Quilts - Appliqué

My friend, Sharon is an amazing artist. Her medium? Fabric! She makes the greatest quilts out of the tiniest of fabric pieces. Her mind is an endless resource for creative quilt art.

This quilt is named "Jungle Jim" and is full of bright colors, designs and stitching. Sharon also has a softer side as depicted in the below quilt that is yet to be titled. What would you name it? What I love about this quilt is the 3-D effects throughout (see the daisies?). I love how Sharon took a traditional craft and made it contemporary! I hope you are as inspired as I am.

Writing - Journal Cigar Box

I've always enjoyed writing but when it came to keeping a baby book on my girls I failed miserably. I remember as a kid looking at my older brother, Tim's baby book filled out so nicely. When I looked at my big sister, Shelly's baby book it had a few details written in. But no matter how hard I looked there was no baby book for me or my baby sister, Cathe. What happened?

When you have your own baby you soon find out what happens! You can document in your prettiest handwriting the baby's first sneeze and hiccup or you can sleep.

I have kept a journal most of my life and just couldn't NOT write about the fun things my little darlings said, got in to, caused, or created. The journal cigar box was born.

I picked up the cigar box at a local humidor because I thought it was pretty not to mention free. I sat it on my night stand next to my bed and filled it with little snippets of memories. Regardless of where I was or what writing resources I had I would write about whatever my little girls did.

In my cigar box are dated entries on paper coasters, napkins, torn box tops, scratch paper and receipts. Here are some of my favorites:

This is a little entry I wrote 20 years ago when my daughter Stephenie was five. I hope you can read the dialogue.

One night while tucking my little Elizabeth in she informed me that she didn't like potatoes and that's why she hadn't eaten them at dinner. I called out to Daddy to make a note that she didn't like potatoes. Just then Elizabeth yelled out, "And write down that I don't like fruit-n-cotton-tail!" To this day, 14 years later we still call fruit cocktail 'fruit-n-cotton-tail'.

This is a little card Elizabeth filled out in school when she was 10 years old.

I love that she was 'usually happy'.

Don't let formality hold you back from documenting your children's life. When you get to my age you will be happy for any nugget that links you to those chubby cheek children of yesterday!

Construction - Week Four

The constant rain this week has halted work on the street. You can see by the photo that my little 'OPEN' sign shines bright in spite of the current demolitions. I'm not going to lie to you, my faithful reader, business has been affected. It's difficult to see that the stores on the construction block are open because your car cannot get close enough to see the signs, but WE ARE OPEN! So, grab your pals and spend the afternoon or 1st Friday together on C-Street. We'll be open until 10:00 pm (September 5th).

Domestic Tip - Hand Sewing

Hand sewing has always brought pleasure to me. Whether I am replacing a popped button, sewing an opening on a project or mending a discrete area, I enjoy hand sewing.

One reason I enjoy this small pleasure is because of the delicacy of the stitches. I love to see hand work that has tiny, deliberate stitches whether a slip stitch, a regular straight stitch or embroidery. Believe it or not, I even enjoy the fact that I have to slow down to do the sewing. You can't be in a hurry to hand stitch although you do pick up speed with practice. I would venture a guess that my heart rate decreases when I hand stitch because I'm forced to sit down, put my feet up (of course), wait for my cat, Niner to settle in, gather my sewing basket up to my lap and begin the art.

I love to slip stitch an opening of a project such as a purse or pillow. Often, I will slip stitch in a bold, contrasting color to the fabric in the project. I think this adds a quirky sense of character to the finished product.

My tip for hand sewing is to have all your sewing ditties in one place. You can see in the photo that my threads are in a rescued hot dog basket and my pins and needles are poked down into a cushion that is easy to find. I use small scissors called 'nippers' to cut threads and the nippers fit nicely in my hot dog basket. When finished, I put all the ditties on a shelf in my sewing area.

Another tip; don't watch the clock. Enjoy the time you are being productive and relaxing at the same time.

Construction - Week Three

This was the view out my window this morning as the construction crew filled in areas with gravel. The sidewalk is tore up and the guys are busy constructing areas to be paved. The outline of our new sidewalk looks amazing. Our sidewalks will be nearly double in width when finished! There is a area sectioned out for a garden and walkway to cross the street. I can't wait to see how this all develops.

Crew members, Dennis Wells and Lee Joy
work to create the new street scape for C-Street

You can see by this photo that the workers are busy...they don't seem to stop from the time they get here until the horn blows around 5:30 pm. This is a photo of the big hole outside my store. You can see the walk are is minimal, however customers still come in the store, bless their hearts! (And I mean it too!) Kinda reminds me of Fred Flintstone at the quarry.

By the end of the day, this is now my view from inside 215 W. Commercial Street.

Construction: Week Two

Since Red Books & Chairs opens mid-week (Wed - Sat); I've been arriving to the store with surprises each week. I park behind the row of buildings that my store is located in. Since I only have a back dock door I cut through my pal, Erin's glass studio (Fusion). I walked out of her building yesterday onto NO sidewalk. Maybe you can tell by the pictures that there is chat where sidewalk use to be then a drop off. I haven't seen the C-crew (Construction crew) for a couple of days. Maybe they're resting up to get it all done next week!




C-Street Revitalization in Progress

Writing: Letters from Mom

In the era of text messages and email, it's such a delight when you receive a hand-written letter in the mailbox from someone. My mom is the most consistent and I never grow content by receiving her letters; I always look for the next.

My mom writes a little ditty about her week, upcoming events, the deal of the day at the Bargain Box (only the best thrift store in southern AR), updates on her community and sweet words like, "Have a great week!" or "I'm praying for you".

She always sends a magazine article (this last one was on Paula Deen); a snipped out cartoon of the Lockhorns, often times with Leroy or Loretta's name crossed out and mine or my husband, Greg's name written above. And always, without fail, a coupon for either coffee or toilet paper (only in the brands I love; Folgers and Cottonelle).

Always a treat. Always read with anticipation. And a quiet time and place where I can enjoy every second of the thoughtfulness it took for her to send the goodies to me.

If you long for a handwritten note; simply email me your home address and I will send you a little note, or better yet, maybe my mom will! There's a catch...when you receive it and you have read it, you must commit to handwriting someone else a note and send it the old fashion way - US Postal. If this gets crazy and the entire world asks me to send them a hand written note I may have to put the pen down and put the carpel tunnel glove on; I'll keep you posted.

Hint: Elderly, children, new mothers, dads and volunteers love to get notes...hmmm...that's just about everyone.

Note: Please put in the email subject line: SEND ME A HANDWRITTEN NOTE
I will not give your address out or send you other Red Books & Chairs information unless you tell me in your note it's okay. I'm not a spam pusher!