Stitching by candle light

In homeschool, we did something very different. I had kits for the kids to make felt animal toys. They were shaped as a ginger bread boy and a frog. The kids had to thread the needle and stitch in the small holes already provided and then stitch back the other way. The trick was that we were doing this as pioneers. As soon as the weather was cool enough to make a fire, I had their dad build one and we got 2 candles. The kids and I sat in the very subdued light and talked and sewed. They learned how it felt for our ancestors when there was no electricity. There were some unexpected dividends too. We all realized that all the family members would be sitting around the fire together and talking while they worked on their various tasks. Harnesses needed fixing, and tools needed sharpening, so Dad and the boys had things they needed to do also. Sometimes it would be a piece of whittling to make a whistle for the little ones. Mom would need to knit clothes to keep the family warm over the winter and the girls would also be assigned knitting tasks. The family would be together, talking about this and that and spending time together. Our lives today fling our families apart...to different rooms and different states. We learned to cherish our time together.

New cross sitch project

My sister has returned from Alaska and she brought a some neat cross-stitch patterns she got in Anchorage. She's asked me to do one of a Sea Otter for her Christmas present. That's like getting two presents (for me). I get to stitch a great piece and I check her off my Christmas list. I like this! It is a darling design, but I can see that it has a lot of floss that is of a similar color. I'll have to hope for good weather so I can stitch in natural light. I've found that even the new Ott lights don't work as well as being outside, although they are a vast improvement.

We picked her garden and my daughter-in-law's and managed to get a lot of tomatoes, so we spent all day putting up stewed tomatoes, chili and salsa. It was so nice to spend the day working together and just visiting. I feel such a kinship with the women of the past. Our modern world doesn't make room for a lot of the ties that sustained our grandmothers.

She also brought me some wonderful hand dyed wool for making socks. This has been the focus of this year's knitting goals. I wanted to master all the skills you need to make socks and the only way I could figure to do it was to just makes socks and more socks until I was totally comfortable making them. A friend of my mother's taught me an easy way to graft the toes of the socks and that was a real key. That's the hardest part of making socks, at least for me it is. My sister also got some sock yarn for herself too and wanted me to show her how to make them. There's another thing that hearkens back to an earlier time...in two ways. First, women handing down traditional crafts and second, spending time together. When you add that to how hand knit socks feel, you can see why they are so popular.

Drought

This peaceful stitching vacation is turning out to be more like going to one of those weight-loss camps where they keep you so busy exercising, you don't have time to eat! Virgina is having one of the worst droughts in many years. Actually, I began to see signs of it as soon as I crossed the Florida/Georgia line on my trip up here. The crops are in a pitiful state and it made me feel like crying.

My sister has a lot of plants in her several acre yard and a large garden also. I'm spending most of my days lugging hoses and sprinklers from place to place, hoping that the plants I watered in the morning can survive until it's their turn for water the next day. I feel like I do triage every morning and then head out to treat the most severely wounded all day long. I've never seen such drought. In the evening I hear thunder rumbling in the area and I see dark clouds gathering, but I have yet to see where it rained. I check with my daughter-in-law who lives nearby to see if they got the rain, but they haven't gotten a drop. It isn't the kind of rain that does much good anyway...just a few minutes of downpour and then the steam evaporates before your very eyes. Still, I'd love to have even that little bit of rain.

The garden is struggling along, and I am picking it and canning and freezing what I can, but it isn't much. We have had tomatoes and beans, so I am getting them put up, but there should be three times as much. Last year I had wonderful meals of veggies that came right from the garden to the plate. It has caused me to think of our ancestors who had to live almost totally from what they had grown. I guess I never thought of what a disaster is was to have a season of drought. I shouldn't complain.

So, I haven't had the time to stitch like I wanted. It's also hotter than blue blazes outside, so sitting on the porch isn't as inviting as it was last year. I spoke to someone at the grocery store and she said it was 106 in her back yard. That is beyond miserable. I have managed to do a lot of quilting in the air conditioned house though. I started a wonderful quilt for my granddaughter made from multiple shades of pink which she will love. I also cut out several quilts so I could have them ready when I went home. I shouldn't complain.

Stitching on vacation

It's been so long since I have sat down with Celle and done any work. I'm house sitting at my sister's again and thoroughly enjoying the time to sit on the porch with my books on tape and stitching in hand. I've done very little in these past few months because of homeschooling. I used to grumble about some of the text books I used to have to use, but I am seeing that creating your own material has some disadvantages too...mainly the time it takes.

My time is divided this vacation. I have a lot of quilting that I have to get done and I won't have the time to focus solely on my stitching. Still, it feels good to be working on any of the various needlework crafts that I enjoy.

A New Leaf

Spring is the time of new beginnings and this should be a good time to switch projects. I have worked very hard on Celle and it is now time to work on my other samplers. Since I will be going to Virginia to visit my parents, and house sit again for my sister, I am going to work on the Meinen Sampler. It is in honor of my mother's grandmother and it will be nice to stitch in some memories while we are chatting. This is one that is close to finishing, so I hope I can get it done while I am there.

That means adding some photos, both of Celle which I am thinking about retiring, and Meinen Sampler which is now active. I find it so interesting that I can be tired of a project and have no motivation to work on it and then 6 months later, I just can't wait to get back to it. I'll do a l.ittle more on Celle and then let it rest a while

Homeschooling and stitching

My daughter and I have decided to start homeschooling her son, Jacob. For many, many reasons, we are unhappy with his school situation. The biggest is that Florida has the FCAT and the teachers are having to teach to the test at the expense of true learning. Add that to the fact that the school has been in lockdown twice this year, first when a man committed murder and suicide and second when the police were chasing a criminal. The latter just as the parents were picking up the kids. This school is in a nice neighborhood in a small town and yet, we can't feel like we are sending our children to school in safety. Add that to the wonderful results relatives have had, and the fact that the last regular grade I taught was 5th grade and it tipped the scale in the direction of homeschooling.

This however is going to really put a crimp in my stitching. There are the lesson plans, correcting papers and gathering material that I'll be doing in the evening plus the actual teaching time. I foresee much fewer hours available to stitch. Isn't a shame that life gets in the way of stitching?