Tatters with the flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la

Here's the current Tatter, on-line newsletter and website with a textile museum in Brooklyn. The newsletter is well worth signing up for, and you'll see their address in the pic.

They're looking at flower embroidery from different cultures right now.

The pocket above, that bag with strings, is the kind of pocket women had, that Lucy Locket lost. 

It ties round your waist under your top skirt, which usually had a slit to access the pocket. You could carry eggs, live chickens not unheard of, personal stuff, everything you might put in a tote, but beautiful and hands free.  And much better than the silly little "pockets" in modern manufactured clothes.

The modern fanny pack is a kind of new take on it.  I fancy making a pocket for myself, but wearing it visibly, not having overskirts and underskirts. 

I really recommend Tatter, lovely articles in each newsletter, and interesting insights into cloth, weaving, sewing, decorating. The history is there, too, if social history interests you.

Update on the bathroom situation: after a solid day's work, punctuated by (unrelated) consultations with numerous doctors about a relative's sudden serious health situation, Gary got the toilet installed, and had to shop again for a hose. 

And search his own house for a shut off handle, since the current one still leaked rapidly. He found one, it fitted. He came back later in the evening for a post operative checkup, still working.

So water, and order,  were restored as the water company says, about seven pm. Great relief all round. Gratitude too.

He's a wonderful neighbor, and we go back a long way to when I helped get proper home medical care for his mom, in her last days st his house, and later I helped nurse his girlfriend in her last few days, across the street at home.  No, I'm not a nurse, but I've picked up skills from various life situations I've been in, and I know what not to do, when a qualified person needs to step in, and how to get one.

He was constantly available in his turn, during Handsome Partner's last days, too, also in  a lot of other crises in both our lives. There's been a lot of thick and thin. Life and death.  It's not just baked goods! 

And now to round up all the tools he's left, and possibly his glasses, phone, wallet, all of which he mislaid at different times yesterday. 

Today I'm hoping to be bored.  There's been enough adventure around here lately. Maybe I'll make soup.

Happy Saturday, everyone!