PIF/House-warming gift received

A few weeks ago, I received the most delightful little gift in the mail from Debs. I had spoken to Debs a while ago about Pay It Forwards; she was offering one on her blog, but I didn't officially sign up for it, as I didn't have many takers when I offered them on my blog. So, Debs decided to stitch me a little combined not-exactly-a-PIF/housewarming gift.

She knows that I'm both a big fan of Little House Needleworks, and stitched scissor fobs, so this was the perfect gift.

In addition to the fob, she also included the scissors.

Thank you so much, Debs! You're such a sweetie!

Celebrating with friends...

I'm a little late in posting this...

I mentioned a couple of days ago about having a wonderful birthday, and receiving some lovely gifts from friends, so I wanted to share pictures of the cute things I received.



Isn't this adorable? It's a teeny, tiny little pink doll, hand made card, and magnet, which I received from Patti. Thank you, Patti - I love it!!

From my dear friend Holly, I received a Vera Bradley hard cover glasses case. Holly was worried that I might already own one. I do (not in this fabric, though), but I have 2 pairs of glasses, so now both pairs can be kept in their own Vera Bradley case.

I guess it's no secret that I'm a fan of Vera Bradley, and my favorite color is pink, so I was thrilled to receive this little cosmetics case and purse from Linda. Thank you, Linda - they will both come in very handy!

One of the best gifts was a special birthday visit from my friend Holly. I've been trying to talk her into a visit to Texas since I moved down here, so the week before my birthday, she decided to fly down from Indiana for a long weekend visit.

She arrived the day after my birthday (because of the cost of flights!), and we spent a nice weekend mostly hanging out at my place, just a quiet weekend for us to chat and catch up. We had lunch on Saturday with our friend Linda (we've known each other online for a couple of years - Linda and I met in person earlier in the year, but Holly hadn't met her before).

On Sunday, we took a drive north of Dallas to meet up with Holly's dad and two nephews at a restaurant for lunch. Holly's family lives in OK, but they drove down to Texas to see Holly. We all had a fun lunch - her nephews are around my son's age, so the boys had fun talking while Holly and her dad caught up; I enjoyed the chance to meet Holly's family, and it was a nice day out.

Holly's flight home was in the early afternoon on Monday, so we took a little detour to the airport and visited the stockyards in Ft.Worth, and then stopped in Grapevine on the way to the airport.

It was a lovely birthday weekend, and I enjoyed every minute of it!

As luck would have it, I'll be in Chicago in the first half of next month, right around Holly's birthday, so I hope to be able to help her celebrate her birthday as she celebrated mine.

My DS, Holly and myself after enjoying lunch with her father and nephews.

The stockings were hung...

Our Home Owners Association recently hosted a “Holiday Bazaar”. It was an opportunity for business owners in our subdivision to offer their goods and services to other residents and non-residents. I had always wanted to sell at a craft fair, so I booked myself a “booth” (in reality, a small table), and set up shop.

I’d seen some handcrafted stockings in a magazine a couple of years ago, and I thought it was a neat idea, so I decided to make and sell Christmas stockings. I told a co-worker about my plan, and she said she would be interested in seeing a stocking. I brought a sample in to the office to show her, and she immediately ordered 4 for all her family. Another co-worker saw my sample, and she also ordered four.

Based on this, I thought maybe other people would be interested in buying an unique stocking, so I made a supply of them to sell at the bazaar…

My mother in law saw them, and immediately gushed about them. She asked how much I was planning on selling them for; when I told her $25 a piece (that was the price I charged my co-workers) she told me that I was underselling myself – they would easily sell for twice that. In the end, I decided to offer them at the bazaar at a cost of $30 each, or $25 each if you bought 2 or more.

Sadly, I didn’t sell a single stocking. A lot of people walked by the booth and commented about how beautiful they were, but I had no takers. Initially, I was disappointed, but by the end of the day, I was enjoying talking to the other vendors, who also live in my neighborhood; I also got some business for my husband's fledgling photography business, so it may not have been a total waste of money...

So, I’ll either be giving my stockings away as Christmas gifts this year, or selling them on etsy. I’ve gone ahead and created an etsy account; I’m also planning on offering them for sale on my other blog, as soon as I can get some decent pictures taken!

Mot of the stockings were made with moire satin, and I used a variety the trims; I scoured antique malls for vintage linens – some of the stockings are trimmed with old handkerchiefs; others are made with vintage tablecloths & hand towels.

The stocking shown in this post is one of the four that I made for a co-worker. She provided the linen from her own collection - it was a small tray cloth. I used each of the corners to fashion 4 stockings for her and her family. I stitched "hang tags" with the names of her family so that Santa would know which stocking belongs to which family member.

Susan's Journey...

Earlier this month, I celebrated my birthday. I received some lovely gifts from friends and family, including the most stunning gift from my mother.

Mum knows that I love coastal decor, so she stitched me a quilt in a "coastal theme". The quilt is large - it's large enough to cover a twin size bed.

I was brought to tears when I turned the quilt over to see the backing fabric, and found that she had attached the story of the quilt, which is called "Susan's journey".

