My Mother's Stash Giveaway, Part I ... and my own WIPs

My 80 something Mom has macular degeneration and is no longer able to do all the sewing and embroidery crafts she once enjoyed so much: crochet, needlepoint, cross-stitch and doll making. As a consequence, she has sent me nearly all her stash ... one of my sisters who knits got to pick over her wool and scarf up the good stuff ... but the rest came to me. Now, I am not a doll-maker so the first thing I did was cull all the doll-making materials from the car load of stuff that my husband unloaded last night [a Ford 500 trunk and back seat and front passenger seat full ... to give you an idea of the scope].

My mother's dollmaking stash was spread over my dining room table to take this photo. If you click on it, you will see that[working from lower left and up and around clockwise] there are numerous packages of chenille doll hair in shades of brown, blonde, strawberry blonde and raggedy Ann red; all sorts of doll hats; dolls and stuffed bunnies in various stages of completion; spools of netting in red, white and pink [apparently used like crinoline slips when making doll dresses]; a cosmetic case literally filled with small silk flowers for trimming doll hats; a vast collection of patterns for making all sorts of dolls and stuffed animals and teddy bears; and in the center a box filled with bisque finish porcelain doll heads in various sizes [mostly lady heads but one child head] wooden heads, doll disc joints, doll glasses and sunglasses. There are also doll stands in two sizes and some music buttons that play Fur Elise, Happy Birthday, Love Story and Mary Had a Little Lamb. I will try to get an exact inventory of this lot done tonight when I come home from work. Over the next few days, I will post photos of other stash that I'll be giving away ... all for postage costs only ... there are two large bins of reels of lace and trim, a box of rick-rack and bias tape, spools and spools of ribbon, a variety of fabrics ... I just need to sort through those to determine what I wish to keep and what I wish to give away. Anyone wishing to receive any of this stuff should leave a post in the comments section, including your e-mail address. All I ask is that you agree to pay the postage costs either with a US Postal Money Order, a 123stitch gift certificate or well-concealed cash. I plan on using the US mail priority boxes unless a person's request list require a larger box ... so guesstimate your postage costs accordingly.

Since I spent the better part of Wednesday morning in a waiting room, I brought along two of my smaller stitching bag "travel" projects: the first of my monthly Thanksgiving ornaments and my Handblessing Autumn Lace bookmark. I actually finished the ornament and began work on the bookmark. The ornament is a motif from BHG 1001 Cross Stitch Motifs [a hardcover book] and it is stitched on Silkweaver 36ct Days Gone By in the suggested DMC cotton floss. The bookmark is a Handblessing free chart and I am stitching it on Silkweaver 36 ct Autumn Sunset in Dragon Floss Firebrand. I have stitched the companion bookmark Autumn Leaves and was so delighted with it that I had to do this one as well.

And, here is a photo of recent progress on TW's Autumn Faerie. Granted, not much has been accomplished since the Weekend Progress photos: I am still working on the border. But it feels like progress to me since larger areas of the design are coming to life beneath my hands. I don't think I ever mentioned that I am stitching this on a 25ct white evenweave, over two, using all the suggested DMC cotton flosses. I am enjoying working on it when I have the time ... which, unfortunately, is not very often ... just about an hour each morning before going to work. It requires concentration and care, so I seldom stitch on it late in the evening after work. It was supposed to be my BAP for 2009 but it languished as a UFO until mid-December. I had hoped to accomplish more than I did during the Christmas recess with an eye to giving it to my daughter as a birthday present in late January. I don't think that's going to happen either! But I have made it my focus project for home stitching [since it is on 14" scroll rods, it isn't exactly the most portable project in my rotation] ... so it should be done in time for the Spring Equinox.