A Charmed Life

Winners and Givers

Hello and welcome to all my new friends from Happy Zombie, Praterposte, Facebook, etc.

 

I promised 5 winners of fabric bundles like the one above, but I am going to give away 6!

The first five winners, determined by a random number generator, are:

finishwahine

pat10170

SweeTart77

Marcella

Kit[at]DivaQuilter

The sixth bundle goes to the lovely Happy Zombie, Monica, for sending 100 people over to check out my blog. I hope you all come back as I am rededicated to keeping things current, with a new banner very soon, plus the tales and travails of my Charmed but Imperfect life, and my vintage finds.

Speaking of which...

 

You know how I love my flea market/yard sale/thrift shop finds. But with friends like mine, who needs flea markets? Everything shown above, and more, was given to me by friends and co-workers who basically said, "I know you like fabric/vintage, do you want this?"

That would be a "Yes." My friend Vanessa is taking care of the estate of a relative of hers who passed away and was quite the crafter and doily collector. Vanessa gave me a Hefty bag full of lacy items, from coasters to dresser doilies, to tablecloths. Then she emailed a couple of weeks later to offer me the wooden knitting needles and a stack of vintage knitting pattern books. Be still my heart.

My coworker Helen was going through her mom's things and offered me some lovely lace hankies and pulled-thread napkins, plus kid gloves and the adorable embroidered glove keeper. It may seem silly, but it's quite possible I was most thrilled with the plastic glove bag from Bonwit Teller. Bonwit's delicate violet motif is one of my faves--I had an umbrella with their signature violets when I worked in the Back Bay in the '80s.

The bolt of quilting cotton has one of the most intriguing stories. A school-mom friend of mine bought a guitar for her son on eBay. When the guitar arrived, the bolt of fabric was inside the box. No explanation or obvious purpose. After pondering the mystery, Tina thought to herself, "What am I going to do with this fabric?" and lucky for me, the answer was, "Give it to Cate."  There's loads of it--maybe it will become part of the next giveaway. Stay tuned!

Has it been that long?

 

When I started this blog over a year and 102 posts ago, I did it partly as a way to make connections with people beyond my existing circle. And I have done that, building cyber friendships with people I have never met.

What I never imagined was that this blog would bring me closer to the people I already know--friends and family that I love dearly but don't get to see very often anymore. Not closer in feeling, but a way to reach across the miles, so to speak, whether those miles number 2000 or 20. This phenomenon became apparent to me first when I asked in this space about going in a new direction with the blog: a lot of my friends said they liked A Charmed Life because it was a way to keep up with me and my family. Then, this past weekend it was my birthday, prompting several of those people to call me up with good wishes and a question: When are you gonna update the blog? (In fact, I think they mostly called to ask about the blog; my birthday was just an excuse.)

When I logged on to post I really couldn't believe it had been more than a month. But a lot has been happening in my real life (some of it not so charming). In fact, I received a birthday card today from a friend who wrote in her note (yes, people still write notes!) that she would take it as a sign that things were better when she saw a new post here.

So. Things are better. Want an update?

 

Yes, they are still together. And yes, Nate is wearing a Pi shirt.

 

Nick finished the back stairs and I was able to put up this Japanese Quilt Show poster that is a favorite of mine. I love how the colors in the poster match the colors of walls and the stairs.

The Spring issue of Studios came out, with the studio of the lovely and talented Melissa Averinos on the cover.

I opened a Facebook account. That took up a lot of time.

And a bunch of other stuff that I won't go into here. Suffice it to say that things are better, or at least under a modicum of control. For a while. It could change. You never know.

