… pass it on.” ~Albert Einstein
Did you know the official name of Woodstock was The Woodstock Music and Art Fair?
I didn’t deliberately set out to publish three posts in a row that reminisced about the 1960s and the Woodstock era … it just kind of fell into place. Especially this weekend’s posts. I have a ton of photos collected from my Summer treks that have languished in my computer pictures files, as I struggled to get any posts published the last six weeks. So, I decided to parlay some of those photos into today’s 1960s art theme.
Although I don’t have a photo of a garment I created back in the 60s when tie-dying was an artsy-fartsy way to show your creativity with colorful tee-shirts, or long, gauzy dresses that nearly swept the floor, I can churn out a post with an arty creative theme, so here goes.
Tie-dye was all the rage – just a few simple steps and a little messy, but it was your time to shine and show just how creative you really were by simply dying material, then twisting it to form one-of-kind, dyed creations. When I asked my mother if we could make a tie-dye shirt for me, it was an emphatic “no, you’re not making a mess in my washing machine.” My father backed up her answer by chiming in with “no Linda, we are not raising a hippie here!” … so that was the end of that topic.
Thus, there was some teenage angst as I was denied showing off my creative side, except for a brief foray into charcoal sketching in the late 60s and then after the sewing bug bit me. More about that later.
Art exhibit in the ‘hood.
On a Friday morning, three weeks ago, I was headed home after a five-mile walk at Council Point Park, having secured some close-up photos of a groundhog munching on leaves. A post was already bubbling around in my brain about Mr. Groundhog, and, as I rounded the corner at the cross-street, I stopped in my tracks. Whoa! A sign advertised “Original Art 4 Sale” and a row of brightly colored canvases were either propped up against the chain-link fence, or hanging along it.
Now, I had passed that same house, about 90 minutes before and there was nothing out there – I would have noticed. So, as your roving reporter, I had to dig out the camera and take some photos and that was when I met the artist of those colorful canvases, Brian Spicer.
We made our introductions and I asked if I could take some pictures of Brian and some of his artwork and he was happy to oblige.
I perused those paintings, then asked Brian which was his favorite. He didn’t hesitate and said “wait a minute – it’s inside in my studio” so he was off in a flash and when he returned, this was what he produced.
I told him the painting reminded me of the marshy lagoon areas with all the cattails and endless reeds at Lake Erie Metropark. All that was missing was the invasive, frothy Phragmites that are everywhere at that venue.
While visiting with Brian I just had to mention that I always look at this house when I pass enroute to Council Point Park, because I like the chalk art that is often displayed there. I told him that I had just used the cute chalk art bunny with the ice-cream message the weekend before, then slipped him a card with my blog name on it so he could check out that post. Brian told me he had drawn that bunny and I remarked that I’d been photographing the chalk art at their house in recent years for my blog, and was impressed that the chalk artist had gone from childish scrawls to ramping up their drawing skills this Summer. He laughed and said “no, that was me this time; before it was my niece!” He also decorates rocks and hides them at the local parks, just a small part of this painted rock craze, which, in year #3, continues to enthrall those who paint, hide and find those stone treasures.
Now, as a general rule, Brian does not line up his paintings on the fence, but did so that day because our City was having its annual, two-day “Art in the Park” event at Memorial Park and he thought he just might snag a few passersby who would be parking on the side streets to attend the event, which featured art, crafts and also local bands. Brian had tried to register for a vendor booth at the Park, but he had just missed the registration cutoff. They didn’t promote this event unless you happen to follow our City’s Facebook site.
So, Brian said he displayed some of his paintings on his Facebook page from time to time and I encouraged him to start a blog at WordPress. Since it took me so long to get this post done, Brian has already created and posted in his new blog entitled “Blue Dog Creations”.
Art in the Park.
The next day I headed to Lake Erie Metropark and after a morning of walking and taking photos, I came home and headed over to the “Art in the Park” event at Memorial Park.
There appeared to be a lot of vendors’ tents outside and a sign said crafters were inside the Kennedy Memorial Center as well.
