Tea time

I made one final Christmas gift--a tea cozy for my neighbor who is starting a tea catering business out of her home. She's moving slowly with it, researching all the state food service regulations and practicing her menus. In the meantime, my husband and I are recipients of her experiments. It is great to have a neighbor who bakes!

The original name of her proposed business was Come Have Tea With Me, hence the saying on the cozy. She has already sent me some Pinterest ideas for more cosies. I am looking forward to working on them later this year!

 

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Great expectations and unfortunate cancellations

The last few weeks have been tough. It seems things are being cancelled left and right, which sure does hamper my stitching. I'm still accomplishing things, but not much on my major projects.

 

First, there have been six babies born to friends and family and one more expected between January and May of this year. Such a lot of joy! But my sewing machine has been working overtime.

 

This weekend was the last baby shower back in Massachusetts. It was for my step daughter-in-law. But was I there? No. A last minute change in my husband's work plans meant that he is out of town on a two week business trip during the same two weeks I was going to be home. The trip was cancelled, but the presents made it in time.

 

Rather than a baby blanket, I decided to use my blanket technique to make practical burp cloths. I made a total of 6, using Carol's Cats for patterns. They are about 1 x 2 feet and a triple layer of flannel. Here are just a few with the cats on the front, and some wary mice hiding out over the shoulder

 

Since my perception of babies is that they are pretty messy, I also made some cute bibs. The pattern is from the blog site "Craftiness is not Optional." They were easy and so cute. I used a 1/2 yard of flannel and three packages of binding to make 3 bibs.

My step son and daughter-in-law are both martial artists, hence the Lucky Cat theme for these bibs.

 

Keeping with the cat theme, I also made this cute stuffed cat from McCall pattern 4893. But beware! The pattern calls for gluing on the head, ears and feet. It made me laugh. I figured that wouldn't even last the trip home, let alone a baby's grip, so I altered the pattern to be able to securely machine sew the feet and ears and then hand sew on the head--all of my experience making Cabbage Patch dolls when I was in Junior High paid off there!

 

My mom plunged into baby mode too. Isn't this the most precious sweater? She mailed it from New York to Colorado and then I mailed it back to Massachusetts. What a whirlwind! But I know that many homemade knits have been coming in for that lucky baby from all over the country. Babies just bring out the best in everyone.

Sadly, the fact that I am not back in Massachusetts means that there will be no progress on the WELCOME until I go home in June. I am going to start a small Brazilian kit in the meantime.

 

If missing my step daughter-in-law's shower wasn't bad enough, March's Pumpkin class was cancelled because of snow! Of course, this being Colorado, the day after Pumpkin class was almost 60 degrees. I made progress despite the cancellation, but not as much as I would have if I were stitching with the group. I WILL finish this panel by the end of April--I have to if there is any hope of finishing the project in June.

The coffee beans are woven detached chain stitch from Sharon B's TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) challenge.

 

So snow, work, and baby bumps have slowed progress on my major projects. But honestly, it has also been a lot of fun working on those baby gifts!

 

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Needlework Fiction--Tangled Threads

This is a first in a series on needlework fiction focusing primarily on embroidery fiction, but also on quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, lacemaking and other types of needlework. As I gather more review, I will post them on a separate page for reference. Please feel free to let me know your favorite needlework-oriented novels and authors. The books don't have to be primarily about needlework, but needlework should beprominently featured in the novel.

 

***** 5/5 stars Check out GoodReads for more reviews of this book.

Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl's Story by Pegi Deitz Shea is a juvenile novel that follows thirteen-year old Mai from the Thai refugee camp where she lived for ten years, to Providence, Rhode Island where she and her grandmother join her uncle and cousins who emigrated five years earlier. The novel depicts the joy and pitfalls and confusion of the immigrant experience. Mai is excited to leave the refugee camp, but her grandmother is reluctant about starting a new life in a foreign land where the Hmong traditions are difficult to keep intact. The thing that binds Mai and her grandmother in this new life is pa'ndau, traditional Hmong story cloths. Mai and her grandmother made these for sale in the refugee camps and continue to make them in America. Worked in reverse appliqué, cross stitch and surface embroidery techniques, these colorful cloths tell the story of their lives, including the death of Mai's parent's in a Laos bombing, and are used to make traditional clothing. The symbols on the cloth harken good luck and fortune and tie Mai to her past as she makes a new life in Rhode Island. Tangled Threads is a poignant story that will help children and adults better empathize with immigrants in their schools and community. Well worth reading.

 

Resources about the Hmong embroidery and appliqué featured in this novel.

Dr. George J. Leonard shares the history of the story cloth featured on the cover of the novel.

 

HmongEmbroidery.org is a comprehensive site that displays many examples of pa'ndau, and provides information on the history and symbolism of the art form.

 

Here is a YouTube interview with a Laos refugee and embroiderer.

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