I remember last summer when I was at my grandmother's house. She lives 31/2 hours away in Pennsylvania, which is why we don't see her much. That very day I was given something worth more to me than anything in the world. My grandmother had an old box in her closet. The box was at least forty-one years old!

"I'll go and get it," she said.
Then she started wandering down the hallway taking care with each step, to go and get the box. After she left, I looked around the room at every last detail. From the big bamboo pot in the center of the table so big that when you sat at the table you couldn't see the person across from you, to the little crystals hanging in the window reflecting rainbows on to the rose covered wallpaper. I heard a step in front of me and snapped back into reality to find my grandmother standing in front of me. She was my height but wouldn't be for long, because I was growing like a weed.

"Katie, this box is very important," she said.

She opened the box and inside was a bunch of embroidery tools. I had just learned to embroider and pricked myself with the needle most of the time but I don't prick myself much anymore. I had gotten really good compared to how much time I had.

"These have been used by me and my mother (your great grandmother). It has been in my closet for so long and I can't bear to look at it anymore. Now it is yours," she said in a kind, gentle voice.

My grandmother was in the middle of a project for my great Aunt Carol's baby (Carol was pregnant) when Carol and the baby died. My grandmother has never touched any of those supplies in the box ever since then, because it brought back to many sad memories. That is the reason I got the box in the first place.

That day I took the supplies and what I know about embroidering and went to work. When I held the needle in my hand it felt cool, and I felt right at home using it. The thread was smooth as I ran it through my fingers to separate the strands. The fabric was rough, yet comfortable. The finished product was a pillowcase that said Nana on it. She put it on her bed immediately after I finished it. To show it to all of her friends bragging about her granddaughter.

The pillowcase was done with my favorite stitch: the whip stitch.
For the whip stitch, you do a regular up-and-down stitch over the place you want to embroider. Then you weave another thread in and out of the visible stitches creating a whip. To make it colorful you can use two different colors for the thread. To make it really pop on your project you can use complementary colors (colors opposite of each other on the color wheel). I have made many more projects since then. Every time I make a project I think of Aunt Carol who died at the young age of 26. And her baby who wasn't even born yet.