I thought I'd show the little bit of craftiness I accomplished in the past two months - this is a craft blog after all! Sheesh. Poor neglected blog!
I was supposed to have a class with Charlotte Lyons (of House Wren Studio) in January and then my father fell and broke his hip and then I got sick with a cold, which became bronchitis - so I missed my class I had been looking forward to for so long. WAH!
I did make darling Charlotte a little present for being so sweet to silly old me though and I thought I'd share it with you and help cheer up my sad little blog. (I finally got it mailed off to her last week and she's received it so now I can share it with you.)
Charlotte loves to stitch so I thought a little sewing kit would be a fun and fitting gift for her.
In case you're interested in the specifics ...
An egg carton was my jumping off point for inspiration. I found some darling old fashioned mini black embroidery scissors (but with regular sized finger holes) online that fit in the carton, and made a little fabric insert to attach them to. I made a padded egg and embroidered "You're a good egg" on it, to place needles that were in use. I made an egg pincushion. I made Charlotte three cross stitch ribbons and wound them on antique thread spools. I had read a post of Charlotte's saying what size embroidery thread she liked and enclosed four colors in that size and also a packet of needles.
I also found a sweet little black hen online to go with my theme and found clip art online for a gift card to go with it.
I also made a card with a felt hen and raffia for her straw nest.
The class project was to be Charlotte's "Love Banner" and the class was two weeks before Valentine's Day, so I wrapped her gifts as I would have a Valentine's Day gift.
ETA: I forgot to add the following resources used:
Fabric Easter Egg Tutorial is from Retro Mama here.
Hen pattern is from Esprit Cabane here.
And I got all of one Valentine card made this year with all the hospital visits and worry. Years ago, I met a very sweet woman in a rubber stamp store while we were on vacation. She and I got to talking and she asked if I would like to exchange handmade Christmas cards with her and I said YES! (Which has gone on to include all holidays.) I didn't want to let her down this year and somehow managed to squeeze this out.
I found the tutorial here for a 3 D Heart Valentine's Day Card on The Creative Place blog.
The stationery that I used for a note, is an online printable. It's available here, on Creature Comforts.
Re a diversion ... I've been having such fun playing on Ancestry.com and working on a family tree to keep my mind off of all the stress and worry of my dad's hospitalization. It's great fun to see all the other families that are intertwined with my own.
It's also been a bit mind-blowing and illuminating (understatement! - since I had never heard of any LDS connection in our family) Unbeknownst to me, I found that my family has two (so far ...) polygamist unions in our family tree.
What?!
Yup!
One man had NINE wives and 43 children!!! Holy moly! The other one was an underachiever with only two wives and five children.
Perhaps this has been lost to time but I think not. I think it must be a family secret as I quizzed my Aunt and cousin and they were very odd about it - changing stories, etc.
I find it all fascinating and can't wait to delve in further. I love a good mystery!
I'm also stumped on my maternal grandfather's family from Sweden, any tips out there on how to research immigrants from Sweden?
And lastly, for my shock of the day ... when I saw my father at the hospital this morning, he told me that he wants to marry his girlfriend!!! Such a shocker!
I am glad that he has found love and happiness and grateful to his girlfriend for taking such good care of him but ... well ... I don't care for her. Not. one. iota. Blech. ARGH!!! She is bossy and opinionated and controlling and I could go on and on. But it doesn't really matter what I think, does it?! It's his life and nearing the end of his life, he deserves this small happiness.
He said he hadn't asked her yet, that he wanted to talk to me and that he wouldn't do anything I didn't want. I fought back the words that were welling up inside me and only said, it's your life Dad and your decision.
Geez Louise. What on earth is going to happen next?!!
My Dad is a bit better today - his CO2 levels went up again over the weekend, so he couldn't be moved out of ICU. They drained the fluid in his lungs this morning, that should make him feel better.
I listened to him to talk to two business clients on the phone this morning and he sounded like his old self in spirit.
Hoping his body will oblige!
Well, I've written a book after so long away, huh?! Wishing you all a Happy Monday!
It's also been a bit mind-blowing and illuminating (understatement! - since I had never heard of any LDS connection in our family) Unbeknownst to me, I found that my family has two (so far ...) polygamist unions in our family tree.
What?!
Yup!
One man had NINE wives and 43 children!!! Holy moly! The other one was an underachiever with only two wives and five children.
Perhaps this has been lost to time but I think not. I think it must be a family secret as I quizzed my Aunt and cousin and they were very odd about it - changing stories, etc.
I find it all fascinating and can't wait to delve in further. I love a good mystery!
I'm also stumped on my maternal grandfather's family from Sweden, any tips out there on how to research immigrants from Sweden?
And lastly, for my shock of the day ... when I saw my father at the hospital this morning, he told me that he wants to marry his girlfriend!!! Such a shocker!
I am glad that he has found love and happiness and grateful to his girlfriend for taking such good care of him but ... well ... I don't care for her. Not. one. iota. Blech. ARGH!!! She is bossy and opinionated and controlling and I could go on and on. But it doesn't really matter what I think, does it?! It's his life and nearing the end of his life, he deserves this small happiness.
He said he hadn't asked her yet, that he wanted to talk to me and that he wouldn't do anything I didn't want. I fought back the words that were welling up inside me and only said, it's your life Dad and your decision.
Geez Louise. What on earth is going to happen next?!!
My Dad is a bit better today - his CO2 levels went up again over the weekend, so he couldn't be moved out of ICU. They drained the fluid in his lungs this morning, that should make him feel better.
I listened to him to talk to two business clients on the phone this morning and he sounded like his old self in spirit.
Hoping his body will oblige!
Well, I've written a book after so long away, huh?! Wishing you all a Happy Monday!
Genealogy is so much fun, about the time I think I won't find something I come up with more. make sure while your Dad is still here you ask him what you want to. I use to drill my Grandparents and Mom endlessley and I still come up with things I should of asked.
ReplyDeleteGod bless your dad!
I've been really getting into family history research myself lately. My newest project is to find the graves of two great uncles who died in infancy. I wish I could afford an Ancestry membership, but that will have to wait a while. In the meantime, at least they let you enter the info that you know. But I now have leaves that are links to other trees and it is killing me not being able to get that info. I have family from Sweden, too but everything I have is in Swedish. I will definitely let you know if I come up with anything interesting.
ReplyDeleteOh Sally, that gift is great! What creativity you have in the midst of everything going on. I have not been able to do anything...I'll e-mail later.
ReplyDeleteGlad your Dad's Doin better:)
Melody