Living graciously in another era

Wearing an elegant silk wrap with luxuriously long white fringe and embroidery ~~ perhaps to the opera or a ball.

Table settings with fine white linens, cutwork and lace
Dried roses and pewter

Your boudoir linens are personalized in old world script with your initials

Taking tea in fine and delicate china on lovely white linen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend Larry and I are taking the train from Exeter to Boston for the annual Boston Antiques Weekend being held in the convention center. Art, antiques, books, linens, textiles, period clothing, a fashion show and seminars ~~ and of course, all the vendors and potential for making wonderful, one-of-a-kind purchases. The exhibits and seminars are all weekend long but granddaughter, Victoria and her dad are joining us on Sunday afternoon. Larry and Michael are going to a Celtics game; Victoria and I are going to see Blue Man Group. Mostly, I am just thrilled to be spending time with my lady, Victoria. We come back home on Monday so all in all it promises to be a fine long weekend and the weather forecast is looking pretty good, too.


This is my sweet Victoria. Middle schooler, drama queen in every sense of the word, soccer & softball player, budding thespian, chorus member, honor roll student.

A special young lady.

I admit to bias.

I am entitled to brag.

INTIMATE NOTES!

Thanks,

Cloth, Paper, Scissors

for the inspiration

The winter issue featured a sweet little project that turned paper, ephemera and bits of stuff into note pads fashioned after purses. Several weekends ago, I spent a weekend afternoon playing in my studio/playroom to see what might emerge.

In the studio, I keep a basket of paper, fabric, trim and fiber off-cuts from other projects. I also put parts of previous projects that didn't quite make it because one never knows when a piece of this or that turned on its head might be just what is needed for a new venture.

I started this project by gathering my antique and reproduction ephemera ~~ the basket of stuff, and added some new contemporary designs just for the fun of it!

As it quite obvious, this is a black and white purse using card stock for the covers and plain text weight white paper for the inside. The purse has a strap of black rick-rack.

This purse is about the same size as the one above, black with an oriental theme. The Japanese lettering came to me a paper band around fat quarter of fabric ~~ too good to let go. Along the bottom is a metallic trim from India. The feather is real. The handle is gold metallic ribbon. The inside pages are white text weight paper. I really like the look of this one.

This little purse/note pad is very tiny and is made from decorative contemporary paper.
The image is part of an antique greeting card. The handle is made of silk fibers which also embellishes her cap.
A little bottom row of lace completes the picture.
Inside pages are text weight pastel colored paper.
She might be my favorite ~~ I just love her rosy cheeks and the dove resting on her arm.

Here is another very tiny one.
The black silk cording that I used for a handle is embellished with a hand-crafted fabric bead which unfortunately did not photograph well. This was a fun project and the little note pads can be used as small gifts or favors or tucked into a card or letter.

I have a passion for collecting

Antique Linens

These are elegant white work

with cutwork and padded satin stitching
in various sizes to grace the dining table.

Old books that have been held and loved by others:

There is something wonderful about small leather volumes
that just fit in the hand or slide easily into pocket or purse.

I am fascinated by the personal inscriptions

written in spidery black ink. It must be the hidden voyeur in me.

I love period clothing, especially the Edwardian Era.

Above is a lovely child's silk cape and matching dress
in a quiet peach-y color

I am passionate about vintage ephemera

and use it in altered books and fabric postcards

Vintage China & Glass

that once graced Victorian tables.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My linens, books, clothing, china and glass have been selling at the

Poppy Seed Studio
in
Somersworth New Hampshire

A really fabulous little shop that features

• the work of local and regional artisans
• vintage clothing - hats, bags, jewelry, gowns & furs
• unique & unusual gifts

Ah for the wearin' o' the green.

Today my world is covered in frosty white. Yesterday's winter storm blew through New Hampshire dropping about a foot of snow on the coast. The day is dark and dreary; the trees are somber in their gray/black against a stormy bleak sky.

