IV. STITCHERY My suggestion is that you work your arches first and stop at the capital of each one. Work the capital of each column and then the column below until you reach the point where the three horizontal bands begin. It is best not to work beyond until later. Once a wall area between two columns has been defined, you can proceed to the Blackwork filler. A. Arches Place your away-knot outside the design area, about a needle and a half length from your first stitch. This first stitch should be about 2� down and 2� in from the left side of your cloth. This begins the first and largest arch. Use a backstitch and follow the outline as given. All arches, capitals, and columns are worked in the #12 pearl cotton. B. Capitals The patterns for each are shown on the pattern page. Moving from left to right of the design, the patterns to be used are numbers 6, 9, 7, 10, 8, and 11, again completed with a backstitch. Directly above the capital is a ledge. The stitches should go from edge to edge, i.e. one long stitch pulled taunt, but not so tight as to buckle the cloth. The same applies to the double lines directly below the capital. Once you have finished the capitals, secure these long stitches by couching them every � inch or so with black sewing thread to keep them from becoming distorted, especially since the upper ones are at an angle to the straight of the fabric. Continue stitching all capitals from left to right. Before you proceed with the columns, stitch a line using the scroll stitch in front of the first column on the left in the back. Now stitch this colum using a backstitch. Then work the second column, followed by a continuation of the scroll line behind it and in front of the second column in back. Next, comes the second front column, or fourth column, followed by the third column in back and the last column in front. The scroll stitch will pass in front of the back column and end at the left edge of the last column in front. If in doubt, please refer to the overall design printout. C. Walls The filler stitches to be used are slightly enlarged on page 12. Moving from left to right, they are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. All of these patterns, whenever possible, should use the Holbein stitch. My suggestion is that you pick one continuous line and work it over the entire area; then pick the next continuous line and proceed in the same manner. Although no one will see the back of your piece, do try to keep it as neat as possible since any �tails� or crossings from area to area will shine through on the front. Patterns 1, 3, and 4, are worked with different numbers of plies or strands, as follows: Pattern 1 � The hexagon is stitched with 2 plies. The inside Mogen Dovid and connecting lines to the hexagon are stitched with 1 ply. Pattern 3 � All vertical and horizontal stitches are done with 2 plies, and all the diamonds are worked with 1 ply. Pattern 4 � Again, the honeycomb is worked with 2 plies, and the incomplete Mogen Dovid (no horizontal connectors!) is worked with 1 ply. D. Marchers The three rows of marchers are clearly shown on the detail pages of the overall pattern. I stitched them partly in Holbein and partly in Backstitch, depending on how it was easiest to get from one place to the other. The first and last row were stitched in Holbein throughout, whereas the middle row was a combination. The horizontal lines are done in stem stitch, but the first and fourth are worked in scroll stitch. E. Lettering To begin, draw a basting line across the top, beginning at the highest point of the first arch. Continue downward matching the edge of the last arch on the right. Next, draw a basting line from the upper point to the lower point; these two points are marked with an �X� on pattern pages 2 and 3. The lettering itself, with no spaces between words, is two lines high and, in most cases, two spaces across, with one space left blank between letters and rows. A sample of the alphabet is shown on page 8. Be careful not to go beyond your basting stitch on the right, and line up the last letter of each line with said basting stitch (if need be, allow two spaces between letters on a particular line.) On the left side, each line is indented as needed to match the basting. VI. ALTERNATE DESIGN If you wish to skip the three rows of figures marching through the synagogue, I would suggest finishing the columns with a band of mosaics (as is the case in the original structure). To this end, I made some changes in my original design, as per �mosaic� printout. All arches and capitals remain the same, in location and design. The only change is the length of the columns and the addition of mosaic patterns at their base. To lengthen the columns, draw a horizontal line 63-65 rows below the left-most column�s capital. Draw a basting stitch line from left to right so that it is behind the front columns. Then, at its lowest point, the left-most rear column should end 8 rows below