Court went okay yesterday. They have set a trial date for December 9. Which is thankfully only two weeks away. The judge will decide whether or not to give my nephew another 6 months to get his act together (which this judge seemed inclined to do) or put the children up for adoption. People watching while waiting for court is almost as much fun as people watching at Disneyland. The drama! Anyway, we will know in two weeks!

My current project is Sweet Pea by Nora Corbett (Mirabilia). Here is a pic -

The picture on the pattern does not show the brightness of the colors. They really pop! I am finding her to be a fun stitch too. Wish I  had more time though!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

So this here is my 200th post.  Crazy, right?  (My 100th post slipped by without mention sometime in April.)  My one-year blogiversary is coming up soon too, on December 6th, so in honor of these momentous occasions, I am giving you, yes YOU, a small gift.  (Well, I’m giving one of you a small gift.)  This charming little ditty bag, the younger sibling of my backpack, could find it’s way into your hot little hands, just in time for holiday giving — to yourself, to someone else, I’ll leave that up to you.  It’s about 9 or 10 inches square, interfaced with flannel so it’s got some nice heft to it.

So here’s the deal, leave a comment on this post and, just to make it interesting for me, in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, mention something that you accomplished this year or that you are feeling grateful for.  I will randomly choose a winner in one week’s time (December 2).  Make sure to enter an email address into the little comment form so I can contact you for your mailing address if you are the lucky winner.  Open to everyone worldwide — there is crafty love for all people here at kleio’s belly!

And have a happy day tomorrow, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not!

I finally stitched up these fragrant little ricebags.  They are all backed with 100% wool felt and filled with a mixture of lavender and rice, with orris root powder as a fixitive (supposed to help the scent last longer).  They are very sweet and smell fantastic.  I love how they turned out.  The “namaste” one in particular seems transformed by the purple piping and the pine green felt on the back.  I think my favorite is “bird by bird,” just because that’s really where I’m at right now mentally and I love the little birds.  I’m going to stitch up some more of these if I ever get my act together to do a craft fair.

It’s tatting!

I didn’t know that. I had to look it up. Since I know nothing of yarn and these kinds of things, I will at this point simply quote the definition from wordnet.princeton.edu:

• needlework consisting of handmade lace made by looping and knotting a single thread on a small shuttle
• lace making: the act or art of making handmade lace

At any rate, I am absolutely awestruck by the work Pamela from TotusMel is doing.

It definitely has something of old times. It’s so delicate and elegant and  it is also absolutely stylishly goth or vampire.

And here we are again at the South Park episode that seems to follow me. Please refer to this post if you would like to know what I am babbling about =) but this time I will refrain from putting Pamela’s work on the cartoon characters.

Good day, everyone.  I hope you are doing well.

I managed to work a little more on my Gameboard – here is the latest:

Two more new houses were added to the neighborhood.  I loved how the sun comes up behind this sun:

I sure hope that the squirrel won’t be tempted bother with the siding or the roof of this house:

Thanks for popping by.  I am off to getting a few things done and in order to check them off my to-do list!  We have a sunny day — YAY!

Get It In Gear, originally uploaded by needlepointernc.

Finished dedazzling this quilt today so I can turn it into the Undercover Quilter’s Bee. I will have 6 quilts in their show at the Clayton Center in December. This is a pattern by Robbi Joy Eklow. It is fused and jeweled.

Wood is stacked. Tea is steeping. Sitting by the woodstove knitting. Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.

With Bebe still fighting off a cough & nasal yuck, there hasn’t been much time or energy for other things this week. Like vacuuming, or getting out of pajamas before the noon nap – if he naps. So we sleep when we can, and do a lot of reading and games.

My little coffee bean cardigan has paused, as I need size 9 (5.5mm) DPNs to finish knitting the sleeves. Our LYS is out of stock, which means we’ll make the longer trek out to My Favorite Yarn Shop when Bebe’s health and the weather are both a bit better. And look: my new labels arrived yesterday, I love them!

