{"id":111,"date":"2014-07-13T20:39:28","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T00:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeanfarishneedleworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=111"},"modified":"2015-11-06T13:55:39","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T18:55:39","slug":"stay-connected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeanfarishneedleworks.com\/wordpress\/stay-connected\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay Connected"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When you get together with friends to stitch, drop by a favorite shop that welcomes folks to sit and stitch, are active in an online community, or all of the above, you belong to a tradition that spans centuries.<\/p>\n

Needlework is a flexible pastime. You can enjoy it in solitude. You can carry on a conversation while you stitch. You can watch a movie while you add another row or two or three. You can while away an afternoon in a hammock or get a little bit more finished on your latest WIP as you await your doctor’s appointment.<\/p>\n

Whether you have the luxury of leisure or have to micro manage your schedule to fit in some needlework, what we all have in common is a need to share. Long before cross stitch patterns were published, needleworkers shared motifs and alphabets … that’s why you can see the same crown or tree or dog in one sampler after another. (Oftentimes the similarities can be traced back to a finishing school where each group of young ladies followed a teacher’s pattern.)<\/p>\n

Today, it is more likely that tips, solutions, and encouragement are shared. Forums are a great way to connect to needleworkers around the world. Members ask for and give advice. Newbies learn the basics from experienced stitchers. Post a WIP and listen for the ooh’s and ahh’s. Sometimes only another needleworker knows what you need.<\/p>\n

Just today, I joined crosstitchforum.com<\/a> and within hours, another member shouted out a welcome. I look forward to offering help to others as much as I look forward to the encouragement I know I will find on those days that I need it.<\/p>\n

It was that single, warm welcome that inspired this post. Yet as I started writing I thought to myself, I have heard these words before.<\/em> And then it hit me: I stitched them in “The Hare and the Basket,” the 1996 Spirit of Cross Stitch commemorative sampler.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Hare and the Basket Sampler, 1996<\/p><\/div>\n

(BTW, the “J. Huls” is me!)<\/p>\n

Now, go stitch!<\/p>\n

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When you’re not busy stitching,\u00a0please\u00a0“like” the\u00a0Jean Farish Needleworks<\/a>\u00a0Facebook page, too!\u00a0This is the best place to make comments about this blog as I get way too many spammers if I allow comments here.<\/em><\/p>\n

Want to shop for\u00a0JFN designs? Go to\u00a0my Etsy shop<\/a>!<\/p>\n