Posts….

Merry Christmas, EVERYONE!

In last month’s post, I took the time to say thank you. Thank you for being a part of my life, and for making it a more enjoyable place. So for Christmas, what to write?

How about a trip down memory lane? (Complete with Scary photos!)

  • Christmas was different, way back when. (Seriously.) It absolutely DID NOT START IN JULY!
  • There were no such things as TACKY LIGHT TOURS.
  • Wrapping paper and Christmas cards and ornaments went on sale the day AFTER Christmas.
  • Santa lived in the NORTH POLE, not the center court of the mall.
  • Making a Santa list meant lying on the floor perusing the Sears or JC Penney catalog.
  • It was a clever and desirable decorative accent to have bushy metallic garland wrapped around the tree.
  • You were oh so contemporary if you had tiny colored lights on the tree, and even more sophisticated if you used twinkling WHITE lights.
  • At our house, we used the big honking Christmas bulbs. And the tree was not artificial and wired for lights and sound.

 Indeed the thing was barely capable of standing on its own in the stand. It was helped along every year by strategically placed string. Some string was tied to the French door behind it, some was tied to a nail on the opposite wall. The illusion was that of an upright tree in the corner of the living room, next to the (working) fireplace, complete with stockings.

One year, in my determination to prove that Santa didn’t exist, I began to scavenge around the house, looking into every hidey-hole and drawer. I scoured the basement, even climbed into the little room under the stairs on my search. (as if Grandma could have climbed into that hole!) I finally did find the stash. It was on the top shelf in the closet in Grandma’s room. I discovered first, the Tiffany box that had a set of crystal ashtrays that Daddy Gus had received for some event ( I still own those) I discovered whatever must have gift as well, so I was very proud of myself.

And then, Christmas morning, I was let down. I had no anticipation, or excitement about the day, because I KNEW already that Santa-Grandma had come through. I prefer to be surprised, I discovered that day.

One other memory, and a fond one at that. We used to go Christmas Caroling in the neighborhood. Mr and Mrs Nichols, the Cernera family, the Grace family, maybe even the Nordnesses and the Padulas or the Suerats. We would travel from home to home on Ellicott Place and up and down Prospect Avenue. Ringing doorbells, singing our hearts out, loudly and probably off key in the dark of Christmas Eve. We always opted to ring the front door at the Graces. Probably the only day the door was used. Hot chocolate, cider and cookies were provided at a variety of homes. We would gather in the kitchen of Mrs. Beveridge, my kindergarten teacher, and warm up before continuing our rounds.

Christmas does have it’s memories, doesn’t it?

I hope that you and yours make wonderful new ones this Christmas season. May your day be merry and bright. And may next year be as wonderful as you deserve!!!

Love ya,

Trish

Trans-siberian Orchestra  Gorgeous Christmas music, with narration by Ossie Davis, who helps to tell the story of an angel who visits earth one Christmas eve in search of a star to follow.

What,  you didn’t forget the scary photos, did you? Check these out! (look over to the Flicker bar and double click if you are brave!

Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving…

…another year has almost gone by, and far too little time has been spent around with those we love…far too much time has been spent worrying over things we can’t change… a year of suffering over losses…and celebrating successes…saying hello and saying goodbye…

…on balance, i hope that each and everyone of you, whom I hold closely to my heart, whose part in my life is an integral part of who I am right now….have had more days that were welcoming, more mornings that found success at the end of the day, and that the days that were hard were few and far between…I hope that you have been able to find something or someone to smile at every day….

thank you for being in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving, to you all, whether you are here in America stuffing yourself or off in a not so far-flung corner of the world, spending just another day….

INSIGHT. Journal quilt, 2007

International Quilt Festival, Houston  2007.

This is my second year with a quilt at Houston in the Journal Quilt show, and it is also the last year of this multi-year show. My first series of quilts is still traveling in part. One is being shown again this year, in the “book” section of the Journal show.  I must publicly thank Karey Bresenhan for her tireless enthusiasm for this project. Without it, I don’t know if I would have ever made the leap and tried to exhibit my work!!!!

This years quilt began with a box.  Last year I read about an artist who ships painted boxes to anyone who requests one. They say “FRAGILE: Contains—and then an empowerment word.”(www.fdlmstudio.com/)

Click on this to see the quilt. 

It’s about the community of people, the connection; the thinking that occurs as people encounter the box on its journey.  A brightly painted orange and yellow box arrived at my home one day with the label “Fragile: Contains INSIGHT”. The box sits in my studio. My mind ponders the word, thinking about its true meaning. Researching it, it has many facets of definition. In October of last year, I traveled to Ocracoke Island, NC. I am not a morning person. But I do love sunrise, so on vacations where there is a beach involved I don’t growl too much when awakened before dawn.  I took a large number of photos at the beach of an incredible sunrise. One is framed and sits on my studio desk. The fiery orange INSIGHT box sits next to it.   

Choosing this year’s quilt was difficult. One quilt? I had thought that nine were hard. I froze. Finally in July, I noticed these two objects together and a quilt just came to me. Photo transfer! Painting! Crystals! Oh, and let’s try silk and rayon! In a matter of days, the quilt was almost finished except for the details. Having taken a Pamela Allen class, I decided to approach it with her pre-layered quilt sandwich as a canvas to stitch a variety of fabrics from clothes purchased at the Goodwill.

The lace of one wave is from the edge of a blouse once owned by my grandmother. I made a photo transfer of the original photograph, sandwiched and bound it and applied Swarvoski crystals to the sparkling water. I didn’t really know how this would be incorporated. It kind of evolved. Took it to work one day, and found explaining what I was up to helped clarify and validate my thought processes and ideas. At that point I realized the photo needed to be hung from a piece of driftwood; alas no more time for another trip to the beach. I scrounged around the yard for a piece of wood, scraped and bleached it and then found some sunrise colored yarns to hang the smaller quilt from the larger quilt. This three-dimensional aspect begged for balance on the bottom, hence the tulle trapped seashells.  Since I collect seashells and sand from every place I go that provides them, it wasn’t a challenge to come up with a few to incorporate.