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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.
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.....
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.
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.
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.
I have been working on my wall whenever I get a chance,and my arm and hand are going a bit numb from painting the repetitive designs! The "patches" so far are Oilily's Kimono,two of Orla Kiely's,Liberty Kinnear and Fairy Flowers,and two Liberty prints that I am unsure of the names of.
I was thinking,it is funny that I like such busyness on the walls,because I don't like a lot of clutter,but then it occurred to me-I love to be out in nature,and nature can be very visually cluttered and overstimulating! All of the clashing colors of birds and flowers,the graphic shape of trees and their branches,the blazing yellow sun in the indigo-blue sky.... (you can see I have spring and summer on my mind)
As a crafter,you hear this phrase or variations of it, a lot. When someone sees one of your paintings,a lovely quilt you stitched by hand,or a handmade doll.
The truth is,everyone chooses how they spend their "free" time. There are so many activities one can take up; learning an instrument,reading,sewing,painting,dancing,playing chess. But most Americans spend their "free" time watching the teli .The average American working full time with a family still manages to watch 4 hours of television per day. That's 28 hours a week,a little more than 1 full day of teli-watching!
Right now,much to my dismay,I do have a lot of free time. But I take care of everything at our house and instead of watching TV when it comes time to relax,I craft. It is amazing how much "free" time the average American would have if they didn't watch TV,or rather,SO MUCH TV. The difference is TV watchers do not have anything to show for all of their time,where as crafters (and other hobbyists) do.
I know it is a gift to have so much time to prepare for parenthood and I am using my time wisely. But,oh, I can't wait for the day that my time is not only my own. To have the day's plans be wonderfully interrupted with extra messes,extra kisses,extra laundry,extra dishes. To have to take the time to wipe jelly off of my jeans that was left there when a little hand touched my leg. To have to stop and tie the laces on little sneakers for the tenth time in an hour while playing outside. For a walk down the street to take triple the amount of time it used to take because many questions have been asked along the way. Those will be the days.
