love

feeling so grateful for the textiles that grace my path. dress up of vintage textiles delights my world of creative study.
5 more skirts finally made their way to my etsy shop today.  5 more ideas are waiting in the wings.  next week i begin again:)

summer views

 paella is happening often on the grill.

5 little cups of etsy has arrived.  affirming that paper and packaging matters to my hearts place...

 ...and these cute french parents who look out at me so adoringly...

and remind me to practice my french:)

...as jane eyre is practicing with her pupil miss adela at the moment in my read along with my daughter these summer months.

the view from home

 the beached succulent i rescued is in bloom:)

succulents and feather grass are happyily together

once a week the pie iron comes out for a grilled cheese beyond all

cheers to this delicious life.

still looking at the "make good art" speech. wishing i had good time for making that good art.  things creep in and derail my good intentions to be with the vintage textiles that are my kinship, my creative truths.  i keep getting pulled in directions that are not authentic to who and how God made me.  i need to be more commanding of the private space i create for myself and stop letting in what is against my very nature of who i am today.  it always finds me though and pokes a stick at me and pulls me onto uneven paths. knowing when to yield to poking sticks and when not to is a mystery i will never solve. 
the 5 new fairytale/folktale skirts are almost finished but it will be days before i can return to them and then there is capturing them and all the other details related to my creative hearts desires for them.  they are precious to me through and through and even if they are never sold or get to dance and play in the world i will feel good being able to express my truths through my art.  authenticity and innocence and sweetness and slowness and patience and good values and smiling happy are at the heart of what i want to express in dress up.  my story, folk or fairy.

view today

looking at this today :)

dress-up

  

these will be listed in my shop this week.  the one from my previous post will not, as it has a small snag at the back and was mostly a study of size.  vintage textiles are such a joy and antique textiles are even more precious.  giving laces a new life in dress up so they don't need to only come out for formaliteas.  they are beautiful and some very weighted, some very sweet and some very lustrous.

ingreteaents:  antique lace, vintage velveteen, vintage petersham, vintage rayon, vintage cotton print, vintage acetate, distressed/tea dyed and hand finished silk ribbon, soft japanese cotton prints, shell buttons, hand sewing, metal grommets, rayon hem tape, hemming by hand, joy and happiness.

the next 5 are fully planned and awaiting my attention.  capturing these as they truly are via camera is the hardest part and so i am hung up in beginning anew.

views from today

ribbony and lacy and velvety and sunshine of my new skirts and the book capturing details of the seasons of miss t. thank you fuloflyfe.  your photography inspires in me who i can be as i promise to "make good art".

the cauliflower gift from a neighbor last week.  isn't she a beaut.? and oh!... the soup she hath made:)

a different view of the above mentioned skirt study.  trying smaller size in my velvet and vintage textiles but it is too bulky and not big and long enough to take full advantage of drape and swing of all.  i will stick to what i know to be the truth of size 4-6 and that wonderous age of making believe.

trying black as my background to try for the right exposure in color.  a tad spooky and floating but i rather like it's comic spirit:) 

today

things i love today:

hemming, by hand, underskirts for my 5 current dress-up skirts.

the children's sized teapot and tiny plates my great aunt and great nammy played with as children.  they came home with me from my mom's china cabinet.

"serenade to a doll" by debussy, played by my step father on his mason and hamlin 6ft grand.

harry belefonte "calypso" on the record player.

when the sun sets on these hot days.

my children realizing that the patriotic song book, for piano, from last year is too easy.

my daughter's play: cutting out 2 patterns (one new, one vintage) from fabrics (one new, one vintage)

my son's play: composing a tune on the piano and writing it's musical score in his music composition book.

my husband cooking dinner.  chicken on the spit and potato salad with black pig bacon:)