Pre-Think

What do you do if you can't think? Use a plan already in place. Works for emergency workers, for the military, for teachers... For a crafter, that means kits, whether these kits are store-bought (or catalog-bought) or put together yourself out of the vague hope that you'll get to it someday. Well, turns out Someday is today. Yup. Not thinking. Or, shall I say, not thinking of the craft. (Such an erudite term, don't you think? The Craft. Unless you're thinking of the movie.Not erudite. Not at all. But vaguely empowering. In a really bad girl kinda way.)

So if you think I've been swanning around, having all kinds of fun at the expense of my Craft...you're kinda right. This is what I mean by Pre-Think: I put this kit together (xeroxed the pattern from a book I gave away years ago, got the floss and fabric from a store back in the olden days*: Willie's Needlework in Orange County, I think. The pattern is called "A Bird of Love" and google gave me nada about it. Also, it calls for "filet stitch"--something I can only guess at, as it's really a crochet term. Eh, I guess I can think a little.

And this is totally a kit that's been sitting in my bin: Avignon Santa Christmas ornament. Nice, huh? Came with everything but the scissors. You might notice that the beads are sewn on in two directions. I didn't originally start that way. But the red beads are 11/0 size and a litle wide around the belly for the perforated paper. So side by side they crowd each other, but stacking them hole-to-hole, they line up like French schoolgirls. (Like I'm the only one who read Madeline a hundred times.)I swear I took a picture of the unruly crowding, but it was blurry and I didn't want to burden you with that.

*Yes, 1989 is too olden days.