Socks for Japan



I gather the raw materials





Each bag is labeled and filled with a pair of socks and an origami crane

 



Now it is time to print the notes

 



Printing half a page at a time allows me to work around the chrysanthemum motif

 



My rotary cutter works for paper too (although I may need to change the blade) :)

 



Some socks look better with the chrysanthemum paper

 



Others shine with the rose paper

 



Eventually all 69 pairs are ready to go

 


Uh oh, will they all fit??




The box is bursting at the seams, but it's good to go!





http://jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/ to help

Hearts for New Zealand

From the eQuilter newsletter on 3/2:

I would say that those affected by the earthquake need money to rebuild their lives and repair their homes, but here is an additional way to send your healing thoughts to those affected:

Hello from New Zealand!

We are asking for Hearts for the thousands of Christchurch earthquake victims. Not the usual hearts, but "Hanging Hearts." Two pieces of heart-shaped fabric sewn together, lightly stuffed, and with a hanging loop of ribbon. These can be any size, any fabric, any style!

We will be arranging a venue where they can all be hung and people can come and take whichever one they like. If you would like to take part could you please send your hearts to [address]

Here are the ones I made. I made a heart template out of cardboard, then traced the shape on the wrong side of a piece of fabric. I sandwiched that with a second piece of fabric and then stitched directly on the tracing (leaving a small opening so I could turn it right side out later). It works very well. Actually takes longer to stuff the thing than it does to machine sew it :)

Family tree

I may have mentioned a while back that my family did some tests via the Genographic Project to trace our ancestral origins.  They looked at my maternal ancestry, and we also had them trace the ancestry of my father's paternal DNA.  (On order is a kit to have my dad do his mother's side, which may help us to figure out which of our ancestors was Cherokee - or at the very least will help us eliminate one option.)

I took the (free) option of transferring our results over into FamilyTreeDNA also, which has turned out to be an incredible thing.  

Based on my father's DNA results, we were able to identify a few distant cousins in the system.  I have been talking to one of the women with whom I share great-great-great-grandparents (I'll call this great(3)-grandparents).  It turns out that she has been an absolutely AMAZING source of research.  She's shared some published information about various ancestors and - what Laura and I agree is absolutely the neatest document - a transcript of a letter to our great(4)-grandfather Peter from his son Jacob (a prominent Lutheran minister) discussing the former's conversion to Baptism.  (The conversion was very successful, to Jacob's sorrow, and that line of the family remained Baptist for generations... I believe up until my father left the fold, although I am not sure about the spiritual leanings of my paternal grandfather either.)    

Our correspondence today - email, primarily - contains nothing like this level of detail or historical value, which makes me kind of sad.  On the one hand, our future generations may never even have genealogical mysteries to solve as everything will be already tracked and available online...   but, then, without the challenges and mysteries to get them excited, I wonder how much they will really care?  

First attempt at a holiday mantel

We don't feel safe putting up a tree because of our two energetic cats, so I decided to try a mantel instead.

I got some apothecary jars (50% off at Sears) and brought down a curly framed mirror from upstairs. With these items, it seemed to be going in an old-fashioned direction, so I collected all the vintage and vintage-look ornaments (including some that belonged to my grandparents). Looking for things to fill the jars, I found whole walnuts, pods for the coffee maker (LOL!) and some stick candy... and then I thought, oh, nutcracker "sweets"!

So the little nutcracker ornament was joined by two big guys and we ended up with this (so far). It may not look like a decorator (or someone with a clue ;)) put it together, but it makes me smile!

(As always, click to "biggify" the image.)

Tea for 2x2

Yesterday the four of us scavenger hunters went to a holiday tea party at Gore Place, the 19th century home of one of Massachusetts' early governors. (And before you ask, yes, I asked, and they were only distantly related to Al Gore.)

While we were waiting to be seated (there was a children's tea with Santa immediately prior), they funneled us into the gift shop. (Oh clever, clever people!) I found traditional Christmas crackers on sale, and immediately thought they would be a perfect addition to the box I am sending out to my family. What fun for the kids!

We were then ushered in for tea. We were struck by the very grand, high ceilings but noticed that the lines of the room and ceiling lacked the architectural ornamentation that you might expect to see in an old European mansion: all the detail was in the elaborate French wallpaper! The paper in that first room was stripe in salmony pink (with grapes and leaves) and teal (with either corn stalks or acanthus). Imagine a whole room filled with this going from chair rail all the way up over 15 feet the ceiling! As Tim Gunn would say, "that's a lot of look!" You can see it in the background of several photos here. Lovely, eh? Of course, by candle light in the evening it would have been a lot more subtle. ;)

Tea soon arrived (perfectly brewed English breakfast-style tea), followed by blueberry scones with clotted cream, an array of finger sandwiches, and miniature frangipane tarts, lemon squares, raspberry thumbprint cookies, pumpkin bread, and other little bites of yum. I don't know what 19th century ladies and gentlemen would have eaten at an afternoon tea, but this menu did seem designed for modern tastes and obviously with modern resources. (It would have taken some good magic to get fresh berries in December back then.)

Well, old or new, the tea was delicious. In fact, our 'menfolk' agreed that the scones were the best they had ever tasted, and Sara successfully petitioned her father (with much urging from the peanut gallery, ahem) to procure an additional scone from another table. ;)

After tea, several costumed tour guides led us through the rest of the house, introducing each room and its furnishings and purpose, and presenting Jane Austen quotes of interest. Lovely! I was left, as always, with a sense of just how very much has changed since then - so much we take for granted that they could not even imagine - and yet, how much still endures...