My father passed away in 2017, and just recently my mother moved in with me. In helping mom clear out their house, I have run across pieces of cross-stitch that I gifted to my father over the years.  I regret some of these pieces now, but my dad loved every one of them.

Dale Earnhardt Sr was our family’s favorite NASCAR driver by far.  I stitched this for Dad in 1990, and his brother liked it so much that I stitched another one for him too.

My dad was a life-long smoker.  I tried to get him to stop smoking for many years.  I don’t know why I chose to stitch an ashtray for him.  Given that he suffered from emphysema in his later years, I really regret creating anything that fostered this terrible habit.

Also in the category of needlework pieces that I regret is this Confederate flag piece.  It’s framed in the front of a key cabinet.  Dad ran a business with a fair amount of equipment (trucks, backhoe, etc) and he always kept a lot of keys.  The cabinet was pretty useful.  But I do regret this flag.  I can’t bring myself to destroy it, but I won’t keep either this or the ashtray.

I miss my dad and loved him a lot, even if we didn’t always see eye to eye.