Waiting for Ruby

The O.C.

Amanda from TheRowdyPea tagged me for a meme. I mulled it over for a while,and decided to play along. I don't like to get too personal here,I mostly post about things I have made,and when I do get personal,it is usually reminiscing or about our adoption.

The rules are as follows:

Link the person who tagged you,mention the rules in your blog,tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours,tag a new set of 6 bloggers by linking them(consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play!)

1. Though my cell ringtone is Anyone-else-but-You (Page and Cera version) I secretly (well,used to be a secret!) wish that I had Timberlake and Samberg's Junk-in-the-Box as my ringtone

2. I rescue every bug(short of mosquitos)in a cup that enters our house and put them outside. I don't dust small spiderwebs because I don't mind coexisting with them

3. When dining out,I ask for drinks without ice or lemon slices (because of the potential bacteria)

3. I get mad when my husband annoys me on purpose by hanging his socks off of his toes. He even took a picture of this and used it as computer wallpaper once(okay,that made me laugh)

4. I come across as shy,kind and quiet,but I can have a dirty mind(hence quirk #1) and I can be loud and sarcastic

5. Sometimes I make random noises to weird my cats out

6. I have mild O.C.D's such as fixing rugs,curtains,etc. when they get even slightly crooked

I have a funny feeling that I will be banned from every meme hereafter!

Since this is a blog about weird quirks, and most of my quirks involve minor O.C.D's,I thought it appropriate to share pictures of organizational areas around our house.

Our basement recycling area was inspired by one I saw in Blueprint magazine,as was our coat/umbrella area at the top of the basement stairs. We also have a basket there to collect shoes,we don't wear shoes in the house(tracks too many germs inside). I put goofy pictures of my husband and I over the baskets for personalization(Ron stacked all the hats he owns on his head,I held an umbrella-ella-ella-ay). I am going to make 2 guest personalization-pictures,Ruby's hook will be very low so that she can independently hang up her things. All of the containers,coat hooks and baskets were purchased from IKEA. I sewed the basket liners.

We used to fill the plastics can very quickly,now we use so little plastic it takes forever to fill(which is great for the planet but also great for us since we have to take our plastics to a nearby center-Philly doesn't pick it up). A great way to use less plastic is to stop buying beverages in plastic bottles.We never ever buy bottles of water(we have an under the counter water filter and a SIGG bottle for when we're on the go) and we don't buy plastic containers of juice-we buy organic concentrated juice from the freezer section-much less packaging and totally recyclable.

Collages

Using sample wallpaper pieces that I ordered from Louise Body(a long time ago-so I am glad to finally use them!),Liberty's mim and another purple ditsy print,buttons,ric rac, and my favorite part-purple dyed doilies,I made collage-pictures for our bathroom. I reused frames from old pictures,and just repainted them black. I was inspired to dye doilies to use in several projects after I saw pillows on Soulemama, onto which she attached green doilies.I never come across colorful doilies,so I started dying vintage cream-colored ones-It can become addicting! I would love to dye doilies in several colors and sew them onto a skirt-wouldn't that be so sweet? Forgive my pictures,as usual-there is a lot of glaring,but I did my best!

 

Little Red

I love so many different kinds of music,but one of my all time favorite albums is Joni Mitchell's Blue. Last year while listening to the song Little Green with my mother I told her the story behind the song,and she said "Oh you should sing it to Ruby,but change it to little red." Well,it took me a while to sit down and write it,but I did:

Little Red

Born with the moon in (Ruby's astrological sign)

Choose her a name she will answer to

Call her red,like ladybeetles and the little wagon we'll pull

Call her red,just like the crimson jewel

Little red,sometimes you can break the rules

EAT CAKE BEFORE DINNER AND DON'T WIPE YOUR SHOES! (Deviating from the tune original tune,this line will be more boisterous!)

