Artists and Their Work

 Here's the backyard taken from the Throne Room this morning.  (Remember I told you the best view is from our uh, 'porcelain seat' in the bathroom?  We're not so good at planning our landscaping;  if we wanted the best view of the garden, all we have to do is move the garden over about 40' to the east.  On second thought, it would be way easier to move the house.

We were gone all day Sunday and most of the day on Saturday, so it was good to take a look around the garden again this morning.  The garden we ignored for two days.  The garden I even forgot I had for a little while. 

So, yes, you heard it here.  We were goofing off this weekend.  Even with the weather (mid-70's, be still my heart!) being suitable for rock-moving perfection itself, Carl and I were everywhere and anywhere but in our garden.  We helped a friend move on Saturday for a few hours and had a family reunion and attended a garden party on Sunday.  Somewhere in the middle of all that frantic activity, we spent part of one day rummaging around at plant nurseries where we bought a 'Blue Star' juniper on a stick (yes, that's my technical term for a shrub top-grafted onto a standard). 

We had a gift certificate and the tree was on sale!

 I don't know why I like Shrubbery on Sticks, I just do.  And yes, it does look like something out of Dr. Suess but I like to look at the shrub's foliage up close and personal (without bending over, lol) and a second plus is that the snow has to get really high to bury them in the wintertime.  And the wintertime is long around here.  If you look closely, behind the juniper on a stick, there's a blue spruce on a stick planted right by our back door.  Hmmmmm....do you detect a theme?  I'm guessing maybe I ought to stop collecting them since I could do a post on just the Trees on Sticks around here and bore you to tears.  I think I have a problem. But I will address that addiction on another day.

After the nursery we then went poking around in an antique store.  (Oooops, Addiction #2 for this post.)  I  was looking around in a booth when I saw a pile of what looked like lace lying on the floor in a heap with a few odds and ends tossed on top of it.  What a novel way to display something, I thought.  When I'm in a store and I see clothing knocked off a hanger or a towel off a shelf, I always pick it up.  It's not that I'm a neat freak (oh, far from it) but I always think of the poor clerks who have to run around tidying up and like to lend a helping hand.  And, not that I think inanimate objects have 'feelings' but the merchandise looks so forlorn when it's out of place.  So, me being me,  I picked up this pile of lace and was amazed by the heft of the lace in my hands.  And then I looked more closely:

 Not lace, but crochet.  I couldn't take my eyes off of it.   My late aunt used to crochet such things of beauty as does my good friend, Nancy, and this tablecloth  reminds me of both of these wonderful ladies.  It was a much bigger than I thought and the more I thought about it, I knew it had to come home with me.  I pictured the person sitting for hundreds of hours painstakingly building this gorgeous tablecloth and for some reason, I teared up in the antique store.  Oh, good golly, how goofy, but here it had been plopped on the floor! of all places, and it's a masterpiece.  I gingerly looked at the price tag dangling from a flower.  $35.  I don't know much about the value of vintage tablecloths, but just the thought of how much work went into this made me think I have a bargain here.  Home it came.

 Here it is, hanging on the wash line this morning.  I handwashed it in Woolite (oh, it was SO dirty!) and then hung it out to dry in the sun.  I actually had it spread across all five lines so it wouldn't stress the piece too much,  butI took it down like this to show the size of it. 

Like I said, I don't know a thing about crocheting.  Or knitting.  I do sew and love counted cross-stitch and embroidery, but never learned the intricate knot-making that constructed this.  Carl didn't think it was hand-made, but if you really look closely,  every flower has a tiny bit different stitch to it.  The artist was that good.

Unknown artist, but whoever they were, my hat is off to them.

My friend Nancy makes things like this all the time.  She is one of the most talented artists I know.  Look at the bookmark she made for me years and years ago:

She had the ribbon tied much more nicely when she gave it to me; I use this bookmark all the time and I'm afraid I've messed up the bow.

Talk about intricate!  I have visited with her and have watched her crochet; she doesn't seem to have to think about her work (though I know that's simply due to her expertise) and can chat while she crochets.  Look at how delicate and fine the work is.  Every time I see this bookmark, I think of Nancy and smile.  We get together several times a year and that's not enough.  We only live three miles apart--Nancy, if you're reading this, it's time to do lunch again! 

If you haven't figured it out yet, my interior decorating skills are rather, shall we say, Early American Hodge Podge?  (Yes, that's right, I interior decorate like I exterior decorate, Mishily Mashily.)   So here's a picture of the new/old table cloth on the table.  I know it could use a pressing, but wanted to see how it looked, since it's now dry.

I  keep thinking about making EACH and EVERY one of those stitches.  I wonder how many hours are really in this piece?

And here's another gift from another dear friend, Ione.  (I'm so blessed with wonderful friends)  Ione made the table runner for me this spring and it is one of my favorites.  She does all of her quilting by hand (no sewing machine work at all!) and has won many awards for her gorgeous quilts.  She is in her 80's now and is the sweetest lady I know (next to my own dear mother). 

 I like the way the table runner and the table cloth look together. 

 Ione did something very important with her table runner:

She signed and dated it.

I am so happy she signed her work.  This is something every one who makes a thing of beauty should do for posterity.  After all, you never know when the work you do will end up in a pile on the floor of an antique store.

My hat is off to all the ladies (and gentlemen) Artists out there who quietly create fantastic pieces of artwork in their own homes.  My thanks to the unknown artist who made my tablecloth, too.

I will give it a good home.