A Gift and a Question

I won a give-away on my friend Moonsilk Stitches' blog, this very nice felted acorn. I love the color! I have already worn it twice.







The pets in our house like it too. It has been carefully inspected by both cats and dog, and had to be rescued from becoming a cat toy.

The Question of the Month this month is "Is there a time you were very grateful for your needlework ability." I'm afraid I'm paraphrasing a little, but the question stuck with me because the answer is a resounding yes.

I recently mentioned the help the crewel sampler was when my living situation was difficult in high school, but there is a more important time. When I was going through treatment for breast cancer, sometimes my stitching was the only thing that kept me going. Some days it was the only reason to get up in the morning, besides taking care of our daughters. Of course, there were days when I could not do it, when I was too tired to even watch TV, but most of the time stitching was a wonderful escape. It was also a life saver when I was in doctor or hospital or lab or radiation waiting rooms. I spent a lot of time in those places, but when I had my stitching, I didn't mind at all, I was accomplishing something positive.

During that time period, (the first half of 1992) I completed a major project every 3 weeks or so. When real life started back up, I continued with the mind-set that I would be needing new projects that frequently for quite a while, and was frustrated when I couldn't get to the new things I wanted to stitch. I am more likely to need 3 years for a project now, but I still remember the sense of accomplishment.

My Grandkids are the cutest!

P & C both had two costumes to pick from on Sunday, and this is what they chose. P is Wolf-man: check out this pose (and the smile)! He was very pleased.



C is Wonder-woman, and you can see she is also very pleased with her costume. We didn't stay to see what their take was, just to see them in their outfits.



Trick or Treat was on Saturday in our neighborhood, and it was a beautiful afternoon. DH and I sat on the porch giving out candy, and looking at the cute kids. There was one little girl that was almost as cute as C, but not quite. She gave us a long involved story about her costume and lack of shoes that lit up. We couldn't understand one word she said, but the gist of the story was as clear as a bell. "What use are shoes that don't light up?" C feels the same way.

I've been playing with kiku stitching. This one is very simple, only two colors, but I tilted the equator and followed it around. I'm still toying with the idea of adding a different color center, but I don't know. I think I would have liked it more with a little less tilt.



It is different, though. Stitching Kikus feels like cheating. They are so much fun, so easy, and so quick! They look complicated but give a lot of bang for your buck. I think I am going to keep exploring them for a little while.