This week I have continued with putting up the Christmas trees. This little silk tree is one I made years ago in a class, even now I don’t think it is really finished, most of the rest of the class added far more stitching and I think stuffed them and put them in a pot. But it just stands on a surface and I like it as it is, although it seems to have lost it’s star from the top. It may yet turn up.
I even managing to persuade Colin to clear the desk in ‘his’ room / study / library / tip to put up the wooden tree we made in 2017. You can see it from outside, and since we are on one of the main roads through the village hopefully it will be a bit of cheer for folk passing by. The flat “branches” make ideal little shelves for the decorations that have been acquired over the years and that don’t hang on the tree.
It was an idea triggered by seeing one in a shop window on Steep Hill in Lincoln. It looked so beautiful all lit up. Unfortunately, they weren’t selling them, but the lady did give me vague instructions of how to make one. So we had a go. I could soon see why they weren’t selling them, with our limited woodworking tools and skills it took a long time to do. The end result was a bit wonky too. We’ve more or less sorted that out this year, with a few modifications on levelling up. The old pub-table and a beer-mat principle, but both of us thinking it needed the card underneath in a different place. We eventually got there and put the tiny lights more or less evenly spaced around it; 10 strands of lights and 12 spaces don’t quite work, but it looks right from the front and outside.
We realised when we put it up the first time that there are various options for arranging the branches, but too late without starting from scratch and taking everything off to alter it. So this time we played around with branch arrangements first. The spaces get closer together at the top, so it needs a bit of planning of how best to arrange things. Also in places the branches around can be used to stabilise or wedge things to make them safer. This is helpful for some of the things that are either old and fragile, or a bit wonky from little fingers making them in the first place.
One of the oldest pieces to go on has had major surgery this year. A little soldier that was my mum’s when she was a little girl. One arm has been loose for a very long time, but the other one fell out of his sleeve this year. His jacket is so fixed that it would damage it to take it off. Colin asked if I wanted him to glue them back on. No. The arms were jointed at the shoulder and doing that would make them fixed. I suggested a little elastic band, but he thought it wouldn’t work. And how would you get it on? Tweezers?
Well, yes and no. I managed to find a small elastic band, push both sleeves up, hook the band round the tiny plastic hook making the joint, thread the elastic band and arm up the sleeve, and grab it through the other armhole and body with tweezers. But the band kept sliding off the tweezers. Difficult when you’re working blind, but after several attempts and failing, I thought a crochet hook might work. Couple of goes and success. One arm through the sleeve and the elastic band through the body. Colin was right the elastic band wouldn’t hold it, it was too long. But with a bit of fiddling I tied a knot in the stretched elastic band hooked it through the other arm shoulder joint hook and eased the sleeve over the arm. A bit of manipulation and the shoulder joints slipped into the sockets. Success. I don’t think this elastic band will last as long as the original, but there are more years left in the Old Soldier yet.
I’ve tucked this snowman where Miles won’t spot him, along with the Santa and candle he made in infant school. They are all a bit wonky but they were proudly brought home from school when he made them. They were made and received with love, and that’s the important bit. It also reminds us of the lovely little boy he was then, now a lovely and successful big boy of 28, and how lucky we were for him to have survived and recovered from surgery (twice) to remove a brain tumour before he was five years old. A slight shake in his right hand when he’s very tired is all that remains from the ordeal.
Lincoln Embroiderers’ Guild had a couple of Zoom meetings this week, and it was lovely to catch up with folk and see what the others have been doing. Very busy, in the main, but as was pointed out by a member, it’s the sort of people we are: we may not be able to be doing the things we were doing last year, but we’ve filled our lives with a different sort of busy-ness. Too true, but I certainly feel it has helped me make the most of the situation we have found ourselves in this year. This little rabbit was one of a pair given as our Christmas gift last year at our Christmas meeting, a very sociable occasion with a lovely shared lunch. The rabbit was finished by Easter and I’ve just wrapped a tinsel scarf round his neck, before sitting him on the tree.
So again, lots of good memories decorating this tree. And, as I walk past the doorway (I’m rarely allowed in) I can ignore the mess, especially when it’s dark and the tree lights are the only light. I can enjoy the memories the trinkets evoke. And Colin was pleased to find one or two “lost” things as he cleared the desk!
This is the fairy that I made years ago, on top of the lounge tree. She was armless and topless for years, but finally got finished. She was never very stable and often fell off, but I have finally found a solution this year, a piece of ribbon round her middle and a bow at the back round the tree. Why has it taken so long to solve? Possibly too many other things to think of. More time, that’s a positive of this pandemic, a slowing down of the frantic, crazy speed that many of us live our lives. Time to access our priorities and enjoy the simple things in life. It may need to be a quieter, smaller, shorter Christmas, but we are still here.
debbidipity 