The Little Red Hen

Bambi

I have had this book in my mind ever since I read it to P last year. I have wanted to quote from it but was never able to limit myself to picking just a few sentences. All of it is fabulous. So, today I am giving you a reading assignment.

Bambi by Felix Salten, 1929.

I enjoyed reading this to P. It is very different from the Disney version of the story.

I do have to warn you that Chapter 8 had me in tears.

Chapter 8. Three pages. Life summed up in a discussion between two leaves. 

Yeah, I think you need to read this book.

Hello

We have been busy with everyday things here this week. Meetings, a concert at school, an academic honors event, cross country practice, homework, groceries, dinner making, baking cookies and muffins, making applesauce, staying out of the rain,  and that sort of thing.

I have also done some custom quilting

and added to my Little Red Hen book collection.

 

I think a spiffy pink cape and blue  clutch purse might improve my next trip to town.  What do you think?

Weekend Thrifting

I went to a garage sale and a rummage sale this weekend. The garage sale was at the home of a retired school teacher. I made some great purchases there.

Some old readers:

They will be perfect for P as her reading skills improve.

I love the pictures in them.

There is family fun indoors and out.

These books will be great for sing alongs. Again, the illustrations are super.

For rainy days like today we can use this activity book.

I also got this super little cookbook for some fun in the kitchen.

What will we make first?

Just before leaving the sale I picked up this book.

It has little color prints of paintings along with observations and questions.

I can't wait to sit and look at this more thoroughly.

I also purchased a bunch of paperback chapter books and some other things that I will save for gifts for P later.

At the rummage sale I found a big bag of perle cotton thread, some vintage iron on embroidery transfers, a bunch of children's dresses sewing patterns and some fun old knitting books that I'll probably share another day. I didn't know if you could handle any more vintage book photos today. The two stop haul was almost too much for me to believe. I was feeling pretty great about it. Then my neighbor came over and asked if I had been to the auction up the road.  He said there was a lot of antique furniture there. Perhaps I should have gone there too. I need a new book case or two to hold my new books.

Developing Her Sense of Style

P is developing her own sense of style and has started to take control over how some of the things in her room look.
P has chosen her own bed linens for her bed; she snagged this vintage sheet before I could get it into the sewing room after a trip to the thrift. It had been used as a paint drop cloth and has a few paint spots on it but she loves it. She has to have her bed made with her quilt folded back so that the flowers are not covered up.

She thinks this "too cute" to be Ugly Duckling from Kim looks great on the bed. 

Future blogger? 

Books: The New Frontier

P has been reading books lately.  She wants to be like the rest of us in the house who pick up books and read.  Last week she opened our unabridged dictionary and "read" some fantastic stories. 
B and I thought that with her interest in reading aloud that she might like to try something simple so I got out a few of my thrifted early readers for her to try. I think she surprised herself that she could actually read some of the words.  She tries to sound out words she does not know and is quick to learn new words.

It is a good thing I have a collection of beginner books. We will have fun with them in the coming months.

What a wonderful new adventure for both of us.

The Little Red Hen

It is funny how collections just sort of happen. In the last year, since I started this blog, I have collected a few versions of the story The Little Red Hen. I didn't really plan to; they just jump up at me out of garage sale boxes and bins.
For my birthday this year my sister sent me a collection of cards that she had made from an old red hen book. I just love them. She insists that the book was in very bad condition.  I don't think I'll use these cards.

I especially like the hen in her apron with her scissors showing in the pocket.

My Christmas stocking had a copy of the same book in it!! Lucky me!

AND
Look what my sister made for me for Christmas!!!!

She used this image from the book for her redwork design.

 

I like that this red hen is planting corn, Indian corn, which was also included in the quilt. 

I am also reminded that it is time to start thinking about what we will be planting in our garden this spring.

Changing Taste

I found this little quilt of the Rainbow Fish in the sewing room today. I made it years ago when the boys were small.  I remember that making it was pretty much just an excuse to use all those metallic sliver threads when they first came out.

