One person's crap is another person's CRAFT!

I've been on needlepoint, cross-stitch and embroidery kick lately. I'm not actually doing the work, but rescuing pieces that have been forgotten, cast aside and given to thrift stores, garage sales, etc. Someone somewhere at some point in time spent hours making these and it breaks my heart to see a sticker on top that reads, "25 cents."

Okay, actually I get really excited when I see that, but also a little sad for the one who made it. I look at the indivual stitches and see the hands behind it. I imagine the person in front of the T.V. (M.A.S.H.? Matlock? Murder She Wrote?) or on a porch in a rocking chair on a Saturday afternoon or in the carheading for a vacation. They are having conversations or enjoying the solitude while their fingers repetitively stick the needle in and out and over and under and through as they meticulously follow a pattern or don't. They stop every once in a while to rest their fingers and examine their progress. At some point they finish it, frame it, hang it on the wall and go on with their lives. And then somewhere along the way it gets discarded. This is where I come in. Here are a few things I've picked up in the last few weeks. . .

First, a pillow ($1.99):

I think it's going to become a purse someday.

A snow skier (89 cents):


Damn, that's ugly. Something weird is going on with one of the boots too. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it but I think 89 cents is a bargain for a thousand tiny stitches.

A house ($2.19):

It reminds me of the little wooden collectible "Cat's Meow" houses my mom has scattered around her house. See the black cat at the front door? I might give it to her for a surprise. Oh wait, she reads my blog. There goes that idea.

A needlepoint printed tin (89 cents):


And lastly, my new favorite, unicorns! ($10.80)



When I was buying the house and tin (above) at the thrift store the clerk pointed out the unicorns to me. I had overlooked it before because I thought it was just a cheesy painting. Somehow the embroidery makes it beautiful to me. I guess that beauty is in the eye of the beholder because when I brought it home the first thing Erik said when he saw it was, "You're seriously not going to hang that up are you?"

Yes! At least until I get the urge/nerve to turn it into a purse. Is that wrong? Nahh, it's recycling!