Meanwhile, I am working on my craft swap for the stocking stuffer exchange (my list of babes are 10mo-3yrs, which I love, thank you Carrie!). And I am repeatedly attempting to cast on for these really adorable fingerless gloves. Knitting with DPNs is still a new-ish skill for me, and I am fine after the third row or if I am picking up stitches after working with circular needles. But when I am starting out a project with them – argh! mrah! eek! – getting from joining in the round past the second row is like torture. I don’t know why I’m stupid here, but the experience invariably feels like I have only two brain cells to rub together and they just aren’t making fire. Grrr…

In much cheerier craft news, November is the 3rd annual Handmade Holidays month at Sew Mama Sew, and every day this month they have posted a new theme with a really great list of project tutorials, recipes, etc. The Projects Queu on my sidebar has tripled in size thanks to so many great ideas. And did I mention some amazing giveaways? They are offering some really amazing giveaways.

The colors and stitching of this little daisy boutonniere remind me of Girls Scout merit badges.  I finished the edges with a true buttonhole stitch (not to be confused with a blanket stitch — take a look here for the difference). 

In honor of Veterans Day on November 11th, I made a poppy out of wool felt, with French knots for the seeds.  It turns out that poppies are usually associated with Memorial Day, not Veterans Day.  This is confusing to me since November 11th is also Armistice Day — the day in 1918 when peace was signed between the Allies and Germany ending World War I — and poppies were first worn in memory of those who died during World War I, after the poem “Flanders Field,” by John McCrae.  The Department of Veterans Affairs explains that Memorial Day is for commemorating the dead, and Veterans Day is more for thanking the living, so you are supposed to save poppies for Memorial Day. 

The Veterans of Foreign Wars first started selling paper poppies in 1923 to raise money for wounded and disabled veterans.  Even when I was young, the little old men and women selling those paper poppies touched some soft spot in my heart, especially the men wearing their VFW caps and ribbons.  I try to imagine what they went through in whichever war they survived and how it must feel to stand on a street corner or in front of a store, trying to sell tissue paper poppies to a mostly disinterested public.  I am very much anti-war, especially because of what it does to the men and women who serve.  And especially, these days, because of how the rest of us carry on as though nothing is happening, our lives untouched in any way.

I missed my goal of posting once a week.  Did you know that having a house recarpeted with all the furniture in it is like moving without going outside ?  The carpet was layed last Thursday and Friday.  It took nearly all weekend to get all the “stuff” back in place.  My studio was organized for the third time…..and it will stay as it is for years .

I managed to find several hours of stitching time and progress is being made on Double Up. After finishing all the “crabs” I went on to the Jessicas all 36 of them. They are stitched with Soie Gobelins which is a slippery thread.  I used a separate length for each Jessica and left the tail hanging so I could do the small smyrna crosses that go in the middle.  There is a small crescent also in the middle…….this will be a challenge as finding the holes under the Jessicas could be very frustrating.  This is the first part of the design that I have given some thought to changing.

I have been pretty busy lately, which is no excuse, but here is an update. I am almost finished with Mediterraneo. I have some backstitching and the beading to do. I will be starting that tonight at stitch night. I have really been concentrating on that project because I want to get it done before Christmas.

The court date is November 24th and I am trying to get things ready for that. Mostly me. It should be interesting.

Anyway, today will be a short post, I think. I don’t have any progress pictures to post. (I REALLY need to get my own camera!) I will try to steal it tonight and take some pictures.  I was going to post a picture of the warmer for this month, but it is not working, so I will just give you a link to my website, which is new too!

https://dorothyl.scentsy.us/Home

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day!

This is the last post of Twin Peaks Embroidery from my current show.

These are all fairly large, Bob and the Giant are 2×3 and the Log Lady is slightly larger.

I used all 6 strands of floss included in the standard Embroidery floss pack, so the stitching is pretty thick. They are all done in stem and chain stitches.  After I was finished embroidering on the cotton I stretched them over canvases and used spray adhesive to secure them.

This is ten solid hours of knot work on Bob’s beard. I struggled a long time with how to do the stubble, as I knew the knots would take me forever, eventually I could not come up with any other viable options and gave in to the knots. Oh, colonial knots, thousands of colonial knots.

I kind of hated the one for the Giant, until I got it on the canvas. Now it’s my favorite of the large pieces.

Now to go work on tiny, tiny patches (one inch) of  Twin Peaks character…. is this my new fate… bleeding fingers for Twin Peaks?

Lovely: Frosty mornings. Saturday donuts. Friends visiting for the weekend. Adorable wee hats on toddlers. Spicy vegetarian chili (a favorite recipe from another friend). More apple spice cake.

