"Wish You Were Here"

 

If it is said that a woman will marry a man who is like her Father, Then this could not be more true than in my marriage. In the sixteen years under my Father's care, only a single vacation was ever taken. In the 32 years of my marriage, I have only taken one vacation 32 times!

I have traveled the exact same roads to Northern Michigan, to the exact same destination nearly all of my life. There isn't a Welcome Center along the way that we do not stop at to collect brochures to use in planning the next year's exact vacation. In all these years they have never changed.

When I ask my husband why it is that he can't use the previous year's brochures, his reply is always the same, "There might be something new!" May I tell you if there is something new, I haven't seen it in the last 32 years! Everything is exactly as I found it the year before.

Each year as the spring sun draws closer to the earth and vacation days near, I will say to my husband, "But I just want to go to the beach. I want to go to Florida!" My husband's reply is exactly the same year after year, "But I do take you to the beach. Lake Michigan!"

Before you should jump on my "Florida or Bust" bandwagon and think unkind things of my husband who takes me on exactly the same vacation for 32 years, please know that at each destination we rest our travel weary bodies, we find the love of a family member who I would not know so well had I not visited them every year for 32 years.

My Very Favorite Images!

When I first began blogging I hosted a Summer Block Party where I made a block representing someone's blog for one in kind sent to me.


Each card was created from actual vintage cards that to me are the epitome of why I love them so very much.


Silly me, at the time it did not occur to me to scan the images to keep for future projects.

I am as delighted as can be to say that I have purchased the cards again, and I am so pleased to share them with you!



I will use these to make future banner blocks for my blog.




I hope you will be inspired to use these images in your own paper crafting.



Sigh! If you are wondering why I would cut up the cards again, it is because the person I purchased them from already did! EAK! She cut them in half to charge separately for each half. Such a shame, but it does give me free conscience to go ahead and scrap with the original images.



In my blocks I have used the paper lines Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon for their wonderful vintage mix and match patterns.

Most are no longer available in my scrapbook store; so the challenge will be starting from scratch!

I hope your time here today leaves you awash in the sweetest of images from a simpler time.

Bobwhites and Brownies

I adore Brownies because of the kitchen in Only Child girls house. I always volunteered to be the oven watcher just so that I could linger alone in this most special room. A round table tucked into the only corner, a long white tablecloth hanging to the floor. Comfortable chairs with arms and cushions, a lamp on the table. Toaster and jams, blue and white place mats, a cow to spill milk, Delft Blue filled with yellow flowers. Magazines and books, reading glasses and newspapers, round tins of hard candies. A table that never had to be set because it was used throughout the day.

Brownies cut in squares, Bobwhites ready for Boy Talk on Danielle's bedroom floor. Rotation visits could not come soon enough for the chance to be in a bedroom designed especially for her. Pink and white strips hand painted on the walls, French Vanilla moldings before the ceiling. Window seat with underneath drawers, Priscilla curtains in pale green stripes, shutters to pull across the window. Even her closet was custom made to match her room, Family Affair come to life.

Goodbyes at the door, vanilla light over my shoulder, the long walk home. Grassy dew dampening my sneakers, sliding door patio just ahead. "How was your evening?" greetings from Mom. Tucked under feet straightened, book set aside."It was wonderful! We made brownies."

The Strawberry Festival

John Greenwalt was the smartest boy in my class. I knew this because he wore plaid shirts and glasses. It was said he came to wear glasses from sitting inches away from the television set while sitting on the floor in front of it. This I personally knew to be true from having seem him do this myself in sixth grade. The gamma rays from staring at the test pattern was something to be avoided at all costs unless you wanted to end up like John Greenwalt.

 John Greenwalt was someone to ignore because he seemed to be a short adult who somehow never graduated. In my heart of hearts I ignored him because I knew him too well as myself. Shy and studious, overly conscientious, polite and solicitous to adults. Unpopular, unattractive, class clod without the glasses.

 Spring sunshine, blossoms on the sidewalk, preparations for the annual Strawberry Festival. A special visitor would be coming to speak at our school, a Miss America contestant. A real Beauty Queen, a real celebrity, John Greenwalt's sister! I will never forget the thrill of this day. Janet was the first beautiful girl I had ever seen in person. Her every word and movement memorized, adolescent prayers at night, hoped for confidence by morning's alarm.