Now, I don’t consider myself hard to please, but nothing really struck my fancy, so that I was willing to part with some money. I strolled the grounds where there were food trucks and bounce houses and it was more of an arts and crafts show as you see below.
What did intrigue me a little was a vendor who sold vintage-style aprons, so it was here that I lingered the longest.
I saw this simple apron, just a square of fabric with two long ties. I told him I made one of those for my mom for Mother’s Day in 8th grade Home Ec class, circa 1969. Mom’s apron was pink-and-black-striped, which sounds a little gawdy now, but it was perky looking. She saved it in her dresser drawer for decades. I looked all over the house to see if I could find it for this post, as it resembled this simple apron which was going for $20.00. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found. We had several assignments to be completed under the tutelage of the very patient Mrs. Baldwin and that apron was my first creation.
This crafter’s vintage aprons were interesting and I looked around at his collection.
I told him I never made those frilly, old-fashioned cobbler’s aprons, but I did make no-frills cobbler’s aprons for my mom for years during my sewing hey day. Those I found and I’m able to include a picture of three of them and they were well worn. I figured I’d keep them to protect my clothing from whatever.
I sewed all my own clothes for years because I was always tall and I didn’t like my pants looking like I was waiting for the floods, or having my jackets appear that they belonged to a little sister. He said he was self-taught and never used a pattern. I said I was not good at hand sewing and finishing off my sewing projects and the joke in the family was that I did all the machine sewing and my mom did all the hand sewing, like basting in sleeves or gathers, sewing the buttons on, hemming the garment, yet I would crow about how I sewed the outfit all by myself.
While walking home I reminisced a little about aprons in the Schaub household. My grandmother and mother always wore a cobbler’s apron while cooking. At an early age, because I was curious about everything, I asked each of them why they wore an apron while cooking. My grandmother replied “Nanny doesn’t want to get splatters all over her clothing while she cooks” and my mother explained in better detail “Mommy has a big chest and she’s short – when she leans over the stove to reach the pots on the back burners, she drags the front of her clothes into the open pots.” Since I’ve never had a big chest, and it seems I’ve been 5 feet nine inches tall forever, and, especially, since I don’t believe I have ever had four burners going at one time, I have never needed an apron. Just sayin’. 🙂
I did the whole “Art in the Park” in about 20 minutes and didn’t hang around for any of the bands because I could hear them from my home several blocks away.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
My mom wore aprons too. I only wear if I’m doing a lot of cooking especially with tomatoes or blueberries.
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My mom was so short, she really had to lean over to reach the stove knobs … I should have said that too. My grandparents used to make green and red tomato chili sauce for years. My grandfather was in charge of peeling onions and my grandmother did all the tomatoes. I don’t ever remember seeing my mother or grandmother cooking without an apron on. I forgot how much the guy charged for the frilly aprons. I was shocked at the small one.
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I get mine at the restaurant supply store for $3.
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That is a great deal!
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That’s marvelous that you stopped to talk to Brian. You even got him hooked on WordPress!! Way to go!
My mom always wore an apron. She wiped her hands on it, used it to gather eggs, and shelled peas into it. I never acquired the habit. I wonder where I wiped my hands before I started wearing jeans all the time.
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Yes, I did some promotion for WordPress – 🙂 It was a little unusual seeing an art gallery set up on a street corner, but it worked – it caught my attention. I saw Brian the next day when I was at the “Art in the Park” event and he said he sold a few of his paintings on the Friday. Something different and fun too.
My mom wore those cobbler’s aprons I made for years – those that I showed were made of a heavy material and in the Winter when she wore heavier tops or sweaters, they fit tighter, so we used to get two magazines (“Country” and “Country Extra” and they used to have a catalog that had hard-to-find items kind of like the Old Vermont Country Store catalog only lots cheaper) and she started just buying them there the last 15 years or so, and put these away. My grandmother’s apron pockets held treasures for me when I was a kid – she’d have hard candies or trinkets – I was not allowed to eat candy at home, except for special occasions. Wiping the hands on the pants works for me too Anne!
