From Matty to Aida …..

The one thing I don’t enjoy doing is sending out handmade greeting cards. There are two reasons for this. One, even though I send cards only to those who appreciate hand-made stuff, my mind gets gnawed with doubts such as what if by chance they (recipient) throw it away.

Two, I hate parting with my stuff. (Should this have been number one) The number of people I send handmade stuff is thankfully few in number. So I thank God for small mercies.

There was so much to cross stitch that I didn’t know about when I was in school. There was something called “Matty” cloth available in the market. They were available only in white, pink, yellow, light green and light blue. With this limited color choice, we used to buy a couple of meters of one of the colors depending on the project we are working on. Mostly it would be a table cloth and occasionally a Television cover, (for the uninitiated, the TV cover helped prevent dust settling on the screen) and one would stitch the border and a flower bouquet in the center. This was a very common pattern made in most homes.

If the design came out really well, these tablecloths used to adorn the dining tables during a party at home or when people visited. The cross stitched piece would be laid out neatly on the table and duly covered with clear plastic, lest eatables or drinks get spilt. There were also horror stories like the one my friend retold.

My friend who is a cross stitch enthusiast once had laid out her table cloth and had gone to bring the plastic to cover it. Before she could bring it down, a guest kept her glass of juice and it got spilt. My friend was devastated. This spoilt table cloth had to go for a wash. What came out of the washer was a disaster she had never imagined. This “Matty” cloth has a tendency to shrink. Now, not only did the piece shrink to a much smaller size than the table it was made for, but the color of all the threads ran so much that the color of the table cloth changed drastically. From that day she never laid out her table cloths and it was the last time my friend worked on a table cloth.

Recently, after discovering the different kinds of Aida and other cross stitch materials in the U.S. market, she began working on small projects like photo frames etc.,

I don’t remember where my matty cloth T.V cover went, but thankfully I don’t remember having a disaster like that. Here are a few of my Aida projects. I am seriously looking for my lost TV cover which I hope to present in my blog along with another Aida work. 

The above are small items I made, a few for making greeting cards, but I never got around to making them and sending them to people. The other two are bookmarks which I rarely use, but take them out from time to time and admire my own handiwork.