Special Guest Wednesday

This week, my guest is Diane (Feline Frisky.) Diane was asked to define Crafts.

CRAFTS: In the beginning, there was quilting, sewing, embroidery, crochet, weaving and knitting. These were not seen as pass times with free time then, they were skills. These things were taught in order to fill a need.. Once upon a time, girls were automatically taught these skills. Some of your Grandmother’s hand embroidered Tablecloths or Granny Square Quilt would pick up a hefty price on eBay. They are treasures.

As the homemaker became scarce, so did these crafts. These skills and many others, became hobbies when what they would create by hand in weeks, could be processed cheaper and faster by machine. Why spend all that time doing it yourself when you can buy one, just as nice, right now? These crafts faded into memory for the most part.

Thank goodness the older generations remained true to these crafts and kept them alive. A resurgence of the need for these skills eventually reappeared. Some saw the personal value of handmade crafts versus the manufactured, mass produced versions.

I remember my Great Aunt knitting me mittens and crocheting me stuffed animals. My maternal Grandmother knitted and crocheted afgans. My Paternal Grandmother was a seamstress. She sewed most of my clothes growing up. The corduroy dresses with the lace at the collar. She made my Barbie Dolls an huge wardrobe from her scraps. My Mom took up knitting for a while, then settled on embroidery as her passion. I have many beautiful tablecloths in my possession that my Mom crafted herself.

My maternal Grandfather was a wood worker in his free time.

I have dabbled in many, many crafts over the years. I have gotten frustrated and moved on, many times. I am currently deep into hand made greeting cards. I am not alone in this craft. There are at least 7 different recreational groups that participate in this hobby, in my area. One group, that I Chair, is over 70 members strong. We can’t get enough.

Why do I craft? I have time to spare. I am unable to work due to medical disability. I choose to be active through my hobby. Why card crafting? AH, it’s fulfilling for me. It’s simple to do with quick results. You can have a completed project in 15 minutes. No two cards are alike, ever. Most of the time I use rubber stamping as the tool I work with. Most times, these are grouped under paper crafts.

CRAFTS, n. Once a hand skill for making treasures, now kits that are manufactured for your leisure pleasure, a major contributor to our national deficit.

About Diane: Diane is a homemaker who maintains two environments lovingly. The first is a house in which she lives with her husband, Brian and three cats- Tucker, Blessing and Punkin. The second is her husband, in whom she maintains a home for a woman, a little boy and a dog. Diane, aka Feline Frisky fills both environments with things she's made lovingly by hand.

Diane is one of the most prolific bloggers around and shares with TLP and Mireille an affection for Maxine cartoons. The connection can be a little hard to make sometimes. The secret is out to those of us who have read her blog or her comments on other blogs, but Diane is sweet. Not that she's incapable of evil, but she seems it. Her site, Rats Are Yummy is a prodigiously updated invitation to share her thoughts, feelings, laughs, good days, bad days, slow days, holidays, arts and crafts. For those of us for whom creativity, artistic sense and fine motor control are lacking, her card-making is impressive. Some examples are here, here and here with a primer on rubber stamps, here. Her writing is breezy and impish, which either reflects her talent or how much time she spends with cats. I suspect both.