Little red,be a gypsy dancer (my favorite line because to me it means-be free and do what makes you happy)

Just a little red,like the flame always burning in our hearts for you

There are so many things to share,with you,our little love,Ruby Claire

Just a little red,like scarlet begonias and the harvest sunset

There'll be strawberry cream,and life will be just a dream

And we'll be there,to comfort our little Ruby Claire

When your balloon floats away,and it just isn't your day

Little red,sometimes it will come down again

I wanted to keep the lyrics simple,and I didn't want to put sorrowful lines in it. For the end,where Joni's song says "sometimes there'll be sorrow" I wanted to come down to a child's level of "sorrow". I thought about what made me feel sad when I was small-I remembered the sinking feeling in my stomach when my Dad told me to hold on tight to my balloon so it wouldn't fly away,but I couldn't or wouldn't, so it did.

My illustration is very greatly inspired by an illustration from one of my favorite children's books for the very young,Emily's Balloon by Komako Sakai.

More "little red" posts to come....

I am glad I didn't strike out...

   

Yay! The lovely Nathalie from Innamorata left a comment on my post about French blogs, and I was able to contact her through her blog and order some of that wondrous fabric! She replied to my e-mails but for some reason(they didn't go to my spam folder) I didn't receive them. I have had this pillow design in my head for oh so long, ever since I saw the fabric on French blogs,and I have been working little by little for days, anxious to complete them!

   

I hand-stitched felt onto the corners of circles of fabric ,mimicking the design on the fabric.For the purple center circles,I embroidered a rustic flower design onto deep eggplant-colored felt.

My husband didn't even groan when I told him about the pillows because he knew how much I wanted to make them(although that doesn't mean he won't throw them onto the chair with the others when a game is on and he wants to lay on the couch!). When they were finished he said the hand-stitched circles reminded him of baseballs. I guess in that case these are pillows we both can enjoy!

Oilily Kimono Cushions

I have brass ones sometimes, I cut into fabrics that I have no business cutting into! Liberties,for sure, and this time-Oilily's Kimono. But I think the most beautiful fabrics can be the most forgiving when you have no idea what you are doing, because they are so pretty,the projects look nice just for that reason.

I was so looking forward to sewing my first article of clothing,but I can't find the fabric that I want anywhere. It has to be gray seersucker or something similar,I have my heart set on it!

Our dining chairs appealed to me because I think they look like hobbit chairs. I don't know why,probably because they are small. Well,the hobbit chairs got new cushions,and they are not what I think a hobbit would go for at all! I think a hobbit would prefer something a bit more traditional and neutral.

But there are no hobbits living here! Just a couple of crazy kids.

I used linen for the bottom. For the ties I used 2 different colors for a streamer-like look using raspberry and pale blue ribbons.

I took some advice from a favorite blog and ignored the housework today. I just pretended that those cat-hair tumbleweeds weren't there and sewed happily. Okay,not happily(I have a cold and didn't have my usual patience)but I did manage to complete them(I need to make 2 more when I receive more of this fabric in the mail),and when I was done,then I was happy!

Geeta Has Done it Again!

Another splendid design listed on ebay by my uber-talented friend,Geeta! Geeta was inspired by her and her daughter's love of The Sound Of Music for this design. Growing up,my whole family(minus my Dad) would watch The Sound Of Music at Easter time(this was before VCR's and DVD players-or before we had one anyway,and that's when it aired on television each year!).I love the sweet colors of pale lavender and blue.

Ruby's First Shoes

No! You do not have double-vision! Unlike my blog banner with handstitched "shoes",this is a picture of actual baby shoes! And a really great find: New "old stock" baby maryjanes from the 1950's,how perfect for our little Ruby Claire!They are so tiny they could quite possibly be her first "real" shoes.....

J'aime les blogs Francais!

I have been inspired by French blogs a lot more than English blogs lately. I can only read portions of the writing accompanying the pictures,but the pictures are eye-candy and inspiration enough. I took French up until college level but that was years ago,and you know how it goes "if you don't use it..." I haven't added my new favorite French blogs to my sidebar because there are just too many that I have added to my favorites list, and I can't choose just a few!

I especially love all of the Liberty fabrics they tend to incorporate into their projects. I have found many great prints for my patchwork wall.

Such as this painted "patch" on my wall,found here, it is a fabric by Kenzo that I wasn't able to find a clearer picture of,I left the scale-textured print out of my painting,though,because I think it looks busy enough as it is,I wanted the birds to stand out. I love the birds so much,they look like a cross between penguins and bluebirds!

