This weekend I had plenty of time for stitching. For the first time in eons I had my laundry caught up, the cold and snow outside made me want to stay in my nice toasty apartment, and to top it all off, A. had to work. He worked at home, but given the fact that he is a computational physicist and that my computer is still at the computer doctor’s, I had nothing but stitching time on my hands.
I worked on “Girl’s Time Out” and at 12 hours, 15 minutes have finished my rotation on it. I am about 25% done and have finished the little girl’s pinafore, the top half of her dress, her head, and hair. Because I am narcissistic 
and I prefer almost all females I stitch to be blonde, I changed the little girl’s hair color from golden brown to what I refer to as “ultra-blonde.”
As I mentioned before, this little girl really reminds me of myself as a child, and believe you me, as a kid I was ultra-blonde! My hair was more or less white until I was about 11 when it finally started getting some golden strands in it!
Since this reminds me so much of myself, I also want it to represent me as a child, because I am thinking (though I am not yet 100% sure) of giving it to my mom for Mother’s Day. I really want to stitch something for her this year and was thinking about something with a “my mother, my friend” saying, but haven’t found one I like yet. Though I didn’t like standing in the corner when I was a little girl, it has become something of a fond memory for me and my mom, so I think she would really appreciate “Girl’s Time Out.” So, maybe I will give it to her… trouble is, I really like it too!
I am from Small-Town, Iowa USA. During the last census the population of my hometown was around 1800 people. And as many of you know, when you are from a town that small, everyone knows everyone. I haven’t lived there for 12 years, but on occasion my mom still sends me news of home. It always starts with, “You remember so and so…” Sometimes I don’t, but most of the time I do.
Anyway, mom sent me an email yesterday in that vein. It concerned a guy that I (sort of) went to school with. (He was a couple of years older than me, I didn’t know him all that well, but I thought he was cute.) Apparently, he and his fiancée entered a “Win Your Dream Wedding Contest” and made it to the finals. I quickly scanned the information about how to vote for them, but what struck me was the paragraph the detailed the value of the potential prize. $17,000! Can you say, “HOLY COW!”? Because I sure did! (OK, maybe not those exact words, but something very similar.)
I know the contest is for a “dream” wedding and you can call me unromantic if you want, but… $17,000 For a wedding?! I was flabbergasted!
Maybe it says something about the priorities I had as a little girl, because I barely even thought about getting married and had no idea what kind of wedding I wanted. As a result, by the time A. and I decided to get married, the only thing I wanted was an enjoyable and simple affair. I didn’t want all the headaches or bills of planning something huge, so we decided to (semi)elope and headed for… where else? Las Vegas! Sure, we only stayed in Vegas 3 days, I got married in a $60 sun dress, all we bought A. was a tie, only five members of my family were in attendance, and Dad paid for dinner afterwards, but a good time was had by all.
Even though I may not have previously planned it, the day really was like a dream… and all for the reasonable price of about $1000!
As we approach Valentine’s Day, I hope those of you planning a wedding or hoping to plan one in the near future will remember that no matter what the cost, you will remember your (first) wedding for the rest of your life. Don’t let your dream turn into a nightmare of stress and debt.
Filed under: holidays & special occasions |Currently, A. and I have no kids, nor are we planning to in the near future. That, however, doesn’t stop me from thinking now and again about what kind of environment our child might grow up in. For as long as we live in Germany where German is the most common language and since English (or “American” some would say) is not only my native language, but what A. and I speak together, our child would have no choice but to grow up in some sort of bilingual environment. What kind of bilingual environment, however, is up to us.
I think that growing up truly bilingual is a magical gift to bestow upon a child and I grieve for the fact that A.’s Greek father never took it upon himself to speak Greek with his children. I find it terribly sad that if his father would have made a conscious decision to do so he could have helped his children become bilingual, but instead A. only knows a few words of Greek. I would hate to deprive my child of such a chance.
I do wonder though, exactly how to successfully help your child become bilingual. I don’t think that exclusively speaking one language at home while living in a country where another is the norm is enough. I have read of many cases where immigrant children learn the country’s language outside the home, but only speak their “mother tongue” at home. Apparently it “works,” but there have also been direct correlations made between this haphazard way of becoming bilingual and poor grades and/or behavior problems. It seems to me that tossing bilingualism around in this manner would hinder, rather than benefit my child.
I have also found many references to what is referred to as the “one parent, one language” method.” This technique is employed by each parent exclusively speaking his or her native language to the child from birth. This seems to be a fairly painless method for the parents and the easiest to employ since it appears that as the child grows, his or her brain automatically adapts and wires itself not only to understand both languages, but eventually think in them as well. However, this method leaves me wondering what language family discussions are conducted in and whether or not it confuses the child to hear his or her parents speaking one language and not the other together.
In our situation, though German is A.’s native language, he will be one of the first to admit that he is more socially adept in English than in German. In addition to that, he finds speaking German around me uncomfortable and has indicated he isn’t sure he could follow this “one parent, one language” method if he was the one that had to speak German! If we lived closer to his parents, I suppose we could easily transfer the German responsibilities to his mother, and I guess that just having German-speaking grandparents would go a long way in the bilingual development of our child, but I have my doubts as to whether or not our child would develop a natural German fluency based on such limited contact.
A. also believes that by merely living in Germany any child of ours would naturally pick up German and, to an extent, I agree. However, by shirking what I see is a bilingual duty to our child, I am afraid he or she would end up in the situation where German was only spoken because he or she had to do it and that I definitely would not want.
I know that quite a few parents living in a bilingual environment read this blog, and I wonder what your feedback on the subject is. As I said, A. and I have no plans for children in the near future, but that doesn’t stop me from realizing what a potentially difficult environment we might be bringing a child into if we don’t thoroughly think the matter over.
Filed under: domestic activity, expatica blog, family matters, germany, that's life! |Up until now, the cross stitch pieces that I have framed I have done myself. Since they have been small works, I just didn’t feel the expense of a professional framer for these little pieces was justified. I don’t think I do too bad framing either. I get better at centering the pieces in the frame every time and generally I have been pleased with the results.
Nevertheless, when I see the pictures that many of you display of your works that have been professionally framed I am impressed. Therefore, when I started doing my largest and most complicated work to date (”Passing Admirers“) I made a promise to myself that since I am putting so much time and effort into it I would have it professionally framed when I was done.
A few days ago, I mentioned my quest to find a professional framer here in Munich (I haven’t looked any further yet, but I will be soon!) and while I was writing that entry I started thinking about framing and specifically what thoughts all of you other cross stitchers out there have about framing.
Therefore, we have the latest “Stitching Blogger’s Question,” which is actually two questions, though both are related to framing. Please feel free to answer either one or both! I look forward to your thoughts.
Filed under: sbq |Do you frame your cross stitch yourself or do you take it to a professional framer? Why?
In your opinion, what are the advantages and/or disadvantages of putting your work behind glass when you frame it?
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