Effie Hondl of Dickinson is helping to keep the art of embroidery alive with her old-fashioned dish towels and table runners.
"I learned to embroider when I was 16 at home. We had a lot of free time on the farm," she said. "I did sew clothes for the boys and dresses for the girls. I loved to patch. I could make something almost out of nothing if I set my mind to it."
Embroidery is described as decorating fabric with designs stitched by needle and thread. The origins of embroidery are lost in time, but examples survive from ancient Egypt and Iron Age Northern Europe.
Hondl prefers using timeless patterns for sets of dish towels. She's decorated towels with birds, flowers, penguins, elephants and puppies. There's days of the week, such as laundry day, ironing day and market day.
"I can do a pattern in a day if I do nothing else," she said.
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That's seldom the case as she continues working parttime as a certified nursing assistant at St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Center. She considers retiring, but would miss the people she works with.
Hondl started working nights while the children were at home. Mornings, her husband (Albert L.) got the children ready for school before doing farm chores.
If she gets tired of embroidery, Hondl crochets doilies or cross stitches table runners. She orders her supplies from a catalogue and prefers to use white flour sacks.
"The towels are so thick, they will last a lifetime," she said.
She hopes to make a set of dish towels for each of her five children and 10 grandchildren.
She also takes orders and will have a craft booth during the Autumn Fest today at St. Benedict's Health Care Center, Dickinson.
