two straight lines

I lost my Mom to breast cancer at age 48 in 1998.  She was fiercely independent, and did her best to raise me to be the same.  I have an older brother, but my Mom truly believed that girls should be raised differently than boys, as they encounter a unique set of challenges in life.  She was pretty unconventional, and she always taught me to think outside of the box.  There were times as a young girl that this was challenging, but in the end I am so grateful for this gift that she gave me.  A fresh perspective.

When I was in high school she had one of her favorite poems, Be Nobody's Darling by Alice Walker, written in calligraphy for me and hung it on my bedroom wall.  Right at eye level next to my bed.  Since then, it has been an inspiration for me-- it is about finding your voice, and not being afraid to use it; not fearing what others think about you.

Here is the poem in its entirety:

Be Nobody's Darling by Alice Walker

Be nobody's darling;

Be an outcast.

Take the contradictions

Of your life

And wrap around

You like a shawl,

To parry stones

To keep you warm.

Watch the people succumb

To madness

With ample cheer;

Let them look askance at you

And you askance reply.

Be an outcast;

Be pleased to walk alone

(Uncool)

or line the crowded

river beds

with other impetuous

Fools.

Make a merry gathering

On the bank

Where thousands perished

For brave hurt words

They said.

Be nobody's darling;

Be an outcast

Qualified to live

Among your dead...... 

Of course I had no idea at the time what the future held, and that my Mom's life would end at such a young age.  She died with grace, showing strength as we all crumbled, yet again an example to us all.

My project for this week's Whiplash competition is a pillow with a picture of my Mom as a young Scout (a Brownie to be exact) with the words "Be Nobody's Darling" emblazoned across her head.

This is to serve as a reminder to me to not have fear, as she did not, in life and in death.  I used some fabulous vintage girl scout fabric for the pillow (which I was afraid to cut!).

I am very happy with this little pillow.  I love the way the sweet image of my Mom as a little girl, with her whole life ahead of her is juxtaposed against the somewhat harsh words.  I put her on a chair in my bedroom, where she can remind me each day to live life to its fullest.

Since I'm on an itty-bitty break, I thought I'd re-post a few of my Easter projects from last year.  Enjoy.

 

I posted pre-Easter about Bunny Parts, but never updated with the completed Bunny Bean Bags that I made for Elliot's basket.  They were inspired by this bunny fabric that I got from Kitty-Craft, although the fabric did not end up making an appearance in the final bunnies.  I had technical difficulties and ended up topstitching the cream wool felt bunny tops to felt bottoms in colors coordinating with their ears and eyes.  As Elliot is fond of saying now..."there... much better..."

 

What's that green blob in the background you say?  That is our "cabbage"-  a.k.a.- a plastic ice bucket from JoAnn's mod podged with green tissue paper.  I originally was looking for an enamel bucket that I was going to embellish, but no luck finding it around here.  This will do for now, and we may make a paper mache cabbage sometime soon.

Elliot seems quite pleased with his little bunnies, we even had a 3AM game of Bunny Toss last Saturday night when he decided he was "all done" with sleeping.  I got several bewildered stares when I told people I was making Elliot bunny beanbags for his Easter basket.  I guess a loud blinky toy would have been more useful.  Seems for this toddler, the simpler the toy, the better.

 

Whenever I read through magazines I am in awe of antique fair finds, yet I always seem to come up empty handed when I go. There is a monthly fair near my in-laws cottage in Centerville, Michigan, and I used to go often, and sometimes would drag home the occasional piece of McCoy pottery. I always wondered-- how do these people find such treasures? Well, this weekend I attended the Ann Arbor Antique fair for the first time since we moved to the area, and now I know what a really great antique fair is all about. Yes, it is expensive, but the dealers there are top quality, and have well-edited collections. Many booths are somewhat thematic, and are clearly gearing their wares towards someone who wants really special pieces, but may not have the time to scour the earth for those items at bargain prices. I believe that you are truly getting what you pay for-- the item, as well as the service of the person who found it for you.

We went on Saturday, which was a gorgeous spring morning, sunny but a little chilly. Scott was kind enough to brave the crowds with Elliot and the stroller, while I darted in and out of the booths. I was particularly taken with a few booths in the first tent that had buttons, beads, baubles, ribbons, pin cushions, you name it. Eye candy for the craftsperson. I didn't even buy anything there because there was simply too much to take in.

