Before leaving for a six-month study abroad
in Brussels, Belgium, I found this pattern and thought that
it would be nice to work on while living overseas. Luckily,
I had never heard of Teresa Wentzler or I might have been scared
spitless. I did not believe in rotations. I was of the firm
mind that once a piece was started, I shouldn't work on anything
else until it was completed. Well, I started this pattern in
January of 1992; I did not complete it until May of 1996. During
this time, I spent six months in Belgium, graduated from college
with honors and two degrees, planned a wedding, got married,
packed up all my worldly possessions, moved to Dallas, Texas,
went to Travel School, became a travel agent, and started a
graduate degree. I like to say all that, so that it doesn't
look so bad that it took me four years to finish this! It was
the beginning of many large projects, and I've certainly never
regretted it. Although, if I had it to do over, I would not
have stitched it on 18 ct. white Aida. All those quarter stitches
were a nightmare! Oh, and I would not have taken it to a framing
store in the mall. After a couple years, I noticed the fabric
was bubbling. I took it to Dan Melvin of Matte Ink to restretch
it. When he removed the back, we discovered that they had used
a sticky foam core. Who knows if it was acid free. I spent a
week soaking in Ivory and warm water and carefully pulling the
sticky paper off the back. Then, I got daring and ironed it
to a piece of wax paper to try and lift off any glue residue.
It worked really well assuming I did not cause any long-term
damage to the piece.
