Names: family and otherwise

This week's Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish is: Fictional Characters and Literary Figures You'd Name Your Children After...

Well.

My child-bearing days are likely over--unless by typing this I have somehow tempted The Universe into a big ol' "we'll just see about that," in which case I leave my options wide open--but I will, I hope, continue to name pets, plants, cars, and bicycles for many years to come.

And I already have one daughter named after (depending on which day you catch me): Elinor Dashwood, my favorite Austen heroine, or Elanor Gamgee, my favorite baby hobbit, or Eleanor of Aquitaine, my favorite bloodthirsty queen, or Eleanor Roosevelt, my favorite knitting first lady, or Eleanor Rigby, my favorite sad and lonely person (where do they all come from?). So the precedent has been set.

1. Laura, as in Ingalls Wilder. I also have two lovely friends named Laura, plus a much beloved cousin, so this name is a natural fit in my life. (The name Almanzo, however, does not make the cut.)
2. Max, of Where the Wild Things Are. Who wouldn't wish for an imaginative, boisterous, amazing boy such as this?
3. Rita, as in the lovely Meter Maid.
4. Meg, Margaret, Megatron--Miss Murry of Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet (and many other companion books) who guided me through quite the ugly duckling phase myself. Although why she and Calvin named one of their daughters Polyhymnia is quite beyond me.
5. Claire, of the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon. Though the books' quality has ebbed as the series has worn on, and on, and on...Claire in Outlander is a feisty, sexy, smart heroine we all can love and hope to emulate.
6. Edward. Or Jacob? I can't decide. (JUST KIDDING!)
7. Neville, as in Longbottom, as in the unsung hero of the Harry Potter books. He's one who, though not ordained by any prophecy with overwhelming responsibility (though he COULD have been), chooses love, good, and Herbology despite daunting odds. Neville is The Boy Who Chose. And can't you see a cat named Neville?
8. Penny, as in Lane and also as in the love of Dr. Horrible's life.
9. Pearl, as in Prynne-Dimmesdale, the girl who took what life handed her [mother] and lived to fight another day--in Europe, far away from those nasty Puritans.
10. Bryony. Bryony is one of the brave piglets in Mr. and Mrs. Pig's Evening Out, by Mary Rayner, the first book I ever read--really read, not just memorized--a book that is quite possibly (I'm just realizing) the headwaters of my Anglophilia and love for sunny texts with dark shadows.

Duh! Ask The Blog...

Once upon a time, I was into cross-stitch.

Now, I have absolutely nothing against this lovely pixelated craft. Like all crafts, it can be used for good, or for evil. I have several cute items that I cross-stitched over the years and I love them dearly, especially for the memories that are embedded into them. I have the "Life is a Chair of Bowlies" one I finished the year I was a newlywed. I have "Bloom Where You're Planted" which is so pretty and just needs to be framed. I have one I started in high school that is all different quilt blocks and it took on even greater meaning when I worked on it during a time of great grief when I was in my twenties.

Lately, I've noticed a resurgence of cross-stitch, done in a tongue-in-cheek ironic fashion. (Warning: some links on this site NSFW.)

That said, the only thing I'm ever going to build one stitch at a time now is a sweater.

In addition, I've been resolving to de-clutter my life. And when I went through my craft bins stored in our sadly-non-Harry-Potter-esque cupboard under the stairs, I found an unfinished cross-stitch, taken up in a fit of "I'm on maternity leave, I have so much time!" insanity.

It's a sampler intended for a baby's room...and the baby I intended it for is now...

Eight.

I've posted it on Facebook as a freebie. Needles, floss, and a 95% finished sampler! C'mon, people!

No. Takers.

I've posted it on Craigslist in my community.

Again. No. Takers.

So, as a last-ditch effort before this goes to Goodwill: It contains love, care, and intention in every stitch. If you have a baby or if there is a baby coming into your life, or if you've ever seen a baby, consider picking this up where I left off. It's not that it's not cute, and sweet, and perfect. It's just that I want it to go to a baby it's meant for, and I know if I put it out to the universe (e.g. Blogland) it will find a home.

Any takers? I will pay shipping. Frame included.

(PS: the message around the border says: "I see the moon and the moon sees me. God bless the moon and God bless me." It's a nursery rhyme.)