My hand-painted "patch"of Kenzo Bird Fabric ::

The French blogs also love to use purple and grays,a beautiful combination! We have beautiful old, but in perfect condition, gray tile in our upstairs bathroom. I used touches of eggplant in there and I love it. I planned on painting Liberty's Mirabelle in the pink color-way,and I might use that color for another patch,but I fell in love with the violet color-way that I saw on a French blog. I didn't even know that Mirabelle came in that color-way!

Here is my hand-painted "patch" of Liberty Mirabelle ::

I am obsessed with a fabric that I saw here,that I really wanted to buy to make pillows for our living room,but after many attempts to communicate with the site owner,I have been unable to order it. I guess I will have to settle for it being a patch on my wall! I am SO disappointed,and if anyone knows if there is another place that it can be purchased,please let me know,I can't stop thinking about this fabric!

I have been so busy with many things,including starting a new part-time job,that the only crafting that I have been doing is painting my wall-but that is enough! I am anxious to sew my shirt pattern ,that I purchased months ago, in gray with Liberty trim! I think I will take a break from my wall to sew it soon.

Happy Birthday Mom,You Good Sport You

With all of this talk about creative families I just have to say-boy were we creative growing up. And it all started with my very creative mom.

We didn't have much money,thank goodness,because that lead to most of our fun!

Today is mom's 65th birthday and I just want to tell her how much my creative childhood meant to me.Mom came up with way too many projects to name! One of our favorite ideas was magazine houses.

All we did was cut rooms from magazines and catalogs and glue them to a newspaper to make a house.Then we cut out people and made slits to put the people into beds,and behind tables so it would look like they were sitting there. She created monsters-we were hollered at frequently for cutting up catalogs that she didn't even peruse yet! I was obsessed with making dollhouses-paper,popsicle sticks,mud,she probably started it with this project-but that's a whole other post.

She built us a shanty-fort with whatever scraps she could find,and she didn't care that she junked up her backyard because we were having fun!

(My sister,left,on the right,me)

She traced us onto brown paper and cut them out,then let us pick out the "outfits".It was such a cool idea I won't hold it against her that she thought that I looked like Dudley Moore and that she seemed to have run out of paper when she got to my left hand!

But as creative as she was,and of course still is,one of my favorite things about her is her sense of humor and her good-sporty attitude. She can laugh about almost anything-when she gets together with her sister they laugh about how dreadful their childhood was-they don't even remember if they owned toothbrushes.It is a great feeling to be comfortable enough to joke around with her,like you would with friends. That is the way it should be. Life is too short to be uptight,everyone should let loose and have fun!

And she is up for fun! When we were little,one of our favorite things to do was to slide down the staircase on a mattress-she would join us! Even though she is intimidated by pools and water-parks(she almost drown when she was younger),one time I convinced her to slide down a water-slide. I can't tell you how happy I am that my dad snapped a picture!

Happy Birthday Mom! Thank you for what I think is the greatest gift-A Happy Childhood.

Nostalgic Bike Ride

Dear Ruby Claire,

Spring is here and it is time once again for Dad and I to get back onto our bikes. The park here is so beautiful and vast,there is even a covered bridge to ride through.

I loved riding my bike around our cul-de-sac  when I was small. Especially if a neighbor had their sprinklers on-that was the best! I loved timing my ride so that the sprinkler would spray me as I rode by!

And speaking of "water fun":As comedian Bob Marley puts it "Nothing says success like the above ground pool". Well,when we got ours,and your Grandpa wasn't too tired to clean it,we certainly thought so!

Of course,our favorite water activity was our slip-n-slide! We wore that thing out terribly! Nana has the best sloped yard for a slip-n-slide-I can't wait for an excuse to buy one and use one in her yard!

More things to look forward to......

Love,

Mom

What is missing from this picture!? A bike basket! I am waiting to find a small chip basket! When I find one,I will paint it white and add little felt flowers to it,vintage style. That is how it will be in the shop.Originally,I thought I would sew the "spokes" like patchwork,but I will save that for another since this one is so busy as it is!

I resisted the urge to add one of these. If you grew up in the 1980's I am sure you had one that either had your name or said Super Kid USA!

This is the first patchwork painting that I sat down and painted without inspiration from other fabrics and wallpapers. I thought about things from childhood,and what would be in people's front and backyards and went from there.