Roses embroidered cross-stitch in small oval paintings

Halliweel Manor Charmed embroidered cross-stitch

Rose embroidered cross-stitch in small oval painting

Flowers (Anemone) embroidered cross-stitch

Jesus Christ embroidered half-stitch

Transamerica Pyramid embroidered cross-stitch

Our face embroidered cross-stitch? Yes, we can

Painted Ladies embroidered cross-stitch

The charm of San Francisco

     If happens to you to catch the first flight to San Francisco, then it is the case to look at these lines written by me, a potential tourist guide of the Californian city. All my knowledge about the city, and on its famous bridge and about the enchanting bay is purely theoretical.

     Are generally included in the itinerary, otherwise, go to visit the famous Painted Ladies. Alamo Square offers a view of Victorian buildings in wood painted with pastel colors. Represent the pride of Victorian architecture. With their elaborate decoration, are the peculiar aspect of the city architecture. Many are the names with which we can refer to those buildings right in line on the east side of Alamo Square Park, for example, are known as the Six Sisters. Asserting that these are photogenic and telegenic structures is absolutely irrefutable and this assumption is substantiate by many film frames set in California.

     Obviously they aren’t the only ones. They are accompanied by many beautiful old Victorian houses in the nearby streets near Alamo Square, an area declared a historic district. However, the most picturesque row of Victorian houses in San Francisco is located on the sloping road called Steiner Street to house numbers from 710 to 720.

     The Six Sisters, built in 1895, are located in a strategic position, raised about 68 meters, allowing breathtaking views of the city.

     To be more precise about the architectural style should be added that the houses, a must on tourist postcards are examples of buildings in the Queen Anne style (1875-1905). The name Queen Anne Style was coined by its exponent and Scottish architect Richard Norman Shaw (Edinburgh, 1831 - London, 1912). The history of this style becomes twisted as it was born in England during the reign of Queen Anne Stuart of Great Britain (1702-1714 timeframe of the kingdom) and then be taken up and repeated in the forms can observe in America in the late Nineteenth century. Its primary characteristic is the combination of many traditions and/or stylistic infiltrations; the use of towers, turrets and decorative panels on the walls. 

     My great passion is shared by my mother, who took me to invest my money in a software not cheap, but worth the huge expense because it converts images and photos into cross-stitch patterns. At the end of conversion it comes into play my mother’s talent, as skilled with needle, Aida canvas and DMC floss. The result is the image that accompanies the article.

Golden Gate Bridge, cross-stitch embroidered

     Albeit not denying its cinematographic appeal, we focus on the gloomy record reached by the bridge, the record of suicides. Too often public opinion proves to suffer from myopia (shortsight) with an apparent inability to look into the distance. There aren’t lenses that treat this intellectual disorder, only the study can placate it. 

     The pages of history that have mostly aroused my curiosity coincide with the series of events that followed from the economic crisis of 1929. It had a devastating impact that even struck high walks, degrading it. A few years later, in 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected as president of the USA. Forged from health problems, he had a very strong character and acquired the same autonomy as needed over the country.

     The dramatic situation was witnessed by 13 million of unemployed. Was necessary to find immediately the social propellant that raise the economy and the moods. Roosevelt found that propellant in the creation of a “state contractor” by the promotion of large public works managed by federal agencies. Job opportunities arose and unemployment was stemmed. Among these public works includes the famous bridge that celebrates 79 years on May 27, 2016: the Golden Gate Bridge. That’s why that bridge is for me synonymous with hope. And at that time represented a lighthouse for all those who were involved in its construction.

     When I’m sad and I need motivation, I think the San Francisco bridge.

     It’s captured from different angles, several as we would like the opportunities of success in our lives.

     It has a peculiar color, the red lead (minium) or international orange, and exerts great charisma. Even the Bay Bridge, which opened a year before (1936) with a higher length and built on two levels for both travel directions, is relegated to the “shoulder” of the Golden Gate Bridge.

     The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began in 1933, and in June of 1936 an earthquake tested it by shaking violently the towers. However (and this notion should be an example to be emulated in Italy) was completed within the agreed date and at a cost less than the quote.

     On May 27, 1937 the bridge was opened to pedestrians.

     On May 28, 1937 at 9:30 a.m. passed the first vehicles.

     In the picture: the memorial cross–stitch embroidery made by my mother. 

     Source: “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”, an italian newspaper, May 12, 2016, p. 30.