Wait, that isn't knitting!

 My brother got married last June.  He and his wonderful wife already have an established household, so I was a bit stumped for a wedding gift for them.  My mother suggested a high quality tablecloth.  I did a lot of searching online, and couldn't really find anything that jumped out at me.  Then I wandered down the rabbit hole of Etsy, and started musing to my mother that a hand embroidered tablecloth might be nice, and I hadn't done embroidery in a very long time, and I enjoyed cross stitch type of stitching but not the kids of embroidery that my grandmother used to do, so I would have to really look at the stitches required, and where would I find a pattern for that. . . . Then my mother said words I never expected:  "Would this work?"  And she showed me a kit for an embroidered tablecloth.    

My mother hasn't done any embroidery since she was taught as a child, and has expressed no interest in doing so.  So why does my mom have a full kit?  As it turns out, it was in my aunt's craft supplies when she died.  Mom had kept the kit in her basement for over a decade, thinking maybe someday she would complete it.  It was perfect.  Correct size and shape.  Pretty colors.  Cross-stitch style.  Interesting pattern.  Perfect.

So for the first time in a long time, I have been working embroidery, and I have been loving it.  I am loving it so much I started thinking about doing another one for myself, in a different color.  Alas hunting down a decades old embroidery kit has sent me down another set of rabbit holes, with little success.  Then it occurred to me that I already have the pattern.  It is just a matter of putting it onto a tablecloth.  I have markers and paper that can be used to iron on a pattern to material.  I can just make my own kit, right?

And now I have been inspired to pull out my unfinished cross-stitch projects.  The last thing I need is more WIPs, but it is a nice alternative to knitting.  

Back to the tablecloth.  I had first thought to give it to my brother and his wife for Christmas.  Well, THAT didn't happen.  So my new goal is to have it finished by their first anniversary.  

Today, it is all about the craft from the past.