TWM

It's acronym week, apparently......here's a link to a video outlining what you stand to gain when you join The Welcome Mat. In case you were considering it and aren't sure about making the investment. I believe you can join for a month for free to give it a try.

Watch the video first, it's very informative!

RHM

Well this is quite exciting, my Sincerely Jane rug is included in an article in the current issue (November/December 2012) of Rug Hooking Magazine. I believe my rug is shown on page 27, at the top.

The Sincerely Jane project was initiated by Jo-Anne Harris, in the spring of 2011, with a plan for each person to do their own version of a rug based on a quilt created during the Civil War, the patterns for which were created by Brenda Papadakis in her book called Dear Jane.

 

The project was a lot of fun and my own rug was completed in about four months. I was surprised by how fast I completed it, but having little blocks to work on helped the process.

 

Check it out, the article is called Sincerely Jane, as we called our little group of Yahookers who each created a rug.

 

Finito!

I actually whipped two pieces this weekend and can strike them off the list. Feels good. I actually enjoyed whipping these two rugs. Very happy to have them off my mind. Now to figure out what to do next.....

 

Above is my "Spirit Meese", which was a free pattern on the Welcome Mat, a year ago. No comments please about how long it took.

This piece is small, but was inspired by a sketch I did about a year ago. I was intending to do a set of 3 rugs, together they are to be a self-portrait series. So this is panel #1. I didn't draw anything on the backing, just hooked while looking at my sketch. Not the greatest, but it was important to me. Done anyway, don't know when the other pieces will be started or finished. Life is a mystery!

 

November 2, 1957

Most people choose either warm, sunny summer months or pleasant, breezy spring or fall months for weddings. I don’t know the exact year of my grandparents wedding, but it was November 1^st and probably sometime in the early 1920s. I wish I knew why they had chosen November 1^st, maybe because it was All Saints Day.

To honour dad’s parents’ anniversary but not overshadow it, my own parents decided to get married on November 2^nd, 1957. Theirs was a whirlwind courtship that started with a blind date on Boxing Day, 1956. Can you say a blind date was love at first sight? Interesting concept, I believe theirs was. They were engaged on February 21, 1957, a week after Valentine’s Day. My father waited a week, apparently with a diamond ring locked in his glove compartment (who would risk that today?) because his mother didn’t approve of my mother (a long story but one rooted in the fact that mom’s parents were divorced: a scandalous, unforgiveable situation in the 1950s), and he waited for his parents to leave for a trip to Florida!

Later that year, the nuptials were planned for November 2^nd. One wonders why when November is such a cool, damp and miserable time of year. Today marks their 55^th anniversary but sadly it won’t be celebrated. Dad has been deceased for over 17 years now and Mom is declining significantly as a result  of Alzheimer’s Disease. Ironically, Mom was one of those people that remembered everyone’s birthday and anniversary and called people to wish them the best. But today her own anniversary will pass with nary a thought. She’s happy though and has just moved in to a beautiful care facility where she’s the life of the party and bringing joy to the other residents and staff as well.

God Bless them both. I’m certainly thinking about the incredible love they shared and the strength of their marriage, it was a wonderful example of respect, kindness and support to have witnessed.