Skip to main content

Mom's Holiday Handicrafts

Mom, as I've mentioned before is a rather private person so my writing yet another post about her handiwork will probably not please her.  However, she is a very skilled craftsperson as the following will illustrate.  So at the risk of invading her privacy further I will continue to share her work.

Money was tight when I was first starting out married life so the idea of spending on items that were only used one month or less a year seemed ridiculous to me (or maybe it was just me being tight).  Mom came to the rescue.  She would do sewing, painting, macrame, knitting and cross stitching of Xmas items.  I'll show a sample of things she made over the years here; more will be revealed in future holiday posts.  Much of what Mom made came with this label attached:

Name has been abbreviated to protect the reticent

My carolers
Mom and her brother teamed up on this project some time ago.  My Uncle did the woodwork using a jigsaw to cut out the carolers; Mom did all the decorating.  These folks have been around for about 20 years now and the curly hair has loosened in my more maritime climate, but Mom's skills in painting and using crafty lace, ribbon and such do shine through.  My Uncle has now passed away so these singers are a fond reminder of him each year when I put them out.

My quilted Xmas tree wall hanging
Mom quilts as well and has a high-tech sewing machine (at least to me) to do all sorts of specialty sewing.  This is a tree she put together for me a few years back.  You'll note, she's got a knack for tying ribbon bows that I have yet to acquire.  She's shown me several times how to do it, but I lose the skill when I leave her presence.

A cross-stitch Noel
Then there's this very holiday-like Noel wall hanging.  It uses the plastic grids (apparently called plastic canvass) found at most craft stores.  Generally, I am not fond of the types of things made with this product, but Mom came through with a real winner with this one.


The knitted mittens and intarsia 
Then of course there are the knitted items.  I love these little mittens with the jiggle bells and as you can see Mom adds a substantial hanger to them so they are easy to place on a tree.  She gave me the sock just last Xmas.  So at 80 something Mom is still going strong and her intarsia work is far neater and more consistent than mine.

Every year as I decorate the house for the holidays I bring out this host of memories.  Some items are decades old and some very new creations.  And every year I'm reminded of the woman who continues to test her skills to make holiday items that are priceless.  Thanks Mom.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW
2 comments
Read more

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and
1 comment
Read more

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m
Post a Comment
Read more