John Greenwalt, plaid shirt and glasses, Class President, most likely to succeed. The day I was told I would need glasses was the moment I became the smartest girl in my class. It was the day a real Beauty Queen came to my school and planted the thought that beauty might be just around the corner, but intelligence was something I already possessed.

Please do not Pin pattern on Pinterest.

Introducing, Me!

I am so excited to share this wonderful drawing commissioned of Chelsea Ann of Itty Bitty Birdy I asked her to create a drawing for me that I can use on note cards. I specifically wanted her to create my peg doll with it's sweet simple face and peg legs. I think she has perfectly captured her.


Chelsea Ann is one of the very first people I met in our community. I believe we are very near to being the same person at different stages of life. We both wear our hearts on our sleeves, easily bruised when life is not kind; but always hopeful for what a new day will offer.

Dear Sweet Chelsea Ann, Thank you again and again for your talent, your free spirited heart, and your kindness towards me. Elizabeth

Elizabeth's Heart

Do you feel Springy today! I do! Spring is back in my step as well as my yard. My daffodils are poking their fat yellow heads above the soil. I can barely wait a moment longer.


What a perfect day to share how it is that I make my hearts. I have made them since childhood and have always given them away to people who inspire my life. Here you can see my stitching has been completed with very simple and basic stitches. I have used one strand of floss to baste my first heart on to a second cut slightly larger. Giving your heart a dry press with the iron a few seconds at this point will create magic, I promise!

Starting at the center of the heart, stitch to the LEFT between each pink with two strands of floss.

If part of your border is to be little flowers or shamrocks such as I have stitched here, they can be done during this step. Hearts secured, remove basting thread.

Attach your hanging ribbon with a few stitches. Position your heart back piece, stitching to the LEFT with one strand of floss, go down through the front of the felt between peeks then come up almost in the same spot. Needle will then go behind point of peek and down in next between spot. All of your stitches will be hidden behind the points on the FRONT of the heart. Check from time to time on the back of the heart to make sure you are not coming up in the same hole you went down in.

Be sure and stuff your heart with fiberfill before taking your last stitches. Here you can see how tiny the stitches are. They create the sewing line for the next step. Pull thread through the felt at a distance and cut off, a knot is not necessary.

Using three strands of floss, stitching from RIGHT to LEFT, following the tiny tacking stitches. Note the parallel placement of my needle. Bring needle up at first tacking stitch, down at next tacking stitch, back up the slightest bit ahead of first stitch. This is called the outline stitch, my very favorite stitch of all. I use this stitch to "write" my words.

All done and tucked inside my childhood Easter basket.

A day to feel Spring in my step. A day to share my heart pattern. A day to give thanks for wonderful friends who added their prayers to mine.

Summer Circus and The Bobwhites

Truly my childhood days were very much what I imagine circus life to be. An extraordinary life not noticed at all until the Ringleader calls for the spotlight to shine your way. The Bobwhites and I often found ourselves in the most fantastical places because my mother seemed to know the most interesting people.


Friends with the owner of Iverson Mall where the Paint and Pallet's art shows were held, she was commissioned to paint very large sized oils for the executive offices at his new business venture, the Capitol Center in Landover, Maryland.


One of the country's first covered arenas and home of the NHL Washington Capitols, the Bobwhites got to attend every event that came to town, Admit One tickets in our pockets!


We especially loved the Wringing Brothers Circus. The Flying Walendas thrilled us with their tower of chairs perched on a tight rope as high as the rafters. Lions that could escape at any moment, whispered rumors that one had been caught just that morning. Clowns in tiny cars, beautiful women on horseback, sequins and colors keeping our eyes wide.


Forever summer days would soon become winter boyfriend love. Tickets for two close to the ice, no room for childhood friends. Days spent with the Bobwhites seemed as childish as the circus.


Forever Love allows the memory to travel back in time. The Ringmaster's spotlight finding forgotten moments of youth when young girls thrilled to be together with Admit One tickets in their pockets, Free.