just 1 of 250 or so.

I used to live in a largish city. While I was there, I was anomally, something out of the ordinary and kind of strange. Why?, you ask.... Because I do handcrafts. Not the trendy, kind of "cool to see at Saturday market handcrafts, but the "my grandma used to do that" handcrafts. I sew, crochet, embroider, paint glass, and bead. I sew clothing, quilts, and gifts.

Then we moved. We didn't move to another large city where everyone is more concerned with the morning commute than they are with latest quilt trend. We moved to a small rural town where it snows from September through May.

I went from being 1 in a million to 1 in 250 or so. Every woman in the town I now live in does one of these wonderful ancient handcrafts. Some sew, some crochet, some knit, some cross-stitch... However every one of them does at least ONE of these crafts.

and it's NOT just the women! Then men usually do some craft as well. One of the men in town makes the nicest woodturned stuff you have ever seen.

What's worse I guess is that, after 17 years of marriage, my husband kind of is unimpressed by what I make. lol. I suppose "unimpressed" is the wrong word, however, I am unsure of what to call it. When I would crank out something before it was "WOW! That is so awesome" and he would practically dance in excitement. Now it's a "nice!".

I have ceased to be unimpressive. I'm one of the herd, just another in a large group of multi-talented and awe-inspiring people when it comes to handcrafts.

The projects I do, I enjoy 100%. For instance, I made this just yesterday. took about 5 hours from start to finish. I made the pattern, cut the fabric, created the transfer pattern (including drawing the cow) , embroidered the cow and sewed the item. Thank goodness for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers movie. I popped it in while I did my embroidery, and just had to finish the three flowers on the shoulder during the credits of the movie.

Maybe it's time for me to pick up a new hobby? Something REALLY impressive... Ice sculpture? Maybe cutting those bears out of logs with a chainsaw? Juggling ducklings?

Any suggestions?

Memories...

There are a few memories from before I moved away from home that fill me with great warmth and a surprising amount of emotion. A few. One of the great ones is my first use of a serger ever. My beloved Grandmother had a friend by the name of Libby, a nice, self-assured, and self-possessed woman that told it like it should be, and yet was someone that you really wanted to just spend a lot of time with. I remember I must have been around 13 or 14 and Libby had taken me to her house for the day to watch her two children while she was away. We played, and napped, and in general just kind of flunked around. It may have been the whole day, or it may have been just a few hours, the time slipped by and time makes it all fuzzy.

Libby had this basement that had a sewing room off of it. I liked to sew, I had sewn on a regular machine a few times so this room intrigued me. She had a "thing" in there. lol. I thought I knew what it was, however I had never used one or even seen one in real life before. So when she got back I asked her about it. She had to take the kids somewhere that night so she was rushed. However, Libby, being Libby, she took the time to tell me about it... Then... Wonder of wonders.. She pulled some fabric out of a cubby and we went to work. I remember THAT like it was yesterday. I don't even remember what we used as a pattern. The two pieces of fabric were crazy! One was white with lime green pictographic people all over it, the other was a solid lime green. It seemed like in 3 minutes flat we had a sweatshirt all for me! We made the body in the pictographic people, and the trim as all in the lime green. It was simple, like a t-tunic pattern or a scrubs pattern. But I'll tell ya.... I had that shirt until after I moved away from home! I may not have fit anymore, but it represented a memory I loved and will cherish for the rest of my life.

This very busy and self-possessed woman had taken time from her life to show a wayward girl a very simple thing that to me... Was magic. For this, I will never forget Libby, Even when time and distance seperate us, I can still think back on that day and remember it as a bright spot in my long list of memories.

Today I sit in front of my own serger, and contemplate what I am going to make on it for my first project. Is there any question? While the fabric will be olive green solid and striped fleece, it'll still be a sweatshirt for my first project on MY new serger.

And as I sit here and ponder that memory, is it any wonder that I named the serger Libby?