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That’s delightful that you grandmother hid trinkets and treasures in her apron just for you. What a memory!!!
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Yes, she’d tell me to reach into her deep pockets and see what I could find. When we went out in the backyard to look at her flowers, she’d stick a paring knife in an apron pocket (not really a good idea) but she would cut off a stalk of rhubarb for each of us and we’d go into the house, wash it and dip it in sugar. Funny how you remember little things like that sometimes.
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Great post Linda. Lots to comment on. First of all, I love Brian’s paintings…..certainly as good as any I have seen hanging in galleries. I like his favourite, but also that small yellow one near the bottom of the fence. I’ll check his site out. The grade 8 home-ec class I can relate to also, as my mother always finished my projects, the tote bag and the jumper, because the sewing machines in the home ec room were always breaking down,and our teacher was always in a bad mood. I hope they have improved machines since then. I noticed (and remembered) when I went through those 17 magazines for my Woodstock post, how much home sewing was in. I loved picking out the material and the pattern, pinning and cutting it out, and then when it got too difficult, my mother would finish it for me. After I seldom wore it. Everybody was into sewing back then. Now if I need any sewing done I take it to my neighbour who is an expert. My grandmother always wore a lime green (it was the 60’s) apron, but my mother seldom did, and I don’t either, although I have several, they are just for show, as my stove has never had all four burners going at once either!
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As usual you’re spot on with what happened in your experiences Joni- they mirror mine, except Mrs. Baldwin was a sweetie and there is a Facebook site for “deaths of Lincoln Park High School students and teachers” and when she died a few years ago, everyone remembered her fondly. I remember we had to buy all the supplies to take to school (our own shears, pin cushion, tracing wheel, carbon tracing paper, and the patterns, material, etc. – I remember my parents grumbling about it and saying “hope you make something worthwhile” ) – we had counters to lay out the pattern and get it ready to sew, but not enough machines either so we were learning basic cooking while the others sewed. We made the apron and a simple sheath dress – can’t remember if we made anything else, but I remember those. The dress was calico and I never wore it. I did not do a good job on it. My mom didn’t have a sewing machine, but my grandmother had a treadle Singer, dark wood with the black treadle at the bottom, and I wish I had a picture of it. I have written about it in the past and my grandmother did not use it for sewing, but kept it in her back kitchen and put all her plants on it – the Christmas cactus was huge and it had the spot on top and the smaller plants were on the sides … it was quite wide. Her back kitchen window got a lot of sun and the plants thrived in that location. I thought you’d find the artwork interesting since your mom is an artist. We had some ugly weather last night and I shut down early after shutting down a couple of times during the day due to rumbles and then we had torrential rain happened for at least an hour – this weather is just incredible. If you had that rain, you’d not have to water for a week! No rain this morning but very humid and will be tropical when I go out – ugh!
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Brian’s art is pretty cool! Being a tropical fish keeper, i like the flowing fish ones a lot. And the city-scape one is awesome too… though, in reality, large cities don’t do much for me.
“Place it in the crack of your book,” ha! 🙂 (My books are fully covered!)
But most people read ebooks and such these days.
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Glad you liked Brian’s art Tom – how fun to see an art exhibit hanging on a fence in your neighborhood. I liked the two fish as well – very lifelike and colorful. I figured the bookmark would give everyone a grin so I decided to include it. Other than that there were very few booths. I’ve never used an ebook but I think I will get one down the road since our library system in this county has a lot of titles to choose from, but that will be after I’m done working.
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Marla loves the ebook that i got her. Holds tons of titles… and no clutter! 🙂
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I liked the concept of ebooks and will do it when retired and have more time to read, although I have a lot of books to get thru first. My mom and I were both avid readers and she finished off many of the books we bought together and they are in a Rubbermaid tub downstairs. I read more when I took the bus and worked on site so I read at lunch.
