Public tatting is now in view!

My tatting is on view at my church!

Here is my tatted cross on the pulpit during church service

Our church is diverse, which I like

I'm pleased - I think it looks good. People told me how much they like it.

FYI - that's not a minister in the pulpit - it's a student reading scripture. 

Also of note - the great banners on either side of the dais are our Creation banners, night and day.

And the stained glass in the back shows Jesus not as a White person. We have Black Jesus. Because Jesus wasn't White.

Also there are Black disciples - and women too!

 Enjoy - keep tatting!

Some public tatting

I spoke to a friend at my church and found that they were looking at replacing some of the pulpit scarves there.

(For those curious, these are the cloths that are hanging from the front of the pulpit. They are part of  church decorations known as paraments.)

Our green pulpit scarf and grown a bit tatty. This is the pulpit scarf used in most of the year, in the time after Pentecost and before Advent, so about June through November.

I was asked if I could tat a nice cross for this pulpit scarf, and of course I said yes.

I used Lizbeth size 10 white and a very simple pattern of mine.

Here is is with a penny for scale

Plain and simple. Easy breezy.

I gave the cross to my church friend and it was sewed onto the new pulpit cloth. She got some good upholstery material for the cloth.

Looks handsome

I'm pleased! 

It won't be seen publicly until the first Sunday in June, but I think this will work nicely.

I've offered to help with other tatting for church, possible doing tatting for clergy vestments. 

Oh - if anyone wants this super simple pattern, I can post it!

A trip to remember

This weekend I went on a little outing that I'd been planning for some time.

Vader helped me pack.

I went with my good friend Mrs S - she's a lot of fun, but we don't get to see each other very often.

In preparation, we both got pedicures. Don't we have cute toes?

the view from the inn's porch

On Saturday, we drove down from Hotlanta into the southern part of our state. We stayed in a lovely little inn in this tiny town, an inn with historically themed rooms.

Ours was the 1940's room - very cool.

It was totally decorated in the 1940's style. Check out the bathroom - the tub has tall feet (which proved sorta treacherous at bath time, but we survived).

The bedroom was lovely. This was the only room with 2 beds at the Inn, and it's the reason I picked this room. (I'm very fond of Mrs. S, but I'm not up to snuggling with her at night.) I loved the decorations! Everything in the room was from the 40's, or appeared to be - with the exception of the AC and the television.

Reading materials were provided for us, a book on each bed. They were part of a 40's edition of the Waverly Novels, written by Sir Walter Scott. The one is Black Dwarf.

The inn was really lovely. There was a nifty kitchen area...

And cool stuff in the hall.

Mrs. S and I went window shopping on the street. Then we headed off to bed. We had to meet someone important the next day!

Bright and early we got up and made our way into church, where we got some etiquette lessons from Miss Jan. Miss Jan is really sweet, but you best not cross her. She will make you pay!

And then it was time to see what - or rather who - Mrs. S and I had come to see.

It was former President Jimmy Carter! (No telephoto lens used here - I was close enough to touch him!) Jimmy still teaches Sunday School in his church the tiny town of Plains, GA, and yes, you can go to his Sunday School class! This is his regular gig, and he's been teaching adult Sunday School classes since he was 18. He continued to teach while he was President. No other sitting President has done such a thing.

 Jimmy was wonderful.

He works as sort of a handyman at the church. The past week he mended one of the church pews. He made the plates used for the offering. (They're signed on the back.) His wife Rosalyn lined the bowls with felt.

Jimmy taught on prayer, and gave a terrific lesson. (I was moved to tears.) He's still very, very sharp. He taught for forty-five minutes, speaking without notes, remarkable for someone who's 87. He knows his scripture - and he walks the walk.

I love Jimmy. I always have. As I said, he walks the walk.

I wore my special Jimmy pin. And yes - I was there at the World Congress Center in Atlanta on election night in 1976. I stood up all night on those hard concrete floors, and was at the barricade when Jimmy came by shaking hands on the way to the podium to deliver his victory speech.

Mrs S and I stayed for church, along with the little congregation and their visitors. This week's group included a large group of diplomats, folks from consulates in Hotlanta. And people from all over the country.

After church, we got to have our pictures take, quick quick quick, with Jimmy and Rosalyn. And as former President and Noble Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter slipped his arm around my waist for the picture, he whispered to me:

"I like your pin. I noticed it all through Sunday School."

Thank you, I replied, I got it honestly.

And then it was over.

Mrs. S got her picture, and we went home, having had a day we'll tell our grandchildren about.

If you want a remarkable experience, go see Jimmy Carter teach his Sunday School class. He's a fine man, a remarkable Christian, and he won't be with us much longer. Go. Go soon. Miss Jan can tell you how.

And you can read another description of the Jimmy experience here.

Mrs. S is a bit nutty!

Some sad, some not so

The other day coming to work, some poor soul jumped onto the train tracks at the main station.  I was a ways down the tracks in the station.  I heard a woman scream and everyone craned their heads to see what was going on.  I could see a person in a dark jacket crouched on the tracks, likely not in his right mind.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.  The local transit police are well trained and handled it properly, stopping the train at the prior station until they could get the person back up on the platform and into custody.  It was a sad situation, but it could have been so much worse.

I'm a bit sad today because my Stephen Ministry Care Receiver (the person I see/help) died last night.  She was 90 and in hospice care.  She suffered from dementia a long time and was ready to go.  I couldn't do much for her, other than pray with her and be a cheery presence and some reliable company.  She was a lovely person.  Her son took wonderful care of her for many years, and this is really hard on him.  Her memorial service is Thursday.  I'm ok about this, just sad for her family.

Curly had two chorus concerts this week, one on Monday at the courthouse and a bigger one tonight at the high school.  The courthouse one was televised.  Both were pretty good, mostly Christmas music.  He's had such a good time with chorus.

Today I was tatting in the train station and someone asked me about it, a frequent occurrence.  Do you have a card, she said.  No, I don't sell this, I just give it away.  Can you give that away? referring to the necklace I was tatting.  I replied, 'You're mighty hopeful!'  I told her this was for my mother and we both laughed.  But I think she would have gladly taken it....

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