A sweet site in my neighborhood today is a little tyke helping mom to shovel -- scratch at the snow he goes, swing high the shovel, dance a sort of jig, twirl and try to move the snow and start it all over again.

In the recent past, we moved our snow around the 'old fashioned way' -- with shovel and muscle. Last year, we became the proud owners of a snow blower/thrower. We look very x-urban like all our neighbors. A small bow to conventionality.

Not only for the wearin' of the green. At noon today, I'll start the traditional St. Paddy's Day dinner of corned beef and caggage .

Oh but my recipe (or, I humbly confess, one that I found on the net a few years ago and has become 'mine) uses beer, white beans and lots of wonderful aromatic spices. In the pot it will go to simmer slowly all afternoon infusing every corner of the house with blissful blessings. That and an apple cake. Oh heaven.

Today is for playing. In the last few months, I have been 'product-oriented' and while it has been enjoyable, it is time to play with my toys just to see what emerges.

My recent 'products' are wearable art jackets that are for sale at Poppy Seed Studio in Somersworth on the main street and owned by Sherry and Jeff Pratt two really special people. Sherry is a jewelry designer and afficionado of all things antique and collectable. Her shop is joy filled with the work of local and regional artisans, fabulous gifts, antique furniture, new and antique jewelry and vintage clothing. In Sherry's Studio are also housed some of my antique linens, some wonderful vintage books, some vintage glass and china from my collections.

Cheers.

Make it a great day!!

"Let your life lightly dance

on the edges of time

like dew

on the tip of a leaf."

Rabindranath Tagore

Indian Poet & Novelist & Philosopher

(1891-1941)

What could be nicer than a holiday to celebrate love?

Lovely Hearts: On Saturday, we went to the Lovely Hearts exhibit at artstream gallery where more than 100 artists submitted work for the event were on display. One half of the purchase price of the art work was donated to breast cancer research. The show was a good success with many visitors and lots of purchases of one-of-a-kind art work. Sister Donna, husband Tim and daughter Sarah drove up from Massachusetts to attend the show with us (Donna had two pieces on exhibit). What a treat to spend the evening with them!

And, best of all: The show is still on via the gallery's website: www.artstreamstudios.com ~~~ you still have a chance to support breast cancer research and an artist.

CLL Forum: Yesterday was the first anniversary of an international forum designed to provide support and information for people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In just 12 months time, the CLL Forum, has attracted over 1,000 members from all around the world. It was a life-saver for me last summer when I was diagnosed with CLL. There is just no way that I could have learned so much so fast and felt such warmth and encouragement without the Forum. It was started by volunteers who are also living with the disease; it is operated and moderated by folks from around the globe. www.cllforum.com

A Nor-easter today: A powerful winter storm blew into the northeast today and it has been snowing and blowing all day long. In fact, the weather advisory says that blizzard conditions will continue throughout the night and into the daylight hours. A definite problem for florists, restauranteurs, and others who were standing ready to help lovers celebrate.

I always find myself at odds during a stormy day like today. At 6s and 7s as the British authors say. It was difficult to concentrate on projects. I kept up a vigil on the weather .....

Valentine Evening at home: We were snow-bound today in New Hampshire. Literally didn't move an inch as the snow continued falling all day long and winds up to 50 miles/hour blew it around and around making visibility beyond a few feet nearly impossible.

Anticipating the storm's arrival, I brought in all the ingredients for an Italian spaghetti feast for tonight. The sauce simmered all day long. The aromas were fantastic! Larry made Bellini cocktails before dinner; the wine was a Spanish Rioja and the food was sublime.

Love is in the air.......

Collections: bit and pieces

4x6

Silk

lace fragments

antique buttons

and new

a scrap of antique text:

assembled on my worktable

a miniature art quilt

Today's Quote from Anais Nin

The years march ever forward through the decades
it is absolute and concrete

but we are as infants
attempting
faltering
stumbling
through life's lessons

Expecting completion with chronological benchmarks

Beautiful
Turn-of-the-century White Work

A wedding dress of white batiste
fragile, soft, feminine
Embellished with heavily padded white work

We were at an auction preview when I saw these fragments of wedding fabric. They were in an old, not very attractive frame. Just sitting on a non-descript bench among other relics from other folks' past.

