ANGELS AND ARMENIA ARE SEWER’S MOTIFS
Around Blackhawk: Georgia Lambert
ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources
Posted on Sun, Oct. 29, 2006
"’DID I DO THAT?’" Olga Arabian told me she asks herself that sometimes
when she looks at her handiwork — magnificent cross-stitched beaded
angels, an Orthodox cross in tapestry, hand-stitched quilts, comforters
and pillows with crocheted lace.
The walls of the Blackhawk home in which she and husband Robert have
lived since 1994 are tastefully adorned with framed creations from
years past and present.
I learned about Olga’s talent after receiving a call from her neighbor,
Jim Ashworth. He and his wife, Mary, were out for a walk and were
invited to see Olga’s most recent project, a stunning gold and silver
tapestry Orthodox cross.
"I couldn’t put it down," said Olga. "I spent 12 hours a day on
it — it took me about four months to complete. I could never do
another one."
Said Jim, "Olga does the most beautiful kind of high-end needlework."
After visiting the Arabians’ home, I couldn’t agree more. In spite
of the level of difficulty and the amount of work she put into the
Orthodox cross, she said the series of angels she has completed —
Hope, Universe, Grace, Ice, Autumn, Sea, Millennium and World Peace
angels — is her pride and joy. She is working on another, Celtic
Christmas Angel.
In addition to the painstaking cross-stitching she completes (with
no transfers, just counted cross-stitches), she sews on seed pearls,
beads and tiny gems.
"She’s a real perfectionist," said Bob. "I assure you that each piece
is as flawless as she could make it."
I asked her about a sampler that I saw on her wall with foreign
writing. She created the Armenian Sampler about 10 years ago, she
said. It features a scene with grapes, olive trees and Mount Ararat
in the background, with Armenian numbers, the Armenian alphabet and,
in Armenian, the saying, "I am Armenian."
By popular demand, she made kits of the sampler; hundreds have been
sold through Armenian churches and newsletters, as well as local
charities for fundraising.
I struck gold when I asked Olga and Bob how they met. Their
grandmothers were friends in Armenia at the beginning of the 20th
century. In 1915, when the Turks attacked Armenia and more than a
million people were slain, many Armenians fled for their lives, and
the two women completely lost touch with each other (as well as with
some of their own family members, who were never heard from again).
Bob’s grandmother made it to England, where she worked as a governess
for some years. Olga’s grandmother ended up in the United States.
In 1930, when Bob’s grandmother was visiting a cousin in Detroit,
she recognized her old friend in a grocery store, and discovered they
lived only a few miles apart and had grandchildren of about the same
age — Bob, born in 1929, and Olga, born in 1930.
Family friends all of their lives, Bob and Olga celebrated their
51st anniversary this year — they were married in 1955. They have
10 nephews and nieces and 16 great-nephews and nieces (Olga has made
quilts for all of them!). They purchased their Blackhawk home in 1988,
rented it out once it was completed, and moved here in 1994 from
Detroit when Bob retired from General Motors, where Olga also worked.
Olga began quilting in 1959. She spent four years making her first
quilt, the Cherry Tree, which won an honorable mention when a friend
entered it in the California State Fair in 1963. It was also displayed
recently at the Mission San Jose Outdoor Quilt Show. An Amish quilt
she made, with close to 1,000 pieces, was recently included in a show
at the Museum of San Ramon Valley in Danville.
Each year, Olga prepares about a dozen Christmas trees with
hand-stitched ornaments for the Knights & Daughters of Vartan, an
Armenian fraternal service organization, which are then raffled. She
also makes centerpieces, dolls, holiday figures and artistic desserts
for various charities.
She is president of the Blackhawk Women’s Knit & Stitch group, which
meets monthly, and Bob has been a member of the local Homeowners
Association for many years.
Reach Georgia Lambert c/o the Times, P.O. Box 68, Danville, CA 94526;
at 925-743-2205 or [email protected].