the line; the middle rear column 5 rows below the line; and the right-most 4 rows below the line. The front columns end at the same points as on the original design. Use either Holbein or cross stitch for the mosaic patterns. A single ply in a color matching the suede cloth will do nicely. If you do not wish to use suede cloth, the pattern shown on the mosaic detail page can be used most effectively and may even be done in a shade darker than the mosaic patterns. As for the writing in the upper right-hand corner, I would try not to skip it, as it is an integral part of the overall design. You might be able to do some research on the history of this particular synagogue and plan to make it fit in that particular space. The following is condensed from �The Story of the Synagogue, A DiasDora Museum Book,� by Geoffrey Wigaler (Harper & Row, 1986), pages 59-63: The oldest of the four surviving synagogues in Spain is the one in Toledo, built about 1200 and now known as Santa Maria Ia Blanca, (Saint Mary the White, the name of the convent for repentant fallen women into which it was converted in the sixteenth century. From convent it went to being a church and in the XVIII century it became an armory, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was declared a national monument and restoration was begun. Its area is only 5.270 square feet, but with the octagonal columns and Moorish-inspired arches, it creates the feeling of greater space. The capitals of the pillars are decorated with pine-cones. Please remember to donate $1.00 for each set of directions you copy to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in memory of Rita Lenkin Hawkins. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's address is http://www.ushmm.org/ Go to the lower right corner and click on Join and Donate. Thank you. Stitches VIII. SOME BACKGROUND FOR THE DESIGN UNIFORMS. UNIFORMS. & MORE UNIFORMS (Or one young person�s 20th century milestones) The very first uniform I remember is my mother�s white coat which she wore almost all day long as a sign that she was a young MD who had specialized in women & children, especially infants. Later, the white coat was covered with an oversized rubber apron as she taught her patients the exercises she felt all infants and young children should be able to perform for their health and proper physical development. Years passed before I found out that she had written a book about her theories - a book which earned her the appointment as Medical Director of a very large girls� high school in Hamburg. Then the white changed to brown shirts and black shorts, worn by quadruple files of �ants� marching in front of our apartment. I held on to my embroidery (my first little doily with the word �MUTTI� surrounded by spaced cross stitches). It was being crunched in my sweaty little hands, so scared and yet mesmerized was I. I didn�t like it; I feared what I was seeing a scene which was to repeat itself for some time in my dreams. My best friend�s big brother wore one of those uniforms the day he came to our house to speak to my mother. I told him she could not be disturbed at the moment. For a second, almost less than a second, he stood there undecided, and then... �In the name of the Fuehrer, you must let me in�. I tried to stand my ground. He slapped me one across the face, entered my mother�s consultation room without so much as a glance at the mothers with their babies waiting in the hall. A few moments later, my mother emerged - without her white coat - and asked all the ladies to please leave, she was no longer permitted to treat them. It was also the day that I found out we were Jewish. That same year, at the railroad station there were other uniforms - black ones, brown ones, blue ones, but also �civilian� uniforms; trench coats, long raincoats, business suits, and many, many hats. One of those very long raincoats and hats was being worn by my father whom I had not seen for a year or so. We were holding hands, for he was so tall he could, by stretching a little, reach the window, and I, being held by my mother, could reach down just enough to meet his hand. We must have been a strange and silent sight; the tall, slender, man holding on to a small child�s hand. Suddenly, he raised his Fedora in an �adieu� that would last over twenty years.. - There were no uniforms on Ibiza, nor were there any on Mallorca; at least not that I remember unless running around in a sun suit can be considered a uniform. It was a very happy year, and both mother and I blossomed under the lberian sun and my first school days; �ba, be, bi, bo, bu; ca, ce (as say� in English), ci (as �see� in English), co, cu; da, de, di, do, du�. But wait, reading these syllables - and later words - in unison was a sort of uniform since we children intoned them in the same voice and cadence. I learned to count and read in Spanish; it was a happy time and I gr...
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