Unlovely: Piles of laundry in our bedroom & bathroom.

Lovely: Walking around town with friends, exploring vintage shops and sunny cafés. Finding mulling spices, affordable vanilla beans, and chicory (for the morning coffee ) at the very charming Pa Dutch Tea & Spice shop. Lots of funny shop names.

Unlovely: Missing naptime with an overtired Bebe. Mr. Perches getting a bee sting on the neck when putting on his jacket.

Lovely: Cauliflower cheese soup. Warm hats. Listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Late night and early morning knitting. A very sweet pattern for a baby cardigan.

Unlovely: Fevers, coughing, 2AM calls to our pediatric after-hours clinic, and being instructed over the phone on how to do a rectal temperature check (ewww).

Lovely: Broken fevers. Lots of late morning sleep for Bebe.

What was lovely in your weekend?

Today was the last meeting of the year for the Bay Area Sampler Guild. I always enjoy this meeting. It’s a wrap up for the current year and a kick off for the next. They already have the agenda for 2010 all mapped out and we have some great events and workshops coming up. Another reason I really enjoy the November meeting is most of the members bring in their show-and-tell and the pieces they brought yesterday were just amazing. It’s really motivating. Another part of the meeting is spent doing gift exchanges. One exchange members just buy little gifts, but the other exchange, the members stitch their gifts (they drew names back in January). I knew I’d have too much going on this year, so I opted out of the exchanged. But a couple of my friends gladly jumped in.

front

back

inside

One of them stitched ”Red Lace Needlecase” by Drawn Thread as her gift.  I did the finishing for her a couple weeks back and now that the exchange is over I can post about it.

If any of you are stitching this piece, you might want to consider make a couple changes to the finishing that I did.  The instructions for this piece specified using just batting, but that seemed too soft for something that would hold scissors.  If it was just a needle case, I think that would have been fine.  I added one piece of skirtex under the batting to make it firmer.  So I used the batting on the two outside pieces and skirtex on the two inside pieces .  The other change I made is to change the placement of the hinge .  The instructions on the chart had it placed at the top of the case. But I decided it would be better to place it on the left, so the scissors wouldn’t fall out of the case if it was placed on it’s side.

We had a good laugh yesterday because the person my friend stitched this for, also stitched this same piece for another member for the exchange.  Though, she had used a different color of linen and thread (purples).  She had it finished just as the instructions had stated, with the exception of beads added all around the edge of the seams (a lovely addition).  When the recipient lifted it from the wrapping, just as I had expected would happen, the scissors fell out.

I know that I still need to post Fall Retreat Pt.2, but with Bill home recovering from foot surgery, my routine has been disrupted. I will get it posted soon.

I have been knitting.  Kerry asked if I would make something for the new baby of a friend.  So I have knit a sweater, (pics and details soon) also knit a hat, but it would fit a 3-year-old.  So I have gone down two needles sizes and cast on again last night.  Guess the baby will receive two hats, one for now and one for later.  Hope to finish soon so I can get back to the Sivilla shawl, of which I have made it through the pattern, and started on the second repeat.

While I try to round-up more shades of blue for the background of A Crazy World, I have been doodling in my sketchbook.  I am going to go with the background sketch on the right and I know that I want to applique the pieces with some curves, but can’t decide whether to work left to right, out from center, or some yet unthought of method.

Sketchbook doodles

Here are two gifts I made and finally completed for a Pay It Forward.   Last Fall I received a Pay It Forward award (a lovely temari ball) from Jane at World Embroideries and now after eleven months, I have finally sent my Pay It Forward awards to the two people who won them on my blog.   For Anne at Nanouanne, I made a needlework biscornu.   I forgot to take a photo of the biscornu I made, but Anne took a lovely photo of it and she is letting me use her photo for my blog.

And for Karol at  Rosebud’s Stitching I made a small Amish Friendship Basket Wall Hanging.   I forgot to take a photo of Karol’s finished gift as well, but here is a photo of one exactly the same as I made for Karol…only Karol’s had a different binding.

