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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛИПЕНЬ - СЕРП ЕНЬ 2019 WWW. UNWLA .ORG 5 SPEAKING OF EMBROIDERY by Natalie Mason Gawdiak Alexandra Juzeniw’s art icle “Embroidery” (fea - tured in the May issue of Our Life ) brought back pleasant memories for me and also helped me to resolve an issue I have been agonizing over — what to do with our large collection of embroidery be- cause I need to downsize. As someone wh o loves color and handi - crafts, I was smitten with Ukrain ian embroidery from the first time I saw examples of it in the home of my Ukrainian husband’s parents. My mother - in - law Anna Gawdiak and her husband Omelan lived in Newark when my husband Ihor and I took our wedding vows in the little Ukrainian Catholic ch urch in Whippany. Anna was proud of Ukrainian culture in all its facets and was pleased that I wanted to undertake to embroider a Ukrainian pil- low. I was lucky to have had such a mother - in - law, a wom an who was nothing like the image of the ste- reotypical fi re - breathing dragon dreaded in so many cultures. When staying with the Gawdiaks over that first summer of our marriage, I went to purchase some embroidery floss at a local Ukrainian store (the name could have been Bazaar) and was charm ed by the words of the shop owner. Learning that I was an American newlywed married to a Ukrainian, he confided to me that I would be happy because “Ukrainian men are very domestic - cated.” I was glad to hear this. Duri ng that summer, Ihor, his parents and I visited several o f the family’s Ukrainian friends, and I saw many more lovely, intricate examples of Ukrainian embroidery. One of the homes we visit - ed was that of Iryna Horodyska (my mother - in - law’s oldest friend fr om Drohobych), who laugh- ingly advised me that “embroider ing is very sooth- ing when you have a problem with your husband.” Soon after we got married, my mother - in - law Anna began teaching me Ukrainian and shared her collection of Our Life magazines with me. I en - joyed seeing the embroidery patterns on the back cov er and decided to make an embroidered pillow. I chose a pattern in orange and black cross stitch. I was very happy and proud to have finished it. That was a long time ago. At this stage of my life, I have been wondering what to do with all the embroidere d pillows, dresser scarves, runners, and icon rushnyky that my husband and I have ac- cumulated over the decades. These pieces came from the collections of, or were embroidered by, my late mother - in - law , an aunt - in - law, my hus- band’s cousins or purchases I co uld not help mak- ing over the years, despite the fact that I really didn’t need more embroidery. Luckily, with two daughters, two daugh- ters - in - law, and two granddaughters, I do not fret about what to do with the many Ukrainian embroi- dered sorochyky I have. Likewise, my husband’s several embroidered shirts will be left to our two sons, two sons - in - law, and five grandsons. Perhaps the various embroidered tablecloths we have will also find someone amongst our children who will want them. The rest of the items, however, will need a home elsewhere. I am very thankful to learn that the Ukrainian Museum in New York accept s Ukrainian embroidery that is not of m useum value. I plan to send many pieces to the Muse um, although there are among them embroidered works that I am also not yet ready to relinquish. As I approach this task, I’m discovering that downsiz- ing is difficult, even letting go of some of the pieces that are not my favorites, because I still feel tha t there is a great deal of hidden value in them — the thou ghts and emotions of so many women, through good times and bad, who wanted to create something beautiful and, whether masterpieces or not, they should be valued, respected, and some- how remembered. Ove r the decades since I first became ac- quainted with Ukr ainian embroidery, changes have occurred (both in the creation of and in the use of embroidery). I don’t like seeing the spread of machine - generated embroidery, but who am I to say it should not be done . Some people may be making a living from this new pro cess. As to the traditional way of embroidering, more women work outside the home (unlike in the 1950s) and cannot devote the time to embroider. Additionally, the dresser scarves and smaller embroidered
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