turkey feathers

Farewell, Dear Tasha

When I heard the news that Tasha Tudor, the beloved children’s author and illustrator, had passed away peacefully last week, surrounded by family and friends, it was a bittersweet moment.  I felt as though I’d lost a dear friend even though I’d never met her.  Certainly, to me, she was a kindred spirit if ever there was one.  A touch stone; with a long career of artistic and creative accomplishments I still find astonishing. It’s been hard getting used to the idea that someone is gone, when it seems like they’ve been around forever.  At 92, I guess she had been, really. 

Over the years, I’ve managed to collect only a few T.T. books from the estimated one hundred titles that she either wrote or illustrated (or both), an accomplishment in itself, as many were small runs, are now long out of print, and it seems, still very much in demand.   I love them all, but I think my favorite is the one written by her daughter, Bethany Tudor, entitled, 'Drawn From New England' (1979).  It’s a sweet and sincere biography, sprinkled with family photos, sketches, and stories of her mother; a free-spirited artist whose life and work combined to create a magical world for her children and a highly individual lifestyle for herself. I picked it up and read it again over the weekend, smiling at pictures taken so long ago and remembering little details I’d forgotten.  Like how she often used her own children as models for the illustrations in her books.  How she struggled in the early days, raising her family of four children, while pursuing an art career ("to keep the wolf from the door"), while living in a century-old farmhouse without running water or central heating, and not because she had no choice, but because it was her choice. 

The life she created and shared through her own creativity influenced me so much.  I’m quite sure it led me to explore the road less traveled, to remain true to myself, and to take joy and peace in everything around me.  Her message was a gentle one, and I’ll always be grateful for her influence. Here she is with her beloved Corgi pups that never left her side.  They were often the subject of stories and a popular recurring theme in her illustrations for children. 

For example this one, and the sketch she added to the print when she signed it in 1996.  I'll cherish this forever.  And a few others.

I was thrilled to find this book: 'All For Love' (1984).  It's a collection of poems, songs, letters and stories "enchantingly illustrated" in classic Tasha style with old-fashioned portraits of couples, children, pets, and adorable animals wrapped in flowery frames and be-ribboned borders, with bouquets & tussie-mussies scattered about the pages.  There's a section describing the family Tudor Valentine celebrations with recipes for cake and cookies, and some craft activities to beat the band. In case you don't know, I'm talking about those famous cupcake fairs!  The directions for making the little "shops" are also included in the book. 

I'm behind on so many things and never expressed my pleasure (here) about the revival of Victoria magazine, but am finally mentioning it now, to note the beautiful feature article in the premiere issue (Nov/Dec 2007), showcasing a few of the amazing antique party dresses and ball gowns from Tasha's exquisite collection.  (These were later exhibited and sold at public auction.  I guess it was time to let them go.)   Tasha was quoted as saying, “My antique clothing is a great folly of mine…I myself feel much more at home in an old frock.  There’s no feeling of dressing up; they just feel right.”  Still, she is a vision of loveliness (above), posing in costume, about 30 years ago.  Blueberry Cottage and all sorts mentioned T.T. and shared links and a little more background.  Maybe others have done so as well.  Please leave a comment and link back to your page if you found or have something to add or share.  If you're a fan, I say we declare this Tasha Tudor week...to honor this great lady; her life, her art, her craft and of course, corgi cottage! 

Small Victories

Let’s see, where was I before the freaky Dresden petal flare got me all distracted and side-tracked?  Oh, yes…I was in the garden, admiring the roses.  Glorious Roses!  Roses which, on their own are not that spectacular as far as roses go, but which have managed to survive the most discouraging of circumstances, and which have triumphed and climbed half-way up the tree!  I can almost see them from the second-floor bedroom window. 

What is so miraculous about this is, our dear friends, the deer, have usually gobbled them up long before now.  In fact, all three varieties planted here at the base of this enormous tree are thriving, and I’m feeling pretty confident that the Mister's Magic Concoction is primarily responsible.  Yesterday, there was a deer standing less than a foot away from these beauties, chomping down on the sun chokes a friend gave us (that I forgot to spray).  From the window I watched it graze and held my breath, feeling quite relieved when it moved on, never touching a single rose bud.  WooHoo! 

