trips taken, and where loved ones live.