All my reading seems to have become non-existent since I worked on site and since blogging. 🙂
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Brian looks like a nice guy. I love knowing that he and his niece use chalk to draw on the sidewalk. Somehow that seems just the right amount of whimsy and creativity for a Monday morning. You have so much more going on in your community than we do here. [Or maybe it’s going on and I don’t know it.] The aprons are taking me back to 7th grade Home-Ec class when we all had to make one. It’s the only apron I ever made. I don’t remember what it looked like but I’m sure it was not as well sewn as the ones you feature here.
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Brian and I had a nice chat and I am going to search for some of the posts I’ve done featuring chalk art through the years and see if I can tell which ones were photos at his house. That bunny chalk art was amazing. I usually have featured much more chalk art on my blog in the Summertime, but I think all the rainy weather has kids not wanting to waste their time unless it is under a patio roof. We had such torrential rain last night that I’d be surprised if the petals are still on the flowers.
Those aprons were made in the 80s.
I got a pattern which was fairly easy to follow and made my mom quite a few of those aprons at that time. I’ve not sewn in decades and the machine is in its own cabinet with boxes of holiday decor piled up on top in a corner of the basement.
Our City was in receivership about 6-8 years ago and had significant issues – they had first responders working part time and as they retired, no new ones were hired. They got reduced pensions as well. Lawsuits ensued at one time over pension issues – it was very ugly. Once they were solvent again, they began to have City events again. We have a three-day carnival next week on the other side of the City. I’ve gone in the past and walked on the grounds to take some pictures and may do that again, though it’s not much of a stroll and I’m still striving to get my steps in.
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So much fun crammed into one day! Very nice of you to feature Brian, I checked out his blog and welcomed him to the wonders of blogging. I enjoyed the photos and your history lessons from your growing up years. My daughter has scored quite a few of the aprons my grandmother left behind. The colors are fascinating to her. That book mark sign…wow. Happy Monday, hope you have a great week!
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Glad you liked this post and it was a full day. That was nice of you to stop at Brian’s blog – he’ll be happy to see some people stopping by to check out his artwork. He says he has a lot of artwork to post once he gets a computer to do so, just using a phone now. The aprons for your daughter are good while she is painting … no wayward drips on her clothes.
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Yes, I enjoyed it. Looks like he’s off to a great start if he’s doing all of that just on a phone! WOW! Funny, I don’t think she wears the aprons, she’s storing them for some special project, whatever that will be?! Artists, I tell ya…always a work in progress. 🙂
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Yes, it was a lot of content from just the phone. I don’t know how people can do so much on their phone. It took me forever to type a message or create a contact. Briefly I had a smartphone when I had to leave 2G as AT&T no longer supported it. It dropped calls and texts (my brief foray into texting from a phone – I do it all the time from the computer though). I had to get rid of it – it was not an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, just from AT&T and I had a voucher toward it due to the 2G to 3G upgrade. So I was not adept at it at all. I was thinking a project, not drawing them – interesting.
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I don’t know how people use only their phone for this stuff. But there are some powerful tools that I too haven’t figured out how to use. I’m happy to type on my computer.
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Yes, me too and when I started using the Windows 10 laptop with the bigger screen, I was a little horrified to see how my blog displayed on there, all stretched out in the background and a narrow center. I’ll need to work on that this Winter, though I like my theme.
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I think there are some settings you can adjust? But don’t go on my advice! I’m a novice ;-)! Winter projects are starting to add up…!
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I have to tweak a bit Shelley. I added a photo gallery in 2018, plus changed the archived area, but other than that I’ve kept the same theme and style since day 1. My Winter projects are still languishing from last year!! 😉
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So cool. Love his Art ..
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Yes, his paintings are really cool and a wide variety as well too Michael.
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Another great post, Linda! Brian’s paintings are nice and I especially like the ones of the fish. As to aprons, I’ve never been a fan. Both of my grandmothers wore aprons every day and all day long when they were at home. My mom didn’t and maybe that’s why I don’t. I just use a towel I keep around for messy moments.