To recap for new readers here; this rose ordeal has been an ongoing experiment since last Spring, when I first began using a natural home-made deer repellant that I mix up in my kitchen.  The original post is here, with the recipe, if you care to try it.  It also seems to repel pesky insects as well, not all, but some. 

Something else I’ve noticed is, I haven’t had any leaf spot at all which tends to be a problem here with the damp.  It is possible that the weather could’ve been responsible, as it was dryer than normal in early spring.  But I have noticed an improvement in general with dark glossy leaves.  Since I haven’t given these any fertilizer or care at all, I have to conclude that it must be the magic concoction working its magic. 

In the fall, I plan to prune the rose canes back, dig them up, and move the whole lot to another location for a number of reasons.  In the meantime, I’m enjoying them twisting and climbing, dancing and displaying all over the place. 

They deserve a shining moment at long last.

What is it?

OK.  I was in the backyard yesterday, randomly shooting digi-pix of the roses and flowers and such, and caught this strange image.  I have no idea what this could be.  It appears to be a solid shape with definition and shadows, however, there is absolutely nothing nearby that could explain it.  I didn't actually see this with my eyes, but noticed it this morning when I downloaded the photos.  The image didn't show up in any of the other photos I took (about 60 in all) before or after this one either, even though a few were taken from the same angle and general area.  There's nothing behind the bushes except more bushes.  I'm baffled.  And a little freaked out!

(Click on the top photo to enlarge.)

Updated later in the day:: 

Honestly, you guys kill me---I’ve been sitting here reading comments from this post and cracking up!  It’s nice to know I’ve got such a crazy imaginative bunch of peeps checking in here.  Thanks for the fun and games and for spreading a little sunshine around.  It's good to laugh.  I must confess though, I really wanted this to be something paranormal so I could give TAPS a call and have them come over and investigate.  I’m kidding, of course, but not really…we’ve been Ghost Hunters fans since the start of the show, back when Jason and Grant still had their day jobs with Roto-Rooter. So funny.  But apparitions, spider sacs, eyeball spies, fairies, aliens, and alternate universes aside, should we conclude then, that this anomaly is just an ordinary lens flare in the shape of a petal?  Leave it to a man to point out the logical explanation. (Please thank hubby sassypricilla!)  One, which seems to make the most sense really, even though I never saw a lens flare that didn’t, um, flare.  These are certainly more typical and what I’m used to seeing, so I went digging for more information and found a footnote explaining that it was possible for a flare to be flat and of a geometric shape, and without any rays or veils.  Mine does seems to fit that description.  And when I look closer, I do see a faint rainbow-colored halo around the edges, which would indicate the light spectrum diffracting, also typical of a flare.  So there ya have it.  Mystery solved!  I’m still scratching my head over the petal shape though.  How does that happen?  Inquiring minds want to know.  It does kind of look like a pattern template for a Dresden Plate quilt block doesn't it?  Come to think of it, there was one, years ago, that I never finished.  I suppose it could be considered a UFO (unfinished object).  Maybe, it’s come back to haunt me.  :o)

Big Country

So the house projects are s-l-o-w-l-y shaping up around here.  I was in the thick of things last week, then on the spur of the moment we just decided to jump in the car and take a road trip to seize that little opportunity of not-so-typical sunny June weather that temporarily drifted by. 

Nice to work in some quality family-time over the Father’s Day weekend too, away from all the honey-do’s and spend it together riding horses and bicycles along miles of scenic trails over here instead.

The hot tub at the house rental was awesome too, and somewhat necessary after the afore mentioned activities.  Frequent visits to Goody's sweet shop for homemade chocolates and ice cream, and to the village bakery for spare tires, helped fortify us! 

And before we knew it, five glorious days had passed just like that, and it was time to say good-bye to our wonderful woodsy abode. 

