Waiting for Ruby

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.

Nature is Visually Cluttered

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)

You Must Have A lot of Free Time!

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.

Etsyshopopeningaphobia

Yes,I have a fear of opening my shop. I think that's why I am working so slowly. So in order to delay my shop opening again,I have started a massive project. A project that I have wanted to do for over ten years-a painted patchwork wall. Actually, originally I wanted to paint a patchwork ceiling,and friends would joke that when they'd come over I'd wave to them from scaffolding. I will tell people it is a dream of mine to paint a patchwork wall but I want to wait until we are in our "permanent" home to do it because it would be so much work. But as it is I am waiting for Ruby,so why wait for things that I can do today? I told Ron that this will be our permanent home after this project is finished! I have chosen mostly Orla Kiely and Liberty prints to duplicate,some designs will be my own (such as the green bird-outline print).

Circles Patchwork Painting

Well,here is the first patchwork painting that will be in the shop. When I saw the Purl loops I was inspired to paint a different style of patchwork painting,with the patchwork framed in hoops.

Perhaps it is a portion of someone's wall? Wallpaper behind their embroidery?

Everything is handpainted,except for the felt bird swinging on his "perch" and the bottom left corner snippet of Liberty birdsong fabric. The hoops aren't attached to the painting yet,they will be neatly attached after a print is made. The print won't make too much sense without the hoops,I know,but I have other ideas. I decided to have prints made because the original painting will be costly,as it takes a lot of time to redesign inspiration wallpaper and fabrics for the prints,and then the time they take to paint.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Birds of a Feather Stitched Together

Another "bird themed" patchwork project! This time a pillow to coordinate with my patchwork ottoman cover. I embroidered feathers in one corner,and a simple bird on the center patch. Bubba Chic made a patchwork pillow with embroidered birds,and I was inspired to make one for myself!

In Her Shoes

 

Dear Ruby Claire,

Shoes are such a personal article of clothing,sometimes symbolizing something extremely sad,sometimes symbolizing living happily ever after. The ruby slippers,as depicted in my blog banner,symbolized finding home. Tears come to my eyes as I look at the picture of our shoes,all in a row,because when this is a familiar sight in our house,you will have come home.

Love,

Mom

When I started this blog,I thought I would talk more about children's fashion,something I am interested in,but soon realized that it was not something I wanted to dwell on. Since this is a post about shoes,I must show these amazing Liberty baby shoes from Petites Maloles that even come in an adorable drawstring bag:

   

Easter Peek for All of my Peeps

Here is a little sneak peek at one of the paintings I am working on. I was inspired to do this painting when I saw these. Previously,my patchwork paintings were almost faithful copies of fabrics that I loved,because they were for personal use, or for family. Since I decided to sell some paintings,I wanted to come up with more original prints. I researched vintage fabrics and wallpaper to come up with some designs. All of the prints in this painting are separated by embroidery hoops in unique new ways (one of which is shown above!). Enjoy the weekend and Happy Easter!

Faith

This is a miraculous story that happened this past Autumn. I have been waiting for the perfect time to share it,and this week seems appropriate being St.Patrick's week(yes,week ;) since we are planning a trip to Ireland to see the special lady this story is about:

My mother's brother Nicky passed away in the 1970's at a young age. When he passed, he left behind a little daughter,Jackie. My mother and her family only saw his little girl as a baby because Nicky and his wife's marriage ended, and his wife left Southie and moved to her native country of England with the baby. No one knew where she was.

Growing up,my mother would mention her brother and his daughter often.

When I was a teenager,I searched on the internet for Jackie Nickerson,but never found any promising leads. When my mother's sister and her daughters were visiting from Boston, we talked about Nicky and his daughter. We talked about the unfortunate time that we just missed her when she came to Boston from Ireland in search of her roots(another long story)

Pretty much as soon as they left,I began searching the internet for Jackie Nickerson. I clicked on the first site that I saw, it was from an art  gallery,the description for this amazing fine art photographer read "Born in Boston,raised in England,currently living in Ireland". All these things we knew were true about our Jackie.

I e-mailed the gallery,asking for Jackie's e-mail address,posing as my mother because I knew that she knew my mother's name. Meanwhile,I called my mother and told her to come right over,to see what she thought. We found a self-portrait Jackie snapped of herself,and we thought we saw family resemblance. My mother went back to her house,thinking it would be a long time until we'd hear from the gallery. Pretty much as soon as she left,I saw that I had an e-mail from Jackie Nickerson herself! When I read her e-mail I nearly fell off of my chair! It read "I don't know much,but I know my grandparents names were...." . I sat there gobsmacked as I read my grandparents names. I called my mother crying and screaming- It's her,it's her!

Thank goodness she kept her maiden name! And as luck would have it,right when we found her,she was scheduled to be in the U.S. in the near future because her exhibit "Faith" was showing at a NYC gallery. Faith- how appropriate! We all met her and her husband for lunch, bringing a scrapbook that we had sewn a patchwork cover for,filled with copies of all of the older pictures we had of her father and family. Sadly,she had never even seen a picture of her father. It was so emotional for everyone but especially for her. After all, she never knew anyone on her father's side of the family,and then all of a sudden,she had an instant family!