The framed fabric pieces did not seem to be generating interest. Except for me: I was drawn to it ~~ captivated by its untold stories.

The fabric did not come up for bid until late in the auction. When the bidding opened, there was no competition. It had, I suppose, limited extrinsic value. But for me its value was not monetary. Its value lies in its past and the questions it evokes.

Who wore this dress?
What happened to the rest of the dress?
To the marriage?

I was the only bidder and purchased the fabric for a small sum.

I don't know its truth but I know its essence.

When this you see, remember me.

This quilt was hand-made in the late 19th or very early 20th century. Tiny scraps of colorful cottons are sprinkled over the once-white background. I imagine the maker, a woman, a surrounded by her sewing basket and a collection of fabrics saved and ready. Perhaps she sits in a great-room by a fire. She lifts each piece of cotton, turning it over and over; some are selected, others are saved for another day another quilt.

She cut the selected fabric scraps into little half-square triangles of red and blue and black. Small prints on cotton. Checks and plaids. Each little triangle is sewn by hand and it is quilted with hand stitches. If you look closely, you can see the stitches that were made with pride to keep a family warm and safe.

This quilted was was made to last.

Now here and there the dyes have run onto the white background. And in several spots the print has fallen out of or escaped from the fabric leaving only a trace, a memory of what came before. But I am not bothered by these signs of age and loving use.

This quilt wears its age with grace.

And yes, we do remember.

A frost-bound day, gray & cold, in New Hampshire . . . . temps hovering around zero.

Bits and Pieces:In email correspondence with Beate yesterday, Beate said to watch the mail for a complimentary gift of unique art. I was one of the "first five" to post a comment on her blog and thus, one of the winners. Beate, who is photographer in Dusseldorf, is also a very creative and prolific fiber artist making fabric postcards and now, mixed media art.

More email correspondence from my sister Donna, an artist living in Massachusetts, who told me that she submitted two pieces of art to the Lovely Hearts exhibit at artstream. Way to go, Girl. She and her daughter, Sarah, will attend the opening which features not only art but cocktails and chocolate. One half the proceeds of the sale of art will be donated to breast cancer research. I had an opportunity to introduce Donna to artstream co-owners, Susan and Rainer, at a fund-raising dinner in November, something I had wanted to do for a while.

Last weekend, we drove down to Templeton in Massachusetts to see a high school production of My Fair Lady. Our granddaughter, Victoria, who is a middle-schooler, was in the play. Those kids did a fabulous job of acting their little hearts out.

Victoria is one of those very special kids: she plays soccer and basketball and softball ~~ sings in the school chorus ~~ has been in three senior high school theatrical productions ~~ and, is an honor roll student.

...... an ocean storm is predicted for tonight and tomorrow.

Snow out at sea will undoubtedly cause huge sea swells.

We'll go down with cameras hopefully to record for the blog.

Stay tuned.

THE WRITER

. . . . .is my sister, Michelle

This image is the inside spread of a booklet I made recently celebrating my Michelle who is a writer and English professor. That is Michelle on the right side of the spread. Yes, smoking a cigar. The picture was taken during a vacation on the beach in Maine.

What a strange winter season we are experiencing here on the coast of New Hampshire: only two very small, nearly insignificant snow falls and lots and lots of days in the 30s, 40s and even some in the 50s. Today we have a clear blue sky with high winds but mild temps in the 40s.

Just yesterday, I learned that I was among the lucky first five on Beate's blog and that a unique piece of art is on its way to me. My responsibility is to put the same challenge on my blog ~~~ paying it forward, as they say. Who are 'they' anyway??? Oh well but it is a great idea and I will; I am, that is.

