Sticking My Neck Out

        Last week I treated you to my latest disaster, getting completely buried by posters that leapt from their rack in a craft store. This week I’m going to show you why I wanted one in the first place.

          I decided I needed a background so I could display my Primary Bandlo. My WHAT?  Yes, folks, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, little kids used to earn awards and rhinestones that could be attached to a felt “Bandlo” (sometimes spelled Bandelo) we’d wear around our necks. Kind of like Scouting badges.  And we did this in the children’s program, called Primary.

          I recently found mine (it hadn’t fossilized—yay!) and decided to put it in a shadow box. What memories it holds--  We got awards for reading and memorizing scriptures, keeping our health guidelines, praying, serving gladly, being a light in our home, singing, attendance, cross-stitching, knitting, and crocheting (just like in Pioneer times). 

          I remember knitting a pair of slippers, the loops of yarn so snug on my needles that they squeaked when I tried to slide them. My stitches were pulled so tightly that the slippers felt like, well, felt. I was definitely not going to become a knitter.  

          My cross-stitch pillow still has the gray, smudgy spot where I tried to erase my pencil marks. 

          And my crocheted rug and hanger covers never quite laid flat. But boy, I knocked out whatever it took to get those rhinestones, Baby!

Do you have an old treasure you’ve kept? Write and tell me about it. Meanwhile, be sure to subscribe!