( click on pictures to enlarge)

Here is the text that is attached to the back panel:

"Susan's Journey

Susan left England with her family in 1966 aged 4 to settle in Australia. She was educated in different states her final year was in Canberra. Susan had always wanted to travel to USA which she did in 1988 where she met and married her husband Keith. They settled in Michigan City Ind. and commuted to Chicago each day for work. Early this year she was transferred to Dallas Texas where they bought a house and have settled, with their son E**** and German Shepherd "Indy".

She has crossed the seas many times and this quilt was made with much love by her mum, Shelagh M**** in October 2009 to remind her of her journeys."

Now I need to decide where to put the quilt. Mum stitched in a panel on the back, so that I can put it on a wall. My stitching room is done in pinks, so I don't know that it will find it's home there. I have a lot of free wall space in the living room - I just need to decide on which wall to display it.

Thank you mum, I will treasure this very special gift forever. I love you.

Happy Thanksgiving

I would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends.

We celebrated Thanksgiving a few days early in our home – my in-laws flew in for a 2 week visit on the 18th. They will be returning to Indiana on the 2nd of December. My sister-in-law flew down to Austin, Texas last Saturday to visit her son, and then the two of them drove up to our place on Monday. Her flight home is early this afternoon, and her son has to work today, so we had a combined early Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration on Tuesday.

This was the first time that we’ve hosted Thanksgiving (we usual celebrate at my mother-in-laws, or my husband's aunt's place), so I was nervous leading up to Tuesday, but it went reasonably well. I’ve never cooked a turkey (I don’t like turkey myself…), so my MIL cooked the turkey and showed me how to prepare it etc., so that I will know for next year. My SIL made a side dish, and my MIL made another, and I took care of the rest of the food.

November has been a really busy month for me, but I’ll be back (hopefully tomorrow!) with another post, and some pictures to share…

Needlework at Family Gatherings has Miss Manners' blessing

I've been busy with work, and have done absolutely no stitching in the past couple of months, but I had to post after I read Miss Manners' column in the Washington Post this morning (you will probably need to subscribe to read the article, so I've included the one letter that I thought was particularly appropriate):

Dear Miss Manners:

On Thanksgiving, my husband and I have for a number of years gone to a family dinner at my sister's. There are other relatives in attendance, usually at least eight, sometimes more.
Because we're there for four or five hours and the event includes hors d'oeuvres, chatting, playing with children and other casual activities, I usually bring along my holiday cards to address. I accomplish this one card at a time, keeping the stack near me, not spread out.

I was floored yesterday when my sister told me she'd thought for years that my mindless task, during which I can talk, nibble and sip, was rude. I thanked her for telling me but said I planned to continue and adjourned to the basement to do so, returning to help with the meal.

Afterward, I gave a lot of thought to this matter. I don't view my task as any more disruptive to proceedings than knitting or doing needlework. It certainly takes as little attention. Then I compared it to paging through a newspaper or magazine or even watching TV (always indulged in for football games on Thanksgiving), although that tends to be a group activity.

Can you advise? Before I broach the subject again with my sister to explain my point of view, I'd like to know if there are guidelines in this type of group setting.

Miss Manners response: What about video games, texting, telephoning and all the other ways people now avoid the boredom of socializing with their relatives and friends?

Social multitasking has become a serious etiquette problem despite the benign origins that you mention. Needlework, including knitting, has indeed been long considered acceptable, even decorous. Although this dates from a time when ladies were presumed not to take part in serious conversation anyway, Miss Manners agrees that it is generally compatible with full participation.

Four years of watching college classmates turn out three-color sweaters while simultaneously mastering Greek and higher mathematics has convinced her of that. She has therefore grandmothered it in, so to speak.

Perhaps you would agree that all forms of communication with people who are not present do remove attention from those who are, which makes those electronic possibilities rude.

But you are pleading a middle ground. Miss Manners concedes that on long visits, typically including overnight stays but stretching it to include all-day holiday gatherings, the company may divide into subgroup activities, such as playing or watching a game together. Parents may need some time to tend to small children. Someone may be in urgent need of a nap.

However, let us not forget that the idea is for people to get together. Despite the claims of students that they can do their homework while watching television, reading and writing require concentration. And even if you don't give it that, these activities look as if the full concentration is focused elsewhere.

So yes, Miss Manners agrees with your sister and hostess that bringing and performing an unrelated social task shows that you anticipate being bored. And you proved it when challenged by choosing that task over the company.

So go ahead, ladies - bring your stitching to your holiday gatherings! Personally, I think my mother-in-law would have a cow if I took out my stitching at a family gathering.

As to writing cards at family gatherings, I think that's a little rude... what do you think?

Post Office Rant...

As you probably know by now, I moved from Indiana to Texas in June. I submitted a re-directed mail form to the Post Office, so technically, I should have all my mail forwarded for a period of 12 months. I am receiving forwarded mail, but apparently, not all of it, as I recently discovered when Carol's PIF was returned to her.

If you are in need of my new mailing address, please either add a comment to any of my posts, or shoot me an e-mail, and I will let you know my new mailing address.

Thanks!