Makings & presents

 I made it to see my parents on Saturday. It's over an hour drive but I can break it up by stopping at a rest stop or whatever. I don't usually bother but when I hit the 3rd stop and roll, I decided I needed to get off the highway. I waited until it felt late enough for an early lunch, and I got there right before the lunch rush hit. Yay me.

After I saw Mom, I was going to meet Dad at the pie shop we usually meet at (right around the corner from Mom), but the management there turned out to be human and closed the place for 2 days so staff could take a vacation. At least, that's what the sign said. Not great for us, but good for them.

Dad gave me bells that used to hang in Grandma's house. They might once have been attached to a door on one of the businesses that Grandma and Grandpa had.

 

He also gave me my birthday present early (yay, presents!). The box lid is a Diné sand painting (I have marred the image, to move it farther from the original sand painting. I am sure the artist adjusted it, but I am reluctant to post it on the Internet without further changes). 

I gave Mom and Stepmom their Mother's Day presents (a scarf for mom and earrings for stepmom). Mom also got a card, so she'll remember I was there. I packaged both of them in an origami box I made from calendar pages. Calendar pages are stiffer than most paper and usually colorful. 

And this is part of the reason I really don't like Bradford pears. This limb was somewhat damaged, I think the black might be rot, and look how it ripped off in a storm.

Now look at the size of the the branch that came off.

 

Thursday, I watched the NC History Museum History and Highballs presentation, on zoom. This one was Missing History: Jewish Life in Western NC. I love history, especially the bits that didn't get covered in class or when it's more in-depth than what we learned when I took history classes in high school and college. It's how I learned about the Lowery War.

I tatted the tiny teapot from Karey Solomon's book Bring on the Buttons, in silver during the presentation. It was my fidget project.

After the success of Gina Butler's hair bob, I used one of the patterns from the same book to make one in a different color. I made it Sunday and wore it Monday, because it went really well with the blouse I was wearing.

 

Friday, my old friend Felicia called. She lives out of state now but her family are still local. When she's in the area we try to meet for lunch or something. Last time she came, we didn't manage to meet but I told her about Scrap Exchange. So naturally, she blamed me for having to pay the fees to get the very nice, very discounted, very heavy craft tool (cricut, maybe, I don't remember) home. She said very rude things, and I cackled the entire time. 

I found this not so little one next to my car as I was headed home the other day. According to iNaturalist, it's a tussar moth.

I cut squares to make a charm bag (see a previous post). They weren't pre-cut, but I dug out my rotary cutter and mat. I need a 3rd fabric for the drawstring casing. It's some fabric I've had on hand for some time and it felt good to actually use it.

I took scraps from the previous drawstring bags I made, plus orts from tatting and loom knitting and stuck them into these tiny glass bottles. I may have to get those ball ornaments or larger bottles to hold more.

And Now It's Over (for now)

Monday, there was frost on my windshield. Since then, it's been warm and almost rainy. We could use some rain. It's been dry to the west, drought conditions. The light rain we had helped control the wildfires, but it's still bad farther west, in Tennessee.

I'm still doing physical therapy. It's not cheap but it's helping.

Thursday, Dad and K met me for lunch. We went to Maggiano's They considered C invited, considered it implicit. I told them he preferred an explicit invitation. It was a lovely meal.

That evening, C fixed supper. Unable to get a non-frozen turkey, he made a roast beef instead. He also made mashed sweet potatoes, dressing, and mixed veggies (squash, zucchini, and okra). We finished the last of the leftovers Monday.

I braved Black Friday and picked up a couple things for mom. At least, I waited until mid-afternoon so most of the crowds were gone. I found a jade plant for her. I still need to find something to put in and also find her an aloe.

I picked up some plumber's tape to fix the faucet. It is mostly fixed. I had to use layers of tape. It was tape, test, tape, test, repeat, until the knobs caught and worked.

Our Pathfinder game on Saturday got canceled (one of the players could not make it, private stuff that I'm not going to blast over the internet). So I went to the Tatter's meeting instead. I made a snowflake for the exchange. I took a picture before the exchange but I haven't taken a picture of the one I got, yet.

















I'm also making another knit block, to try and make this rabbit. I know, I'm knitting just to make something else. But it's so cute.

Oh, and one of my friends pointed me towards this website. I've ordered a pair of leggings from the sample shop. We'll see how they work for me. They're expensive leggings, but if they're as good as the review I read promised, they'll be worth it. And there are so many cool designs (about 42 pages).  I'm thinking of designing my own, based on tatting.

Still Alive

But it's been a very busy 6 weeks, or so. Let's see.

IOLA (you know about that), then I went to see my mom for Mother's Day weekend, then off to Tennessee for Diana's graduation party/wedding reception, my birthday weekend and Tri-Tatters meeting, off to Maryland to see a friend and his wife, and this weekend back to see Mom, weekend after is Maker's Fair, play We Be Goblins, Too, and Father's day, the next weekend is prep for Contemporal and finally Contemporal. Don't ask me about July yet. I know I have a small con at the end of the month, but I'm not thinking past Contemporal yet.

Mom loved her Mother's Day present. I found a copy of Best, Exotic Marigold Hotel on DVD, on sale. A movie she loves and I got it on sale. I swear, I think she was in heaven. We both watched the movie and enjoyed it massively. All the actors are quite good, even the four I'd never seen before (the Indian actors, I'd like to see more of them). She bought me my Christmas present, an iPad. I was a little surprised, but I love it. Just in time, too. My newly installed anti-virus software was fighting with something I thought I'd turned off and it crashed my laptop. My friend in Maryland fixed it for me, fyi.

The trip to Diana's graduation was long but it was great to see her and Chris again. They've gone to Canada now where she has a job. Guess it's time I buckle down and get my passport. Since we were uncertain if it were a one-day or two-day party (there was a typo on the invitation), we ended up being at loose ends on Sunday. We went to Gaitlinburg. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium. We saw a baby penguin and found the sea turtle (she was napping, I think).

On Saturday following, my dad, step-mom and brother drove down to take me to lunch. C was able to join us after all. His car repair was going to take long enough that he had time for the courtesy van to drop him off, him to do some shopping (cooking store for the win), and have lunch with us, then catch the van back. They brought a lovely shell disk bead and turquoise chunk necklace and tea accessory kit from Ikea. The set has a lemon squeezer, honey wand, and a combined tea ball and tray. The tray suspends the tea ball over the cup or mug, then gives you a place to put the tea ball when you withdraw it. Very nifty. It was great to see them and I really enjoyed it.

The Tri-tatters meeting was loads of fun, as always. We had a couple new people as well as familiar faces.

Then it was off to Seoul Garden for some Korean barbecue. That was quite tasty and I may have overeaten just a little. The rest of the weekend was quieter and I got some things done.

This past weekend wsa the drive to see M and his wife, B. She is such a good cook. Her blueberry pie with marscapone is incredible. She also made salmon with kolbi marinade. Must look for some of that. We played two Pathfinder modules, Scene It (both teams won once), and Munchkin. We went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. My expectations were not high, so they were met quite well.

I should try to add some pictures, but they're in my iPad. Maybe my next post will be more picture heavy.