DONE!

The “get-ready-for-the-holidays” spirit has been visiting me.

I recently participated in a class at the Stitches and Petals quilt and florist shop in Moscow with which my friend Chris is affiliated. Under her tutelage, I made this wonderful Christmas wall hanging. The class involved two sessions, but I had homework in order to finish embroidering the panels.

I had missed the first offering of this class when the little work area at the shop must have been bursting with workers. But at this second session there were just two of us participating with Chris as instructor. As we worked we had a lot of fun talking about experiences that people of basically the same age have in common, mostly the standards maintained by our parents who by comparison seem to have been on the same page, how that upbringing has spilled over into our lives, how good it was, and how different it is for families today.

So, I came home from the second and last session with my creation all finished except for the handwork – stitching the binding by hand. I tend to get stopped there because I see handwork as something to be done in leisure time – perhaps in the evening while we watch tv. However, I don’t do that much any more, so it was clear that I needed to make time to finish this piece.

Yesterday afternoon Mike and the dogs went hunting, so I decided it was “finish day.” I recorded two Hallmark holiday romance movies. You know the kind -- chick flicks with fluffy story lines where you get two and a half minutes of movie to five minutes of commercial. I don’t trouble Mike to put up with those, but they do speak to the heart-warming holiday spirit, show wonderful color and decorations, and I enjoy a certain amount of those as part of my celebration. As I watched them, I finished my “Merry Christmas” wall hanging.

 

Then, as I worked in the kitchen last night, I looked at the dirty window over the sink covered by a cheap blind that was even dirtier, and suddenly I knew that I wanted that blind gone. The shed stands between that window and the sun’s glare and also makes the area private. Mike agreed that we didn’t need the blind and took it down for me this morning. Now my kitchen is lighter and I can more easily clean the window. And I can also hang a string of lights for interior (if not exterior) ambiance. I look forward to it! KW