Wedding!

My son was engaged at Christmas and the date is set. August 28, 2009. We are so excited. All the fun of making the plans. Wedding and reception at Brantwyn Estate, a duPont Mansion, in the Brandywine Valley of Delaware. We are going to have fun over the next few months AND be busy!

Break a leg........

The Arts Alliance (SCAARTS), of which I am a member, produced a Mystery Dinner Theater event this weekend. We were sold out! This is a first for SCAARTS. People still love Elvis! Our success is much to the credit of our performers who have their own following. ** See our star in action http://www.johnmonforto.com/ **

As with anything, not to diminish the excellent performers, the show itself is almost anti-climatic for me. My work starts on the drawing board with the other board members. We think about concepts, dates, casts, menus, lighting, sound, advertising. Then there is the running around to pick up plates and napkins, favors, table clothes, lights, centerpieces. (One new member traveled with her husband to three states to get the foil covered chocolates that looked like playing cards - you go Maureen!) This is followed by a long evening of pulling out tables and chairs to set and decorate the room, to place centerpieces and favors. You get the picture.

So again, not to take away from the great performances, the generousity of the patrons, the great food, I am and will always be a behind the scenes worker and have no desire to be under the spotlight. Rather if I think it is coming my way, I will shrink into the woodwork. It is just not me to want to call attention to myself. I can not give enough praise to those who can take the stage and perform and entertain the rest of us. For myself, I will continue to stay behind the scenes doing whatever I can to help those who do perform put on a show with my fingers crossed that all goes well. I guess the point is that many people contribute to a success and one should never diminish their contribution.

All and all it was a great event for SCARTS and hopefully we are on our way to establishing a standard annual calendar of events and, with that, create a larger following.

First 2009 UFO

I managed to finish my Pineapple Stitches, a Jeannette Douglas Teaching Piece. I took the class in Celebration of NW in Nashua in May 08. Great piece, great class. But as I have found after taking many of these classes over the years, I am not a creative type, I am a re-creating type. People oh and ah at my work and I feel somewhat like a I am taking credit for someone else's work. I have a creative tendency but can't think of it on my own. I know what looks good but need to copy what someone else has done. I wonder does that make me a plagiarizer of crafts? I guess I should work on how I could nurture and increase my crafting abilities.


Not the best pix.


At any rate, I find the instructions make sense when I am at a class but when I return home to my comfy couch and cup of tea to stitch, it all seems out of order. I guess I have trouble thinking out of the box. I mean, I need the Step 1, Step 2, do this now, idiot proof instructions. It is like people say that there are different kinds of learners - the visual, the auditory, etc. I am discovering I am the not reader of instructions type of learner. Of course I am SO VERY smart I KNOW what I am doing - not! I blame this in the overload and immediacy to complete tasks that seems to be my life. I am in too much of a hurry to put needle to fabric. Hmmmmmm, sounds like I need to re-evaluate from priorities. I definiately need to slow down and enjoy the moment and read the fine print along the way. We all have learned this could save countless steps to undo and redo later on.

Not to worry, I will continue to stitch or card stamp or craft in whatever way. And when one considers, especially in my cross stitch, that I always need to compensate several places within the piece, that I guess it is my own design after all.

What's next? I guess it is to do a stash search and sort and play and decide what I will work on. I have several started and a sensible crafter would begin there and finish a thing or two. But if you have ever looked at the stash a crafter keeps, you are well aware we are far from sensible. I do have a wedding - *My Son's* - on the horizon. That alone should point me in the direction of my next project - a wedding sampler. Seems to me, I remember having one started. I started the Celebrations 2003 Show piece by Marilyn of Stoney Creek with the idea I would adapt it to a wedding sampler when one of my children married. So without digging and messing about with my stash, I have made the decision. That is not to say on this cold windy day in the northeast that I won't find time devoted to digging and sorting through my stash. Sounds like a perfect afternoon to me.