Once upon a time, there lived a young lady named Nessie. She grew up in a house full of sisters, all with their own unique personalities and talents. Nessie's father was a haberdasher and her mother was one of the most talented Milliners known. One could easily predict that all of the girls were destined follow in their parents businesses.
While all the girls showed promise in their own way during their early years for the outfitting of society, Nessie was the most unlikely to follow that pursuit. You see, Nessie was a bit of a Tom-Boy… much to her parent's chagrin, she loved to wear tough skin jeans, an old shirt, braid her hair, climb trees, and generally spend her time roaming the woods around her house.
The one gentle art that she really enjoyed was bow making. Nessie's mom, Glendoria, could always count on Nessie to spend the evening making the most exquisite bows for the fancy hats in her shop. Nessie could spend hours in the drawers of Glendoria's shop, going through, sorting them, enjoying their rich texture and gorgeous colors.
One day, Nessie's older sister, Mirabella, was finishing up the tatted trim that was planned for Mrs. Jenko's mother-of-the-bride hat. Mirabella hated to make trim but she was the only daughter that Glendoria had been able to train in the art so far and Glendoria was too inundated with the rest of the bridal party's hats and accessories to tend to it herself. Plus there was still the matter of the other hat, Mrs. Jenkins rehearsal dinner hat with just as much trimmed ordered. Mirabella just couldn't bear the thought of yet more trim to make.
As Mirabella was finishing up the trim on the first hat, Nessie swept through the parlor smelling of fresh pine with an armload of ribbons. "What are you doing with Momma's fine silk ribbons?" inquired Mirabella. "Momma says that I can make a bow of my own to put on my sunday hat for making bows for all 13 of the bridesmaid's hats," replied Mirabella. The thought that Nessie was being rewarded with a treat for being finished just made Mirabella stew. Hmph! Perhaps Mirabella would poison Nessie's apple porridge in the morning for being so darn proud.
Well, Mirabella did love Nessie enough to evoke harm on her but that didn't mean she wasn't clever enough to play a little trick.
"Well those ribbons are nice enough but wouldn't you rather have one from the display in the window?"asked Mirabella.
"Of course! But Momma would never let me have one of those."
"Perhaps if you are very clever and trim out that Mother-of-the-Bride hat in that yellow ribbon with your best creation yet, then Momma will let you have one the ribbons in the window."
"What a great idea!" exclaimed Nessie.
So Nessie spent all night creating the most gorgeously crisp big, yellow bows one could imagine and presented the hat to Glendoria's surprise in the morning.
"Isn't that just amazing, Nessie! You will be so grand on Sunday morning in your hat with the new yellow bows" said Glendoria.
"But Momma, Nessie made this creation for Mrs. Jenko's mother-of-the-bride hat. Isn't that wonderful?" said Mirabella.
Well, the wise Glendoria instantly put 2 and 2 together and understood what was transpiring between her daughters. "Mirabella, that was a nice thing for Nessie to do for you but I'm sorry, Mrs. Jenko asked specifically for tatted trim and I think that we need some not just for the brim but also as a gift to edge a monogramed handkerchief for her as well."
So, Nessie removed the ribbon and put it on her black hat while Glendoria spent the next three nights tatting trim for the had and handkerchief.
Christa,Lilystitch
www.lilystitch.blogspot.com and www.lilystitch.com
by Jo Ippolito Christensen
", Nessarose Thropp. Nessie for short. Although Nessie has been named after that infamously bad witch, her story is very different. So come along on this journey to explore some great Needle Art techniques as well as to learn about her life (There is a story behind those bags under her eyes). 
