Olivine Hankie

This is a hankie that I embroidered as a Christmas present for my mother. Knowing that my mum will not be reading this before Christmas, I feel safe in posting this. It is my first attempt at cutwork and I think it turned out rather nicely. The olive-branch motif is recycled from an earlier embroidery of my design. I had decided to use the motif because my mother is originally from Santa Barbara, California; I have only visited there when I was very young, but my memories of it are very mediterranian and I automatically think of Santa Barbara when I think of olives. Also when my mother moved to Canada, she brought and taught her love for olives to my father who she met here, (he apparently never used to like them, now he admits he couldn't live without) and then eventually to my sisters and I. (I admit I can't live without either).

It is worked, wholely, in a double strand of regular polyester sewing thread just because I couldn't afford to go out and buy floss (if you can imagine) and I liked the colour of the thread I had on hand. It is mostly buttonhole stitch, with a little whipped backstitch for the black outline and whipped chainstitch for the letters; there is plain chain stitch and a teeny tiny running stitch for the shade in the olives. The running stitch is more woven in as they are only a single strand of the fabric in width and in space apart. There is a little satin stitch on one of the olives that boarders onto one of the open spaces, and it is also used in the hand-rolled hem. The fabric is cotton linen, if I recall correctly; it's been in my stash for a while so exact fibre content is mysterious. It is approximately 30x30cms and took me probably something on the order of 20 hours, half spent on the embroidery, half on the hem. If there's any more one could say about it, I'm not sure.