UPDATE: This pattern is now available as an easy-download PDF file, via the Embroidery Patterns tab, above.
I start with a gallery of finishes. Sanity saved! Smiles spread! (Think what you must about the phrasing – I’m happy that my goal of preserving both have been achieved).
My own finish. Naturally dyed claret and mustard yellow wool on linen/cotton blend. I played with the color placement and letter forms a bit, since I can’t do anything verbatim these days.
Photo (c) 2020 by Madeline Keller-King, reproduced here by permission
Photo (c) 2020 by Breen Pat, reproduced here by permission
A couple of days ago I posted the design for my “Don’t Panic” piece, which has become shockingly relevant.
Friend Edith points out that harsh times call for harsh language, and that while some people might be soothed by a gentle statement, more strident expression suits many others.
Therefore for Friend Edith, and in the spirit of Dame Judy Dench, who is famed for stitching up provocative statements, I make this chart freely available for YOUR OWN PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL USE.
Consider it as “good-deed-ware.” It’s tough out there right now. Pay this gift forward by helping out someone else in need; phoning or getting in touch with a family member, friend or neighbor who could use a cheerful contact; volunteering time or effort; or if you can afford it – donating to one of the many local relief charities or food banks that are helping those displaced from work right now.
Right-click on the image above to save it as a JPG.
This piece is intended to be done in cross stitch (the lettering), and double-running or back stitch (the frame). While it’s shown in black and red, use one color if you like, or substitute in as many other colors as you wish.
The source for the lettering is yet another of the offerings in Ramzi’s Patternmakercharts.blogspot.com collection. The border is from my recently released Ensamplario Atlantio II, a free collection of linear designs – mostly blackwork fills and borders.
Thank you Edith! Your inspiration and request will brighten the hearts of many, while rendering their walls cheekily NSFW.
(And there goes my PG blog rating, and any remaining shreds of reputation for gentility. But it’s worth it if someone smiles.)
String-Or-Nothing 
Love it! Great sentiment.
Normally I don’t like the f word, it’s original meaning is “to have sexual intercourse with someone” (I was LMAO during certain judicial hearings), but right now that’s exactly how I feel about that virus. Two weddings and the annual luncheon I go to have been cancelled.
Thanks for the laugh, I just might stitch it.
Normally I avoid four letter words, myself. I’ve always thought they were over-used in modern discourse – that their shock value was blunted by repetition, and their meanings diminished when they weren’t saved for truly deserving circumstance. But this happens to be A Truly Deserving Circumstance, so I fire away.
Hate to see anyone sink to this level. It just encourages others to use that word,
See my reply to the comments above.
You definitely made me smile. Thank you!
Thank you! I so need this right now. My Mom is in hospice care in a nursing home. 😦
Happy to be able to support your stress-offload! Best wishes to your mom.
[…] on to my next piece. I have promised a rendition of my Harsh Language design to a good friend who is a virus-survivor. This friend prefers to remain […]
I love this. I am busy with a covid sampler, i suppose, memorial piece anyway. For my daughter, a physio working the COVID wards in UK NHI. It is on custom dyed fabric in what she says are the colours of this time. Then i have a single covid virus in strong colours, again what she sees the virus colours as, with a lot of others around it in bleached out hues of the same colours. Then I’ve backstiched in script accross the whole thing all the words and phrases she associates with this time. Finally a blackwork border around the whole thing with little personal covid symbols: mask, hand sanitiser, shopping trolleys, stethascope, loo rolls. I need to manage a banana bread that looks like BB. Ive used different types of thread for different things. Its going to be a bit busy i suppose, but i know she’ll love it.
Im surprised there are not a lot more slightly more complex COVID patterns out there on Etsy.
PS i love your blog. Your skeleton boi is AMAZING. But you know this!
[…] started on a promised project – a rendition of my Harsh Language piece, as a gift for a friend who prefers to remain anonymous. They survived Covid, and made a […]
[…] a new overland speed record for completion, I offer my Harsh Language piece. I began it on 22 August, and finished on 30 August. Eight days. Lightning fast, […]