Happy Holidays

I will have limited internet access until January 2, 2008. I hope every one stays safe and warm. Enjoy whatever holiday you celebrate, and even if Christmas isn't one of them, go ahead and have a great day on the 25th.

For Christmas, I will be at my parents house. I'm taking my 3 cats over to help celebrate. Mom and Dad lost their cat just before Thanksgiving, and they both have said they need a cat fix. We will exchange gifts, have a family traditional breakfast and dinner. Sports and home improvement channels will be watched. Christmas music will be listened too and naps taken. Books might get read, crafts will be worked and family and friends in other places will be remembered.

I hope you all have as restful a time, and whatever your family traditions, enjoy them.
Peace and Love to all

Vacation Week and Challenge news

Okay, Sharon B. who has the In a Minute Ago blog has announced her challenge for next year. It is the Take in Further Challenge. Please feel go check out the post to get more details. She also welcomed people to talk about their de-stashing, so my hopes of working on projects and de-stashing should fit in with her challenges.

I got little done during my vacation. I worked on a Sampler that was started 20 plus years ago, and started a Crazy Quilt square. I also started another needle tatting motif. Much of the time I had planned to work on organizing my crafting and/or crafting was spent and my Mom's house. She had borrowed a copy of "The Barchester Chronicles" from her friend and my former boss. It is a 7 episode series, each episode about 50 minutes long. We watched it in it's entirety 2 days in a row. I probably could have watched in again, but that didn't happen. So instead of tatting, or doing anything else, I sat curled up on a couch, wrapped in a quilt, watching Alan Rickman ooze slimy charm. The show is a delightful little soap opera of politics and intrigue in a small 19th century town. I highly recommend it.

Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone. I did not dress up this year, and neither did my cat. Banichi sometimes dresses up as a spider and helps me hand out candy. He is usually as big a hit as the candy. I just didn't want to deal with that this year. I had somewhere between 50 and 75 trick or treaters come by, before I decided to call it quits. I got chilled, the neighbors were starting to close up and turn out lights so I did too. I didn't think I was ever going to warm up.

While handing out candy I worked on my embroidery sampler. I actually got a fair amount done. There were many nice complements on the colors and several little girls commented that they liked to embroider. I was saddened though when one girl asked if I was knitting. Here was this nice curious little girl who had never been exposed to needle crafts. A fair amount of my history is tied up in craft work -- not to mention a huge amount of space in my house. My mother taught me to embroider. My grandmother gave me my first knitting needles and yarn. My mother made me clothes, taught me to make clothes, she sewed and knitted Barbie doll clothes for me, I learned to needlepoint by watching her; she and I learned to quilt together, she on quilt tops made by her grandmother, and me using up scraps from cloth mom and I had made clothes out of. Then there is the hours of fun and enjoyment of learning new crafts with friends, and the new friends I have made simply by knowing some needlework and getting involved with groups in person or online who also practice needlework. I do hope that, that little girl who didn't know the difference between knitting and embroidery has some other memories with her parents, some other hobbies that will be as pleasing and rewarding to her as needlework has been and continues to be for me.

Update on my Aunt

My Aunt who was diagnosed with breast cancer had her surgery on Monday. They did lumpectomies and removed at least one lymph node. Nothing was found in the initial check of the lymph node, and we are awaiting all the test results. She and my uncle were exhausted, but glad that part of the ordeal was over with. It was a one day procedure and she got to go home that night. While I know she was glad to be home, it seems to me that this revolving door medicine is going too far. There have been some horror stories in the news about women sent home after surgeries for breast cancer where they or their families were unable to perform the follow-up care that was needed.

Motif 3, and Thank You

Thank you to the thoughtful people who stopped in to the comment section to offer prayers and encouragement for my aunt and my family. It is very much appreciated. Unfortunately my Aunt lives in Seattle and I live in Omaha, so we don't see each other as much as we all would like. Despite that we keep in touch and the families are really very close in friendship, spirit, and love.

Anyway on to tatting. I got two of the awareness ribbons blocked and stiffened yesterday. After work I go to the craft store to look for small magnets and pin backs so that I can finish them off. The pattern is copyrighted by Lenore English and was very fun and easy to make.

These are the two ribbons that are going to my mom and aunt. I don't know the specifics on the thread because it was inherited from my great aunt, their aunt. Aunt Joyce was a British War Bride, and unfortunately I never got to meet her. After her death I did meet my Great Uncle Clyde, who is, well, a great uncle. His children and grandchildren didn't want much of Aunt Joyce's crafting supplies so he gave them to me. I believe the size of thread is a 10. The color is actually a dark rose color and is not variegated. I need some practice with that scanner. The small motif in the middle is also from Aunt Joyce's stash and it is done with six strands of embroidery floss. Once again I don't know the maker or color of the floss. However here is the pattern, and it is copyrighted to JoAnn Stearns.

All pieces are needle tatted as despite all the flaws, I am still better with the needle than with a shuttle. I'm counting the ribbons as motif 3. I'm not sure if the Dove counts as a motif or not, it is so tiny and doesn't doe the original pattern justice at all (not that my ribbons do either).

As I read back over the rules I noticed that we were asked to state a theme for our motifs. People have been very creative and some of you are doing all animals, or all snowflakes, or designing all of your motifs. If it is okay I would like for my theme to be general improvement in tatting ability. Or how about getting up the courage to learn newer and more complicated techniques. Then there is also the ever popular, just keep working at it and practice makes perfect. I'll settle for better and not embarrassing, and believe me the pieces posted are the better and least embarrassing ones. You should see the others. ;-) And tonight, I get to go tat with my tatting mentor! I'm hoping to learn some new shuttle techniques, and she is going to learn needle tatting. Very Basic needle tatting.