Firehouse Angel Update

It did not go to Europe. It was decided not to take the chance of it getting lost.

Read the history pages and you will see that it wasn't unworked on from sometime last May to recently.

She is nearly done, now, and will get to its destination by this fall. There is nothing wrong with it being late. In fact, that can often have more meaning.

Dianne

VBS -- I was the first one to work on the piece (sometime in September of whichever year this all started) and I then sent it to Jan L. in the U.K. She had it for a month or so and then sent it to Felice. After Felice, it went on to 10 or 12 additional stitchers (most keeping the piece for 6 or 8 weeks on average) before it got held up for many months. That person obviously had some sort of crisis in her life because she didn't post or respond to e-mails for about six months. Even friends in her local needlework group started to notice that she wasn't around. This holdup started between Thanksgiving and Christmas but I'm not sure if it was one or two years after we started the project. I got the piece back in about mid-May of that year and sent it on its way to whomever was next in the rotation. True, the piece isn't finished yet but the only thing left to stitch is the hands and the Wisper on the underside of the wings which I will do. I should have the final stitching completed by the end of May and then take the piece to be framed. As soon as DD and her family have returned to Lizard Land, I will start looking at frame options and get some estimates on cost. The piece will be totally completed and ready for presentation to the FDNY HQ on or before the fifth anniversary of

9/11/01.

All snarkiness aside, why do you think we would have had problems if everyone had known when the piece HAD to be completed and how long they were allotted to do their portion? This project is nothing more than a Round Robin with virtually no time limit. Every RR I have worked on had a SPECIFIC time frame and each stitcher KNEW how long s/he had to work his or her portion. The chart could have been separated into large blocks of stitches and everyone could take their turn doing one of those large blocks. If we wanted the hands and face over 1 someone could have volunteered for that in lieu of a block of stitches. Someone else could have volunteered to do all of the beading and metallics. People would have known ahead of time *specifically* when they would be getting the piece and could have planned accordingly. Of course, we ALL have 20/20 hindsight. Like you, I never thought it would take this long to get the piece completed. If I had thought it would take this long, I might have urged you to do the piece in a more traditional Round Robin manner with a firmly set time frame for stitching and then sending the piece on to the next in line. But it is what it is and there's nothing to be done about it and the piece WILL be delivered in time for the Fifth Anniversary of 9/11.

Sorry, Dianne but you got the whole Europe thing wrong. The Angel DID go to the UK and was worked on by Jan L. She's the person I sent the Angel to. IIRC, we discussed sending the piece to her and decided that Jan should get the piece first before too much work had been done on it. That way, if something did happen to it, there wouldn't be much lost except for the fabric, my portion of the stitching and all that

*$(*$#&*^$# gridding I did -- LOLOL! If the Angel had gotten lost, we could easily have just started her again. Thankfully, that didn't happen :-). CiaoMeow >^;;%<

It was in her possession for many months with no replies to emails and no way to contact her. That's what I remember.

Yeah -- you're probably right and that's what Dianne was thinking of. I'm also pretty sure it was Meredith who went to Europe and decided not to take the piece with her. I'm not sure if she left it at home and then worked on it when she returned or if we changed her place in the rotation. Regardless, she did work on the piece but didn't take it with her to Europe. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Sorry Victoria but that wasn't Meredith -- it was one of the other volunteers. When the Angel went MIA (sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas), you and I e-mailed numerous times about the situation -- maybe even spoke on the phone but I'm not sure about that. IIRC, we both contacted people who were friends of our "missing" stitcher and even their e-mails and phone calls went unanswered. After several months, I phoned our "missing" stitcher several times. The last time (this was in May, I think) I left a message and followed up with an e-mail saying that I would send her a self addressed Priority Mail envelope so that all she had to do was put the Angel, etc. in the envelope and drop it in the mailbox. Not more than a week later, the Angel was delivered to me and sent on its way to whomever was next in the rotation. That whole thing took about six months out of the stitching rotation and it was rather difficult for everyone to get geared up again. I also know that the piece was put on the back burner every time the holidays and summer vacations rolled around. Unfortunately, people got hurt and people got sick and life just got in the way for so many of us that completion was delayed even further.

It hasn't quite been 3 years, actually. The project first came up in the fall of 2003. Actual stitching started sometime after September 29,

2003 according to a post by Tia Mary, who did the gridding.

Elizabeth

It didn't go to Europe. She left it here and we all agreed that it was ok, that she'd be back before someone else could pick it up. I have my facts straight and it's mighty close to finished.

Elizabeth

Haven't hit the THIRD anniversary yet, so I guess you're not annoyed, eh?

Elizabeth

No replies to emails? When did you email her? You kept saying you had no way to contact her, so I did and she responded immediately and sent me the angel. Your memory is really quite bad.

Elizabeth

Yep -- I had totally forgotten about Meredith's trip to Europe. In one of the other posts, Lucille posted this info. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

I think Vic has Meredith mixed up with another stitcher. The Angel did go MIA for about 6 months and all efforts to contact the stitcher who had the piece were for naught. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Matte is a finish. Mat is the colored cardboard used in framing.