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Thanks Sabine, glad you liked it. I liked Brian’s paintings too – he had quite a lot of variety. Tom liked the fish too as he has his aquariums and tropical fish. I never saw my grandmother without an apron except if she was having her picture taken. My grandmother had a gas stove – it made me nervous as I had long hair and we’d sit around the kitchen table, just inches from the burner while waiting for the kettle to boil. She and my mother were both short and could barely reach the knobs on the stove.
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Sitting that close to the stove would be unnerving at any age I believe, but especially for a kid. Neighborhoods are fun to explore! There are always interesting gardens, people, and yes, even artists! Nice to know he got to sell some of his art!
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Yes, and sometimes when it was cold in the kitchen, she’d turn the burners on, with nothing on the stove – my mom would tell her it was not a good idea, but it was the back of the house, and an old house with drafts – her back kitchen could have doubled as fridge as it was off the main house. She never had any fires, but still didn’t like it at all. I had the same fear when going out with friends to Greek restaurants and we ordered flaming cheese. 🙂
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I’ll have to look up the flaming cheese! I never came across it when I lived in Greece!
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I enjoyed Greece very much when I visited in 1981 – how lucky you were to live there. It was beautiful and so historical. I went on a one-week Greek land tour and we had flaming cheese several times plus the second leg of the trip was a week-long cruise to Greek Islands – they made saganaki almost every night and set it on fire at the table – yikes! When I worked in downtown Detroit, we had “Greektown” and they had a few blocks of nothing but Greek restaurants, bakeries and shops – we always had to have flaming cheese if a group of us went out. Here is a long but detailed video how to make it: https://www.allrecipes.com/video/8274/flaming-greek-cheese-saganaki/?internalSource=picture_play&referringId=263750&referringContentType=Recipe
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Linda, I just looked up the flaming cheese! I have eaten it, but never anywhere where it was set on fire. Maybe they do that at restaurants where there are more tourists? Either way, it’s delicious! When I lived there, I was in a suburb of Athens and went into town several times a week. I visited all the ancient sights, made a number of Greek friends and spent time on a Greek island. I often wonder what it’s like there now! I just had such a wonderful time! Do you remember which islands and cities you visited?
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You’re probably right that the flaming cheese was to impress only and most of the cooking was done in the kitchen normally. Greektown here is something that everyone goes to … it was not close to downtown Detroit, i.e. about 1 1/2 miles from the central business district, so if we went at lunch when I worked, it was for a going away luncheon, or maybe at Christmastime. It was impossible to get over there and back timely, even if someone drove over … it is popular before or after our local teams play.
Detroit has the baseball, basketball and football teams all located within walking distance from Greektown.
I don’t remember all the cities on the land tour to be honest. We started the tour in Athens and spent quite a few days there touring all the historical places, and the only city I remember (without going back to look at pictures which I labeled) was Georgia. I think if I recall, it was a tiny town and we went to eat in a small place with some great music and it was a family-owned place with long tables, like benches, and the food atmosphere was wonderful. We got to the cruise ship and we had an action-packed week. We had several ports of call which included Cairo, Jerusalem, Kusadasi and the Greek Islands of Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes. Mykonos was our last night and our tour guide had befriended a couple of us who were traveling solo and we left the main group and went onto the island to visit a friend of his who raised figs. He brought some of his figs for us. We had a nice time and returned to the ship and departed the next day. It was my favorite trip, although I took a Scandinavian countries/USSR trip in 1983 which was also pretty fantastic as well.
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Greektown! I wish we had one here! Traveling in Greece was fun and I loved the people. Always happy and friendly! Sounds like you got to see quite a few places and some of the most famous islands. I haven’t been to those you named, just the smaller ones. I haven’t been back since 1984!
