Some Of My Things Part 3

The Tapestry

In 1974 I got married in Salt Lake City, Utah. Of all the gifts I received, one has meant a great deal to me and has moved from house to house over the last forty-eight years. It is a hand-made wool cross-stitch tapestry scene of a courtyard in Germany. Window boxes full of geraniums made the image alive and it was so typical of homes there. The houses called Fachwerk in German, were a type of half-timbering consisting of the erection of a timber structural frame, the walls of which are then infilled with non-structural masonry panels. 

 Every village had a church and the steeple on the right side f the tapestry is characteristic of a town in Germany. 

The dark brown, velvet edging has a gold brocade insert and the back is expertly closed off with a woven material which makes the entire piece look very professional.

The maker is my father’s sister, Erna Titze Klose. She sent the gift from her home in Hannover, Germany. When I received the wedding gift I had no memory of her as I was a small child when we emigrated to America. 

She remembered me as a little blonde haired girl , her brother’s daughter, who was emigrating with her brother and family in 1955. She knew of me through letters and pictures and I knew of her through memories my father shared. The last time she saw me was in Hannover, Germany when we said goodbye and then drove to Hamburg, boarding the ship S.S. America.

 

When I visited Germany in 1998 I finally met Erna, now in her nineties, suffering from severe arthritis. She no longer did handwork but showed me the knitting, crocheting, and cross stitch work from years before. Her skill was evident and most impressive was the finish work. I reminded her of the village cross-stitch she sent me and I told her how much I loved her gift. She seemed pleased. Her living room had a courtyard out a large glass door. I saw the Fachwerk outside her apartment and felt even more attached to the scene on her needlework. Whenever I looked at it I would visualize my time with her.

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