Winnifred Choker

Her life was very ordinary. She looked after her house and family, went calling on friends, and did her various handiwork projects. But Winnifred carried a secret. While many of her friends wore a cameo or other token at their throat, Winnifred wore a small bottle with a few drops of water. It was her reminder of a long-ago summer filled with enchantment and the warmth of a family who had taken her in. She carried the drops of enchanted water to remind her of the importance of life and its twists, turns, and eventual end.


One of my favorite books as a child was Natalie Babbit's "Tuck Everlasting." If you have never read it, I highly recommend you do. It was the inspiration for this charming lace choker. After working with the little bottles for other projects, this one popped into my head begging to be made. I had no idea that the trickiest part would be finding the ribbon! Picot-edged ribbon seems to be a dying commodity around here. Perhaps it's going to go the way of coronation braid. I hope not! Anyway, there was no picot-edged ribbon at Hobby Lobby so I had to go allllll the way to Michael's in Greensboro to find some. (Don't worry, I bought lots of colors and I'm pretty well stocked now!)

This project has been in my head for a while, but the nudge to finally make it came when I decided it would be perfect for the latest contest on craftness.com. The theme was children's stories, so this just seemed right. I can't believe I did it, but I got this done in about 3 days, including all the false starts where I made mistakes and had to start all over. I really can't believe I finished it on time given the fact that I spent Saturday night being sick to my stomach. But here it is! Isn't it pretty?! I must say I'm fairly proud of myself on this one, folks! ;) If you want more information about this piece, here's it's listing in my store:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16142397