We enjoyed reading the book Rainbow Fish when the boys were little. When I first read it, I liked the sharing message of the book when the proud Rainbow Fish shares his scales and and becomes an accepted part of the group.  But now, over 10 years later, I have read it to P and don't like it quite as much. I think it is interesting that what I notice in the book has changed.  Now, I notice the behavior of the other fish more than that of the Rainbow Fish.  The other fish seem greedy. I don't like that they seem to want to all be the same and are bullying about it.

The book does have lovely pictures and it was fun to create a quilted version of the fish.

I don't really like this quilt as much as I did ten years ago either. It is stiff from all of the fusible web and stitching. The machine applique stitching seems heavy and messy. I have learned that I really do like hand stitching; I really enjoy hand applique and like the look of the fabric meeting fabric. Still, this project is part of my needlework past. Making this quilt did, in some way, help define the quilter/artist that I am now.  I guess that is one reason that I keep this quilt even though it has never been displayed.

It is natural that our tastes change. Otherwise, we would all still have that big hair of the 80s. Or Dorothy Hamill hair. Or whatever the defining "do" of our youth.

I'll be adding this to the Children's Literature in Needlework pool on flickr. If you have made a needlework project inspired by a children's book, please add it to the pool.

Page Turners

A few years ago, the theme at Beaver Island Quilt Retreat was fabric books. I made a few books then and a couple more when P was born.

The one on the left features Dick and Jane fabric.

The other is a book of color and applique  letters.

And now, I have graduated to ink and paper! My latest project is with Lark Books. Two of my quilts will be included in an upcoming book, Pretty Little Mini Quilts. I have never had my work "in print" before and am honored and thrilled. The book will come out in 2010.  Stay tuned and I'll let you know how you can get your own autographed copy!

Stories with a Prize Ending

I love hearing stories from the past. I especially like the little tidbits of family history that show how everyday living has changed.
After my milkweed post, I talked with a friend about how memories are lost if they are not shared. A small memory such as walking through vacant fields and gathering milkweed fluff for the "War cause" says a lot about the time in which it happened. One memory often leads to others, especially when there is discussion.
Shortly before my maternal grandmother died, I gave her a set of the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She had never read them before.
She told me that she enjoyed reading them because they reminded her of her own mother and the way she did things.
Laura understood that things change over time. Little by little, the way we approach our everyday life does change. She wrote about the daily life of farming, building a home and family, and the routine tasks of providing food and shelter for a family. She shared much about the domestic life of her youth.

Today is the one year anniversary for my blog. In celebration of the event, I am hosting a giveaway.  To enter, you must share a piece of your past. Share a memory of your own or one that was told to you, something that shows how things were different in the past.  The winner will get a small bag of homegrown, fresh ground cornmeal from our Indian corn to use in making his/her own Little Red Hen bread. (That was my first post here.) You have until midnight October 28 to share your story in the comments of this post. I shall announce the winner on October 29.

Abstract Quilts in Solids

Gwen Marston has been an inspiration to me for many years. I started going to her Beaver Island Quilt Retreat 10 years ago. She is a traditional quilter who has a no nonsense approach to quilting. Her easy, stress free techniques help me to go my own way in quilting.  For retreat this year Gwen self published a book of quilts to be used for inspiration for this years solid fabric theme.

The title Ideas and Inspirations Abstract Quilts in Solids ...a book for grown-up quilters is a great description of what is in the book.
Gwen's write up for the book:
"Gwen has written a new book and this one is especially designed for grownup quilters. It's a book for the many accomplished quilters who are not looking for yet another project book with pages of detailed elementary instructions on how to make someone else's quilt. Rather, it's intended for quilters who are seeking ideas and inspiration for their own work. This 67 page book begins with a 7 page discussion about working with solids and Gwen's fresh approach to design concepts. The remaining pages are in full color showing full page photographs of 28 quilts with close-ups and captions of each on the opposite page. Gregory Case did the photography and it's first rate. He also did the photography for the Freddy Moran/Gwen Marston 2006, Collaborative Quilting book and also the upcoming Marston/Moran quilt book to be released July '09."

Currently the book is only available directly from Gwen through her website, Gregory Case's website, or through lulu.com where she self published the book. Through lulu.com you can get the paperback or a download version.

If you like Gwen's style you will enjoy this book. I love that it is a book "for grown-up quilters." It is full of pictures of inspirational quilts but is not bogged down in the how to's. She leaves the interpretation up to you.