About half-way home yesterday, we stopped at Odell Lake and had lunch at the old lodge, lingering just long enough to finish watching the final rounds of the US Open, which was actually quite entertaining (for golf), as it turned out.  I gave myself vertigo watching the game and the lake in tandem!  Both were equally compelling.  Anyway, after the long-haul back over the mountains I'm still a little dizzy today, although I am attempting to pick-up where I left off before we embarked on that grand adventure.  All I really want to do right now though is wander outside and nap in the warm desert sun again.  Except the sun is hiding here in the valley, with the possibility of rain.

But who knows, anything can happen.  I'll just have to be patient (like Ranch Kitty here) while I wait. 

Keeping House

About four years ago, I launched the PatternBee website and have managed to keep it up and running with only a few minor hiccups along the way.  However, the shop is now temporarily closed (for the first time) as I need to spruce-up my office and replace worn-out equipment.  Unfortunately, the only way I can accomplish this "house-cleaning" is to unplug and move stuff.  Not to worry though, business will resume again in a couple weeks.  In the meantime, I'll try and pop in here with updates and inspiration.

One thing that I'm really excited about is these red-stripe cotton towels from IKEA.  I'm always being asked where to find good quality towels for embroidery, and although these aren't linen, or the best quality, they're still pretty cool for only 49c each!    Perfect for beginners anyway--although I like them just fine.  The downside is, they're only available in store.  If you can find these make sure you wash them before you do any embroidery though because they shrink quite a bit.  And they wrinkle. Badly.  But all that aside, how cute is this? I used a favorite Vogart pattern (#611) and finished this towel in a few evenings while watching movies.  It's a pattern I offer as a repinted transfer, but since the website is down, I'm offering it here as a traceable pattern.  Just in case you simply cannot live without it.  I think this would be nice without all the cross-stitching as well, so if you didn't want to trace all those x's (I sure wouldn't!) you could omit them entirely and still have a beautiful motif.  Click on the design to bring it up in a new window; right-click to save it to an image file so you can adjust the size before printing it out.   The original is about 6-inches long.  The best way to transfer this to cloth:  Trace the design onto a sheet of tracing paper with a Sulky pen, and then stamp it with a hot iron.  I recommend using tracing paper for a few reasons.  First it doesn't absorb ink or bleed so it leaves a crisper image.  Secondly, you can see how much of the pattern you've traced and are not as likely to miss areas.  Also, the heat of the iron penetrates the tracing paper more quickly than heavier paper, so scorching is minimized.

BTW: Thank You for all the Birthday Wishes for Grace!  She enjoyed reading them and wanted me to mention that she appreciated every single one!   

Weekend Notes

The Mister walked in the door last week with this pretty armload of flowers to start our collective celebrations.  They're still working their charm on me this morning as I sit here gazing at them on my desk.

The weekend celebrations also included cake!  Chocolate of course, from a local bakery.

And . . there was a BIG BOX and BIG excitement!

So BIG, that it made a scaredy-cat out of Lily when she heard the big box coming, scuffling slowly down the hallway like some great lumbering beast.   Her tail puffed up like a pampas plume and she tried to hide.

But when it spoke, it was music to her ears.   

If you plant it...

At this point yesterday, after hours of work, I still had about seventeen more wheelbarrow loads to go. The Mister and I did a lot of trimming and yard clean-up over the weekend, and I'm feeling it today.  Boy, am I ever.   But at the same time, I'm feeling good about the fact that it's done.  At least that one corner back there. 

June is here!  The roses have bloomed, and the deer haven't touched them!  I need to keep on top of spraying them with the magic concoction now as it seems to be working.

Especially with these dangerous characters looming.  They'd all been lounging peacefully on the grass until they caught me hanging out of the window with my camera, trying to catch them unaware, but as you can see, those big eyes and ears miss nothing and they soon got to their feet. 

