It's Memorial Day weekend already! Kids are out of school and summer has unofficially started. We've been out working in the yard, as we have been blessed with cooler weather and had a bit of rain in the last few days (yay!) We'll be out to the cemeteries on Monday to put out flowers on the graves. Thankfully, none of our family died while on active duty in the military, but we have always decorated graves of many of our relatives on the holiday weekend, even those that never served. It is always amazing to see the cemeteries on Memorial Day, so many flags, flowers, and people.
I have started on a bit of patriotic tatting, though it is nowhere close to being done.
A plan for stars
I think it was last year that I picked up this runner of stars on a navy blue background. All the edges are plain, just asking for a bit of tatting. White starts attached with red thread is my plan. I have a pattern for the stars, but not the red part. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it, and kind of have a plan. While I'm thinking about the red part I've been tatting the stars. They are the center of a motif I made back in October of 2013.
If all goes well, the runner will be done by Flag Day, June 14. If not by then, certainly by July 4th.
We haven't made it out to the cemeteries yet this Memorial weekend due to rain. We are planning to go later today. I haven't done any patriotic tatting this year yet, either, so I leave you with Bonnie for now. She's honoring those who gave all for our country so that we may live safe and comfortable lives.
“All gave some; some gave all. Remember them this Memorial Day.” — Unknown
I have a cloth purse that I use once in a while, a rather plain purse. I’ve thought about putting tatting on it off and on but never really made an effort to do it. This last week I made a square medallion that I decided would look good on it.
Square medallion on my purse
One of the reasons I’ve not added tatting to something like this is I’m always thinking how dirty it will get, and if not attached right, will come off at corners and edges. My solution – at least until it proves me wrong – was to use fabric glue to stiffen it before sewing it on the purse. I did not stitch down every picot, though I suppose that would be the correct thing to do. (I thought I had the medallion centered and square, but I guess not.)
The other side looked a bit bare after that. When I remembered where I had put the balls of thread I made another square in the same colors.
A medallion and edging on a purse
This medallion looked better turned a few degrees than having it sit square like the other side. Then I thought it needed something on the top flap but not a medallion. So I made an edging along the same lines as the medallion. I’ve made one more edging to go up that one bare side, but I still need to stiffen it before sewing it on.
I’ve been doing some reading the last couple of weeks. Not listening to audio books but reading a paperback. This story is about a house in my hometown, Newton, Kansas. It was built back when the town was new and is still standing today and still has people living in it, though I understand it was empty for a time.
We the House
Besides it being about a local subject, the way the story is told is unique. It is told from the perspective of the house, mostly by way of conversation with a painted portrait of a woman that is hung in the house. The story starts in the 1880’s and goes until about 2010. It is a quick read but enjoyable.
I looked up the address of the house and drove by it the other day. It is about a block away from Sand Creek, which is an important feature in the book. The house is now surrounded closely by other houses, and the creek is much different than it once was. To protect Newton from flooding the creek was made much deeper in the 1960’s and had a dam installed at the south end. I find it hard to imagine the creek different than it is today.
This is obviously a book of fiction, but some of the events in the book are from the history of the town. It came out at the right time, as Newton is celebrating it’s sesquicentenial anniversary (150 years) this year. I talked about the party the city threw on the actual anniversary date that I went to here. Newton is having another celebration tomorrow, June 4, 2022, with bands and rides and other fun things. I’m planning on going if it doesn’t rain.
We celebrated Memorial Day this year with trips to local cemetaries with family, then had the family come over for lunch and games after that. For all that the day is set aside to remember those who died in service to our country my family always visited the graves of our other relatives, too. My mother always grew small containers of flowers for each of the graves we would visit, then we’d drive to the different cemetaries to leave the flowers and tell stories about their lives. My husband and I were not good about continuing that tradition, but this year was a bit like those times I remember from childhood. Except this time I was the one telling the stories.
Memorial Day flowers
“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
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
Memorial Day, a day to remember those in the military who gave their lives for their country. It's celebrated every year on the last Monday in May. As it's a federal holiday all government offices, banks and some private businesses are closed, making it a three day weekend for a lot of people.