Both items were made in friendship.   I chose a quilted piece for Karol because she is an expert needleworker and is not a quilter that I know of.   And for Anne who does lovely quilting and is an artist in many areas including Art Trading Cards, I thought to make a cross-stitched piece because I don’t think she does cross-stitching.   I just wanted their gifts to be different.   It was a fun thing to do to send a surprise in the mail.    Amities, Averyclaire

One of the gifts of having grandparents is that they provide us living examples of skills and values from another time. I nearly missed this experience since all my biological grandparents had died by the time I was 7 years old. But I was lucky. The grandmother I remember best was Ethel Connors, a woman not related to us who became family in all the ways that matter. She was born July 28, 1896, and our relationship was the strongest connection I had to women of her generation. They don’t make grandmas like her now, ones who know how to do stuff. Modern grandmas buy stuff.

Grandma Connors came of age in the early 1900s, an era when young women learned what now seems a mind-boggling array of domestic skills. She could sew by hand and machine. She crocheted and did tatting, a form of lace-making done with an impossibly small hook. She taught me how to knit, embroider and quilt by hand, always reminding me to make the stitches tiny and straight. When she was a young woman, Grandma Connors said, she’d have sewing contests with her friends to see whose stitches were the smallest. It was best if you couldn’t see them at all.

Table runner I embroidered for Mother's Day, ca. 1970

She could also re-cane chairs; fix a pork roast and gravy that are still unequalled; and every Christmas, she made these cookies using something like a branding iron dipped in batter that was then deep-fried. Grandma Connors was a woman possessing such varied skills, she even knew how to cook the squirrels her husband occasionally brought home — although she never could make them smell like something I’d want to put in my mouth.

My friend Karole’s parents, Bill and Elaine Edwards, also knew how to do stuff. The year after Karole bought her first house, her parents, then in their 70s, spent several days helping her lay two different types of flooring in the kitchen and living areas, installed a dishwasher and new countertops, tiled the bathroom floor, hung wallpaper and put up ceiling fans. (They also painted, but this was one area where they did not shine, eschewing the usual taping and tarping for “we’ll scrape up those drips later.”) Elaine could sew, quilt, and her mashed potatoes were legendary. She’s probably fixing them in heaven these days — really, what kind of heaven would it be if her mashed potatoes weren’t there?

I’m reminiscing about these people because with each passing generation, fewer and fewer of us know how to make things. Doing is not what we care about anymore. Culturally, we measure ourselves not by what we know how to do, but by how much we can buy.

In fact, knowing how to make or fix things has fallen so low, it’s almost an embarrassment to be caught at it. Those of us who sew or cook are throwbacks. When people see us doing these things, they make remarks like, “Well, aren’t you the domestic one?” in a tone that doesn’t sound so complimentary. Why fix what you could replace, or bake what you could purchase ready-made? Why would you turn the collar on a shirt when a new button-down is so cheap at WalMart? Who in the world knows how to darn a woolen sock anymore?

I do.

I can also knit a sweater, cut my husband’s hair, and do a passable job of refinishing a piece of furniture. I bake bread. I can make a rag rug and pull together a respectable vegetarian dinner from some rice, frozen spinach, seasonings, and a little yogurt. When a pair of pants is too “gappy” at the waist, or too long or wide in the legs, I can alter them. I bake my family’s birthday cakes every year, and the adults get one made from scratch, including the frosting.

This can’t be called bragging since none of these skills is held in high regard anymore. It’s like announcing that I know how to repair a wagon wheel or mend the stays in your corset. Quaint, but not much in demand. In order to fit into this century, I should probably get a full-time job so I can earn some money to pay someone else to make, do, or fix stuff for us. But I probably won’t.

One reason is, there is no heart in the sweater you buy at Macy’s. Sorry, but no matter how nice a person you are, the woman who runs the knitting machine in China does not think about you as she works. But if your sister knits a scarf that you later discover is perfect for cold days when you’re riding your Harley, it’s a bonus gift: functional, with a little love added. The same is true for the bread made by the bakery versus the loaf your friend made for your party because she knows how much you like it. One fills your stomach — the other gives you that, plus something extra.

Sometimes the extra comes in the form of a story about working on something together. My daughter knows how to paint like a pro because she has done every room in the house with me over the years. She has plenty of stories about it. If you ask her about the time we painted the TV room, then I hated the color so we re-painted it again the following year, you’ll really get an earful. Last year, daunted by the need to paint the entire house at one time, I had it done professionally. It looked great but left us with no Tahitian Tan in our hair and no tales to tell.

