A Charmed Life

That's for Thoughts

You know I love my vintage tablecloths. I'm most drawn to the ones with bold purpley blues, reds, pinks and aqua greens. I love complementary colors: my living room is painted "Pink Mix" (aka Tequila Sunrise) and the adjoining hall is Muscari. The kitchen is Blue Room with accents of deep cherry red.

I often admire all-white rooms in magazines. And I can go into the home of someone who decorates minimally, with off-white walls, a few well-placed pieces of good art, and streamlined furniture--and not only admire their taste, but feel so calm and relaxed there that I vow to go home, paint the walls pale yellow or beige, strip the rooms of every unnecessary item, and decorate with white tulips. But I never do. I like change, variety, and lots of color. It's just my personality. I'm more of a double pink peony than white tulips. I love white tulips, but they're not me.

I do have several white-tulip friends, however. My friend Ann, is one. Simple, tasteful style. And my friend Wendy, too. Not bland by any means. At Ann's home the first thing you notice are her books and fresh flowers from her garden. At Wendy's, it her wonderful collection of artwork, much of it by her own hand, or through her camera lens.

When I decided to sell a few of my treasures a couple of weeks ago, one of the items I decided I could part with was a vintage tablecloth with a pale yellow, white, and silvery gray design of birch bark. Now, I love birch bark--it reminds me of Michigan where I grew up, and I could just see that tablecloth on a picnic table or in the kitchen of little cabin in the woods. It's a simple, elegant design. But it's not me. So I put it up for auction. For several days I watched the numbers tick up on all my other items up for auction, but no bids on that tablecloth--no one had even put it on their watch list. I began to regret even putting it in the auction, as it might just go for the minimum amount--if at all.

Then, suddenly, a bid and a few watchers. In the end, it went for twice as much as the other cloth I had up for bid. I sent off my congratulations and request for payment, and the winner immediately paid and e-mailed me a note: "Surprise, it's me!" The winner was Wendy! I was definitely surprised and pleased on so many levels: that the cloth was going to a good home, that Wendy would care enough to buy it, and that I would get to see it again at her summer cabin up in Vermont.

If you would like to see some samples of Wendy's simply elegant work, look here.

Here's my book!

This is the description:

Featuring artwork from a wide range of contributors, this resource explores creative self-portraits through fun and easy exercises and essays that instruct and inspire artists working in all media. Examples of collage, fiber arts, and mixed media artwork offer visual inspiration while essays throughout the book act as a guide to personal and artistic self-discovery. Step-by-step techniques and creative prompts are used to direct artists through different approaches to creating self-portraits while exercises utilizing collage, drawing, photography, and stitching will jumpstart the creative process and get ideas flowing on paper and fabric, encouraging artists to express themselves in new ways.

It will be available Sept. 1 in stores and is available for pre-order now on Amazon and soon at quiltingarts.com at a special discount.

The Porch is Now Officially Open

We've finally had some perfect weather here: sunshine, 70s, low humidity. So I decided to "open" the porch for the season. Friday afternoon I e-vited a few friends to stop by anytime between 1:30 and 3 for lemonade and cookies.

Olivia helped me sweep and clean. We put fresh cushions on the chairs and decorated with some vintage linens. I made shortbread hearts from my favorite Silver Palate recipe. Do you recognize the plate from this post?

I also put out a basket filled with magazines and beach reads, for browsing or borrowing, and a welcoming satchel of flowers.

I did NOT fuss over cleaning the house (other than the powder room) or press linen napkins or make several different kinds of treats, or even make the lemonade from scratch. (I made the cookies from scratch, isn't that enough?) I let the vintage linens and my grandmother's etched glassware bring the "special." The idea was to be spontaneous and have a pleasant, relaxing time.

At 1:30, Janet, Carol, and Sandy arrived. Janet brought a box of goodies from the local bakery, which was quite unnecessary, but appreciated. We sat and chatted about our kids, town politics, books, schools, vacations, and what a pleasure it is to sit on the porch and enjoy the day. They stayed until 5! Not one of us felt guilty about not using the afternoon to do housework, rake the lawn, or otherwise do something we "should." Everyone had at least two cookies and no one talked about diets. It was suggested we do this every week, possibly with cocktails.

That's fine by me. Saturdays at 1:30 you'll find me on the porch with a beverage and a magazine. Stop by and join me.

Time

Meredith and I have spent a lot of time together this week. She has been ill with a fever high enough to keep her prostrate for the first two days and much of the third. She's slept a lot, too, and has hardly eaten. I've read to her, brought cooling towels for her head, doled out medication, tried not to let her see my alarm as her temp soared over 103 (not high for a child, I know, but scary nonetheless), read to her, kept her shivering body warm with blankets and flannel, rubbed her back, and tried to amuse her when she's awake.

That's my job of course; I'm her mom. But with my husband out of town, our teen busy will all things teen-like (homework, Facebook, a boy, after school activities) and even cooking her own meals and doing her own laundry, and me without the hustle and bustle of going to the office, Meredith and I have been alone together a lot this week, and I've felt a heightened sense of mothering.