Another one decided this was a good place to take a nap.  They seem to like drinking out of this birdbath when it's full.   It always cracks me up when I see them do this.  I want to say, "Will there be anything more I can get for you, deer?  Caviar? Champagne? Dew-dipped Rosebuds perhaps?"

Another shot of the blue Iris.  So pretty.  I appreciate the tip about dividing them regularly so they don't turn purple.  I didn't know that, so thanks Jenera!   In fact, thank you all for your comments and conversations regarding these lovelies and other topics of interest.  Including my small attempts at needle-felting.  Which, incidentally, lead to the discovery of this beautiful book, and an excellent tutorial for making felted sheep toys, compliments of Kim.  (Her autographed book even comes with a free felted sheep! For which, I just put in my order.)   

I need to unplug from the blog for awhile.  Grace's 17th birthday and our 27th Anniversary are coming up (both on the same day), and there's much more to do in general, inside and outside, so my posts will be sporadic at best, with just a few words and pictures sprinkled in now and then.   Feel free to drop by here anytime though and say "Hi".  I'll be here.  Wandering around. Somewhere.

Daisy Hill

I love how daisies project sunshine even when its cloudy.  We were expecting thunderstorms with heavy rain over the long weekend but surprisingly never had a single drop.  Apparently that particular storm missed us by about a hundred miles.   It was however, cool and gray with glimses of blue sky.  Perfect gardening weather.  There was a fair amount of puttering that happened too, mixed with movie watching (The Water Horse was quite enjoyable), some home cooking, a three day game of Monopoly spread out across the floor, chocolate-chip cookie baking (and munching),  a backyard BBQ, and a little crafting.  A new foal has joined the menagerie!  I think I'm finally getting the needle-felting down.  Fewer needle jabs to the fingers anyway. 

One more glance at sunny inspiration.  Enjoy!    

Coffee Break

This was yesterday, but mentally, I'm still lingering over here in happy land.  That cupcake was especially good, compliments of Grace who's real-life baking is just as sweet as her dollhouse goodies.  If this keeps up though I'm gonna have to let out my pants!  I've been particularly charmed with the May 2008 issue of Romantic Homes, (shown above) starting with the letter from Editor, Jacqueline deMontravel, about the changing art of communication between women.  About blogging in particular she says, "Step inside these cozy places trimmed with crafty borders.  You can visit any time of day, dress as you please and type a few nice words to your host that will be as appreciated as a bundle of flowers."  She really captured the essence of it all so nicely in just two simple sentences I think.  I keep going back to this issue for all the amazing articles, like the one pictured here about retro baking, Betty Crocker style, so fun, and the cute aprons it inspires like these darling ones from Heavenly Hostess.  I feel lucky to have some of those old cookbooks from Mom's day and cherish them.  Most are dog-eared and spattered, a sign that it was a favorite and used often.  I don't really cook the same way today, but they're a lovely connection to the past.  And, of course, lovely to linger over.

More lingering out here too.  The garden is at its Spring peak right now and I've been spending more time outside admiring the flowers, trying to keep on top of the weeds, and planting a few things.  Field daisies are always a welcome sight.  They've propagated themselves throughout the yard dotting the landscape with bright spots of light.   Each year they fill in a little more.  Some may consider them weeds, but give me a choice between weeds with thorns and weeds with flowers and I'll choose the flowers.   

See them over there in the background?  They've wrapped themselves around the lawn in this way purely by nature's design.  The effect is charming!  I'm still gushing over that blue Iris too.  It's the perfect accent with all the pink and white.  Well, my lingering time is just about up.  I have lots to do and I know you do too, so I won't keep ya, but I just want to again say, thank you for stepping inside to visit with me here today. You're most welcome anytime!      

Eye Spy:: Iris

Last year, toward the end of summer, the Mister came home with a bundle of rhizomes from a friend's backyard and stuck them in the ground, knowing nothing about their color or size.  Infact, all that was left were the gnarled, dirt-encrusted root divisions that needed new homes.  Well, after they were buried we all promptly forgot about them.  Until yesterday, when I saw this. 

And this.  What lovliness!