Theatre de la Mode

In design school we were encouraged to visit Maryhill Museum to see the fashion dolls.
The fashions of post-World War II France are highlighted in this 1946 exhibit, featuring miniature fashions by the country's finest designers.
I must have been inspired by the plaid coat at the front of this picture,
as I went on to design a suit jacket with a similar feel and plaid.

This is my favorite exhibit in the Maryhill Museum. I just love the little fashion dolls.

Even the little shoes are fun. They seem to have inspired a whole
new generation of shoes that look similar to the shoes we see now.
They say that fashion goes in cycles and I do believe that;
however, each cycle still puts their own flair to the season.
I still enjoy taking a peak in a Vogue Magazine at the beauty shop just to see what's happening in the world of fashion today.

Tea at Maryhill Museum

Joining friends for a potluck tea at Maryhill Museum in Washington was a treat I have looked forward to for a long time. Sitting under the trees enjoying tea, the view, and especially the company was pure pleasure.
After tea we walked through the museum and enjoyed together photographs by Ansel Adams, Indian artifacts, and (my favorite) Theatre de la Mode.
A Delightful Day!

Double click on the collage to see the pictures in more detail.

A Singing Heart

A Singing Heart

I woke up this morning
To a singing start;
I went about the live-long day,
A song within my heart.
"Sing before your breakfast;
Cry before you sleep,"
Is an old, old saying,
But never one I keep.

I sing, and I go dancing,
With music in my tread,
Until at length I've sung myself
To supper and to bed.

~from Kitchen Sonnets
by
Ethel Romig Fuller

***
Picture is morning tea looking out on the water.
A perfect setting to have tea.

Monday Linen Days

I call these my Marmalady's tablecloths because they have fruit on them.
The one in the middle I use the most on my display tables when I do a show, but
the others have been used too.
The cherry one is the only one I ever was brave enough to cut and I still am not sure I should have done that. I made pillows with part of it.

I love using the one with the pink stripe around the outer edge in the Spring for our family Easter tea. It just seems so "Springy" to me and it is larger than a lot of the vintage tablecloths you find. The tulip tablecloth is another fun one for Spring. The yellow flowers is fun to use with green depression glass plates at a tea party. Any vintage tablecloth is fun for a tea party when you can tie the theme into what is on the cloth.
***
Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapors which the head invade
And keeps that palace of the soul serene.
~Edmund Waller
**
Enjoy having tea on a vintage tablecloth.

Swing High as the Sky

Swing high as the sky.

I AM:

Mom

Wife

Friend

Niece

Cousin

Sister

Tea Lover

Pie Baker

Flower Picker

Walker

Swimmer/Water Lover

Observer

Reader

Sewer

Patternmaker

Photographer

Quaker

Peaceful/Nonviolent

Gentle Spirit

Planner

Dreamer

Thinker

Traveler

Writer

Artist/Creative

Growing Struggler

Funny, but the most difficult to say is Artist. I dream of being an artist, but could never really see it. I am now putting it out there to the universe. I am an artist.

Sometimes I am Happy, Scared, Silly, Opinionated, Sad, Hungry, Full, Crave food, love alone time, Enjoy beauty around me, Like order in my life, feel old, feel young, hurt. Sometimes I just want to laugh for no reason at all, fly like the birds, swing as high as the sky, swim like the fish, or create a most beautiful master piece. Then there is the skirt I have wanted to sew for the past 25 years, is that the creative master piece sitting in the closet waiting to come out and be completed? Or what about that book that has been stirring in my mind for 5 years? Am I revealing too much or not enough? How about you, what do you have to share? What commitment can we make to open up and move forward past our comfort zones? It's scary, isn't it? I won't tag anyone to share, but the struggle is so worth it when the sun shines on the other end and we have that "Aha moment". Celebrate with me the moments of sunshine. I do believe that life's struggles are a good thing, they are what keeps us growing.

Bursting with Struggles

Tomatoes from the garden just bursting with the wonderful, juicy flavor of home grown.

I have been struggling with thoughts this past week on who I am and honoring who I am within myself. Do you struggle with those thoughts sometimes? How do you come to resolution about these struggles? Sometimes it just seems like I will burst with the struggles of life. It has been an amazing process in the last few days. When we open ourselves up to struggle with an issue and take note we start noticing things that weren't there before. I had to struggle with being true to myself first by acknowledging differences of opinion between friends. How to deal with that one was not easy and it really tore at my heart. Then who am I as an example to other women. Who I am to my family, and finally who I am to myself. During this time of struggle I viewed the movie Julie and Julia. Watching both women struggle with who they were at that time in their lives really hit home and brought me to tears to understand that we all have our struggles. In the movie Julia says (and I am not quoting exactly) French women don't do anything, that's not me I must do something. Through our struggles to find who we are, we grow. As Julie and Julia struggled; so do I. I hope then I grow.

Christina at Soul Aperature had a list of "I am". I have been working on that list for myself and struggling with some of the words that I have written down. Then Merisa at Getting Back to Basics wanted me to share 7 things about myself, and again I was thinking what is there to share about me. Both women ask me to reveal who I am. It is a little scary to reveal my heart even though I share my delights, that is only a part of me.

Tomorrow I will share my own list of Who I Am and some things about me.

Updates

Two requests have come to me lately. One to update regularly on the greenhouse and the other to see how I framed the quilt squares and hung them in my office. First I must comment on the greenhouse. It is my husband's dream to have a greenhouse, a place of quiet meditation. He started it about 4 years ago and each year in our Christmas letter to friends I mention the greenhouse is still in progress. It took some time to find the recycled materials. He found them just laying along the road or in a demolition sight. Yesterday he rebuilt a couple of the windows that will soon go into the greenhouse. It is his labor of love, but a very slow progress. When it is completed I will share again with a slide show of the whole progress.
Now for a place of quiet meditation, we will see. For the most part it will be that,
but I can imagine a party there too.

When I was sharing about quilts I mentioned a dear friend had given me three vintage quilt squares. Here they are now hanging in my office. It looks like the top one has shifted in the frame, I will need to fix that soon. I love them hanging by my desk. Thank you dear friend.