A Bag and A Book

I have a cloth purse that I use once in a while, a rather plain purse. I’ve thought about putting tatting on it off and on but never really made an effort to do it. This last week I made a square medallion that I decided would look good on it.

One of the reasons I’ve not added tatting to something like this is I’m always thinking how dirty it will get, and if not attached right, will come off at corners and edges. My solution – at least until it proves me wrong – was to use fabric glue to stiffen it before sewing it on the purse. I did not stitch down every picot, though I suppose that would be the correct thing to do. (I thought I had the medallion centered and square, but I guess not.)

The other side looked a bit bare after that. When I remembered where I had put the balls of thread I made another square in the same colors.

This medallion looked better turned a few degrees than having it sit square like the other side. Then I thought it needed something on the top flap but not a medallion. So I made an edging along the same lines as the medallion. I’ve made one more edging to go up that one bare side, but I still need to stiffen it before sewing it on.

I’ve been doing some reading the last couple of weeks. Not listening to audio books but reading a paperback. This story is about a house in my hometown, Newton, Kansas. It was built back when the town was new and is still standing today and still has people living in it, though I understand it was empty for a time.

Besides it being about a local subject, the way the story is told is unique. It is told from the perspective of the house, mostly by way of conversation with a painted portrait of a woman that is hung in the house. The story starts in the 1880’s and goes until about 2010. It is a quick read but enjoyable.

I looked up the address of the house and drove by it the other day. It is about a block away from Sand Creek, which is an important feature in the book. The house is now surrounded closely by other houses, and the creek is much different than it once was. To protect Newton from flooding the creek was made much deeper in the 1960’s and had a dam installed at the south end. I find it hard to imagine the creek different than it is today.

This is obviously a book of fiction, but some of the events in the book are from the history of the town. It came out at the right time, as Newton is celebrating it’s sesquicentenial anniversary (150 years) this year. I talked about the party the city threw on the actual anniversary date that I went to here. Newton is having another celebration tomorrow, June 4, 2022, with bands and rides and other fun things. I’m planning on going if it doesn’t rain.

We celebrated Memorial Day this year with trips to local cemetaries with family, then had the family come over for lunch and games after that. For all that the day is set aside to remember those who died in service to our country my family always visited the graves of our other relatives, too. My mother always grew small containers of flowers for each of the graves we would visit, then we’d drive to the different cemetaries to leave the flowers and tell stories about their lives. My husband and I were not good about continuing that tradition, but this year was a bit like those times I remember from childhood. Except this time I was the one telling the stories.

“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt