In between all the bad news and all the nonsense, back in the summer Auntie Maxine brought us some much needed joy. I’m referring to that viral “reclaiming my time” moment with California Representative Maxine Waters, of course.
In case you missed it, there was an otherwise boring committee hearing where Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was dodging Rep. Waters on why he didn’t answer a letter from the Democrats on the committee, trying to use flattery and whining to the chairman, but Auntie Maxine wasn’t having it. She pulled out some House procedural rules and cut every evasion off with a firm “reclaiming my time.” And then it was everywhere, and spawned the best gospel re-mix ever:
What’s great about this phrase (much like “nasty woman” and “nevertheless, she persisted”) is that it goes beyond its immediate political context. It’s for all the women, particularly women of color, and other marginalized folks out there who have had their time wasted with this noise. We can take it back.
To your past experiences that have hurt you, they don’t have to define your future. Reclaiming my time. To the present struggles trying to steal your joy, you can tell them to piss off. Reclaiming my time.
So naturally I wanted to embroider it. I put out the call on Facebook and soon had five amazing women to give them to before I stopped taking orders. Let’s visit them.
1. Robin Davis
Robin used to be in our church community group, but now she lives in Paris because she is cool like that. Among other things (like being a journalist) she runs an excellent travel blog, 9 to 5 Wanderlust. She also planned our upcoming trip to Portugal! You should hire her, just sayin.
Robin wanted something simple/minimalist, so I picked these fonts and Vlad gave it that curve in photoshop. Ta da.
2. Brooke Obie
Yes, Brooke knows Oprah.
You’ll remember Brooke from my #BlackGirlMagic post. She’s a super talented author (no really, buy her book) and a dear friend.
Brooke had the idea of putting it on a clock, so I pulled some google image searches and again, Vlad put it together in photoshop :)
3. Stephanie Adams
This is us 10-ish years ago for Stephanie's 21st birthday. Babies!
Stephanie is another repeat customer – she was at my mini Navs reunion and received one of my first ever embroidery pieces. Reconnecting with her continues to be a delight.
Cribbing from Pinterest, I drew this design on graph paper. Weee. Most of this is done in the chain stitch that I learned from Chris’s piece.
4. Valerie Imparato
I went to college with Val, and now she’s a badass lawyer person. And a super talented artist. We mostly just see each other on the internet, but I really appreciate her insightfulness—and her Bachelorette reacts.
Val picked this pattern from BreezebotPunch on Etsy and I did it in bright colors because that is what I associate with her :)
5. Adriene Perry
I go to church with Adriene and we met at a summer community dinner a few years back. She is an amazing mom and really loves and serves her community.
And this pattern is an original! The first thing I’ve done that I didn’t trace or copy from another design. It’s simple, but it’s a start.
All the things:
