Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Craft Day with Mom

(Edwardsville, IL) Hi 92 Lo 55 -- It's hard to believe we went from 39 degrees yesterday morning to 92 degrees today.

Mom and I stayed in and did crafts all day today. Mom taught me how to do rope braiding. That may not be the name but that’s what we call it. It's a very old craft that you don't see much anymore, and I was thrilled to have mom teach it to me. It's done with a spool with four little nails in the end spaced 1/4 inch apart. (Click on pictures to enlarge)
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Start with the thread through the center of the spool, then wrap it around the nails and pull the bottom thread over the nail, then move to the next nail and pull the bottom thread over, then pull from the bottom. It sounds complicated, but it's not hard once you get used to it. It makes a nice smooth rope which you can then stitch together for things like pot holders and hats. Jim thought it would be good for making braided bracelets out of thin leather cord. I might have to try that.

In the afternoon we made a folding iris. I learned how to do it in Florida this past winter, and mom wanted to learn it. I got it started and she finished it.
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This is our finished picture. It’s folded paper in three dimensions. IMG_0968

We played around with some different ideas the rest of the afternoon. Jim, bless his heart, got out of the house and went to Edwardsville to browse some book stores for a few hours.

This evening I made a dinner of fried North Carolina shrimp, along with rice and peas. After dinner we were sitting down to watch America's Funniest Home Videos on TV when the electric went off in the park. It’s been off for almost an hour so far. Thank goodness for batteries!

We had a great time today.

3 comments:

Jim and Judy said...

Can you believe it is hotter there than here. This has been the coolest spring but I an sure it will get a lot warmer soon.

Jim and Sandie said...

If you're not careful you're going to catch up with our temps here in AZ. But put you and Mom together and you guys go a little nuts with the craft. That card is beautiful.

LakeConroePenny,TX said...

You made me remember that we did that rope-braiding when I was growing up in England. We made it into all sorts of things.

It is great that your Mom remembers how to do a lot of her crafts.

Happy Trails, Penny.

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