Iris Day

Once upon a time, in my family, when I was 10 or 12 or so, we all had the Mid-winter blahs. It was February, I believe, and all Mainers get a little nutty around February due to the cold/lack of daylight/cost of heating fuel, etc, etc, etc. Anyways, my Mom had bought this little Iris that sat on our table top and never really bloomed, until one day, all of a sudden, in the middle of February, it bloomed a lovely, purpley-blue. My Mom, my brother and I declared it "Iris Day" and made it our own personal holiday and gave each other little gifts. And every year after that (for three of four years, anyways) we celebrated "Iris Day" and used it as an excuse to cheer ourselves up when there was really no other Holiday to look forward to. And all of this really has nothing to do with nothing, except that My Mom has a killer deep, dark Purpley-Blue Iris in her garden now and it blossomed the other day and gave me pause and made me very happy and reminded me of Iris Days past.

In other news, SOOOOOO much has been going on at the store. I know it's been a lil' bit since my last post but the craziness at the store was mostly to blame, and I'm glad it's been crazy. Happy/Crazy, not Crazy/Crazy. If that makes any sense. Here's a picture of our newest friend Lynn with her "Fresh Cut Floorcloth." She was one of the glas in our floorlcoth workshop this weekend. We've had oodles of classes (Machine Quilting, Two-fer Runner, Skrappy Sack, Floorcloth Workshop, and Doggie Leashes for the 8-12 year old set, not to mention Sewing Lounge which could be a whole footnote of craziness) and seen lots of old friends (Most notably my kindred spirit Robina from Vermont, who I KNOW is out there somewhere, sewing something fabu and reading this right now... HI ROBINA!!!) This is a picture of her in a "Turkish Dancer" jacket which she made from a pattern and fabric purchased at a GREAT little shop in Damariscotta Mills that I know. She brought in 2 little sprites (Anne and Olivia) who were new to the whole Alewives/Midcoast Maine thing. It was obvious they were having a magic weekend.

And the house is coming along slowly but surely. George says I will be able to move in in a few days, but I think not, as I'm sure I would have "Unfinished Kitchen" nightmares. I say, I'll move my stuff in and certainly "hang out" a lot more, but I shant be moving in until the kitchen is done. If I have a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen, I'm good to go. Remove one of these three key ingredients, and call me crazy, but it kinda takes the fun out of the whole thing. And when everything (meaning the upstairs, the downstairs, etc, etc, etc) is done (we're talking many more weeks, here, people) then I'm going to have a huge shindig/open house and really warm the place up. I'd love to invite Betty (the home's former owner) but I'm afraid she'd faint, it's so different.

And last but not least, i went to my little sister Johanna's art show last night. The whole school was decked out in everyone's art work. Kudos to her art teacher ( whose name eludes me at the moment) for doing such a great job, and the graphic designer in me apprecciated the way EVERY piece was mounted and matted and presented so attractively. It makes a huge difference and did not escape my attention. There's a lot of good energy going around in Johanna's little school. It sounds cliched, but it really does seem like a family there, and every student gets a lot of praise and support and all the benefits of a small school. Johanna's art work was great. She puts all kinds of little details in her art. My favorites were the clay Oyster shell mobile with dangling seahorse, sea otter, angel fish and dolphin, and the Conch Shell shaped color wheel. Other favorites by kids I didn't know were the Miro inspired "Pig Elvis" and a great take on Munch's "The Scream." There was also an adorable talent show. As a Bonus, on the way home, Mom and I stopped to get cold drinks, and on the eddy near their house there was amazing fog ("sea smoke" Mom calls it) hanging on after a thunder shower. The showers really cooled off the air and the sun came out for a view of the eddy I had never seen before. I had to pull over and photograph it. Just as I was pulling out, our friend Kim and her daughter Avae were pulling over to do the exact same thing.

It was a lovely ending to a lovely day!

Be back soon (I promise!!!) Class tonight with Michaela and the girls... I have to go do my homework!!!

XOXO

Rhea