Putting My Heart into Hand Embroidery

This has been a really tough year for my Grandma. She was hospitalized 3 times since February with a shattered femur, broken hip, and atrial fibrillation respectively. But she’s always been tough and she got through each one – and at age 87, to boot!

Since she’s in Louisiana and I’m in Arizona, I felt pretty helpless when she was going through the rough times. That’s when I decided to make her a little something special to show that I’m always thinking of her and that I love her more than words can say.

I followed one of my re-sew-lutions for 2017 and made a hand-embroidered piece. I dipped into hand embroidery with my Sailor Moon Ginger Jean Shorts already, but I wanted to try something more substantial.

I came up with this: Always in my Heart.

I used an 8-inch embroidery hoop and some pink linen that was in my stash which was too scratchy for clothing. I found the heart and flower graphic from doing a Google image search and free-handed the leaf/vine border.

It took me about 8 hours to complete this but I found it really helped relieve some stress when the going was tough for Grandma.

I am new to hand-embroidery, so I’m sure there are some mistakes in there. I mostly used a back stitch and satin stitch. I think it came out pretty well for a n00b!

To finish the hoop, I simply trimmed the fabric and hot-glued it to the hoop.

Grandma was released from the hospital for the last time on August 7th and needed someone to be with her 100% of the time to help since she was still recovering from her broken hip. My aunts and mom have been wonderful being with her but I knew it was a lot for them, especially since we weren’t sure how long Grandma needed someone to stay with her.

I wanted to help and also felt like I needed some one-on-one Grandma time, especially since she’s had such a rough year. I’m happy to say I was able to go back home and stay with her for 2 weeks!

I am so, so happy and thankful that I was able to spend so much time with her and help her out. I cooked and cleaned, made phone calls to insurance companies, took her vitals daily, helped with her physical therapy exercises, and more. In those 2 weeks, I saw her make so much progress and she is getting more and more independent each day. She has always been driven and tough, so I am happy to see that that hasn’t changed.

It was a really special time to be with her as we got to learn more about each other. She is the perfect patient as she is one of the nicest people I know and really wants to work hard to get better.

I recently returned to Arizona and I feel so much better after having seen her do so well. I will always worry, but now I don’t have to worry as much since I know she’ll be OK – as long as she doesn’t fall again!

When I arrived in New Orleans, I gave Grandma her gift. She was thrilled and made sure it was hung immediately to show off to her friends and family that visited.

Even though we live far apart, we’re always in each other’s hearts. ❤

I’ll love you always, Grandma.

-RED

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