So, to the first five readers of my blog who post a comment, you will receive a unique piece of art from me.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

This has been a wonderful season of friends, family, entertainment, cooking and sharing. We rang in the season with a trip to the North Shore Music Theater for an absolutely fabulous production of The Christmas Carol and the Friday before the Day, we saw The Irish Tenors and enjoyed a lavish evening of song: their voices filled the Rochester Music Hall with joy!

Stephen and Joann (who live in Seattle) were with us for 5 days prior to Christmas. On the 17th, we had an early Christmas party with them, Amy, Mike, Victoria and Anthony. We prepared a glorious buffet of traditional family foods and some new recipes as well.

Christmas Day was joyous, indeed, as Shelly, Katherine, Esther (age 5), Ari and Noah (9months) came up for the day. What joy! A grand day! A great feast that was topped of with 'steamed pudding', a Spiller family tradition.

I have the great gift of working in a loving environment that has lots of spontaneous holiday cheer as well as the organized variety.

We'll cap off the season with dinner and a show at the Stone Church on Saturday night where Bill Morrissey is playing; he is one of our favorite folk artists. And of course, there's New Year's Eve; we, however, are not party-goers so we'll stay in with a festive meal and champagne.

One very nice slice of Christmas joy came from Artella -- the on-line e-zine. The folks at Artella offered a holiday swap and I signed up for it. Yesterday, the mailman brought an artistic creation by Sherry from Tennessee. You can see it at the top of this post. Imagination IS more important than knowledge. The body of the little person is articulated; his arms read: "Think Big". His head is an old, rusted bottlecap. It will find a spot by my desk at work. Sherry is a very creative woman; I visited her blogs (stillwatersstudio.blogspot and stillwatersart.blogspot). On a very interesting and unusual note, Sherry makes art from found objects and leaves the items anonymously in restaurants, rest rooms, the gym where she works out and other places! Fun. Probably makes the day for the reclaimers!!!

SINGING WITH A FULL VOICE!

That's the title of my second altered book. It's a very personal book. A strong personal representation of who I am and what I was thinking and feeling in the summer/autumn 2006. This altered book, its title and thematic presentation grew from an antique book that I found in Larry's stash: THE WARRIOR GIRLS.

In this book, I painted on: paper, antique lace, paper towels, antique doilies, photographs and magazine photos and pictures downloaded from the internet. I used plain old craft store acrylics and lovely Jacquard products. Alcohol inks. Water colors. Colored pencils. Fabric. Machine embroidered pieces. Found objects. Beads. Buttons. Fibers. Stamps. Leaves printed on hand-dyed fabric. And, ephemera from my stash. Text and quotes from my collections by favorite authors.

This page celebrates the Triple Moon Goddess: the maiden, the mother and crone.

The completed altered book has been entered into a local art show; I really pushed to meet the deadline. Well, it felt like a push because completion ~~ saying it was complete ~~ was like giving birth: the time had come even tho' I wasn't totally ready. And, even as I submitted the book for the show, I was thinking, "Well, I can make these changes later ~~ when I get it back....." Looking at it today in the show, I couldn't remember what I wanted to change...........

In my haste to get the book into the show, I forgot to take photos for the blog. So today the photos were taken in haste and without only indoor, overhead lighting: some pages and spreads did not make the cut for my blog.

I gessoed on the old record book paper and then painted over it, and over it in many layers to get the kind of texture I wanted.

This spread is actually 4 pages ~~ the two in the center are cut and folded and are doorways into Artemis' Island.

Quite a bit of the focus of my book is "Artemis". Goddess and Protector of Maidens. Of Mother's in Childbirth. Of wildlife. I have had a fascination with Artemis for many years. She is known as the Virgin Goddess but actually that title really referred to her INDEPENDENCE!


I went to Greece just before my fiftieth birthday. Alone. Solitary. Spent 3 weeks in Leros, one of the tiny islands in the Dodocanese (actually closer to Turkey than to Greece. Twelve hours by ferry from Athens.

Leros is known as Artemis' Island.

Some images of Leros today.

Being in Greece was a JOYFUL time.
I felt completely satisfied with myself, in my solitude.
Curious.
Brave.
Daring.
I loved it!

