Heading to Sukkot

Yom Tov begins again tonight. we are having one guest and a simple meal. We hare having some of the lasagna adjacent dish I had made for Friday night---which ended up being delicious.

I also made some spring rolls

and a dipping sauce

There will also be a green salad and a cheese platter. We won't starve.

Today I worked on creating the lining for Yocheved's tallit bag. When I was part of the cleaning crew for Yo's apartment I took some hand embroidered textiles that were part of her collection.One of the things I have learned from Yocheved's collection of textiles was that old pieces were often combined to make new pieces. I followed the example of the anonymous women who made some of the treasures that Yocheved owned and turned two different bits of handwork into the lining.

The top geometric piece is counted work done over three layers of cotton. The bottom layer is checked so the embroiderer could establish the basic gridlines by following the design on the back piece of fabric. Once the skeleton of the design is set up it isn't hard to fill in the rest of the design.

The bottom red bit of embroidery is half of an embroidered bodice done in a mixture of counted cross stitch and couched embroidery.

The lining is now stitched to the pieced work that had been the outside of Yocheved's bag.

I probably hadn't seen this embroidered piece when I made the bag so long ago. I am just so pleased that when I made this bag I really got that Yocheved look so right. I am preparing the bias binding that will edge the bag. I am adding the binding because the edges of the bag have gotten worn and need to be covered up and reinforced. Most of the bias binding will be made out of a chunk of the pieced cotton that I had put together for the bag and couldn't beat to get rid of.

As I get ready to light candles I am thinking about my friend Racheley who buried her father in Israel last night and a dear family friend who is ailing. We call Sukkot, Z'man Simchateinu---the season of our joy. But for so many of is it is a bit more complicated.

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מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים

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