Stitch for the Cure

Shame on me! Let me start by thanking all of you who wrote to ask if all was fine. I have been away from the blog for two weeks due to life, i.e. Nina is back to school, (which also means ice skating, ballet, Sunday school, Cambodian dancing, homework), I've taken on some new projects, started some new designs, and have committed to quite a bit of Home&School (aka PTA) activities. It's all good, it has just taken on a life of it's own and I'm no longer the owner.

A wonderful as well as meaningful event is coming up and I'd like to recommend you take a peek at it.
It's a Stitch for the Cure event which is held annually by the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of ANG, The American Needlepoint Guild. It is held at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg Virginia. Every year the Shenandoah guild asks a designer to contribute a new design in honor of the event . The design is taught at a stitch-in with all proceeds going to the The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and/or the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. This year, yes, you guessed it, I have designed a piece which is a tribute to my father who succumbed to cancer in December. Click on the link on the right hand column (labeled Stitch for the Cure) to read the details about event. Please consider coming. It's a great cause we can support while doing what we love most.

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The Jewish High Holy Days are upon us.

Last year's Rosh Hashanah celebration at our home

While this is a time when families get together, Reid and I have very small families and most of the members are somewhere far across the ocean. We have learned over the years how to make our friends become our family. As much as it is hard to be away from my sisters, mother, cousins, celebrating with other families who are in the same boat as we are , is comforting. We bond in a very special way and our kids learn to consider the children of our friends a part of our unique friend/family unit. So this year we will have a wonderful gathering at our home. Friends will be over with their grown children, their young ones, some with their parents who can no longer accommodate their families in their homes, all of us will come together to celebrate a new year together.

Close-up of our tables

The Jewish New Year is all about new beginnings. The culmination is ten days later, on Yom Kippur. This day is considered the day of Atonement, of asking forgiveness from those we wronged. The beauty of Judaism is that it is not only asking forgiveness. That is not enough because you could ask forgiveness and then turn around and repeat the same wrong behaviour in the new year, ask forgiveness and there you are, in a cycle that isn't too healthy. I believe that Yom Kippur is not only about asking forgiveness, it's about making a decision to try and improve, to work on being better. I'm no Rabbi, or spiritual leader! I'm really just guessing here. I think I like this interpretation and in fact I'm going to adopt it. Really. I'll try, I hope...


Oh, and if you look on the left column you will find a sample of coasters I made for our table last year.