Few English speakers on Leros. Not a popular vacation spot for Americans. Lots of Scandinavians. Germans. So I was nearly totally silent except for the few Greek phrases I learned and the lovely 16 year old Leros girl who loved practicing her English with me.

This spread is based on text about looking at the moon, solitary.....and knowing oneself wholly, in every aspect.


This spread presents a visualization of the question: "how might you have been different if you had" an older woman or women who helped you through you growing up, your growing into adulthood. It comes from a wonderful book by a Jungian (oh, but now I can't think of its title). I used to buy this book in multiples to give away to my women friends. Who then followed my lead and either passed it along or purchased another for other friends.

This is an important message to me/for me: a personal mythology, I suppose.

This is actually the first spread in the book.

Hecate is the image on this page.

The last page in the book; reminiscent of the Venus of Willendorf.
A reminder of how important it is to love our bodies.
Irrespective of what body type is "selling" on
Madison Avenue,
in Vogue,
in Cosmo,
or anywhere.

An Exercise in AB-Making

This book was the inspiration for me to enter the world of altered books.

You should know that this was my first attempt after thinking about, reading about altering old books. And of course Larry is a collector of old and fine books so I have an almost endless supply. Which is just where I found this book, The Girl Warriors.

I suppose I was feeling a bit of a warrior this summer. And, indeed, the AB project seemed to offer just what I needed: something that could be fitted into whatever amount of time I was able to muster for my studio.

Let it also be known that I am someone who begins projects with a great deal of excitement. Which has a way of falling off. And the project becomes a UFO: unfinished object. But don't ask how many; I never tell! Anyway, this summer, I discovered a new patience for problem-solving and perseverance for completion with this altered book. Why? Don't know. But I think of it as a great gift. Among several that I received this summer season . . . . .

The summer of my altered book and gifts was also a summer of learning new lessons. "And this is the rest of the story". Now who used to say that on the radio? A bit conservative for my taste but I did like that almost-crying-voice that said those words. Oh, where was I. Oh the summer of lessons.

1. Chugging along on the AB but feeling constrained by the tight binding and in the interest of "art" I ripped the entire text block out of the spine. That's lesson #1: if you don't know how to get the text block back in, don't rip it out!
2. Working on the unconstrained pages I just tripped right along. And, discovered that two pages would make terrific inside front and back pages. Impatient novice that I am, I adhered them both. That is lesson #2. Don't! It seriously limits your cover options. Who Knew!!!
3. With the number of pages I wanted complete, I searched around for a way to get the pages back into the spine. And found a Japanese valley fold type of binding. A wonderful idea. For a Japanese book. Not mine. That type of binding is too tight; I couldn't open the spreads sufficiently to view my work. This really belongs to lessons # 1 and 2, suppose as does the following.
4. So, I invented my own type of valley fold binding -- but it didn't work. Two times!
5. Along the way somewhere, I covered and embellished the old book and think I did a great job.
6. But of course, its an empty book; it has no pages ~~~~~ just a spine and altered covers!!!!!! Huh????

So, here's where I am now. This is over-long, I think but here goes.....

• I abandoned the wonderful altered covers. I will get backt to them one day; promise.
• I prepared pages in a new-old book.
• The new-old book is one that I've saved for a long time: it has a sewn-in text block, leather trim, the words, "Newspaper Clippings" in gilted script.
• This book is smaller in overall dimensions, so the altered pages must be RE-altered. Hmmmmm????
• But that gave me another go at "Pentimento" ~~
• The new book is nearly done and I WILL post pix.

Of course, since my obsession with re-binding the first book, I came across Lisa Volrath's instructions for removing and re-binding the text block!!!! on the Yahoo Altered Book Group.

But what stopped me from thinking outside the BOX during all that angst? I mean who said those "pages" had to be in a book. With covers? And it's just come to me that I could have created a wallhanging with them using any number of ways to string them together. Eyelets and fibers. Wire. Leather. Beads.