Really Noticing the Art in Our Homes

On a Friday in Ponte Vedra, far from the chill and ice of home, my family gathered in the oceanfront home of my Aunt Diane. We were far from the dining room table, from our books, from our schedules. But we were in full learning mode. We had a mission.

(That's a museum chair Nick. Careful.)

My aunt is the founder of the Thomas and Diane D Jacobsen Foundation; both her home and her office are hung with museum quality art. We had spent the previous day in the office, where Aunt Diane and her assistant Kelley gave us a tour of the more contemporary art hung there and illuminated the fine points of the "Art of Seating" chair collection which is traveling museums across the country. We had the opportunity to better understand how furniture, while certainly functional, is art itself. Kelley's children were there, too and we all were able to spend all the time we wanted to get up close and personal with some amazing art.

When Kelley asked us to meet her at my aunt's home the next day to help her with a project, we were all glad to go. Our assignment was to help write a scavenger hunt for various ages who might come tour the art in the home. School groups and adult fundraisers have been known to walk through each room, taking in the vast collection of mostly American art. Kelley thought we could help come up with some clues to send art lovers off on a search. 

I took Sarah and Mike took Karoline and the rest were on their own. We went from room to room, looking carefully at paintings, sculpture, and furniture, and recording clues that might lead a keen observer to find "our" art. We noticed that Sarah was drawn to dancers and is a big fan of sculpture. One of her clues was "The dancer who couldn't find her leotard." You can see the dancer on the table below.

(This painting was a huge favorite. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is the bedtime story of choice.)

We spent a couple of hours sitting in the living room, soaking up the view of the ocean outside and listening to Kelley and Diane as they applauded our clues and then told us so much more about everything we saw inside.

Most of us don't live in homes hung with fine art. But almost all of us live in homes with pictures on the wall and statues on the tables. How carefully do we look at the details of the art that graces our homes? One afternoon, gather all ages and send each child off with a pencil and paper. Challenge them write a clue about a favorite piece of art. And then another and another. Framed prints, photographs, folk art and embroidery, statues, even pottery can be considered. You do it, too. The idea is to look closely and notice.

Notice.  

(Needlepoint on a stool? Hmmm. Coming soon to a Virginia home we all know.)

Then, come together. Read one clue at a time aloud and see who can guess which piece it describes. Does anyone have something additional to add about that art? Is there a question raised that would prompt follow-up research? 

(That's the "Girl in the Red Shawl," my personal favorite, and Man with the Red Solo Cup, my other personal favorite.)

Often the familiar items that surround us almost every day go nearly unnoticed by the people who live with them. It is amazing how much we can appreciate the familiar when we take the time to really notice.

Pin It

Pretty Pillow Tutorial

 

I've been so looking forward to joining Sarah and Pam for Pinning it Down! Every Tuesday, they host a linking party so we can see what's happening in the real world after people pin great ideas to Pinterest. Sarah's hosting today. Do go visit; she's about to have a baby, so welcoming visiting bloggers is the perfect hostessing for her to do.

Pinterest is my favorite social network. Really. I just peruse eye candy. Conversation is lowkey and always friendly and I really do pin things that I turn around and do. Pinterest inspires me and lulls me into believing that if I can see it and I can pin it, I can do it. I might be delusional, but for now, it's working.

A few months back, I pinned an image of a pretty log cabin pillow from Soule Mama's site to my quilting pin board. The pillow caught my eye because it's made of Little Folks Voile. I love Little Folks so much that I have an entire pin board dedicated to just Little Folks Quilts. And I just might have a sketch of my own Little Folks Quilt (but it's a surprise, so shhh...) I like Amanda's pillow.

We have no throw pillows in our house. The dog ate all the covers. The dog now resides with Kristin. They're great friends. He's a very happy dog. Please, don't judge.

So, I've been thinking about all these naked pillow forms that I've stripped of their dog-chewed covers.

When I was stitching my Loulouthi cross stitch, various and every family member had an opinion. They ranged from "why bother?" to "what is that?" 

Because it's beautiful.

and

A Curated Bloom.

Those are the answers to the above questions.

One Monday morning I woke up so frustrated with the lot of them that I was determined to make something beautiful just to smooth my own ruffled feathers. I pulled from all the loveliness I'd stashed with Christmas money: the needlework to be the centerpiece, Loulouthi quilting cottons and velveteens, even some remarkable ribbon. And then, I just let my fingers go.