Oh yeah. And I quietly celebrated a birthday Sunday. One of my aforementioned best friends I've never met, Monica (whose fabulous studio is also in the Spring Studios), sent me the piece of cake you see at the top of the post. No calories and all fiber! Monica is amazingly talented at stitching up the most wonderful cute stuff, and so funny that if you would put me in a room and locked me up with Monica and my other absolutely hilarious best friend I've never met, Cheryl, I would die laughing. Literally. (Note: I am contractually obligated to mention Cheryl whenever I refer to extremely funny women, best friends I've never met, and anything Greek. Oh, and you should buy her book with Debbi Crane, Mixed Mania. Right after you buy Mixed-Media Self-Portraits, of course. And check out her Beezles. Is that enough, Cheryl?)

So, to celebrate and thank you for being so patient, how's about a little giveaway?

 

I'll give one of these fabric bundles to five people who leave a comment here. Just tell me how you found my blog. I'll declare the winners on Saturday.

Trying something new

Maybe it's the forever-winter. Maybe it's the approaching birthday (you have 28 shopping days left). Maybe it's just the time of life. But I feel like trying something new. I've been digging out the self-help books, making more lists, keeping a journal. 

One thing on my mind is that think I want to give this blog a new/better/different focus. Any thoughts?

Love on the Rocks

 

I was on my way to work one morning last week when I saw this naturally occurring ice heart on the steps. By chance, I had my camera with me, and snapped it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Step Lively

   

I saw this idea in a magazine and immediately knew we had to do it. After painting the walls of our back staircase red, I asked Handy Hubby to take the leftover paint from our kitchen, living room, and "tea room" and paint the risers of the stairs.

He loved the idea, and his analytical mind immediately went into overdrive, wondering which color we should start with, what the order should be, and so on. This is why we work so well together: I come up with the ideas and he does the figuring out and the work. Is that wrong?

This new color scheme has put a little spring in my step during this long, cold winter. A few weeks ago, this staircase and the surrounding walls were a dirty off-white. Some might say WAY off white. The snow looks about the same outside.

But now, the steps are lively colors, the warm red envelopes us as we go up and down. And it just gives me a visual lift, so to speak.

Now, if only I could get the stairs to make music.

Have you seen this tablecloth?

 

I bought this tablecloth at a yard sale two summers ago along with a bunch of others for $5 each. There was another woman there vying for the same stack of linens, and we graciously agreed as we snatched them up into our arms that if there was something we didn't want, we'd offer it to the other. She had picked up this one, which has my favorite periwinkle blue in it. Shoot, I thought. But in the end she handed it over to me saying--sotto voce so the seller wouldn't hear--"You probably won't want it. It has holes in the middle of it."

I nodded with apparent understanding, but inside I was doing the happy dance: Who cares if it has holes in it? I love the pattern and colors, and I'll find something to do with it.

Well, I did. You see, the blue is the precise blue of my kitchen walls, and the kitchen has red accents. So I promptly made the holey cloth into valances. But here's my problem: I could only make two valances with the fabric and I have three windows. So, I am looking for another tablecloth in this pattern, preferably a "cutter" as I would be loathe to cut up a vintage cloth in fine condition.

At the very least, if you know what the pattern name is, please let me know. That way I can do a more efficient search for it. Searching for "vintage tablecloth red blue flowers" doesn't exactly narrow down the choices.

Yum

 

This is Melissa Averinos of Yummy Goods, sitting in her studio. Melissa is a fabric designer, artist, and all-around sweetie pie with a store to match, in West Barnstable, Mass., on Cape Cod. I was fortunate to be able to take a ride down to visit her and the shop to scout out the studio she has in the back. It took me a little while to get past the store part of the building. For a lover of all things vintage and adorable, it was definitely like being a kid in a candy store: from the coral pink walls to the vintage fabrics and linens, to the pearl-beaded cuffs, to the '50s-style potato dart guns.

 

The drive down was fun, too. Three hours to myself, round trip, and, "aided" by a mistake on Google directions, I ended up taking the scenic route for the last leg of the trip. Turned out to be truly scenic, with ice-swept shorelines, painted buoy bouquets dusted with snow, antique shoppes, and antique shingle-style houses one after another. I listened to a radio station that plays show tunes on the way down and NPR's "This American Life" on the way back. A perfect and much-needed break.

