Grandma's Hankies

These are pics of my Grandmothers Hankies.
these belonged to her and her sisters when every lady carried one in her pocket.

all are hand embroidered by one of them,

Gran ended up with them because she was the youngest and the last to go.

Louise, Kathy, Rose, Kay & Grama Lorraine,

were as close as five sisters

who had to wear each others hand-me-downs & sleep in the same bed could get, the only time Gran remembers getting anything new was at her birthday, when she would get four new hankies, one from each of her sisters.

I've left all the pics at high res so you all can see the wonderful details.

The hand stitching puts my machine to shame!

Finally an update! I've finished the left side of one panel and am at a loss for the right side I like how thw red makes the picture stand out.

I also like the way the green enhances the flowers

now i just need to do the same for the peacock!

I made a minor adjustment to the other side of removing the jeweld dragonfly and substituting this one found after a serch through my stash for something else that I couldn't find!

this side was lopsided and not looking quite right, I think the lace dragonfly brings balance and more focus to that side of the piece.

I think I'll go make Banana muffins now.

new buds

Now you people get to see how slow I am !

I've added beading down the left side with cast off stitched leaves,

a dragonfly and bead butterflies for the bullion stitch flowers.

Inspiration is still coming slowly and I get distracted by all the usual things from kids to work.

there hasn't been much on TV (which is when I do most of my stitching) the last few weeks,

tho I did spy a show with "legs". the Beast with Patrick Swayze.

not only is it intriguing, the back drop of Chicago is wonderful to see!

I recognized so many places I've been!

Exciting for that alone. not to mention glimpses of PS delectable acting, I think its' the best he's done yet!

some reworking of last years christmas stocking

I didn't like where I originaly put some of the details so I renovated.

I put in an older picture of the stocking so you could see just where i changed some of the embellishments. since its my stocking I can work on it over a few years instead of all right now, really takes the pressure off!

There is a little progress on the purse

progress

Here is the progress so far,on the new purse

I don't think I'll have it done for christmas though, I started it too late.

I have a thing for round corners lately, I don't know why.

in other news we got a new tree and got it trimmed and everything.

It fits nicely into the space between the Piano and the radiator.

the stockings and silver bells are up

I'm not feeling very christmasy though that could be due to working in retail for the holidays

I hate working retail.

new purse

struck by inspiration I started a new purse, this one I will try to keep a better photo diary of as I go along, so you all out there in the ether can look in and see the progress if you are so inclined.

I still haven't finished the china purse or decided what to do with it.
my inspiration is sketchy at best.

I haven't gotten the Christmas spirit yet so I thought I'd try to decorate a bit.
it will be a little hard this year as the 8 ft artificial tree we've had for the last 20 years just bit the dust, and we're having a hard time replacing it. just the swag isn't doing it for me.

Tv I can't stop watching

I have discovered food porn!
Help me please! I may need an intervention!
I love the food networks diners, drive-ins and dives, hosted by Guy Frieri on monday at 9cmt.
OMG! how much can this guy eat! I wish I was following him!
its entertaining evocative and delish!

FireFighters Union Local #2 Christmas Toy Parade

Every year the Union Stewards & Catholic Charities go out to every firehouse in Chicago for donations for this toy parade. the firefighters and their family's all donate time and energy to give the children a happy Christmas morning. its our little way of giving something back to the community. every year we get about 20 children to shop for and we usually get enough to spend about $20-$30 per child and my kids bless their mercenary little souls love to go shopping for it!

Here are the the guys at the union offices loading all the toys onto the fire trucks and other vehicles,

they'll do the same bucket brigade unloading at the union hall with more volunteers

And here they come over the hill

there were no wagons for the kiddies to pull this year, but everyone is in fine spirits, despite the cold (28* & snowing!)

there are my two girls in red right up front!

Here come the bikes.

and look at all those toys!

Don't it make you feel warm and fuzzy all over!)

Every boys dream, have the picture taken & spend time with the family!

Jeez I didn't think I worked her that hard!

more sketchbook art

I am in a sharing mood this morning ,

and so I thought I would share with you some more of my doodles.

Some I've added on to since last you saw the page

some are designs I've tried to work out.



some are from work

enjoy.

books to read

I just started to read Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series ( again, for the 100,000,000th time!)

I love just about everything this author has ever written and Shards of honor is a good jumping off point, if you like Strong women characters a smart story and lots of humor with your action/sci-fi/drama.

there is usually so much going on in one of her books, it's a little hard to synopsis and the jacket blurb just makes me laugh because its so vague it could be any book!

needless to say, our two unlikely heroes come together under bad circumstances, that just keep getting worse.

Just when you think things will get better they don't. it's all very well written and I keep promising I'll savor the story then end up powering through it in a day, then go back and read my favorite bits again!

If you like Sci-Fi, you will like this author!
unfortunately my copy of shards looks like this,

as you can see this is a very loved and dog-eared copy!
here is the sequel, also dog-eared but at least you can See the cover art!
see what I mean, tough women!