channeling my 11 year old self

After
Before


This month , instead of doing the drawings I am "supposed" to be working on, I worked on decorating my front porch. It is such a satisfying room because unlike the rest of my house , it fits its function perfectly. It has many colors of geraniums blooming across the length, art by myself and other artists, a table to sit at, a love seat and a wonderfully comfortable little upholstered rocking chair. I've had that little chair for many years. It sits forlornly out the all winter--there never has been the perfect spot for it inside. But each summer I sit on that chair pretty much every afternoon when I get home from work. I fix a pot of Earl Grey tea. Carry it out there with some local wildflower honey and a pitcher of cream on my special tray that my mom found for me at a yard sale in about 1978. I put my feet up and daydream. Watch the hummingbirds come and go, read bits from whatever books I have out there, and let the prayers of gratitude rise in my heart.

However, my little chair has looked more and more pitiful as the years have passed and this year, once again, I decided to try to make a slipcover. I say once again because a few years back, I did make one, but due to the fact that the back cushion is an attached, tufted one it was a complete failure and got thrown away when the winter came!

so this time I thought of other ideas. I have a ridiculously large collection of old linen as I cannot resist it for a dollar at church rummage sales. One large piece was a heavier weight, maybe an old sheet so I used that for the main body of the cover. the other colors were just bits and pieces from my fabric piles.

when I was about 11, I began to decorate my bedroom. I had always liked to make forts, clubhouses(with out really a club except for myself!), or just a special spot n a tree, but that year I first fixed up my room. I found a pair of ruffled curtains patterned with big roses deep, deep in the ironing barrel. That was a 4 1/2 foot tall and about 30 inch diameter heavy cardboard barrel bound at the top and bottom with metal which sat in our huge pantry with clothes and linens that needed to be ironed. the top foot or so of space was where the clothes were that were ironed regularly but under those was a wealth of other stuff! Including my new curtains, and matching pillows that fit the seat and back of a little cane seat rocking chair I confiscated, and several other pieces of cloth that caught my eye.

I went across the street to Ingamel's Grocery store, a small corner store such as was common in the early 1960's. they carried every thing we ate in those days in a space probably about 20x20. Lots of fresh produce, a full meat counter as well as all the dairy products, canned and boxed goods, and household items. Cheese came in round wooden boxes about 9 inches tall and 15 inches in diameter. those boxes were free for the asking so I bought one home and used a piece of cloth, tucked into the removable top, to hold a round pillow onto the top. That was a very nice footstool!

On my current porch I wanted something like that to match my little chair. I found an old wooden box in my basement and a cushion behind my guest bed and made a little slipcover for that too.

the embroidered runner on the back I found in the Berkeley, Ca free box in 1975 as Strawberry and I passed it every day as I rode her to Phoenix School for kindergarten on my bicycle!

Well anyway back to the drawings I am working on and the unfinished trim around the upstairs bathroom window, but that was a very satisfying project to complete.