I find something deeply satisfying in being competent at these skills. It keeps me connected to the talented women who shared their knowledge about how to take care of a family and a home, even though they’re gone now. I never sew anything by hand without hearing Grandma Connors’ voice reminding me to make tiny stitches. Every time I bake brownies, I use my mother’s recipe and her wooden spoon and watch the sugar dissolve into the melted chocolate just the way it did when we made them together 40 years ago.

And as I do these things, I hope I’m making some memories for my family as well. Perhaps my daughter will save the doll’s quilt I made for her because she can still feel the love in it, even though she’s all grown up now. My son might sew a button on his shirt and think of how I taught him to do it. And maybe one of these days, my mashed potatoes will be legendary.

Yay! My Cranberry Aston hat is finished.

Some knitting yesterday while we were riding on the metro, then lots of knitting early this morning. A quick Google led me to Stitch Diva so that I could figure out how to do an I-cord. Annnd done. I love it.

Bebe loves it, too. You can tell because he didn’t immediately rip it off is head, try to eat it, and throw it away. Which is what he usually does with anything on his head.

I shortened the ribbing, so it looks a bit different from the original pattern. In case you were wondering why it doesn’t look like an adorable acorn – cute on display, not so much on my head.

Details
Craft: knitting
Pattern: Aston by Stitch Therapy Brooklyn (free pattern)
Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash (855)
For more details, see Ravelry.

Here goes.

When I saw this needlework pattern, I knew that I had to have it and modify it to fit the gift I planned.   My son and daughter-in-law have overnight guests at their home nearly every weekend.   And she adores sunflowers.   In her guest room she always has small vases of sunflowers or sunflower-like flowers.   The pattern words said “Sunflower Inn.”   So I modified it by adding the line to say “Mike and Mich’s Sunflower Inn.”    I can’t wait to give it to them.   Of course it still needs framing, but at least the stitching is done.   This is a “Little House Needleworks” pattern appropriately named Sunflower Inn.  I stitched it on 32 ct Belfast cream linen with DMC and Weeks Dye Works threads.   It worked up fairly quickly and I am delighted with the result.   I am quite sure that the Christmas surprise will be a special one.

My photos of needlework never seem to come out with true colors.   Do any of you photographers out there have some suggestions for me and my point and shoot camera?    I usually lay my pieces on a black velvet board to take the photos.   I have tried a couple of the different settings on the camera but can’t seem to get just the right one.   I have an Olympus 1010.   I’d appreciate any advice anyone can give.

Here’s a closeup of one of the little sunflowers.   I love it.   Well…on to the next project. 

I have been thinking about attending a Knit Night (you know, with “real knitters”) for the past four months. LYS send me their flyers or email, and our local library system has them once a month at most branches. But it hasn’t worked out for my schedule and honestly, non-attendance has been helped along by some low-level anxiety. I started knitting this year, and I’ve had a couple encounters with snooty knitters that have not been encouraging. Just enough to make me feel like I was a really awkward kid in middle school again, way too tall with big glasses and giant poofy hair. (Oh, I do not miss that hair).

But I love knitting, and I needed a little nudge to help refocus my energy on the projects in my big knit bowl. So I attended a Knit Night, my first ever, last night. And Yay!! so much knitty fun. I may actually finish my Aston Hat this week, maybe. Possibly. I’ll update with pics later today – and some delicious autumn soup.

Need some nerdylicious humor? This piece from the xkcd webcomic made me snarf hot chocolate.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Update: here’s soup recipe!

Creamy Butternut Squash & Apple Soup (serves 6-8)
1 butternut squash
2 apples
1 onion
2 Tbsp butter
1 C water
1/2 pint (236mL) heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1/2 Tbsp cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions
1. Melt butter in a soup pot on medium heat. Slice stem and bottom off the butternut squash. Then cut in half lengthwise. Remove seeds, peel skin, and discard. Dice squash and add to pot. Cover and cook for 10-15min (prep other ingredients in the meantime).

2. Peel, core, & dice apples. Dice onion. Add apples & onion to pot. Stir, then add spices and stir again. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, gradually stirring in the water.

3. When squash is tender (test with fork), removed from heat and blend until smooth. Stir in the cream. Serve & enjoy! It’s good with croutons, and especially good with thick slices of toasted bread (plain, garlic, or herbal).

