A Proclamation

Three weeks and two days ago, I decided to embark on a project that, for years, has bounced from one to-do list to another, and mentally filed away under "Some Day." Well, "some day" is here. Next week our country celebrates the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. There is no better time to start on said project -- a cross stitch sampler featuring the 272-word text of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of November 19, 1863.

Here's the plan: I commence stitching next week, on Lincoln's 200th birthday -- Thursday, February 12. The goal is to complete the sampler on July 4. These historic dates seem like practical punctuation marks, though I suspect that Life will intervene and send my neat little plan into a tailspin. That's okay . . . I work best with a deadline.

Pre-stitching prep work is a needleworker's mise en place -- fabric is purchased, floss is selected, a stitching chart is designed. I've named this cross stitch chart "272 Words." It's time to go to work.