Several people asked for how-to details on the pillow cover, so I'm going to do my level best with an envelope pillow cover tutorial today. You might make an envelope cover out of just two pieces of fabric--a top and a bottom. The envelope part would be the bottom. I chose to make a log cabin square for the top piece. 

I trimmed my needlework to make it perfectly square. Unfortunately, in order to leave enough room for a seam allowance, I had to leave a wee bit of pattern from the adjacent design in the lower righthand corner of the piece. It bothers me a little, but not nearly as much as I thought it would.

Then, I cut a strip from Loulouthi Curated Bloom to frame it. My hope was that if the Bloom fabric rested right next to the needlework, people would stop arguing about what it was. This has not been the case, I'm sorry to say. Michael still insists he sees birds in branches. I keep insisting they are blooms. Alrighty then, I did my best there.

For the fabric to frame the needlework,  I fussy cut so that the whole bloom and the branches could be seen, even when sewn on with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Whatever that width is, that's what I cut and then I framed the top and the bottom of the needlework, sewed a 1/4 inch seam, and trimmed so it would be flush with the needlework on the sides.

The side strips of the same fabric are the same width as the others, trimmed to come to the top and bottom of the Curated Bloom strips.

I continued on in this manner, first cutting to fit the top and bottom and then cutting to fit the sides, choosing somewhat random widths. I just picked from a fat quarter bundle, as I went. This is a traditional log cabin square. {The pinned pillow has intentional wonky strips. That's not really my style. I like my strips square. I'm kind of straightlaced that way;-)}

The ultimate goal here was a square that measured 17 inches, because my pillow form was 16 inches square.

To make an envelope pillow case, measure your pillow from seam to seam and then cut the front cover to be one inch wider than your pillow on all sides. If your pillow cover isn't to be pieced (as mine is here), but is to be cut from whole cloth, that whole cloth square would be one inch larger than your pillow, both widthwise and lengthwise.

I decided to finish the square with ribbon because the ribbon was exactly the right size to make my square come out to 17 inches. This is a lovely idea when it's draped over the pillow form. It's not the greatest idea when it comes to sewing. All my log cabin seams are 1/4 inch seams. I was sort of in 1/4 inch mode when I came up with the ribbon idea.  I forgot that I 'd figured my measurements for the front square to account for 1/2 inch seams to sew the pillowcase top and bottom together. A 1/2 inch seam would have swallowed all the ribbon. In hindsight, a wider ribbon would have been more appropriate. In this case, I made my seams allowances smaller so that you can see more ribbon and I reinforced within the seam allowance at stress points to keep the ribbon from unravelling. It's beautiful, but it would fit just a little better if the seam allowances had been that 1/2 inch I had orginally planned. 

Once the front is finished to the rght dimensions, it's time to cut the back.

I used a luxurious piece of Loulouthi velveteen.

The back piece is cut one inch longer than the pillow form and four inches wider. Those four inches become the overlap for the envelope closure. (In my case, the pillow form is 16 inches, so the velveteen was first cut to 17 inches high by 21 inches wide.)

Lay the piece out with the long side on the top and the bottom and cut it in half from top to bottom. (I cut the 21 inch width to two pieces that were each 10 1/2 inches wide and 17 inches high.)

Turn one of the just-cut edges under 1/4 inch and press. Turn it under another 1/4 inch and press again. 

Sew the hem down close to the fold.

Repeat for the other just-cut edge.

Put the front cover on the table in front of you pretty side up.

Is it pretty side up?

Now line up one unhemmed edge with the edge of cover. Pretty side down. The pretty sides of the front and the back are facing each other inside. Pin carefully, matching it all up along the edges.

Line up the other unhemmed edge on the still exposed pretty side of the front of the cover. When you line up the raw edges of the front and the back, you'll find the hemmed edges overlap. This is a good thing!

(this picture is a corner folded over so that you can that at this stage the ugly sides show on the front and the back)

Almost finished:-)

Sew a 1/2 inch seam all the way around the perimeter of the cover. That's it,  just around the perimeter.

Trim the corners.

Turn it right side out. Stuff with pillow form.

See how pretty?

Easy. 

And so worth every single stitch.

Just because it's beautiful.

(Why yes! I do believe you're right, it does match the boxes in my sewing room.  Hmmm...)

Weekend Clicking

The Google Share feature is fickle. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I've been gathering some links here to share with you all at once. So if you have a little time for browsing this weekend, here some good places to go.

