Things My Mother Never Told Me...

...but I probably should have realised?

Children only seem to move out. When you least expect it, up they pop.

They may pack their 'stuff', empty their room (and the fridge and the kitchen utensils drawers and the bathroom toiletries), say 'bye' most cheerfully and you think 'ah! the place to myself' till mid-term/ Easter/ Christmas/ or whatever, put up your feet, get out all the books you have hidden to read in peace...and a week or so later they text 'c u @ wknd'.

I have to say that one good thing about my girls is that they seldom bring their laundry since my drying facilities are along the lines of the Widow Twankey's, i.e. draped round the kitchen, but they waltz in with comments like:

Where's the spare towels? why d'you move them?
Can you just run me into town to see...and I'll call you when I want collecting...taxis out to your place are so dear, you know that.
Where's the bread I left in the freezer? She ate it? Huh!
Have you no biscuits?
Where's the second book of that trilogy you were reading? Can you finish it please by tomorrow as I was really hoping to take them with me?
Did you move my shampoo? No I didn't take it (frantic rummage)...oh maybe I did.
I can't find the muffin pan...she took it? Well she shouldn't have as it was yours and anyhow I wanted to take it back with me.
I can't find your black cardigan, I'll take your red one it'll do and your black shoes, you won't be needing them til after Christmas. (which Christmas?)
And I need a spare duvet cover and some pillowcases as I've friends coming to visit...

You get the drift right?
And then I think of all the parents who would love their children to visit.
And then I look at my depleted wardrobe and wonder why I only ever have the really tatty clothes left...

...and the depleted fridge...bathroom...linen press...and I haven't even catalogued the sewing notions which have disappeared...

I am grateful, really, I love 'em...but I'm still waiting for that empty nest syndrome 'they' speak of, its more like overflowing borrow syndrome around here!

Is 'no' a real word?

Interview with...Myself!!

Before I begin, here's a few photos from yesterday. The weather was just glorious so we camped out in the garden all day! Sos came home before lunch- she has radar when it comes to food...it was lovely to see the girls catching up with each other...Do you like our Summer Kitchen? Wonderful murals on the walls, huh?!

Widow Twankey's Laundry- Sos arrived home with three loads for the machine...typical!

And after such a lovely day I decided to make a new Treasury: Lazy Hazy Summer Dayz!

And now to the business of the day, for which you have waited with bated breath:

Interview with a (Quilting ) Vampire!

Heckety: So then, Heckety, what has inspired you as an artist?
Heckety: I was sewing, crafting and creating long before I ever thought to consider myself an artist, and even now it does seem a little high-faloutin and grandiose to call what I make ‘Art’.

I think I would be more inclined to call it attractive and useful thrifting! A bit like myself, really, attractive and useful, that is...

Heckety: Hmmmm. Matter of opinion. What is the first thing you remember making?
Heckety: Dolls and dolls’ clothes! I used to use Mom’s dress-making scraps to make fashion clothes for my ‘Disco dolls’ (anyone remember them?!), and then I progressed to soft furnishings, with furniture made from cereal boxes! I had nearly a whole house made at one point which drove Mom nuts as it lived on the bedroom floor and I went ballistic if my baby brother got at it whilst I was at school!
Later I began making rag dolls- I was convinced that there was a perfect doll waiting to be created, I still am convinced, and I still haven’t achieved it! Dee’s Annie comes very close though…

Heckety: Are there artists (famous or not) that have influenced your work?
Heckety: I can’t think of any particular artist but I think there are two main influences which have played their part:
Firstly Mom took me to a Quilt Exhibition in London when I was 11 or 12. I was making very rudimentary patchwork by then as a way of using the afore-mentioned dress scraps. I can’t recall where the Exhibition was held but I remember the beauty and richness and history of the Quilts.

Secondly, our parents have always taken us to places of interest:- museums, Art Galleries, Castles, chateaux, caves, beautiful scenery, Carnac, Brittany to see the national costumes, London for State Occasions, the Tower of London, stately homes, Craft shows, flower shows, Gardens of every sort, steam trains, Windsor, the State Apartments in Dublin Castle, Chester Beattie Library, potteries, weavers, artist’s workshops…even if something wasn’t planned, if we drove past, we stopped.
In retrospect I see that we were VERY privileged because even though everything was done on a budget we were given access to an enormous range of experiences and information. (Including the time my sister got stuck in the loo in a French restaurant and with my execrable school French I had to find a waiter and explain (in French ) that my little sister was stuck in the toilet and could he help?)
I firmly believe that EVERYTHING is grist to the mill in our lives: if we look with an open mind and active imagination then everything is ‘input’. As a result I am lucky enough to have a vast pool of experiences and visual memories upon which to draw when I am creating.

Heckety: Are there people in your life that have inspired you or your artwork?
Heckety: My parents encouraged us as children to try out things which interested us- for me it was music, crafts and sewing. Without that I doubt I would have ever started down this road, none of my friends followed an even remotely similar path. As regards the actual skills, I've learned everything out of books!

Heckety: I guess you like books so! Is there a moment in your life when you knew you were supposed to be an artist?
Heckety: Definately not! It was always a hobby, something to do in the evenings, or school holidays, or on Maternity leave…it was only when my health took a downward turn in about ’98 that I began sewing to earn. Since then I have tried on three occasions to return to full-time teaching and each time I’ve been beaten back by poor health. I recall some time ago a doctor asking anxiously would I be bored or unhappy since I could no longer hold down a job and I replied that I was never bored in my life, which is absolutely true! He was most surprised!
Despite all that it is no hardship to me to be turning my sewing into a business…or attempting to do so! I love sewing and creating, knitting and using all the various skills I have acquired to create useful things. I like having the freedom to live in an ethical and ecologically sound way. I like being able to choose the content of my days. And I like not being tied to the rat-race.

Heckety: And that's all for today folks- tomorrow we'll be back with the second half!