Back to the '50's and '60's!

For a long time, I've wanted to post the items in this photo below and tell the story behind them. Interestingly, it took a post from Pat*Sloan to finally make me do it! In her post today, she shared a picture of the new Engineer Barbie and mentioned that perhaps we could lobby for Barbie to be a fabric designer or a craft spokesperson in her next career? (You can click here to read her blog post - don't be frightened by the polar bears, just scroll down, then pass the Lizzie B chocolate quilt and then you'll see Engineer Barbie.) Her post got me to thinking of my first and only Barbie and how I wanted to be a fabric designer. It really brought back the memories. I knew I had to write this post. And so, what you see here is the stuff of dreams............

It may just look like a couple of Barbie doll dresses and some little sewing accessories but oh, it was so much more to me when I was growing up in the 1950's. Yes, I had dreams that I would grow up to be a fashion designer. I bought every Katy Keene comic book I could find! I loved to go in the drugstore and see a new issue on the magazine rack. I'd buy it and go home and read every story and then cut out the paper dolls (too bad I didn't save even one of them!). I would also draw my own clothes for her, and then Barbie came along! She was the model for my designs! I got a Barbie doll for Christmas (1961), the one with the bouffant hair, a brunette, a real beauty!! I also got a Barbie light-box so that I could draw designs of my clothes just like a real designer. I remember it so well! That package of Wright's trim is a reminder that I would often save up three wrappers, enclose my dime and send away for a "generous package of clippings of wright's Trims suitable for trimming dolls' clothes." The packages came in white envelopes and I loved to watch our mailbox, Box #2, to see it stuffed with that envelope! I still have bits of those trims!!!

Sadly, though, my Bouffant Barbie is long gone. Oh, she was with me for quite some time but she has a sad story. Family friends with their kids came to visit one night. The parents enjoyed playing cards, usually 500, while all of us kids had a great time dragging out all the toys! This night, one of the little girls......name withheld to protect her identity :-) .........bit the nose off of my Bouffant Barbie! I was so sad. But in spite of her missing nose, I kept her. She was in a shoebox when I got married and traveled along to San Diego. She survived Hurricane Camille in Mississippi. She made the trip across the ocean when the military transferred my husband to a base near Tokyo. She made the return trip to Iowa and then we moved to New Jersey. When our household goods arrived at our apartment, the boxes with Barbie and other treasures, plus most of our daughter's toys, never made it to our door. They were either plucked from the warehouse in Newark or delivered to the wrong address, but no amount of tracking ever found the boxes.

So, you might wonder, how did I end up with Barbie's dresses? My mother kept them in her cedar chest and I didn't even know it!!! She pulled them out of a box a few years ago and I was thrilled to see them! I remember making that black and white sundress - separates so that Barbie could wear the top with shorts or slacks and the skirt could be worn with another top. The wool sheath is sooooo 1960's. It's fairly worn and the wool is beginning to deteriorate. I keep the dresses in this little case from my mother, along with the Sunbonnet needlecase she gave me and the chalk marker in the felt case that she made me in the late 1960's. The felt strawberry is made with a hair clippy. How many of you remember those? And, of course, there were a lot of sequined felt crafts done in those years and this little birdie is one of them. Yes, these are the things of dreams.
I never became a fashion designer. My high school guidance couselor thought that was too hard a field to get into and advised that a secretarial course might be a wiser choice. I can still feel my heart sink. I remember that day clearly and can see the road, the houses, the cornfield beyond the window next to his desk. My fashion design dreams died that day but it didn't stop me from sewing or designing. I sewed for me, my husband, our daughter. I made curtains, bedspreads, upholstered furniture, and made my first quilt. In the 1970's, I began making 1" to 1' scale miniatures for years and put every ounce of talent I had into all those miniature scenes. You can see them at these links........ TeenyTinyQuilts ..... ValentineMinis ..... EasterMinis ..... HalloweenMinis ..... MiniatureChristmasTree. There are more mini scenes. I just haven't taken photos of them yet!

These days, I don't do too many miniature projects .........the eyesight gets to be an issue when you get older! Now, I enjoy my quilting and I really love working with wool and making penny rugs. If you follow my blog, you know I do a few programs on my collection of old quilts (some family quilts and many bought by my dad at auctions in Iowa). I love to teach at quilt groups/guilds and also offer a "Wooly Wednesday" class at FireFlyQuiltShop. I love to share my designs and enjoy my Yahoo groups. I always have "too many irons in the fire" but that translates to.......... "I am never bored!" As I told my son tonight - I am having "sew" much fun!

