Jun 30, 2010
Look what I found! It’s my beloved Make-it Book.
I was the third child. My sister’s baby book is full. My brother’s baby book is half-full, and mine — well mine has one sweet lock of my hair. I say “sweet” because at least this small token seems like a “sweet” memory of my busy mother’s love in a book of blank pages and lost memories.
I remember favorite dolls, but they were really my sister’s. I loved the red bricks, tinker toys and lincoln logs — but they were really my brother’s.
But the Make-it Book — it was mine, and oh, how I loved it! I loved making things then, as much as I do now. McCall’s Giant Golden Make-it Book, published in that good year of 1953, was a compilation of projects previously published in many of the then currrent McCall’s and McCall’s needlearts magazines. It contains “more than a thousand things for boys and girls to make and do; the most complete book of crafts and activities ever published.” Ohhh! Topics include needlework, animals, gardening, cooking, woodworking, dolls, gifts and crafts.
I made the yarn holder from an oatmeal container, sock dolls, magical crystal rock gardens (when my tidy mother would let me play with ammonia and bluing), and small animals from rolled-up washcloths and rubber bands. What cheap entertainment! The projects were all fun to make and fun to play with. It’s interesting how looking at something can so intimately take you back and you’re seven years old again.
Look at the inside cover — see the little owls and birdies. Look at the quaint front page with the happy family all crafting together. Look familiar? Yet it was reading the introduction from the editor, here in 2010, that really caused me to pause. Listen to this:
“McCall’s Giant Golden Make-it Book is planned as the point of departure for countless happy hours of creative play. Every child delights in making things with his hands. With this book to help him, any child can have fun. Today, when so much of his entertainment is purely passive, when so many of the things he lives with are so completely manufactured and complex, the fun of making things offers him much satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment.”
Aside from glaring lack of gender neutrality, which obviously went right over my head so long ago and caused no lasting impairment, does the rest of this sound like it could have been written today? They thought kids were passive in 1953? They thought to point out “completely manufactured and complex” in 1953?
There’s more: “We hope that the child will do much more than blindly copy the ideas in this book. All the information is given with the hope that the child’s imagination will suggest many variations and other related activities. The suggestions for the use of second-hand materials — money savers — means that almost anyone can get started on some project immediately.”
The book is about more than making things — it’s about spurring creativity and imagination!
And, the first full page spread is called “useful throw-aways!” Does anyone else remember getting excited at having a glass jelly jar, egg carton or tin can to play with on a long, hot summer afternoon? I have to admit, my heart still sort of started to pound looking at this page and the challenge of “oh, what could I make with this?”
Maybe we should stop recycling and think of ways to use what we would recycle. I love Harney’s Yellow and Blue camomile and lavender tea. It comes in these beautiful blue tins and by now I have a cabinet full of empties I just can’t throw out, um, recycle. On our day-trip to Hunt and Gather in Minneapolis, I saw a wonderful storage cubby made of square tins stacked and attached together — with a couple of spare hours and some paint (or not) I’ll have a new desk organizer made of “useful throw-aways”!
Shop owners: you are in a wonderful place and time to affect whole new generations who are too busy experiencing “passive” activities and “manufactured and complex” goods. You can offer not only children, but adults as well, “much satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment” by making something with their hands.
Shore up your enthusiasm and teach someone to sew, craft and make things! It will do everyone a world of good.
Susan
Note: You can buy your own copy of the Make-it Book on Amazon. All book images and book quotes copyright McCall’s Giant Make-it Book, 1953, Golden Books, New York
Jun 29, 2010
I thought of you at dinner last night.
At our house, about a year ago, we started to use cloth napkins at every meal. I had recently visited a friend’s house and noticed each kitchen chair had a colorful napkin folded neatly over the back rail. My friend explained they had gone “green” and were using cloth napkins all the time. Folding the napkins on the chair back, still identified who the napkin belonged to, but kept the table clear during the day. She then admitted, they reused the same napkins for a couple of days before replacing them with fresh ones. There were no longer young, shall we say “messy,” children around.
I also remembered a shop owner once told me of a customer who always bought an extra one-half yard of any fabric she really liked. She used this half yard to make two approximately 17-inch by 17-inch cloth napkins. She kept a basket in her kitchen and everyone got to choose what napkin they wished to use. Children and grandchildren love to do this!
What a great way to make a one-half yard add-on sale and save a few trees! First, for display make a basketful of cloth napkins from bolt ends, and even some from bolt beginnings. If you have space a simple table setting will really make the point. The napkin edges can be serged, or it’s nice to make a real hem with mittered corners. Simply fold your napkins rectangularly, or try some fun napkin folds. The Napkin Folding Guide is just one site where you can find 27 different ways to fold napkins.
Now you may not think this is needed, but how about a napkin class or demo? Yes, to us seasoned sewers, these are sort of a no-brainer. But for a new sewer, what a wonderful way to learn some basic cutting, sewing (hand or machine) and pressing skills. And, if you make a basket of napkins in lots of fun children’s fabrics, you will definitely interest and teach some young mothers how to sew, and most likely, some young children a few gracious manners. Hey, napkins would even make a good children’s sewing class — a sure way to make a “green” and “gracious” impression!
Try decorating your samples with ball fringe, crocheted edgings or hand embroidery. This is also a good place to demonstrate machine embroidery and other decorative machine stitches. Now we’re really talking add-on sales.
