Humble Beginnings

This weekend I completed the latest BOW by Barbara Brackman.  This one was a little tricky, it had a lot of pieces and I have read that some people had a few difficulties with how it went together.   It does look a little busy, but when all the blocks are put together I'm sure it won't look as bad - that's what I'll tell myself anyway!

As I was putting this block together and trying to make it as neat as I could I remembered how far I have come since I started sewing and doing needlework.  With every piece of work I do I learn something new.  

When I visited with my family at Christmas my Mother gave me a plastic bag which contained several old items which had been hidden away in the linen cupboard for years.   Among the pieces were some crochet my grandmother did, a half finished trapestry my Mother started when she was at high school, and some small pieces of embroidery I had done when I was in primary school.  

I tried to remember how old I was when I had done these, and I do remember doing them,  I would have been around the ages of 8 and 11yrs.  Of course all girls learned needlework at school, mainly embroidery and for the lucky few crochet was a bonus.   At the end of each year our work was examined by independent teachers (no names on the work, just numbers).  I was lucky enough to win first prize for two years running.   I was a shy kid so this was quite a shock to have to go up to the front of the class to received my prize.

I was one of the lucky ones to learn crochet, but I was left handed which posed a dilemma for my teacher - not for me! - she could or would not accommodate this, so I had to learn right handed or not at all!   This would not happen today!!!  Anyway I learned to crochet right handed which allowed me to crochet around some of the pieces of embroidery I had made.   I do remain firmly left-handed, it's just how I'm wired!!!

The pieces in the plastic bag had gone a bit yellow and some had a few stains but I soaked the ones I remember making at school in Napisan overnight and handwashed them. 

They look so, well, vintage LOL, now that I see them again after all these years.

As you can see the single row of double crochet is very loose.   When I first saw that, I thought, undo and redo,  (that temptation is always there LOL) but that really would defeat the purpose of remembering a child's first attempt at crochet, so it will remain at it is.   The embroidery is a bit sloppy, but in the clumsy hands of child, it was the best effort of the day!

This would be regarded as kitsch these days!   But when I was a child I hadn't heard even her of the word  kitsch LOL!  I just loved doing embroidery, and I see that my tension on the crochet had improved greatly by the time I had gotten to this piece.   Even the back isn't too bad for a kid!

This weekend my first dog Shali (Shalimar) celebrated her 9th birthday.   She has gone a little grey around the gills these past few years, but then so have we all!   She is a wonderful dog, so gentle, loving, sensible and very spoiled.

Mum's girl to the end!!!  

A bit of walk down memory lane this post, but it's the path that brings us to where we are now.....
Have a great week everyone,

Merilyn