Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Chicago This Week

Sounds like the title of a new morning TV show, doesn't it?  "Chicago This Week," starring Kathy Tracy-- join her as she rediscovers the city of her birth . . . on foot. But today it rained. No walking or exploring outside for me. My hair frizzes up when it rains.


I figure as long as I have to drive into the city a couple of times a week, which will considerably cut into my time to quilt and also won't give me much else to talk about for awhile, I might as well take you all along for company . . . .




       

I was going to but forgot to bring along my hand quilting as we were rushing out the door this morning, so I went to a nearby bookstore to spend some time.

                          

Found a warm, quiet place to sit and read and think and watch the rain for an hour.


To be sure, there are many, many very crummy, gritty parts of the city, but I love this particular Chicago with its clean streets and old buildings mixed with fancy new ones. Reminds me of  when I was 18 and had a summer job downtown working at the Chicago Tribune, always hopping on or off a bus or rushing up and down the street with everyone else, almost all grown up but not quite.


Did a little inside exploring instead. Look what I found. (Did you really think I wouldn't check??)


What a surprise. That's the first time I've EVER seen one of my books in a major bookstore. Who knew any place other than quilts shops or hobby stores carried it?


Walked to the Water Tower Place mall after. Took the glass elevator up to the 7th floor and walked a few laps down and around.


I get slightly claustrophobic in elevators and last week almost panicked when we were "stuck" in a very small one between floors for more than a few minutes. Very creepy. I wish all elevators were glass elevators. Those aren't so bad. But, all in all, considering the rain and the traffic, the commute back home (to the puddle that's in my backyard) wasn't bad at all. Maybe because I remembered to buy Strawberry Twizzlers . . . .

                               


Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

A very Happy Mother's Day to one and all!


"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother"  ~Abraham Lincoln

(If only we didn't have to wait until they became president for them to realize this . . . )


 I finally got one of those mini applique irons that everyone else has . . .

"It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't." ~Barbara Kingsolver


When she was about 12 and we were going through a particularly difficult period (and, if I recall, she didn't like me very much), my daughter wrote me a Mother's Day poem, LOL. Can't remember what we were fighting about, probably homework. . . . I keep a copy of this on my sewing room wall. Here's an excerpt:

"You are there when I laugh
There when I cry
Nothing can stop you
From making me try.
Pushing me through
Sometimes over the edge
We'll always be friends
To that I can pledge.
At times it seems hard
Especially when we fight
You think l'm wrong
I think I'm right.
It doesn't make sense
But neither does love
Like that of an angel
Sent from above."

There's more, but you get the point. Ah, mothers and daughters . . .  At least she got some of her angst out in a creative way. We're better now, some days, at least.


I have a son, too, and he recently turned 21. Where oh where does the time go?? One of my favorite pictures of us, taken just several days after being inducted into "Momhood."  Is that really my hair?? I'm so old now I can't remember if it was a perm or that wonderful thing that happens to your hair in pregnancy . . .

He looks very content, doesn't he? They say babies don't actually smile when they're only a couple of days old, probably just gas everyone said. But I know better . . . 


I started sewing some half-square triangles from scraps a few weeks ago when I was bored. No special pattern. I love simple triangle quilts, so I'll probably just put them together into a little one. Maybe I'll have a little time to get some more of them finished today.


"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom."  ~Henry Ward Beecher



"The mother loves her child most divinely, not when she surrounds him with comfort and anticipates his wants, but when she resolutely holds him to the highest standards and is content with nothing less than his best."  ~Hamilton Wright


Have a good one.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Busy Week

This week I am finishing up the first edit of the pages and illustrations for the new book--can't divulge the title yet. The pages have been edited by my editors and now it's my turn to go through them and add anything or make any changes. The next version I see will be the page proofs, probably this summer. That part is very exciting--to see the layout and design of pages with photos. My publisher has the quilts to be able to photograph them and I've almost forgotten what they look like!

Everybody's making pink and brown quilts these days and there'll be one in the book too.

I tried to make every quilt in the book inspiring in some way and that's not always easy. I wanted them to be simple enough for beginners to make and yet also give experienced quilters patterns that are, if not exactly challenging, at least interesting. There also will be a few sewing accessories, which are always fun.

Here's my basket of scraps, leftovers from the book quilts--I still haven't cleaned it out yet.

In addition to making sure I finish up the book stuff I have lots of other things that are keeping me busy these days. My 16-year-old daughter has been having problems with herniated discs in her back for over a year that have gotten much worse in the last few months. It's been very stressful to see her in so much pain and not be able to participate in activities that she used to enjoy--she was a terrific soccer player for years and years. She's seen several doctors and has gone through two rounds of physical therapy which sometimes seems to aggravate it more. The latest doctor recommended a Physical Therapy/pain management program for adolescents which sounds promising and is supposed to have a good recovery success  rate. It happens to be located in downtown Chicago, which is not really a big problem for me--but we live at least 45 minutes away when traffic is good.