Jim and I can go a couple of days on one pair of napkins. They wash and fold neatly. Even two- and three-year-olds can help mom or grandma fold napkins and have a big-time sense of accomplishment. And, if you really want to have a quiet peaceful afternoon, ironing cloth napkins brings all sorts of pleasant feelings and memories to mind (don’t be too impressed — I usually just fold and eat). Either way, Martha Stewart would approve, I’m sure.
Jun 11, 2010
I love to hear what creative and clever events you are all hosting! Today, retailers are in the entertainment business, and as Kizer and Bender explained in one of the American Quilt Retailer Schoolhouses at Quilt Market in Minneapolis — you have to make your shop a fun place to be! Listen to these great examples:
Lulu Guterrez owner of Quilting Dreams in Mexico City wrote recently to tell me about her “Concurso Gallinitas Pacientes.” The FREE-to-use pattern in American Quilt Retailer, Issue 91 is called “Patience the Sittin’ Chicken.” Lulu recently hosted a contest in her shop of “gallinitas pacientes” — patient chickens using this AQR pattern! Just look at a few of the entries shown here!
They are all so creative and fun! If you go to the shop’s Quilting Dreams Facebook page you can see more pictures and what appears to photos from the “voting” party.
Then leave it to Roseann Kermes of Rosebud’s Cottage (and an AQR columnist!) to successfully combine quilting and baseball in one event! She organized 80 enthusiastic quilters to attend Tuesday night’s Minnesota Twins game in the new Target Stadium. The event called Baseball Bats and Bindings was a bit hit! Everyone brought a quilt to bind and prizes were awarded for rounding the quilt’s corners faster than others.
Quilting attendees received an All Star Needle Keeper Kit, goodie bag and later Roseann even had Seventh Inning Stretch Doorprizes! Read Roseann’s blog and Rosebud’s Cottage Facebook page for more details and pictures!
What clever ideas all the way around from both Lulu and Roseann. Be sure to check out the links!
Susan
Jun 3, 2010
Quilt Market, Chapter Two
If you remember, the most recent cover of American Quilt Retailer shows a fabulous (at least I think it is fabulous!), vintage, red wicker purse. Inside the purse we have arranged a set of crisp folders labeled with different topics — topics of things to do, or look for, at Quilt Market. The ideas and themes for each AQR cover sort of evolve, and the inspiration for this cover was seeing a woman at Quilt Market many years ago with her briefcase set up in a similar fashion. Oh, to be so organized!
When I settled on this as a cover design, the next task was to find just the perfect (fabulous!) briefcase — but, of course, a traditional briefcase isn’t exactly “quilty” in style now is it? What would be more in keeping? I had recently seen some wicker purses some place — either in a local store, or it might have even been in an ad in The New York Times, which made me think it must be a new trend! So many vintage items are returning to the fashion forefront, so this is what our bag was destined to be.
Way back in high school, each year as we headed to Florida to visit grandparents over spring break, it was always fun to pull out my latest wicker bag and transfer all my necessary essentials. Do any of you love to “move into” a new purse as much as I do? Anyway, these fond memories set me on a search for the perfect cover bag! You know, we have a lot of fun around here in the guise of work!
Where to look for vintage (if you can’t go to “Hunt & Gather” in Minneapolis!)? Etsy and eBay — of course! A quick search on Etsy found a treasure trove. I’m certain the small, square-ish, navy blue wicker handbag belonged to my mother in 1966! It had to have been hers. I would have bought it for the fond memories, if nothing else! But, navy on the cover wasn’t going to be the right color this go round. I quickly found so many other handbags, it was hard to choose — so I just purchased five different wicker handbags. I sometimes have trouble making up my mind.
As each arrived in the mail, Becky and I would exclaim “now, this is the perfect cover bag.” Then, the next would arrive and we’d change our minds. One arrived and Becky exclaimed “I want this one.” She’s now the proud owner of a narrow, sleek number with lovely brass handles. The next would arrive and I’d exclaimed “I want this one!” The final of the five arrived, and it was the fabulous, red wicker we actually featured, and “no” you cannot have it. It’s a work of art, in it’s own vintage-y way, and in pristine condition and I’m going to use it sometime — I just know I will. Is it time for a trip to Florida?
We then challenged our readers to organize their totes in the same fashion and some of you showed us at market. See the great photos below! I now wonder about all those we didn’t get to see.
Debbie Welch of Quilting Possibilities in Forked River, N.J., shows off her organized tote — and what a lovely tote it is!
Marti Cummins and Shirley Heim of Marti’s Patchwork Cottage in Black Mountain, N.C., whipped out this cool organizer from her tote bag. It’s from The Container Store (so you can own one too!) and she can hang it on the wall back in her office!
Lesley Gebbie of Acorn Quilts, Rockford, Ill., had a neat, pocket portfolio organizer. Look how pretty the back is!
Jerry Stube of Quilter’s Quarters in Leavenworth, Kansas, made her bag. Look at the zippers! (Zippers were really “big” at market.)
Thanks for stopping by and sharing! Oh, and by the way — we still have two really cool vintage wicker handbags still unspoken for. One is a lovely “olive green” wicker briefcase, and the other is a wonderful cool-looking — I mean really distinctive — woven orange and white number — both are real classics! Let me know if you’re interested! Think shop display here! Think trendsetter!
Now the evolution of the next cover is taking place — what fun! Last Friday I changed my plan mid-stream (owner’s prerogative) and just had to head to the Montgomery Street Antique Mall in Fort Worth for the perfect prop — which I found by the entrance door after wandering around for a good hour. And, I only bought one this time! It’s purely 1950s, turquiose vinyl and sort of quilted! You’ll just have to wait until early July to see it!
Happy day to all! Susan
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