For the longest time I just had the wooden heart bowl. And then one day I bought a small carved wooden heart. It ended up in the wooden bowl and then of course a few months later I bought another wooden heart which joined the first. So when I saw the small striped heart at Arts Night Out last week I knew where it belonged.
“My home is a maximalist paradise awash with mesmerizing discoveries.” says Nanette Lepore in the latest Traditional Home (September 2015).
I found this quote a few minutes before heading out to Artwalk Easthampton where we stopped by the Thread Arts Collective and were introduced to the work of Eli Helman and his “maximalist pen and ink illustrations.” I purchased a card of “Guitar” – a mesmerizing discovery and a great addition to our guitar illustration collection!
My first stop during Sidewalk Sales is always the Smith College Museum of Art tent. I found this gourd giraffe in the bargain bin for only $3.00.
I tried him on the top of the china cabinet with the other gourd animals but realized he definitely needed his own display area. The recently resurrected CD cabinet turned out to be perfect.
Another find at the museum was a tin paisley heart. I’m putting it away for Valentine’s day but first I paired it with a heart I made several years ago which never came down after this Valentine’s Day.
After the museum, I headed downtown for all the usual stops. For the second year in a row, I tried on a dress at the Artisan Gallery but ended up buying a pair of shoes. Could this be a new tradition?
When my long distance granddaughter got a play kitchen for her birthday, I thought it would be fun to make her some felt food. I started my felt food crafting with needle felted fried eggs.
Then I made some needle felted pancakes topped with butter.
I keep finding new inspiration:
Peanut Butter Cookies – I just had to make these, I love the fork lines.
Tortilla Chips – I saw similar ones at a craft show and thought how fun!
Bow Tie Pasta – One day I realized these would be really fun to make with pinking shears.
Broccoli and BowTies – one of our favorite actual dinners recreated in felt. The sun dried tomatoes and broccoli are needle felted. This is just the beginning…
One of the three shelves on the wall next to my side of the bed. From left: a New Orleans tomb from my sister Dorothy and her husband Tom, a candle holder with a bird on it from Nonotuck teacher Michelle, a frog candleholder, a picture of husband Paul and I, another frog candleholder, a picture of Paul as a teenager in a frame that used to have a baby picture of my father in it, the small cedar souvenier jewelry box I bought at Lost Colony as a child (its top is open and it is overflowing with pins), an owl candleholder from niece Emily, a little ceramic owl that was in my stocking one year, a picture of teenage Paul and me (you really can’t see this or the tiny box from Denver friend Louise in front of it or the little purse with a beautiful embroidered peacock from friend Jen behind it) and a glass box with a bird on it from former Nonotuck parent Becky.
The top of the bookcase in the upstairs hall. The framed pictures of New Orleans were taken by my father. The apple is from a Nonotuck parent (as the director I was their teacher), the metal hand which says Hope underneath is by Bill “Hillbilly” Healy (we bought it in Brattleboro), in front of it is a felted fuzzy wuzzy I bought at a fiber fair, and next to that a carved wooden mouse I bought at the Chicago Christmas Market, behind them a carved wooden alligator from Africa that we bought from a booth at the Poconos Blues Festival, on the right side the two button blocks from the Country Living Fair and a vase Jen gave me for Christmas filled with tulips from Nonotuck Sandy.
The shelf in the downstairs bathroom with sun tiles mostly purchased in Texas, tiny flowerpots, a candle in a sunflower base from a Nonotuck family, and a small glass box from Nonotuck teacher Maria. And this week’s cup is from Molly’s wedding hospitality basket.
In her book, “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?”, Roz Chast explores many aspects of aging parents including dealing with their stuff. She writes, “It’s no accident that most ads are pitched to people in their 20’s and 30’s…they are less likely to have gone through the transformative process of cleaning out their deceased parent’s stuff. Once you go through that, you can never look at YOUR stuff in the same way. You start to look at your stuff a little postmortemistically.” And it’s true, lately when I look at my collection of mermaids instead of counting and categorizing them by color of tail, item they are holding, covered breasts or not, etc. I categorize them by labeled box: “Mermaid – Ornaments”, “Mermaid – Figurines”, “Mermaid – Framed Pictures”, “Mermaid – Bath Toys”,”Mermaid – Pottery” on down to “Mermaid – misc.” I am hopeful, I guess, that they will not be consigned to unlabeled trash bins so I haven’t stopped collecting them yet!
Roz Chast
I waited to wear white till today when we went to the Memorial Day Parade, but going to our first outdoor concert yesterday was the beginning of our main summer activity. Sugar Ray and the Blue Tones were the perfect band to kick it off.
And since they were at The Paradise City Art Festival we also did a little shopping. A mermaid from Moon Angel Designs was the first thing to catch my eye. I purchased that right away, of course. The little blue chicadee required a little more thought but when Sugar Ray sang a song about a bluebird, I knew it was destined for the small bird tile collection in our kitchen .
http://www.moonangeldesigns.com
I just finished the book “Do Not Sell At Any Price” which is subtitled “The wild, obsessive hunt for the world’s rarest 78 rpm records”. Amanda Petrusich, who gets bitten by the bug herself, profiles several collectors and then offers her theories on OCPD and autism to explain their obsession.
While I am not in the same league as 78 record collectors – rarity not being a factor of my collection “obsession”, I identified with the sentiment expressed by Harry Smith, who collected Ukranian Easter eggs, string figures (like cat’s cradle), Seminole textiles, and anything shaped like a hamburger (not sure what this means!) as well as 78’s. He reportably was constantly informing people that their belongings were better off in his collection, “It should be in my collection, it shouldn’t be in your collection.”
While my hunt may not be as thrilling as the quest for rare records and often just involves walking down the street, I know when things belong in one of my collections. This weekend it was a sun in the local head shop window.
I loved the rays and was intrigued by the eyes. It obviously belonged in my bathroom sun collection.
Even though it snowed on the first day of Spring you can tell it’s here. The days are noticeably longer and the sap is running. Yesterday we ventured to the tiny hilltown of Chester for the afternoon of the annual Maple Fest. We took a tractor pulled hayride to Jameson’s sugar shack.
Today we cut a branch to decorate. Due to the snowy conditions we had limited choices and we have no idea whether or not it will produce any leaves or flowers. It is also smaller with weaker branches than usual, so it has less ornaments but I think we got a good selection of eggs, bugs, shamrocks, maple syrup related ornaments, etc.
Collections and Other Stuff I Like 