A while ago daughter No 2 made some patchwork stars out of Vietnamese fabric with a baby quilt in mind. That never materialised and the little pile of stars sat in the corner of a drawer. When the possibility of her leaving Vietnam came up she decided she’d like to give a star (with a bit of embroidery, their name and framed) to each of the women she’d been working with. Ever happy to take on a bit of embroidery, I have now finished all 15 stars. When daughter No 2 has decided who is to have which I can embroider the names ready for framing in Vietnam next time she goes.
Embellished patchwork star (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
It turned out to be a very enjoyable exercise. I found each star suggested its own decoration, both colour and stitch, although a few themes leap out when you have them all together. Laid out in front of me aspects of my far eastern trip come unbidden – embroidering for 8 hours overnight in Abu Dhabi, stitching away in various hotels and grabbing a bit of sewing time in between packing up daughter No 2’s apartment in Hanoi when, looking up from the needle, I’m for a moment surprised that my view is out and over a lake and unfamiliar city beyond instead of the softly rounded Chilterns I’m used to. But then we sewers know that bits of fabric and coloured threads can be just as potent catalyst to memory as certain foods or elusive scents.
Embellished patchwork star: detail (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
As I am currently head down and sewing hard on the altar frontal quilt, I thought I’d post each of these little embellished stars every couple of days over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy them.
Two gold finch have appeared at our bird feeder – a never before seen bird for me and a joy whether at close quarters or caught in sunlight glinting gold darting from tree to tree.