When your children get to the age that mine are, 11 and 15, "mothering" seems less about cuddiling and caretaking and more like being a combination drill sargeant/chauffeur/psychologist/traffic cop while delivering endless supplies of food. Whole days seems to pass when I see Olivia only through bleary pre-caffeine eyes in the morning as I drop her off to school and weary, computer screen-reddened eyes as she kisses me goodnight. A lot of the time I watch her slip up the back stairs like a stealth daughter, coming in from one activity and racing to get to another, and I want to say, "Wait, come back here. I need to see you again before you grow up." And then there are times when she comes in my room after 11 p.m. and wants to talk endlessly about the minutia of her day--which is so typical of her age--and I have to force my tired self to listen, nod, and muster up some sage advice. If I don't listen now, I may never get the chance again.

Meredith is at the age, and of the temperament, where battles erupt out of nowhere. She's never wrong, it's not her fault, and she always has to have the last word. (Yes, I do realize she is just like me. Mom, wherever you are, I know you are smirking.) She always "needs" something, and getting it never seems to be enough. The rest of the time, she smart, sweet, funny, cuddly and beautiful. But she can turn on a dime. It's exhausting.

This week has been a break from all that. And it has reminded me of when she was a baby. She was the easiest baby in the world, as opposed to Olivia who screamed if you put her down and refused to sleep. From the moment she was born, Olivia was on to the next thing. Go, go, go. The word we heard the most about her from other people was "alert." Meredith was a gentle, quiet baby. The word we heard about her was "sweet." Though affectionate, Olivia rejected anything confining. The Snugli was out of the question. Meredith, on the other hand, slept contendedly against my chest while I wrote freelance articles.

Though I wish she were not ill, and I am trying not to think of the tasks that my coworkers are doing in my stead, this week with Meredith has been a throwback to those baby days, when it was just the two of us for hours on end, and I've enjoyed it. Yesterday, when she was feeling better and had come to sit beside me while I typed, I looked over at her beautiful, sweet self, on the verge of leaving childhood and navigating the journey toward womanhood, and I snapped this picture.

Another Wedding

Aren't they sweet? I love this little wedding party, but it's time for someone else to enjoy them. This set, handpainted in Germany, is also listed on eBay. The pieces are just 2" high, at the most! If you know of someone who is getting married, or if you are throwing a celebration for them, or if you just collect wedding-themed items or miniatures, please take a look.

I am also listing some vintage tablecloths:

Why so industrious?

I am home today with Miss Meredith who has a fever. I suspected she would not be well enough to go to school today last night, when she refused dessert. A sure sign in her (as with me), that something is amiss. I'm sorry she's not well (she was actually sad not to go to school today as she has an important band practice and some fun activities planned for after school), and goodness knows I have work to do, too, at the office. But it's a nice day, so I'm hoping to springify the outside decor a bit, removing the plaid, flannel covers from the porch cushions and festooning the entry with forsythia.

Garden Wedding

Not me, silly! Or my daughters. No, this is a miniature wedding set that I have had for many years, and in my great clearing out of everything, have decided to sell it. You'll find it on eBay. It's so adorable--what a great centerpiece it would make for the wedding or a shower. The little knife and server on the cake table, the candelabra and presents on the gift table. So sweet, so retro.

It's so sweet, I hate to part with it. But I'm too far away from my own girls' weddings, and as one of them wants to jump out of an airplane for her wedding, I'm thinking there's very little chance of using it. So, if you know of anyone who loves miniatures or who has a wedding in the near future, please pass this along.

Tea and Conversation

Well, that was fun. An advantage to now having Fridays off is that I have more time to get things done (prepare for yard sale, pull tax stuff together, clean behind the toaster), and more time to have fun (decoupage eggs, have tea with my daughters, and make the fabric collage, above).

With all of us going in different directions (jobs, school, Girl Scouts, homework, and the latest curveball: the high school track team) having dinner as a family is a once-a-week occurance, if we're lucky. Thankfully, Meredith has suggested that as long as we have a tea room, we might has well have tea. (Smart girl.) So, every couple of days she takes three of my grandmother's china teacups off the shelf, "brews" some tea, sets out a "yummy" (when we have cake, we put it out, when we don't, it's fruit or even Oreo cakesters) on a pedestal plate, and the three of us spend 15 minutes sipping tea and chatting. It's all very civilized and cozy, and it really is a nice respite from the hustle and bustle. We've all agreed Meredith will inherit the teacups as she has the proper respect for them and their provenence--Olivia would just as soon use a mug or a paper cup. But then, Olivia would survive quite well in the wilderness (and has) while Meredith and I consider a hotel room with one pillow per guest roughing it.

Speaking of a little bit of luxury, go check out my friend Larissa's new Etsy site, FunkyChicFashions.etsy.com. She is selling some wonderfully soft and luxurious, yet lightweight, scarves made from fanciful fabrics. They are going fast, but if they're gone, check back in a few days when she's bound to have made some more.