I came away with a few small treasures...items that spoke to me...a small house with a punched window on each side and a little front door (what were you for little house?). I love the way the maker drew all of the shingles in pencil. It is probably around 10 x 8 x 8, but it has a lot of presence. I also found a vintage eye chart, some cute colored spools (LOVE stripes and polka dots) that I think I'll frame or hang together, and a card of bakelite buttons.

Next time I may try it out sans husband and child, and with a hat and sunglasses.

Here is a detail shot of the roof.

   

I decided to enter this week's Whiplash competition at Whipup after seeing Weeks Ringle's post about "aichaku" and making your own quilted placemats. I have also been itching to do some patchwork, and thought this was a project I could manage under the time constraints. The theme was "show your surly side", so I came up with some "rules of the table" such as-- "eat your peas," "sit up straight," "say please and thank you," and "no elbows on the table." The "rules" are pretty much a joke, because, well, we have a two year old, and pretty much anything goes at our table. Back when Elliot was in his throwing food stage (funny how these stages come and go and you don't really even notice that they're gone) once I even tried throwing food back at him to see how he would react. He seemed a little startled, and we had a good laugh over it.

 

I transferred words onto fabric with Bubble Jet Set, printed them out and pieced them into my design. This mat is actually for the center of the table to keep things such as the creamer, sugar, and napkin holder to add a little character and color. I'd like to make a complete set of placemats to go with it as time allows. This was a fun, fast project. I used Weeks' "pillowcase binding" technique which I LOVED because I sometimes hate binding quilts. I was a little disappointed not to see the cute spotty fabric that I'd chosen to bind it with (didn't think about that!), but the ease of the technique FAR outweighed not seeing the spotty fabric.

I'm really happy with the results, and look forward to seeing all of the entries to the competition, but most importantly, to using my surly new mat.

 

To see all the photos, look here...

 

As if this new book wasn't enough to convince us, the last two issues of Country Home magazine have been loaded with patchwork inspiration.  They've used fabric, paper, and even wallpaper--  I particularly love the Ikea pendant covered with a patched sleeve of paper.  Those colors don't really excite me, but it opens a lot of possibilities.  This pillow is nice, could be a great project for the last week of use what you have.  Or maybe some patchwork placemats as seen in Weeks' post on Whipup today.

How do you like that patchwork of wallpaper samples on environmental activist's Danny Seo's wall?  (And who knew he was only 28 years old, oy.)

This curtain would be sweet in a bathroom, and this bag by Clever Carriage Company is nice, but personally I'd opt for one from here.

Since I'm on an itty-bitty break, I thought I'd re-post a few of my Easter projects from last year.  Enjoy. 

It's beginning to look a little more like Easter around here.  Elliot and I did this super easy-- and toddler friendly-- craft that involved cutting pretty strips of tissue paper and sandwiching it between contact paper, then cutting them into egg shapes, hole-punching them and threading them onto a ribbon for an instant easter garland.  We hung it in the transom window above our front door.

 

And there are bunny parts all around as I make Elliot bunny bean bags for a bunny toss game I am going to put in his basket.  More on that later...

I went to the fabric store the other night to blow some of my birthday loot, hoping to find some nice summery graphic prints for some patchwork projects.  Well, I came out with these brown and aquas, not at all what I was looking for, but for some reason they spoke to me.  Some of them are more traditional than I usually go, but I've really enjoyed some of the traditional/ non-traditional pairings I've seen on the internet lately.  A few of them fall into the "what were you thinking category", but how much can you regret a $2 fat quarter?  I'm thinking of maybe mixing some of them with brown corduroy for the fall.  Maybe I'm a season ahead, like all of the fashion designers, lol.  Oh, and  I found the summery graphic prints online at Reproduction Fabrics.

 

I've been feeling a little sorry for my pets lately, since they pretty much lost their place as the center of the universe 2 years ago when Elliot was born.  Up until then they had vacationed in Maine, been pampered in Manhattan, and now they're lucky if they get some kibble and a pat on the head.  So, in that spirit, I decided to give them a little crafty TLC.  I started with a bed for my cat Clio (yes, he has a girl's name, but that was his name when we adopted him and when our vet said he was a boy, we did not have the heart to change it, so we just changed the spelling). 

I used some fabric I've been toting around since the year Clio came into our lives with some others from my stash, and an old down pillow I was about to donate.  I opened up the pillow to remove some of the bulk so that it would be a little slouchy.  Wow, down is messy, so don't do this in your kitchen unless you want to vacuum your counters.  I covered the pillow with some nice black and white ticking, then made a little "apron"  out of a kitty print and some red bias tape. 

This project is part of "use what you have" month over at simple sparrow.  Clio seems to approve...

See all of the photos over here...