Memorial Day 2017

Memorial Day, an Amerian national holiday that is celebrated the last Monday of the month of May.  On this day we honor those who have given their lives in defense of our country.  Over the years it has come to be a day that all graves are decorated and those who served in the military are marked with flags.

Decorated graves on Memorial Day

Sunday we visited local family graves, ones that don’t take hours to get to  It was a beautiful day for a drive. There was almost no wind, which in Kansas is very rare.  The sky had puffy white clouds that cleared off in the evening.  The sunset was amazing.

Park Memorial

On Monday morning, all over the country, there are ceremonies conducted at cemeteries and other locations to honor fallen veterans.  I planned on going to a local observance but misunderstood what time it was.  I did make it to another one just as they got started.  Patriotic songs were sung, prayers were said, an uplifting message was given, and a roll call of veterans that died in the last year was read.  Local Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts assisted with the ceremony, helping to raise the flag (to half-staff) and set flowers for each name on the roll-call.  The VFW Auxillary  (Veterans of Foreign Wars) helped with the honor guard along with local members of the military.  It was incredibly moving.

Later in the afternoon, we had family and friends over for supper.  It was a great end to a lovely weekend.

“Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, it’s honoring those who lost their lives.  Veterans had the fortune of coming home.  for us, that’s a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve.  It’s a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it.”  Pete Hegseth     www.brainyquote.com/quotes

Tatted barrette

While looking through a drawer the other day I came across this barrette I decorated a long time ago.  It has seen a lot of wear and tear, and maybe a bit of rough handling.  There used to be three strands of the beads but two were lost somewhere along the way.

Decorated tatted barrette

I know this is made with DMC size 30 Ecru thread.  After all these years, how do I know?  Because I used it a lot back in the early 90s.  I even know what pattern this is.  It’s the skirt of  “Colonial Lady Applique” from Aunt Ellen’s Tatting Handbook.  This one has a mistake in it somewhere, hidden by the flowers.  I made several Colonial Ladies back then, or at least parts of them, one of which I took to the fair.   I noticed that I used white ribbon behind the tatting.  I must have been in a hurry to wear it and didn’t have ecru ribbon to use.

Tatted barrette

I used to have long hair and wore this frequently.  I now have very short hair – this wouldn’t stay in long.

I have a hard time throwing tatting away, even when mistakes are made.  After putting in all that hard work it is a shame to just toss it.  I have bags of things that have some kind of issue that I keep.  I may find some place that I can use it.

Eventually.

What do you do with your mistakes?  Keep or toss?

“Recycling turns things into other things.  Which is like MAGIC!”  unknown

Tatted flowers for her birthday

My mother celebrated her birthday recently.  This happens every year, of course, but sometimes it coincides with Mother’s Day.  This year it didn’t, which made it much easier on the family.  We always try to do something special for her birthday and something else for Mother’s Day.  Everyone deserves to celebrate their birthday separate to a holiday, don’t they?

Metal leaf ornament

My sister and I found this beautiful metal leaf decoration in the gift shop of the Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.  When we saw it we immediately knew our mother would love it.  It also isn’t something you can buy at any Wal-mart.  How perfect as a birthday gift.

We also gave her a birthday card from both of us that I decorated with a few tatted flowers.  I frequently add simple tatted flowers to cards, usually just single rings of picots.  This time I layered them.  The thread was almost an exact match to the flowers on the front of the card.

Tatted flowers on birthday card

Mother was very happy with both the gift and the card.

“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.”  William Barclay

'Milan' cross bookmark

I have so many things I would like to be making at the moment that I don’t get any of them started.  To keep from not accomplishing anything I’ve kept on making bookmarks.

“Milan” tatted cross bookmark

I had a few false starts when making “Milan” cross bookmark.  The first time the long, bottom leg came out great but I hadn’t thought through how to make the ‘arms’.  The second time I finished it but the bottom leg was way too wide.  I’ll keep it for myself – I did put a lot of work into it – but it looks rather odd. (I did not take a picture of it.) I learned a lot from both trials and this is the result.

“Milan” tatted cross bookmark in Lizbeth size 20, #658

When making “Milan” center it doesn’t lay flat but once the arms are made it lays flat with minimal blocking.  Just putting this in a book or putting something heavy on it would straighten it out well.  My problem with it was my chains – I couldn’t keep the tension right.  I am pleased with how this one in Ocean Turquoise Light turned out.

Now if I can only get organized to work on the other things I want to!

“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”  Eva Young