I have lost track of the number of items I've repaired from my mother's house. The first was a saucer-sized decorative plate with a very clean break. It just needed to be glued together with a drop crazy glue. There was already glue in a drawer in the kitchen. It took less than 10 minutes. I lost track of how many times I went back to that opened tube of crazy glue to repair other things. There were multiple items that needed wood glue, including a chair. Did my mother not know what wood glue was? Had everything become overwhelming; but she didn't want to ask for help? Or was it like my household, where you walk by something and think, "I'll get to that another day?"
My most recent trip was the bring stuff home trip. I had moved several of the lighter or smaller items between locations. However, this was the driving trip.
- Is it fragile?
- Is it heavy?
- Is it too big to fit in the overhead bin of a 737?
If yes, then it went in my Honda Fit. As you can see, I am skilled at luggage Tetris.
The Christmas comforter in the window is all hand pieced and tacked. There are
no machine stitches in it. I made it for my mother back in the early 1990s. I cried when I found it in the bottom of the hallway linen closet.
I've spend much of this home stand integrating stash. I brought several of my mother's unfinished embroidery projects. Many of these are very close to being finished. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy embroidery, even with its slower pace. When completed, I plan to return many of these projects to Pennsylvania so my sister and her children can enjoy them. The nephews and niece are not quite out on their own but they are all close. I hope as they start their own households, each will take a few embroidery pieces. May they always have something touched by their grandmother in their homes. May they always know and feel how much she loved them.
This past week I integrated the bead stash. That turned out to be a multi-day
project. Fortunately, we had a few days with afternoon sun that was perfect
for deciding if these beads and those beads are the same beads or
slightly different beads. And I came across one of those unfinished
things to be fixed from my own stash.
This is a beaded pomander. My paternal grandmother used to have these hanging in her home. This one had been partially assembled, but then broke. It took a couple days to mend by carefully un-stringing the beads, then re-stringing them. And I was playing bead chicken. Would I run out? It was close, but I was okay.
This was the perfect moment to make a pomander. At Blue Ridge Fiber Fest, I bought a bag of mothzilla from River Ridge Fiberworks. It has a pleasant spicy scent. I was not sorry that bag was in my car for the drive up and back to Pennsylvania! I've used some of the empty tea filter bags from my mother's stash to make sachets. I also put some mothzilla in the pomander. This should be good olfactory camouflage. Sachets made from empty tea bags and mothzilla would be inexpensive but wonderful goodie bag items for a fiber festival or a guild holiday party.
It was nice to get out and about at Blue Ridge Fiber Fest. I spent most of the time teaching, so hardly had opportunity to properly reconnoiter the market. There was a woman spinning angora. The rabbit was right there!
And there was a shearing demonstration. I'm always impressed by how the shearers plop the surprised sheep and then shear away!
On this trip home I made a quick run over to Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance. There was leftover embroidery stash not wanted by her local guild. SEFAA seemed like a good place to get those craft supplies to people who will appreciate them. And it was a great time to visit. This year's Square Foot Fiber Show is on display through the last day of June.
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