I am getting a bit tired, though, and have lots to do in the next few days. I need to finish a block I designed for the Cotton Spice BOM that will be posted in March. I have a new block - tulips for spring - to post to my Seasons group and a new design to sketch for my Wooly Buddies group. Plus, I have a guild workshop to teach on Thursday evening and need to assemble kits for that. I should close up shop for the night (or morning as it's after midnight).

Hope something I shared reminded you of some "pleasant memory" from the past! And I must add.........Thanks, Pat, for your post about Barbie. It was the inspiration I needed to get this post out of my head and here on my blog! Oh, and if they ever do a Barbie Fashion Designer, I will be right there to buy one!!!!

Lights out! Sleep tight...........

Sandi

The Day after Halloween........

and the Trick or Treater's have come and gone! There were no tricks, only a lot of kids having fun gathering candy and treats. I always enjoy the younger kids in their costumes but the group that was having the most fun was a group of about ten young girls who were probably in their early teens. They reminded me of a slumber party I had when I was a freshman in High School and how much fun my friends and I had that year on Halloween!

I didn't carve a real pumpkin but had pumpkin shaped candles that glowed in the dining room and kids could see them when they arrived to ring the bell. Then there was this trio in the photo above that were shining in the kitchen. I love the glow of candles and got the smell of pumpkin by using scented tealights (a thoughtful gift from my daughter!). It was a nice evening and I enjoyed every ring of the doorbell!

Today, I decided to pack all the Halloween stuff away but will give you one last glimpse of Halloween at my house. I've shown you several of my miniature gift boxes in the past and almost forgot to share the ones I made for Halloween. Soooooooo, here they are.......little pumpkins, ghosts and candy bars made from Fimo clay, wrapped candy bars created from magazine ads, and tiny "Trick or Treat" bags that I drew and then colored that are filled with tiny treats. Everything is scaled 1"= 1'. The largest box is about 8-9" tall and the tiniest one is about 2" tall. This series was done in 1991 and earned a Blue Ribbon at the Scott County Fair. :-)

Just one last picture to share........it's Kaiser, our beagle. He's wearing his favorite "costume".........his blue blanket that he must be covered with when he goes to sleep. Yep, he's a spoiled dog. He looks so funny when the blanket sticks to him because of static and he walks around like he's wearing a robe or something. LOL!

On Monday there will finally be some answers regarding health issues for my mom and a decision will be made for a treatment plan. When I post next time, I should know more what the next few weeks will hold.

Have a good Monday!!

Sandi

The Real Egg

No plastic eggs here.........these are the real thing!!

I've shown you my miniature Easter Gift Boxes (previous post), but before I made those I made a lot of scenes in real eggs. I was in my early 20's when I decorated the eggs for my first egg tree. Still have all those little egg baskets made from half an eggshell and covered in gingham, then filled with flowers, chicks and bunnies to hang on the branch I gathered in the woods. I also made lots of covered whole eggs like the ones seen in these photos. Sometimes I painted them and sometimes I covered them with fabric. By cutting the fabric on the bias you can get a good fit around the egg. Adding an oval of fabric at the back and then glueing trim around it will hide all your seams. I always have odd bits of jewelry (never throw away earrings that are missing their mate!) and trims that I can use to embellish the eggs. The eggs pictured above were made in the late 1970's.

I still make decorated eggs occasionally but usually as gifts for friends or family. I have a whole box full that are ready to go as gifts to my friends for Christmas next year! The last time I sold any was years ago when my doctor at the time, learned what I had made and ordered almost two dozen for gifts for his friends and family. :-)

That's all for the Easter Eye-Candy for today. I'll see you next week.

It's church in the morning and then we are going to Arlington Haus for brunch. The food there is really good. Can't wait. As much as I enjoy cooking, I love it when someone else cooks!! :-)

Have a blessed Easter filled with JOY!!

Sandi

A little Valentine "eye candy".........

At Christmas, I shared my miniature Christmas tree and now with Valentines Day on my doorstep, I wanted to share photos of some of my favorite miniature Valentine scenes. For almost twenty-five years I was an active member of the Midwest Miniature Guild. The group is an upper Midwest organization that meets three times a year for an all-day meeting with lunch and workshops. I taught numerous projects during my years in the group and one of my favorite times to teach was at the February meeting. Many of us had dollhouses (I have a large one that my dad made me) and miniature room boxes and lots of mini scenes were created in acrylic boxes like those in the photos below. Each one of these begins with an acrylic box and then a "false" gift box top and bottom are created to make it look as if you are "looking into a scene in a gift box". Prepare to take a little tour..............