Unfortunately, not for me or my husband. Not because we weren't supposed to have a three day weekend - our company has Memorial Day as a paid holiday. But this year they have a lot of orders that need to be filled an not much time to do it, so everybody had to work Saturday. And I, and a few (un)lucky others, had to work Sunday as well. That left Memorial Day alone as my only day off.
The day was beautiful! The sky was blue, the breeze was mild, the temperature on the way to hot without being oppressive. And I didn't even have to go anywhere for entertainment, of a sort.
Memorial Day, 2012, a beautiful day in Kansas and
the start of harvest around my neighborhood. This is the view from my front yard.
This was my front row seat to the harvesting of the wheat in the field next to our house. An iced drink, a nice chair, a great view and a bit of tatting. Who could ask for more?
My tatting for the day was reviewing the pattern for this cross, checking it for mistakes before sharing it, by tatting it following said pattern. (I did find a couple of mistakes which I had to correct)
I made this cross with Lizbeth #601 Snow White in size 20. I designed this cross several years ago and wrote down the pattern but just finished diagramming it. I have shared it on the Pages tab.
We did make it to a few of the local cemeteries yesterday towards evening. Even though Memorial Day is specifically to honor fallen military personnel it has traditionally expanded to remember all family and friends who have passed on as well. We visited all the graves, those of our friends and family, whether military or not. The cemeteries always look beautiful with all the flowers and flags on this day. Most military graves are decorated with an American flag, put out by volunteers and other veterans. It's also interesting to see the dates on all the headstones, they can tell quite a story. Even though it is a solemn occasion in many ways, it's also a day of remembering the the sacrifices made as well as good times with those no longer with us.
"In many respects across this nation Memorial Day has become a time when families have a little quality time together. And I don't think those who died to defend this nation would begrudge families that quality time. But Memorial Day is for the purpose of honoring those who died in service to the nation, so a moment of silence give us all an opportunity to remember them and what they stood (for) and what they died for."
This last week we went up to see our daughter when they had the new baby baptized. Our granddaughter wore the same baptismal gown that her brother had worn but not the booties he did. Her brother was several months old when he was baptized so I had to make the booties to fit him. I also didn't think to make her a pair - where was my mind for the last 6 months?? - so I decided to do something a little less complicated. I decorated some socks.
Even this simple little motif gave me fits. First, I used size 80 thread, DMC # 604, which I rarely even try to tat with. Second, I was tatting these in the car then trying to finish them off in the hotel room. They ended up taking more time than I want to admit. They also don't quite have the same stitch count - I finished one kind of late and made the second one kind of early the next morning. After I'd almost finished I realized I had changed it up a bit. And, you know what? I just left them that way. My husband and daughter looked at them and couldn't tell the difference. Besides, with the baby wearing her long baptismal gown you couldn't see the socks anyway. So someday, if the socks survive very long, someone will look at them and maybe notice that Grandma didn't know how to count - and I'm okay with that :-)
I then proceeded to decorate a second pair of socks (the socks came on a card containing two pair) almost but not quite the same. I didn't add any decorative picots to these. I figure these might be worn a couple of times and picots don't always look so good after washing without a little help. These actually came out looking pretty good - and they do have the same stitch count - though I made them while distracted by the new born and a two-year-old. And I have never claimed to be good with a sewing needle: they are attached in a manner that they shouldn't come off even if it's not pretty :P I used DMC size 80 again in #107.
Babies are a grandparents’ best reward
We bring them home and spoil them
Then return them to their parents
And leave them to their mayhem
Wanda
This weekend I drank a lot of iced tea, though today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I returned to hot tea. There's just something about having a hot cuppa first thing in the morning that I like better than having a cold glass. Of course, it's not summer yet!