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I’ve not been to Greektown in at least 20 years and they used to be all smaller restaurants and shops there. You could walk down the main street and Greek music would be playing on loudspeakers. Then they put a casino and a big hotel smack in the middle of Greektown – it was good for business, but it was modern structures in what had been a a quaint little part of Detroit. They still thrive though with their eateries and shops but the ambiance is gone. I was last there right after the hotel went up. I found the people in Greece to be very nice and they seldom spoke English but made efforts to communicate as did we. We had no language barrier as it was an American Express tour so we had the same tour guide throughout the two weeks, a native Greek. For the cities we visited (Kusadasi, Jerusalem and Cairo), we had local guides who spoke perfect English. Our Greek tour guide had the same 35 mm camera as me (Canon AE-1) and that was nice as he often offered to take pictures of me at historical sites or one time sitting on a camel at the Giza Pyramids. So that was a real plus. I’d often come home from trips with just scenery pics. That last night was fun – we had our tour “last dinner and group photo” the night before and were told we could spend the day on Mykonos and return by tender to the ship for dinner, or stay there and explore and eat on the island – the tenders were returning to the ship all evening. So we went into town and went to different places (dinner in one place, dessert in another, drinks somewhere else, music still another place) so it was quite memorable.
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Progress can sometimes spoil things! Too bad about the hotel and casino right there, but I guess most people probably don’t mind. When we visited Lisbon a few years ago it reminded me very much of Athens. Different historical sights, food and of course language, but the atmosphere and architecture sure reminded me of Athens.
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Yes, I agree with you Sabine. These modern structures and all the crowds did not really fit into the small Greektown scene. It was a “walkable” place to go and people parked away from Greentown and all of a sudden a huge parking structure also became part of the landscape. My Greek pictures are also on Shutterfly but not tweaked yet as I scanned them in with an flatbed scanner and had to turn the pages around to get all the photos scanned – the photos are under plastic overlay which could not be removed. It is like the family albums I often use in posts – sometimes I have to use a screenshot to isolate a photo from the page. Something to do when I’m retired. But I had a lot of albums and never looked at them because they were in a cupboard, in a box and not easily accessible – small house, never have room. The garden pictures are fine as I loaded them as photos, not as scanned JPEGs.
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Sounds like you have your retirement planned!
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I bet Brian was excited to know he is on your blog! A few years back I found a painted rock at the base of a tree at the Marblehead Lighthouse and I put it out with the rocks by my fish pond. My grandson always picks it up to look at it…lol
All the crafts I have made over the years, I have never made a tie dye shirt!
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Yes he was excited Diane – it took me so long to do the post that in the meantime he had time to set up his blog and do three posts. I have not seen one rock at Council Point Park this year and just two in other parks. When I posted those pictures of the rocks I found on the Downriver Rocks Facebook site, the group is still going strong – lots of comments about hiding and finding rocks and and pictures of them and our group began in the Summer of 2017. One woman is an artist who paints scenes on each rock. She does amazing work on small stones and her side job is painting your pet’s picture or a significant other’s picture on clear Christmas bulbs. She takes orders and cuts off at a certain date or otherwise could not make her self-imposed Christmas bulb delivery date. I never did make a tie-dyed shirt. Did you ever do Pretty Punch crewel embroidery Diane? I did that for years.
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No but my mom did! I loved it!
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Interesting post, Linda! I really enjoy seeing other people’s art and crafts displayed. I’m glad you featured Brian’s artwork. My Grandmother always wore an apron when she cooked, but then, she always wore a dress. I never remember seeing her in anything else. I kept some of her old aprons.
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I’m glad you enjoyed the post Rebecca. It was a little different than my usual nature walk. I felt badly as I told Brian that day I’d write the post, but it might have to wait until I was not so busy at work – it took three weeks to finally get it posted. I liked Brian’s artwork and also the chalk art as well. My grandmother always wore a dress too – I never saw her in anything but a dress or a nightgown through the years. I kept my mom’s aprons too as I thought I might use them for crafts later on and was surprised I couldn’t find the very original apron from 8th grade. It will turn up one day – it’s a very small house!
