ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601220002
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV18 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: JOANNE ANDERSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
Dean Hufford of Pulaski has been counting all his life.
As a youngster, he started with 1, 2, 3...
Following graduation from Pulaski County High School in 1944, he studied accounting by correspondence, then worked in the accounting department at Inland Motors for about 25 years.
These days, Hufford counts stitches, tens of thousands of them in counted cross-stitch pieces that become intricate pieces of fine art.
His fascination with needlework grew out of his own medical crisis. Eleven years ago, Hufford was admitted to the University of Virginia Medical Center with pneumonia. He slipped into a coma and hovered for 10 weeks in the unknown between life and death.
Because the medical center is a teaching hospital, doctors have access to experimental drugs. Traditional medications had failed, and Hufford's case was serious enough so doctors tried an experimental drug.
Miraculously, Hufford awoke and began the long road to recovery. Before learning to walk again, doctors told him to start using his hands.
His wife Helen gave him a latch-hook rug kit. He mastered those big stitches quickly, as well as the smaller crewel work and stamped embroidery.
When his daughter Jane sent him a small, two-color cross-stitch kit, a new hobby took hold.
Eventually, Hufford returned to work, but after nine months, he found it too exhausting and retired to his three-story colonial in Pulaski.
He rises about 6 each morning, picks up his cross-stitch and catches the morning news on TV. Helen prepares breakfast a couple of hours later. Hufford spends his days doing volunteer work and running errands.
Between chores, he grabs a needle and creates cross-stitch embroidery for friends and relatives, or to give away.
"For the past 12 years, he has stitched as many as 91 Chrismons, small monograms relating to Christ, for the church children," said Helen.
To her, each piece of work signals her husband's recovery. She believes that one reason her husband lived was to create these cross-stitch pieces and bring beauty to the world.
The walls in most rooms in their large house exhibit Hufford's work. A cross-stitch of stanzas of "Amazing Grace" has all the musical notes and symbols as well as words to the hymn.
P. Buckley Moss cross-stitch kits are another favorite. "Moss' work is challenging," he said, "with lots of half-stitches and quarter-stitches."
When he completed an 18-by-24-inch stitch of The Lord's Prayer, a friend of his wife's liked it so much that he made another for her.
Hufford has won awards for his cross-stitch at local and regional fairs. In fact, he has won a ribbon for every piece he has entered.
One of his most spectacular works is an Indian maiden called "Earth Dancer" that incorporates beadwork and leather fringe. It took more than 300 hours to complete and has been on display at the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley for three months.
His most complex work to date is "Tara" from Gone With the Wind, an 86,000-stitch piece he recently made for his daughter.
Hufford was commissioned by the Wilderness Road Museum to do "The Generals," Lee and Grant with their respective flags. He is also a volunteer at the museum.
With 1,300 or so skeins of embroidery thread in stock, Hufford is well-equipped for any project that comes his way. "I found people going out of business, so I'd buy all their thread inventory," he explained.
A handsome gentleman only slightly gray, Hufford, 69, modestly says that cross-stitching these exquisite pieces "gives me a chance to take the little bit that I can do and make something of it."
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. One of Dean Hufford's most spectacular works is anby CNBIndian maiden called "Earth Dancer" that incorporates beadwork and
leather fringe. It took more than 300 hours to complete and has been
on display at the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley for
three months. color GENE DALTON/Staff
2. GENE DALTON/Staff What started as a step on the road to recovery
from pneumonia and a coma turned out to be a serious hobby for
master cross-stitcher Dean Hufford (above) of Pulaski. color
3. Hanging over the piano in the Hufford's home is a this work
(right). color
4. The intricate work of cross-stitching "gives me a chance to take
the little bit that I can do and make something of it," Hufford
said. color
5. cover photo Blue Violet color