                           

The program is four hours twice a week plus the commute, which means it will take up a decent part of my week as I will be driving her on those days. Since it doesn't make sense to fight traffic and go back home after I drop her off, I am stuck waiting downtown for hours at a time while she is going through the program for the next few weeks or months.

                        

Don't get me wrong, I love the city. I was born and raised in Chicago and have always lived near it. My husband came with us yesterday and after meeting with the doctors and being introduced to the specifics of the program, we handed her over and took off for a few hours.

                        

I spent my twenties living in an apartment in the city before I met my husband, married, had kids and then moved out to the suburbs. Although we occasionally travel into the downtown area, it's usually for an event---a concert, play or a work-related dinner for my husband--and so it's not that often that I get a chance to just roam around without a plan.

                            

The physical therapy place is down the block from the American Girl Place--I had to stop and look for old times' sake. We were lucky to be able to have that store nearby to visit when my daughter was younger--she'd bring her favorite doll and we'd shop and have lunch in the American Girl cafe, running into girls from all over the country on trips to do the same thing. Oh the memories of my sweet baby girl playing with dolls!

                            


                                


                               
The doll with the sunglasses sitting next to the dog looks like my Caitie!

From there we stopped for coffee and a snack and then walked all the way to the Chicago History Museum.

                               
                               

Chicago has some great neighborhoods and it's been years since I've walked through them instead of hastily driving past on my way to somewhere else. Luckily, it was a beautiful day.

                                

                               
Beautiful vintage architecture mixed with skyscrapers in the background.

                                   
                                            
Only the very rich can afford to live on Astor Street.


                                        
The History Museum

                                          
                                             
No visit to the Chicago History Museum is compete without seeing the exhibit on the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed much of the city, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless.
                                     
                                   
                                   

This doll really intrigued me and I wondered about her role in the Fire.
                                      

"During the Great Chicago Fire, 6-yr-old Charlotte McNally and her family fled for their lives. She carried her doll to safety and decades later donated it to the Chicago History Museum."

Then it was time to walk back and pick up my daughter. The walking did us some good and helped our stress levels a bit. If I hadn't been so worried about her I'd say it turned out to be a pretty good day. Wonder where I'll go in the coming weeks?

                                       
                                                  

Friday, April 30, 2010

A Civil War Doll

A few weeks ago I visited  some antique stores. There was a doll shop nearby. Like many women, I've always had a special place in my heart for dolls--particularly the dolls I played with as a child. This store had every doll you could imagine. 


It's overwhelming to see all the different dolls when you first walk in. Do you see one from your childhood?



My sister loved Kewpie dolls as a child.


As I was talking to the shop manager about quilts, she asked me if I'd like to see a Civil War quilt and doll. Have you ever heard of a Topsy-Turvy doll? When I saw a  reproduction of this type of doll designed by Gail Wilson  a few years ago, I fell in love with it. According to Gail's website, "it's a double-ended doll. There's a black doll and a white doll on either end as it is believed that early examples were originally created during Civil War times for the children of families who often played with their slave children counterparts and so both dolls were represented and probably sewn by black slave women."


[A side note: Gail designed some of the cloth dolls that appear in my first 2 books. I tried making one myself one day but it became apparent that I should stick to making quilts . . . .]

Aren't these lovely?


Here's the antique Topsy-Turvy doll that the shop acquired from an estate sale--it's behind glass and framed with a portion of a small-scale quilt behind it. Sorry, but the lighting was awful and the doll was hanging high on the wall behind glass so I really couldn't get a good photo. I had to stand on a wobbly child's chair to get this one and almost fell over before I was done. Not very smart for someone who's prone to breaking ankles . . .


According to a website on historical folk dolls, these are considered controversial dolls by some with the authentic Topsy-Turvy doll featuring a black doll with a headscarf on one end and a white doll with an antebellum-style dress on the other end. The black doll could represent a maid, slave or servant and the white doll could represent the master's child or the mistress of the house.

"The original Topsy-Turvy dolls were created before the Civil War in the Southern United States on plantations where slavery was prominent. Arguments arise as to whether the dolls were made for the slave children to play with or whether they were made for the white children who lived in the plantation house.

"With one identity on one side and an opposite identity when flipped, slave children could have played with their prohibited black doll and then flipped it to the white doll when the master was around. Others believe that the double-ended dolls were made for white children with the black doll used as a maid for their other dolls."

According to Stephanie V. Siek, this doll "was a mirror of the African-American woman's life. She took care of white children, but had children of her own -- the white child is present when the black child is invisible, the black child is present when the white child is invisible."

Kimberly Wallace-Sanders thinks that Topsy-Turvy dolls were made by the black mammies to represent the two categories of children they took care of: the white master's children verses their own. After the Civil War, the white side of the doll was identified as that of a child, while the black doll suggested the black mammy caretaker.


It's interesting to think about the connection between dolls and quilts from the past--there's so much we really don't know. I'll tell you all about MY favorite collectible doll in a week or two. It's from the more recent past, but there's been a lot of controversy surrounding this one too!

.

Related Posts with Thumbnails