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It’s amazing how well things can hide in small spaces. 🙂
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Hi Linda,
I loved this post- I like to say I am creative myself- so love it when I find other people’s creations. I am glad you featured Brian and his work and that he wasn’t shy to be featured and that he promptly went and started his own blog( what fun- I subscribed to his blog).
The tension of the past weeks seems to have flown away with this post. I loved the sewing stories you shared. I did sewing in the SUPW they called it – Socially Useful productive work- classes. We did cake baking, sewing, learning the different stitches and so on- Knitting too at some time. I did almost all Indian clothes as far as I can remember. I have a sewing machine now but it is an electric one and no where as user friendly as the foot one. Loved the hand made checked pattern aprons for sale too.
Susie
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Glad you liked this post Susie and that’s nice you have subscribed to budding blogger Brian’s blog (wow, a lot of “Bs” right there). I subscribed too once he sent me his new blog title. Brian told me when we chatted that he wants to get a laptop so he can post more photos of his paintings – right now he is using his phone only. He had a lot of paintings along the fence that day and some I could not fit into the horizontal picture.
I am glad you feel relaxed too – you know at one time I did all my own sewing and it seems like such a long time ago. My parents bought me the sewing machine which was in a cabinet and a matching chair. Nowhere to put it upstairs so it is downstairs in a corner and I have decor for harvest/Halloween, Christmas and Easter sitting in boxes on top of it. I feel badly – too bad it could not remain upstairs. I used to interested in crafts when I was younger – used to do some crafts with wool called ‘Pretty Punch” – it was a type of crewel work using wool instead of embroidery thread. I have two brand-new sweatshirts I made years ago – one was a design with Mickey Mouse and the other was Hershey’s Kisses … I wore the Hershey Kiss sweatshirt one time to work, the other one still is brand new and never worn – a fuschia color, pretty. I did it because that was before VCRs and if I wanted to stay up late to watch TV shows on at 10:00 p.m., I had to have something to do at the same time, or I might fall asleep. So did the “Pretty Punch” – my mom knit for years. I still have some vests and sweaters she made me – have not worn them in years since working on site. I used to make those heavier aprons when I sewed – those aprons were from the 80s – I’ve not sewed since then. I wonder what happened to my grandmother’s treadle-style sewing machine after she died and the house was sold. Probably an antiques dealer would have liked it.
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Old Singer machines are antiques, I believe.
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I think so too Susie – they sure are interesting looking.
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What an interesting post! I remember making aprons in Home Ick (what we called it). I learned to sew when I was young and made a lot of my clothes too (simple things… certainly not pants). I just bought a new machine and I’m getting back into it. The new machines are so amazing and easy to use! Mine has a self-threader which is great for my older eyes. So nice that you had a chance to chat with Brian. He does nice work! I’m going to check out his blog.
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Ha ha – I love the idea of “Home Ick” – we had a great teacher but I can’t say I learned a whole lot in there, and because my mom did not work after I was born, she did the cooking, so I never really got a chance to try out “cheesy weenies” or any other cooking/baking we learned in class for that matter.
I have not touched the sewing machine since the 80s – by the late 80s/early 90s it was easier to find pants and jackets that were for tall women. Before that, there was nothing. I shot up height wise by about 12 years old. Wool plaid shorts were popular for a while. We’d wear them with knee socks and penny loafers and a long-sleeved crew-neck sweater over a thin turtleneck. That was a big fashion item for a while. So I decided to make my own plaid shorts – never sewed plaid before. Laid the pattern upside down or something – I could never wear them out of the house – they made your eyes cross from the pattern if you looked at them for too long.
I hated threading the needle 40 years ago – it’d be a real problem now I’m sure!
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Miss Linda…………………………..enjoyable blog today………………..I’m happily surprised that Lincoln Park had an: “Art in the Park”, day! I like Mr. Einstein’s quote too…………………………and Brian Spicer’s artwork
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Glad you liked it Ann Marie – I was surprised to turn a corner and see all the artwork lined up … it was the first time I went to the “Art in the Park” – probably the free concerts in the evening are a bigger draw. I liked Mr. Einstein’s quote too!