For those here in the USA, I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Weekend. We flew our tattered American flag in wind that almost tore it off the pole but didn't make it to the cemeteries. That had been on my agenda, but with the visit to the grandchildren we didn't make it. We drove by a few cemeteries decorated with flags and flowers, very beautiful, and in church we recognized those that had been in the military, giving us a chance to say "Thank you for your service" Though I'm a day late, I'd like to say "thank you" to all of you out there for your service to your country, and to me and my family. Your are greatly appreciated. Though this was written several years ago I wanted to share this poem with you. Memorial Day 2007
Is it Tuesday already? And it's been two weeks? Oh, my!
Yes, I've been lazy. Not really that busy, just lazy. I've done a little tatting but not much. I made this on a cabone ring, just messing around. I have no plans for this, I was just seeing what I could come up with.
I did do a little work on the doily. I've counted stitches several times so I know the count is correct but it has to be blocked to lay out flat. I've gone ahead with it the way the original is made but I'm making adjustments to the written pattern, making a few changes to it so it will lay better right off the shuttle.
It looks okay but I designed this quite a few years ago and have no memory of issues that I had with it when it was done. Also, I didn't know then a lot of what I know now. There are several things I would do differently with it. It would probably come out looking similar, but I think it would be a lot less work after the tatting is done.
I had a nice, quiet Memorial Day weekend, not going anywhere or doing anything. My husband volunteered to work all three days so I was by myself in the evenings. He also worked slightly different hours which really messed up the days. We had planned to go to western Kansas to visit the cemeteries out there but that didn't happen. We didn't visit any cemeteries at all. I'm hoping another weekend yet this summer we'll make it. Monday afternoon I went over to our daughters' house for supper and spent the evening. It was a very pleasant time, though I wish my husband could have been there, too. Oh, well, our vacation is coming up soon, when we will have a little more time to enjoy our time together without going to work. At least for a little while.
I think I'll have another cup of tea and see if I can get a little more done on the doily. May you enjoy your tea and tatting for another week.
Remember about a month ago I mentioned a group meeting at the extension office, Hook Yarn and Needle? Their last meeting for three months was this last Thursday. They had asked me if I would teach them how to shuttle tat.
So I have had a month to organize how to teach shuttle tatting for an unknown number of students. Oh, boy!
I really didn't think that everyone there would want to try, and the ones that planned on it would probably bring a shuttle of one type or another. But there may be one or two that didn't plan on it so I had to plan on it.
I didn't want to buy new shuttles for that contingency and I didn't want to give up my shuttles - I wouldn't mind someone using them, but what if they wanted to take it home?
Okay, okay, it was really because most of my shuttles have thread on them and I didn't want to have to unwind them - small thread isn't what I recommend to learn with. Sooo..
I made cardboard shuttles. See?
I made four and they worked quite well.
One person there had bought shuttles for her daughters to learn but hadn't gotten one for herself, so she used one. The other we used for ball thread because a lady was having trouble with tension on her left hand. I thought a little extra weight might help to keep the thread around her left hand.
I took a ball of turquoise thread for shuttle thread and wrapped red thread around note cards for ball thread, both in size 10. It was a nice contrast of colors so the double stitches were very easy to recognize when they "flipped", or didn't as the case may be.
I had four students at one time and they all did great!
The one lady with the tension problem had to leave early without it being resolved but she was beginning to see what the stitch should be doing. I sent her a list of websites with "how to's" and my phone number so she can call me if she needs help.
The other three were able to make rings and chains and picots, and one of them made a nice length of rings and chains with the rings joined. It was even done front side/back side! I was very happy with their progress.
I had a display laid out of some of my tatted pieces which was very well received. I also had laid out a variety of books so they could see more of what could be done with tatting.
It turned out to be a really productive day. I wish I could show you pictures from the day, except I never took any. I had my camera, I just never got it out of the bag!
We had a wonderful weekend here, with gorgeous weather. We spent a lot of time outside, both getting things done around the yard and sitting around visiting friends and neighbors.
Here in the states we celebrated Memorial Day today, a day in which we honor those who have died, our loved ones as well as our veterans who gave their all for their country. Our flag flies at half mast to honor the fallen. Cemeteries everywhere are decorated with flowers and flags. It's also a day of picnics and trips to the lake. May we always remember why this day is set aside and not loose it's meaning in the fun of the start of summer. God Bless America!
