OK girls, my Mum would be the 1st to tell you that the last thing she ever could imagine me doing was embroidery.
She's my step Mum, but don't think for one second we see each other in those terms. Give her a needle, sewing only though, and she was brilliant. Now I wasn't exactly the world's best student with a needle. There was more than 1 piece she unstitched for me to do again. Needless to say, this caused serious rows between her and Dad, he took my side. To stop the rows, I refused to take anything involving a needles up. Not so long ago, she asked me what I thought he'd say if he could now see me embroidering. My reply: he'd probably have the heart attack that killed him! Yes, both of us grinned.
Chatting one day, she said that the lady next door had brought a lovely cross stitch geisha she had stitched, however Mum's not a fan of cross stitched. That info was, err, unexpected, more so since I was in the middle of one for her Christmas present. However, it still has pride of place in her hallway and I have one proud Mum.
We all have talents hidden away. Then one day they just pop into existence. At least that's how it happened to me. If anyone lives in Plymouth, or local areas and fancies a coffee, it would be great having a stitch-in sometimes!
Mum will enjoy her present when you give it to her. Because it is from you, will mean so much more to her. Hope you enjoy it too Salad.
CLKD, you do have skills, they are having snoozing session at present. When you least expect it, they will appear, begging for paper, drawing, painting implements, you will be a master of woodwork or anything else that surprises you. Your Mum had more patience than me, I can smock but all the preparation got to me. These days you can buy a smocking pleating machine, but at over £100 it's out of my budget. Did some at a class I went to, we had to use something totally unexpected. My choice, horse's mane and tail hair, we were at an agricultural college and the stables were handy. It struck me as odd that no one had thought of that source before! I had a colourful mix of colours. The girls in the stables came up with a great bag and once they'd stopped laughing they were quite intrigued. No horses were hurt in the process, mane and tail pulling is quite normal when grooming. Not too often though or it might be thought that the mares were menopausal and had thinning hair
![cancan :cancan:](https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/Smileys/extended/cancan.gif)
BabyJane, I do hope you find a way to be able to pick up your needle again sometime soon. Your mouse sounds totally adorable.
Well, I have one hour until the alarm goes off, so I think I'll get a little reading in before facing the day. Have a good one everyone!