Friday, September 2, 2011

All Booked Up

More than fifteen years ago I was invited to a personal shower for my friend JoLee. She got married back East, but had a shower out here too. We couldn't make the fabulous wedding since we had a trip to Europe planned that year. Finances must have been tight, because for the shower I made a personalized cover for the Daily Text and that was my gift for her personal shower.

I never have been a fan of the personal shower. They are much too...personal. Practical gifts - that is what I like to give. I go through phases of bridal shower gift giving. There was the cookbook phase, the brownie making kit phase and right now I am in the fluffy white bath towels from Tuesday Morning stage. I remember being a little embarrassed to arrive with my text cover gift. I had no idea that they loved it and used it for years. Recently my sister visited them and let me know it had finally fallen apart and they would love a new one.

The first problem was that the size of the Daily Text has shrunk since my original, so fitting in the names is harder. The second problem was I had the great idea to use a plastic grid that was much smaller. I thought it would be cuter. After three trips to Michael's and one trip to JoAnn's Fabrics, I finally got some yarn that was thin enough to work. The third problem was my personality. I am a perfectionist who likes to break the rules. It is a terrible combination. Without making a little prototype, I just dove right in and started filling in the grid. Tear out, tear out, tear out - my hair and the yarn. This took me way longer than the ones in the past. I could have made them a huge quilt instead. Thankfully, they have nice simple names. If they were Alexander and Wilhelmina? No go.

Last night as I was finally putting the whole thing together (with more frustration and tearing out) I was thinking about the first person to come up with the idea of a book instead of scrolls. If I had been there helping? Book Schmook - what is so bad about a scroll? They are quiet. No one ever poked an eye out making a scroll. They were good enough for Ezekiel to eat. So if it had been up to me? You would go online and scroll your next vacation, use Quick Scrolls to manage your budget and spend way too much time on Facescroll.