This is one of the first "Gift Boxes" that I made. I had this little tricycle and thought how cute it would look with a tiny teddy bear on it and so I drew a little pattern and stitched one up. :-)

You can see that he has a tiny valentine for his lady love, a tiny gift and a basket of flowers. This box and the one below stand about 8" tall. Items in these boxes are scaled 1" = 1'.

This box is probably my favorite "Gift Box" of all the ones that I have ever made (I used to take orders and sell them, don't do that anymore). I took pictures of all four sides of this box.............

In the photo above there is an extraordinarily large box of miniature chocolates! Each one is individually made from Fimo clay and look just like real chocolate! The lid of the box actually fits if you were to close the box of chocolates. Sitting atop the table is a tiny box for miniature valentines, a little brass candleholder (about the only thing I didn't make in this box), and a box of candy hearts. I drew the valentines and candy heart box and then colored them with colored pencils. The tiny candy hearts were made from pastel Fimo clay. The table is made from a 2 1/2" portion of a gift wrap tube with a cardboard circle glued on top. Then I sewed up the tiny tablecloth and glued it at evenly spaced spots along the base of the table.

No Valentines Day is complete without roses and these are made from red florist tape that I wrapped and turned to form the roses (now you know why I made that fabric bouquet of roses). There's a silk bow and a card for that special valentine. :-)

And on this side there is a tiny wrapped gift and another Valentine..............

and the final view has one of those bitty bears you can buy in a craft shop and another valentine.

This box is about 6" tall and holds a little fur bear that I bought at a craft shop. I cut the little hearts and strung them together, then glued fine gold cord to spell out "I Love You". There's another tiny gift and also a book of "Love Poems" for that someone special!

Remember to just double-click on most of these photos to get a close-up view of the miniatures.

This box is only about 4" tall and contains another bouquet of roses, more candy and another Valentine, a very fancy one, in fact.

This next photo is not very clear................

for these are the tiniest boxes of all. To give you an idea of how tiny they are, the little bunny Valentine measures only about 1/2" tall!

This photo above shows how the boxes compare in size. In 1991, I entered these five boxes in our Scott County Fair. They earned a Blue Ribbon. :-) That same year, I made five boxes for Easter, five for Halloween and five for Christmas. Each set earned a Blue Ribbon and the Christmas boxes also earned a Purple Grand Champion Ribbon all at the county fair. I could choose one set to take to the Minnesota State Fair and chose the Christmas set which earned a Blue Ribbon at the State Fair. These boxes are kind of like getting an "Oscar" as far as I am concerned. Why make so many? Well, I had made so many for other people that I was determined to make some for me that I could leave to my own kids. After I finished these, I quit making them for sale as they were simply too time-consuming for the amount of money that people were willing to pay. I still enjoy all my miniatures but in the late 90's with the kids grown and gone, I could turn back to quilting and handwork projects. I'll share all the other boxes on each appropriate holiday. :-)

Here are two final photos of Valentine greetings that decorate my house. I made the velvet frames and then designed the cross stitch that is in each frame. This was in the '80's during my brief Cross Stitch period. :-) The little bears are available at Michael's and I just glued some of my little Valentines in their paws. The velvet hearts came from Target.

When I drew the little Valentines and created all the "Gift Boxes", I was thinking of grade school days and how much fun Valentines Day always was!!! I loved picking just the right Valentine, then delivering them to the boxes or bags that we would decorate and place on our school desks. One always hoped there would be one from that certain boy!! :-) I had so much fun drawing the Valentines for these mini scenes that I enlarged the five or six little designs I drew to full scale and then drew 20 more Valentines that could be colored and cut. I began teaching it as a class in Community Ed in Prior Lake in 1998 and kids loved the opportunity to color, then cut and then "GLITTER"!!!! A couple of years ago, I realized the designs would be perfect for Redwork and embroidery projects. So, if all goes well, this year, I will stitch up the designs and you'll see them next year a few weeks before Valentines Day!

Hope you have enjoyed this little "eye candy" tour.

Have a wonderful Valentines Day!!!!

See you next on Sunday evening!!

Sandi