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you sure can an churn out a post with an arty creative theme
and Biran’s favorite painting has nice blues – my fav of his was the pink fish one.
(and sorry to be brief in my comment – short for time this week but glad I was able to check in)
I now leave enriched with art, your words – and flowers from he other post.
So glad I stopped by before bed—
I might dream of art and flowers
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I thought you’d like the artistic post and the flower post too so I’m glad you had time to stop by. I’ve had to scramble to either post or stay caught up in Reader lately due to storms over the past few days – we have a potentially severe storm coming in later today, one tomorrow, then blessed cooler and sunny weather for a few days. Hope you had arty and flowery dreams Yvette. 🙂
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I did have restful sleep but don’t recall much – so now maybe I will have a look see here again 😉
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I won’t be here long tonight – we have potentially severe weather coming in the next 45 minutes or so. I do covet curly hair but not that way. 🙂 One more day of this stifling heat, then four days of nice weather. I can hardly wait.
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I enjoy your posts reminiscing about the 1960s. I did tie-dye art projects back in the day. It was messy but fun! So cool that you got to meet Brian. You had mentioned the chalk art to me before. I like his paintings!
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Glad you are enjoying them Laurie – I really liked reminiscing about the 60s too. I’ve collected some pictures this Summer and I;m going to go back to the early 60s and my childhood when I get a chance to compile the post and I’m looking forward to putting it together. In fact, I think you’ll recall this fun experience since we’re the same age.
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Love the “sexy” bookmark, Linda!! ;0)
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A little chuckle Pam. Never to be used to save your page in a volume at the office law library, especially if you’re a brand-new associate … just sayin’. 🙂
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😂😂😂
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You are 1000% correct- creativity is so contagious! I can even use your blog as an example- when you post about animals and nature it makes me so much more aware of my surroundings and motivates me to take pics of them too. Thanks for sharing, Linda 🙂
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Thank you Mackenzie – being creative does keep your mind humming. I attended a sketching event at one of the Metroparks yesterday – I thought it would be fun. I’ve not sketched anything since a class I took around 50 years ago (yes 50 … not a typo).
I took some shots of my pictures I created … if they come out okay, I’ll post them – I’m no artist, but it was something different and a new park to explore. After walking over 7 miles, I kept nodding off after I got to the computer last night after all the fresh air. 🙂
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I would love to see those pictures of your sketches!! What a neat activity – sketching is so therapeutic too!
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I just published the post although my sketches are not the best but I included them as they went along with the narrative, but I think I can get more out of a YouTube video that I mentioned in the post. I should have opted for that but it was something different and I wanted to try out that park anyway: https://lindaschaubblog.net/2019/08/25/walk-talk-sketch/
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Oh yayyy!!!! I can’t wait to check it out!! I might take a quick peak now : )
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How lovely to have art all around 😁.
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Yes it was an “arty weekend” … they just started having this “Art in the Park” event a few years ago. They draw a bigger crowd in the afternoon and evening when they have music. They had several bands lined up.
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Sounds fab ❤
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Hey, I finally get to see that apron 🙂
Is this the art – above – that you were referring to that you had promised the guy to post?
Love, light and glitter
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Yes, and I looked everywhere for that pink apron I made 50 years ago as it was exactly the same as the guy’s apron going for $20.00 (16 pounds). It was nothing really, just a square and gathered at the waist with the waistband and two ties. In my heart I know I did not throw that apron away but it was not with the other three. I kept those in case I needed them down the line for anything. That apron will turn up and when it does, I’ll take a picture of it. And, yes that is the art that I promised Brian I’d do a post on – I told him it might be a little while – it ended up being three weeks, and in the meantime, he had time to start a blog (all which he does on his phone) before I finally did the post. I am still way behind in posting pictures, some taken in late July, the beginning of August. By the time I catch up, Fall will be here. Love, light and glitter back at you Ellie.
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(((hugs)))
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