Notes
I had a medium sized squash and 2 small apples (Winesap). Any good cooking apple is OK. You can substitute the whipping cream with light sour cream or plain yogurt. The whipping cream makes it a little bit sweet, which I think is a nice balance to the spices. It’s a hearty, thick soup – and with some crusty bread for dipping, it makes a filling meal.

Today one of the books I’ve been editing, Redwork from The WORKBASKET, went to production, another step closer to being published, although the book doesn’t come out until next spring.

I’ve had a special place in my heart for this book, by contributing editor Rebecca Kemp Brent, from the start. Although it’s really a machine embroidery book, the designs are taken directly from vintage embroidery transfers from The WORKBASKET, a great old magazine I remember my mother getting back in the 60s. Twenty years later, I started buying vintage copies in antique malls for the wonderful crochet and tatting patterns. I won a lot of ribbons making projects from old WORKBASKETs.

A little over a year ago I learned that Krause Publications, an imprint of the company I work for, F+W Media, actually owns The WORKBASKET. That means we have all that content at our disposal, including those fabulous embroidery transfers.

The designs were redrawn directly from the original transfers and digitized for machine embroidery. Since I’ve always been into hand embroidery (well, nearly always – I started doing needlework regularly when I was about twelve), the part about this project that excites me is that all 100 vintage designs are in JPEG and PDF formats on the disk that comes with the book. That means anyone who’s as crazy about embroidery as me can print these designs right off the disk and create a fresh embroidery transfer.

I did the hand embroidery samples for the book, which was fun. I stitched a redwork horse head, which is an unbelievable design, on a dishtowel and two pillowcases with morning glory designs in hand-dyed and variegated thread. Rebecca has some wonderful projects in the book, but since I don’t do machine sewing either, I won’t be attempting the bed quilt very soon. But my fingers literally itch to tackle more of those embroidery patterns!

It was a gorgeous fall day here in Cincinnati: near 70 degrees and sunny, a bit breezy but it made the swirling leaves really interesting.

Diamondqueen and the Hooligans decided  to hang out at home, so Mom and I made plans for a restaurant and activities that we normally can’t pursue with Hooligans in tow. We decided on lunch at The Grand Finale in Glendale, preceded by a visit to a nearby needlework store, Stitches. (As I was getting out of the car, my old friend Holly drove up, which was a pleasant surprise for both of us.)

I’ve been looking all fall for certain patterns of black fabric. I’ve been working on a cross-stitch picture in three panels of the Headless Horseman; when it’s done I’m thinking of making it into a kind of art quilt, maybe even something with a headstone motif at the top. So I’ve been hunting for black fabric that’s marbled with gray and has a some movement. I purchased a few fat quarters on our recent trip to Holmes Co. in the quilt shops up there, but I still wasn’t satisfied.

I found what I was looking for at the Stitches shop, plus I bought a bag of pearl cotton skeins in various colors. Then, on to lunch!

I have a favorite dish at Grand Finale – chicken ginger, a pounded chicken breast, marinated, with a walnut and ginger topping; a salad with house dressing (their salads always taste so fresh); and a spinach crepe on the side. I’m tempted by other dishes, but I know this is the only place I can get this particular meal, and we seem to make it to Grand Finale only about twice a year, so it’s hard to break out of my pattern.

We got to sit in the main dining room, where antiquity and Victorian opulence are abundant, in one of the small window tables that overlook the street and window boxes full of pink geraniums and, oddly, some wine bottle corks. (If you look at the photo on the bottom left of the restaurant’s website, our table was the last one along the windows before the glass room divider with the painting hung in front of it and the big stained glass piece just beyond.) Mom always orders the chicken ginger as well, and the servers always joke that we’re making it too easy for them. We certainly enjoyed our meal.

After that we drove up to Moeller High School for an antique show. Some days you just can’t stop spending money. I bought several old crochet hooks with very tiny hooks (one had to be even smaller than a size 14), two little metal Christmas bells just like the one I got for St. Nicholas when I was in second grade (and completely cherished), a big metal wall hanging of a  horse head inside a horseshoe for Mom for Christmas (yes, I showed it to her first, so I’m not ruining a surprise), and a large Ziplock bag filled with vintage needlework items: spools of thread, old buttons, crochet cotton, and other goodies.

It was the kind of can’t-beat-it day that makes you say, “Life is good!” and mean it.