Miscellaneous Assortment of Topics :)

Dementia is something that almost all of us have some personal experience.  This video is about Bournmouth University's trial using Tai Chi with dementia sufferers and their carers.  Preliminary results find fewer falls among patients who participated.  An added benefit is that both patients and carers enjoyed the process.  I still love Tai Chi, although I rarely practice any more, but given this impetus, I may return to a daily practice.  Well, I'll think about it anyway.



Stitching.    25 Million Stitches  --The first thing I stitched on the second panel was the quote, then I began filling in the background.  As I did so, it occurred to me that although mainly running stitches, the background was beginning to look like a sampler.    

 This reminded me of the TAST project in 2012 in which I made prayer flags using the stitches announced each week.  

The idea of the challenge is to work as many of the proposed stitches as you can. Each stitch is announced on Tuesday mornings – hence the name! As I announce the stitches, I list them below. With every announcement, there is a link to one of my stitch tutorials in my Stitch Dictionary that way, if you’re unsure of the stitch, you can find out how to do it.  Source:  TAST at Pintangle

I looked back at my  prayer flags, which were little samplers of sorts using various stitches from TAST each week.  The two stitches were fly stitch and buttonhole--and variations of the two stitches.  I used other stitches as well, but those were the first two for the first two weeks of TAST 2012.

Now have some more ideas for filling in the background of the second panel using variations of stitches from TAST 2012.

Mail.   

 Incoming 

A handmade card from Iliana, one of Marc's fantastic Christmas photos, 

letter and card with those whimsical stamps from Annie.  

I love the Christmas postcards with pics of kids that grow up a little more each year--

so funny to compare the pics of kids from year to year! 

Outgoing

More will be going out today.

Worm Farm.  I crushed up egg shells until they were nearly all powder and added them to the bin.  :) 

There are several reasons to put eggshells in your worm bin. Eggshells provide calcium, which reduces acidity in the bin. This prevents high acid conditions that can harm your worms. Also, crushed eggshells provide grit to aid the worms’ digestion. And, it is believed that eggshells help worms in the reproductive process.  Source:  Uncle Jim's Worm Farm 

Reading. 
I finished The Splendid and the Vile:  A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Eric Larson.  I will review it on my book blog soon, but it is a compelling account that kept me engrossed throughout!

Hands.  Steve McCurry's photographs are always touching, but his The Silent Language of Hands post seems particularly apt at expressions of love and caring, both in the photographs and the quotes.  

Back of the closet.  I made this Christmas gift for my mother over 15 years ago and after she died, I brought it home with me.  The pics aren't very clear, but it is a patchwork of fabrics with appliques cut from other fabrics.  It was a gift that I loved making and today is the first time I've worn it--a warm hug of memories.

Night Visitor.  My friend Rocky was back again.  A little shy, but extremely curious, he comes within a few feet of me and watches cautious, but not terribly afraid.  I followed him on his journey, then sat down and he came up and regarded me seriously.

I know these little bandits can be destructive, 
but he is really charming and cuter than the
much shyer possum who sometimes visits.

Fabric wrapped birthday gift.  I stamped a cat on muslin because the gift

was for Bryce Eleanor, young cat lady turning twelve.

Our cats are not so much of a problem now,

but this does appear to be a solution to the

cat/Christmas tree events.