Aimee Bender, The Color Master: Stories
Week 12: Handmade
Well, March Madness has lost its luster for me this year after Kansas beat Duke on Sunday afternoon. It was a hard-fought contest (overtime, for those of you who weren't glued to the TV like I was) that Duke could have won, but didn't. So now I'll cheer for the Loyola Ramblers (who beat my Tennessee Vols) in hopes that they will slay a few more giants on their improbable run. At least now I won't be wishing I were in San Antonio next Monday night when I'll be in Paducah!
I had fun finding handmade items around my house for this week's Day2Day page, although it did make me realize that most of the things I make these days get eaten. In lieu of trying to find seven items made by me, I found things made by family members. I ended up with more than enough examples for a photo a day! You read last week about Daddy's woodworking, so 'nuff said about it. I was blessed with very creative grandmothers - they both painted watercolors, did needlework, and sewed. They were fabulous cooks, and they both grew their own vegetables and canned them. Grama (mom's mom) was a whiz with flowers - growing them and arranging them with flair, and Gran (daddy's mom) was always making some new craft project. Gran patiently taught me to embroider and cross-stitch, and she always gave me a pint (or quart) of pickled beets for Christmas because I loved them so.
I wish I had appreciated Grama's painting talent more when I was young, but I never saw her paint and I didn't even know the watercolors I loved were her own creations until she was quite old. I do have a paint-by-number oil painting that Kim and I made one summer at Grama's house, and I remember her trying to help us do it perfectly. We would set up our paints and brushes out on the old picnic table in her yard, and I remember having to use toothpicks for some of the really small bits. Amazingly enough, the finished product looks pretty good! I'm blessed to have several of Grama's watercolors, as well as a lampshade she painted, and one of Gran's watercolors. I'm so glad they signed them!
I wish I had appreciated Grama's painting talent more when I was young, but I never saw her paint and I didn't even know the watercolors I loved were her own creations until she was quite old. I do have a paint-by-number oil painting that Kim and I made one summer at Grama's house, and I remember her trying to help us do it perfectly. We would set up our paints and brushes out on the old picnic table in her yard, and I remember having to use toothpicks for some of the really small bits. Amazingly enough, the finished product looks pretty good! I'm blessed to have several of Grama's watercolors, as well as a lampshade she painted, and one of Gran's watercolors. I'm so glad they signed them!
Gran had planned to cross-stitch a bedspread for each of her eight grandchildren for our high school graduation present; sadly, I got the last one (I'm grandchild #4), as she died the year after I graduated. But I still have my bedspread, and it's on one of the beds in our house. Daddy's family had very little money, so Gran was very resourceful and was able to make things pretty without spending money. One thing I remember is that she would save bottles of all shapes and sizes and fill them with colored water and put them up in a window so the sun would shine through and make them sparkle. She made butterfly magnets for the refrigerator with leftover packing materials or paper plates. And every tissue box or roll of toilet paper had some colorful crocheted covering on it! She would have loved the Scrap Exchange in Durham!
My mom was also a fabulous cook and an incredible gardener. Thankfully, I learned to cook at her side and that talent has served me well (maybe too well!) through the years. Gardening, however, is not my thing. The only thing I've been able to grow successfully is mint, which you may know is virtually impossible to kill. The cool thing about the mint that I grow is that it can be traced back to (at least) my great-grandmother. She gave some to my grandmother, who gave some to my mom, who shared some with me. I have dug up a cupful or potful of mint from every house I've lived in and planted it at the new house. I have mint in my iced tea every day, and I often think of my female ancestors who shared it with me. Since one of mom's best talents was her ability to create gorgeous flower arrangements, I don't have many of those to share, since she mostly used live flowers for those. I do have three scrapbooks full of photos of flower arrangements, ribbons, flower show programs, and newspaper articles documenting her fifty years of garden clubbing that I made at her request! I wish I had some of that talent, but I don't.
Last week, I shared that I woke up to the sound of sawing and the smell of sawdust every weekend. One of the memories that Kim (my sister) and I laugh about is the sound and smell of spray paint. Every year, especially at Christmas time, Mom could be found in the utility room, spray painting dried pods, cones, or stalks for glittery holiday decorations. The sound of that ball in the spray can and the smell of paint are what our holidays were made of! One year, we took a family road trip to Colorado, Idaho, and points in between. Daddy had made a box to put up on the luggage rack of our gigantic Chrysler station wagon so that Kim and I could stretch out in the back back of the car. (He had made foam mattresses for both the back back and the back seat so we could sleep on the long ride.) We came home with the whole top luggage carrier full of cones, pods, stalks, and plants of all varieties and the back back full of luggage, so Kim and I had to actually sit up in our seats. That year, Mom made some humongous number of Christmas wreaths and advent wreaths made out of all that dried stuff. They were beautiful, but you cannot image the glue, the picks, the shellac, and the MESS, not to mention the time, that that took!
My own foray into creative arts is pretty much limited to cooking, photography and scrapbooking, although I did spend a few years doing counted cross stitch back in the early '80s. I have a dozen or two Christmas ornaments and a few bigger pieces left, and I recently found the ABC sampler that I started for Kim (my daughter) when she was a baby. My goal was to finish it before she turned one. I am on 'M'. Maybe I can finish it before Morgan turns one....but I'd better get busy and hope that I can see well enough to do it! Since having a granddaughter who loves to draw and paint and do crafty things, I have converted one of my old scrapbooking file things to a 'creative corner' for the kids. I have paints, pastels, markers, glitter, glue, crayons, colored pencils, sequins, stickers, washi tape, and all kinds of blingy things, so I'm ready when they are!
What handmade things are in your house, and who made them? What stories do they tell? Do yourself (and your loved ones) a favor and take some photos and jot down your memories about them. Without the story and the history, they just become things destined for the trash or Goodwill. Bring them to life for the next generation(s)!
Have a wonderful, blessed Holy Week!
Jan
PS Almost forgot to update my book list. I'm walking more, so I'm reading more! Last week I read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (great read!) and this week I'm listening to The Lying Game by Ruth Ware. Next up is The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.
What handmade things are in your house, and who made them? What stories do they tell? Do yourself (and your loved ones) a favor and take some photos and jot down your memories about them. Without the story and the history, they just become things destined for the trash or Goodwill. Bring them to life for the next generation(s)!
Have a wonderful, blessed Holy Week!
Jan
PS Almost forgot to update my book list. I'm walking more, so I'm reading more! Last week I read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (great read!) and this week I'm listening to The Lying Game by Ruth Ware. Next up is The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.
