Linda's Crafts

Beaded Jewelry

Pine Needle Baskets

Wal*Mart Bags

Tatted Lace

Other Crafts

Linda has always been a crafty person and I thought I would tell about her latest craft. We have always said every part-timer or full-timer should take their hobbies with them on the road. We have met RVers who do wood carving, fly model airplanes, make games, fish, play musical instruments, do weaving, quilting and many other things. Since we have been fulltiming Linda has had an assortment of hobbies and they are all things she does with her hands. She has a sewing machine, a serger and recently bought a sewing computer that not only sews, it embroideries and quilts. She is taking classes to learn how to use it. She has sewn many things including making three dresses for her daughter's wedding. One year she knitted woolen socks for everyone in our families - over thirty pairs. She has tatted lace, a craft she learned from my mother. She has turned ordinary shirts into masterpieces and has crafted several decorative items for our motorhome. In the RV circle she is know as The Bag Lady of Wal*Mart having made rugs, hats, handbags, wine bottle carriers and other items from common Wal*Mart plastic bags. Many of our friends save their bags for Linda and she has even been know to dive in trash cans to retrieve plastic bags. Linda has the knack of looking at a craft someone else has done, studying it a few minutes and then doing the same craft herself and improving on it. Often in campgrounds or at service facilities Linda teaches others the crafts she has mastered. She had made many pine needle baskets and it is a very inexpensive hobby. She collects pine needles on the ground and with some raffia and a threaded needle she turns the free pine needles into beautiful baskets. (Raffia is a fiber from the raffia palm and is used to tie the pine needles together.) Brother-in-law Don Martin cuts the walnut shells she uses in some of the baskets and even Don has started making pine needle baskets. Linda started making beaded jewelry and last year at Escapees Rainbow Plantation she taught Beaded Jewelry Classes most of the winter. She gives most of her craft products away, because it is just a hobby and not a money-making venture. She always has something in her hands and making crafts is the way she relaxes. Please do not ask Linda for instructions on any of her crafts because it is impossible to teach crafts through emails. But if you find us in a campground and are interested in crafts, come on over and Linda will be happy to talk about crafts. (There is some instructional information on the Wal*Mart Bag page.) Click on any of the above pictures to see her crafts.