Be sure to check out Melissa's blog and, if you're anywhere near the Cape, stop in for something Yummy.

Winner & Seeing Red

OK, I lied. Yesterday was crazy with no time to pick a winner. Plus, the answers were all so good--who can decide?

I really loved "Go forth, create!" from Deb and "Be you, Momma," from Belinda. "Here's your wine"  from Ann and "I've got chocolate" from Jan cracked me up. (Jan, was that a bribe?) "Now I understand" from Lesley really pulled at my heartstrings, because it was one of the last things I said to my mother, and her response was, "Thank you, God!" I'm really glad I said it--when I did I had no idea she would soon be gone.

However, Lesley is into downsizing (read all about it in the Spring issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Studios magazine), so in honor of the inaguration, Martin Luther King Day, and the value of keeping a positive attitude in tough circumstances, I award the prize to Cat, whose three favorite words are, "Yes, I can!"

Cat, please contact me to receive your bag of vintage goodies and found objects! And thanks to everyone for participating. I loved the answers.

Now, for seeing red...

The hubster had a little time on his hands, so of course I set him to work. I have been wanting to paint our back stairway red for quite some time (almost immediately upon moving in 3 1/2 years ago), and the time finally came. And this is what I love about the way my husband works: He didn't just put paint on the wall, he prepped the cracked and pitted plaster until it looked like new, then took down the bannister and cleaned it, turning it from black (eewww) to its original light woodgrain. Honestly, it looks like a newly sanded piece of wood.

THEN he painted, and if you've never painted anything red before, let me tell you--it takes courage and tenacity, because at first it looks pink, and then, four coats later, you get the true color.

It's also very hard to pick a red. Some have more blue, some more yellow. Some are too brown, and it's really hard to tell, especially in different lights. I wanted a vintagey dark red with a hint of pink. This one looks completely different in natural light than in incandescent. However, I think we've got it. Now he's going to attack the trim with my favorite white--Ralph Lauren's Wash Basin. Then we have a funky plan for the stairs. More pix soon.

I can't wait to get in there and hang

Three Little Words

I once read that the three little words women long to hear most are: "You've lost weight." Alas, no one can say that to me, especially after the holiday season, when it seemed like I baked more than usual (which is a lot by most people's standards) and ate more than usual (ditto).

Part of the reason for the good and plentiful eats, however, was because my hub and I both had 12 days off, and we both like to cook and eat (though he stays thin--I like to say he eats and I gain the weight). Anyway, one of the benefits of us both being home with nowhere to rush off to in the morning is that I often awoke to my favorite three little words from hubby: "I made coffee."

And that got me thinking about other favorite three-word sentences.

From your mother: "I made cookies."

From your children: "Mom, I'm home."

From your girlfriends: "Let's have lunch." (Actually, the best would be a six-word sentence: "I know just what you mean.")

From your boss: "Here's your raise." (Or, in this economy, "Job well done" will suffice.)

From your child's teacher: "He's/She's a pleasure."

From your doctor: "Test results normal."

From your mechanic: "There's no charge." (Unless he's talking about the battery.)

So, what are your three favorite words? And from whom? Leave a comment and on Thursday I'll give away a little bag of vintage goodies/found objects to the winner.

Back with an announcement

I'm still regrouping from 12 days off from work, during which time I mainly baked, ate, slept, entertained, and wrapped. This week I'm making up for lost time at work. I feel like I'm already behind.

So, while I upload pix and gather my thoughts for a more involved post, let me invite you to listen to my interview on Craftcast with Allison Lee. We had a very fun conversation about Mixed-Media Self-Portraits during which we had an unofficial contest to see who could talk the fastest. Listen to the podcast here.

Thanks to everyone who bought the book for Christmas and who blogged about it. I really appreciate it!