Morris McDonald
Cross-stitcher
A quick glance at the December Fiber Artist of the Month display will convince you that Morris McDonald loves Christmas with the heart of child.
His cross-stitch is so well done, though, you’ll want to look at it longer than a glance. The Christmas House alone is intriguing, as the decorations on the inside are a different layer of work from the home’s exterior.
“It’s my favorite piece,” said Morris, who didn’t follow a common path when he started cross-stitching.
“When I was small, I had polio and couldn’t walk. When I was 6 or 7, my mother was doing embroidery and I asked her to show me how to do it.”
He quickly became fascinated in the needle art, but that fascination ebbed after he regained use of his legs and then went dormant for a number of years.
Fast-forward to shortly before one Christmas when his first wife was a little behind making cross-stitched gifts for teachers and helpers in the youth Sunday school she led. He offered to help, and then his passion for cross-stitching exploded.
Morris makesabout 15 pieces each year of varying sizes and most are given to others. He designs many of the pieces himself.
His signature piece is a framed Merry Christmas that glistens like a gentle Dec. 24 snowfall and resembles a vintage card. Morris has made it 14 times and enjoys stitching it in various languages. You’ll see it in French (Joyeux Noel) and Celtic Irish (Nolloig Shona Duit) in the display.
An apron he’s cross-stitching for his daughter features a big sunflower burst, designed from a photo of one of the flowers in her heirloom garden.
Morris finds the counting of cross-stitching very soothing, laughingly crediting that to his self-defined OCD nature. He has seriously wondered, however, if cross-stitching might be therapeutic for people that battle anxiety-related disorders.
A newlywed since early September, the Fishers resident has a third love, baseball. When he’s not cross-stitching – and sometimes when he is – he enjoys taking in a game. “When you’ve got a good commentator you can stitch until you hear that something is happening, then stop and watch the play.”
He’s a regular around the table when the Needle Nuts gather Thursday evenings in the shop. There have been a few times when he’s had to leave early because baseball called: He s umpired for about 25 years. He was certified to call games up to junior college level but now focuses on games for young children.