First, put away that guilt;-). In the comments here, there was a bit of a discussion of "mom-bloggging" guilt being the new brand of Catholic guilt. The Vatican encourages the presence of Catholics online. The Patheos piece is interesting and the comments are enlightening, but I don't think I agree with the author's perception of the blogosphere or the commenters' notions of moms who blog. (I do, of course, think we need to moderate our online time. I write about that particular topic all. the. time.)

And, to dovetail nicely with that, The Catholic Herald has highlighted some Catholic mom bloggers in a nice local piece. Click away; chances are good you'll find new inspiration.

Now, back away from your computer and pick up your camera. Kim has more weekend photo tips (from last weekend) and here's another quick tutorial. 

This is here, just because I didn't want to forget how much I want to make this bag this weekend. But I think I won't. Because I've started piecing a quilt for someone's bundle of joy. And that somoone keeps sending me texts about things like twinges and timaeable contractions. The bag can wait. Baby quilt, no?

Here's an interesting article about why adolescence seems to last forever these days. Did I mention that I know have four teenagers under roof. Um, yeah. I do.

Here's one about being married in sickness and health. I read this one with great interest because I've watched a similar situation in real life. "We cannot glibly dismiss her struggle, but neither can we exempt her from what God has permitted and gives her the grace to accept. Life is not always what we wish, but God can grant us a serenity and a courage to face life’s trials with faith and fidelity to the vows and commitments we have made."

Here's an open letter written by an 18-year-old to President Obama about the HHS mandate. Oh, but that all teenagers, could be so articulate and thoughtful.

I was going to highlight this one in pink and tell you how please I am that Susan G. Komen has decided not to fund Planned Parenthood. But now, that's old new already. Instead, I'll link to Kate Wicker, who highlights BlogHer's position on the whole matter and tells us about her courageous decision.

On a lighter note, this post  is pretty funny. Disclaimer: I totally love Pinterest. It's a fun dose of eye candy, a good source of recipes, a plethora of happy ideas. I like it way better than Twitter, which I keep trying to like, but fail miserably. Like the candy it is, I keep it in its place and I take a pretty healthy dose of realism along with my Pin Candy. This post cracked me up and I admit, I followed some of those pin links and pinned them myself.:-) 

Kelly never fails to strike a kindred spirit chord with me. I love this piece about how motherhood is really a total immersion project.

Please remember to continue to pray for Elizabeth DeHority. Follow this link for an update and then be sure to follow her link to see a most amazing video.

Finally, I think this piece is the perfect one to read as we look forward to Lent. I'm reading, re-reading and then journaling and praying. It's as visually beautiful as it is thought-provoking.

{this moment}

 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual.  Photo capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

More Disney Lessons: A good day begins the night before

In the months before we left for Disney World, we began to plan. Of course, there was research on hotels and rental vans and some reservation-making. Mike managed most of that. Once he had the dates nailed down, I started planning each individual day. 

There were a few major planning tools. We read three books: Birnbaum's Walt Disney World, Birnbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids, The Unoffical Guide To Walt Disney World. The kids devoured every page of the kids' book. The other two books bounced around the house from reader to reader. I challenged every one to pick up little tidbits here and there that they could offer as we considered what to do each day. When we arrived, it was funny to hear them all quote the books while we were in the park. A few days in, we recognized that the books weren't always right. Still, they were a place to begin.

In addition to the The Unoffical Guide To Walt Disney World book, we got a subscription to Touringplans.com. This service will plan your entire day, one event and attraction at a time. For ten dollars, the site offers several different plans for each park: plans for just adults and teens, plans for tweens, plans for families of little ones, and big, happy family plans. I planned each day of the trip and printed the plan and put them in a three-ring binder. Honestly, the greatest value these plans had was my sense that I knew we were going to arrive at each park and not waste time getting the lay of the land and figuring out what to do when.

If you have a smart phone, skip the printing and binder step. We learned that Mike could download the plans right to his smart phone. He could also check (in real time) the wait time on any attraction and the crowd level at any park. Buy the book first and then the app. Book owners get a discount on the app. And really, the book is so worth the purchase cost. Touringplans.com also provided valuable "day of" information. We were reminded to be in Magic Kingdom the night of the Electric Parade. We knew that Dumbo (Sarah's absolute favorite ride) was going to be closed for renovations the fourth day of our trip and would remain closed a long time. We made sure to ride on third day. I can't begin to tell you how much we learned from those books. nearly as much as I learned from careful reading through Dawn's notes. There is nothing, nothing like another generous mom to mentor.

