Thanks to everyone for the positive comments about the pillow. In the end they decided to let the best man hold onto the rings. I'm not sure if they were worried about the ring bearer relinquishing the rings or about the cord holding them securely. Since the pillow was waved about at every angle, including upside down, during its trip down the aisle, I can understand their concern.
My holiday's over and now it's back to reality and in Chicago that means snow and cold.
A friend gave me a couple of bookmarks from Scotland, featuring embroideries, as a holiday gift. One was a design by Phoebe Anna Traquair, an artist new to me. She was part of the Scottish arts & crafts movement. Some searching over the past few days turned up this lovely site http://www.nls.uk/traquair/manuscript.html featuring her illustrated edition of the Sonnets from the Portuguese. There's also a book about her that I hope to get from the library: Phoebe Anne Traquair 1852-1936, by Elizabeth Cumming (National Galleries of Scotland, 2005).
I received a couple of other lovely holiday gifts that I plan to feature in future entries--a lovely needlepoint kit and an incredible book from 1955.
I've decided for now to work on some unfinished projects for now. 
I certainly have plenty laying around. This is a large needlepoint sampler begun by my mom. It looks like it was a project with one of the embroidery guilds she belonged to. I don't know when she began it. It was very saggily tacked onto stretcher bars and came to me with a folder of instructions and a bag of wool and perle cotton. It's worked entirely in ecru Persian wool and DMC Perle 8 and 5 in ecru on 14 count white mono canvas.
I certainly have plenty laying around. This is a large needlepoint sampler begun by my mom. It looks like it was a project with one of the embroidery guilds she belonged to. I don't know when she began it. It was very saggily tacked onto stretcher bars and came to me with a folder of instructions and a bag of wool and perle cotton. It's worked entirely in ecru Persian wool and DMC Perle 8 and 5 in ecru on 14 count white mono canvas. I did a bit on it right after mom died, but most of what's here was done by my mother. I did the diamond band at the bottom and started the basket weave band below it over the weekend. There are three or four more bands to follow. Its very peaceful and mindless, which is nice right now.
