I decided my first embroidery project needed to be a gift for Nanny Jane, my grandmother, because she’s the one who taught my mother how to embroider. I held it behind my back and surprised her with it when she came to get me for a Friday night just-the-two-of-us sleepover.

I used a blank flour sack towel, tapestry needle (blunt with big eye), water-erasable marker, pair of scissors, and a variety of 6-strand embroidery floss to make her gift. I created the design myself and then my mother helped with the knotting and threading of the needle. I used all 6 strands.

During our sleepover, “Nan” helped me start another gift towel for Kim. It didn’t take me more than a few seconds to come up with the design for her towel—the words, Cowgirl Kim OMG! next to a pink cowgirl boot. (Nan helped me draw the boot but I did the lettering.)

Nan and I made a list of all the things we wanted to accomplish during our afternoon, night, and morning together—things like:

-start a knitted scarf

-take her dog Tulip for a long walk

-gather eggs

-take a bubble bath

-fix a big salad from the greenhouse for our dinner

-sort buttons

-fix a breakfast of potatoes, bacon, English muffins, eggs, and fresh oranges (It was YUMMY!)

I want my Nanny Jane to want me back again real soon so I did things like make the bed without being asked and I also cleaned up after myself. Nanny Jane told me that when she was my age, she also spent weekends with her grandmother and slept in the very bed that we now sleep in together! She told me that when I grow up and have a house of my own, I can have her grandmother’s bedroom set to someday give to my granddaughter.