All that said, the plan is just a skeleton of what your day will look like in real life. Like any good plan, it works only as well as your ability to look at it critically and deviate if necessary. Despite our very careful planning and all our research, we missed a big detail. None of the sites or books told us months in advance that the Disney Marathon and Half-Marathon were being run the first weekend we were there. Not only were crowds much bigger than they were historically on those dates, the foot traffic inside the parks was re-routed for the runners. Our plans as written were as worthless as plans for a full co-op day the morning you discover your kids have chicken pox. 

We didn't panic. We were determined to mine for the magic. As a result, we ducked into far more shows than we had planned, discovering the happy fact that Disney puts on a very fine live theater presentation--consistently, in every park, every single show. That crowded marathon day found us in Hollywood Studios as the runners ran through the main walkways. We sat it out in a stunning performance of Beauty and the Beast. I think it was my favorite attraction of all and it wasn't on the plan at that time. Days later, when crowds weren't an issue at all, we were lost and late in Animal Kingdom just as the Lion King show was beginning. So we stopped rushing to where we were going and stepped inside to take in the show. Absolutely awesome. I mean that. We were awestruck. That one wasn't on our list at all because everyone had told us to make sure to see the Nemo show and that was our priority. In the end, we saw both.

There were several times we vehemently disagreed with the opinions  expressed in the guidebooks, mostly when it came to dining. I'll cover dining in another post. Within hours of our first day, I reconciled myself to the fact that autopilot wasn't going to work in terms of planning. The first ride we took with Sarah (who had never been to an amusement park) was Living with the Land. It's train-like ride that moves through a dark tunnel, into a lighter tunnel and then into a bright open greenhouse space. She hated the dark tunnel so much that the rest of the ride was tough. Then we went to The Seas with Nemo and Friends, another dark tunnel, a scary shark. Then, we moved over to the Mexico section of Epcot. Three Caballeros: by now Sarah was sure that Disney was all moving train-like rides through dark tunnels. On to Norway: The Maelstrom. Dark tunnel. Scary trolls. The ride got stuck. We sat there forever about twenty minutes. I talked and talked and talked to Sarah about what we were seeing and how it was built and anything else I could throw at the situation. By the time we were unstuck, she wanted to go again! 

The plan is flawed or the plan goes awry, but something better than the plan comes to life.

That was easily the theme of our trip. Over and over again, serendipitous good things happened for us. I think being planned helped put us in position for some of them and certainly, reading up ahead of time and doing some research and availing ourselves to tools helped, too. But in the end, praying for grace and being open to the unexpected good was what made the trip great. I was also struck time and again by how well Mike was able to cheerfully reassure me that it was okay that the plan was going awry, all the while coming up with Plan B or C and steering us forward.

The big planning picture was important, but so was the micro-planning picture. We put thought into packing. That translated well when we grabbed a ziploc bag with a full outfit in it and laid it out the night before, so that girls could quickly dress themselves in the morning. We shopped well for breakfast items so that we wasted neither time nor money getting well-fed at the beginning of every day. We did laundry as we went, so that it never became a big pile of worry. We ended every day with the next one in mind, mentally rehearsing where and what we'd do and devoting a good deal of creative thought to troubleshooting.

I've heard stories from lots of moms with far fewer children than I have. They tell me how hard vacations, particularly Disney vacations, can be for them. There are classic articles out there about how difficult vacationing with children is. I think I was intimidated by those. The reality though, is that moms are overwhelmed at home, too. And moms write all the time to tell me how glad they are when there kids get on the bus in the morning. Homeschooling a big family is great training for taking one on vacation. Whether vacationing in Orlando, taking a huge trip to China, or just trying to do a good job at home on a gray day in February, the principles are the same.

Plan well.

Study up. Become an expert in the field.

 Pray hard that you will know when and how to diverge from the planned path.

Think creatively about what may come.

Embrace the surprises because they often yield the greatest blessings.

Stay together.

Look to Dad for reassurance and another creative solution.

If you have to abandon the plan, abandon it for something better, not for sloth.

Plan for meals and rest and make sure they happen.

When it gets scary, hold them close and talk it through together. 

Expect that it will good, very good.