daydreamy fabrics

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My favorite art is the touchable kind. I would rather visit a good fabric store than a famous museum, honest!

This post is a tribute to some old-fashioned fabric designed by Heather Ross. Heather started a business selling kids’ clothes made from her designs, but it didn’t take off, and she’s still selling off the last fabric remnants.

I stumbled across these pencils and erasers online, and felt a small but pure happiness. Maybe because both the subject and the style evoked some happy aspects of my childhood: well, school in general, which I loved, and drawing with pencils, which was so much more magical and powerful than smushing crayons around.

pencils

Then I saw these friendly mermaids and other swimmers, and I felt even happier. I would like to swim in this ocean for a while.

mermaids-old

Well, these old fabrics are running out, and the small bits left are very expensive. But it turns out that Hart’s Fabric, a local store, is carrying her newer designs. I purchased these.

Just the octopi!

giant-octopi

With all their fellow swimmers:

mermaids-new

I have to admit I love Heather’s older, more primitive take on the mermaid scene better than the newer, slicker style, even though I like them both.

Links:

Hart’s Fabric

Repro Depot

gifts from my mother

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For the upcoming Mother’s Day I’d like to appreciate some of the many gifts my mother has given me.
heart music photo by David Drexlerheart music, a photo by David Drexler

Gift #1: My mother told me very young that every person on earth matters and is just as important as everyone else. This perspective struck a deep chord in me, and I’ve tried to hold on to it my entire life. How simultaneously subversive and utterly logical it is. It’s not always easy to put into practice, but that’s another story.

Gift #2: She has always loved me, and she let me know it, too. Even when she was upset with me, I’ve never doubted, ever, that she loved me. I know that I am loved.

Gift #3: She taught me to enjoy music. When I was little, we were lucky to have musical instruments and records, but those wouldn’t have mattered as much without her example. She currently sings in three or four choirs—I forget exactly—singing makes her happy. And music makes me happy too.

Thank you, Mama!

What do *you* appreciate about your mom?

Brazilian serenade for a beautiful morning

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Because the rain stopped and the sun is shining and I have iTunes playing Luis Bonfá, I gotta share my favorite song and scene from the 1959 film Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus). The movie sets the ancient Greek love story of the musician Orpheus and his beloved Eurydice in Brazil during Carnaval. The music (samba, bossa nova) is outstanding.

In this tranquil scene, Orpheus plays his guitar and sings so sweetly that the children, animals and Eurydice all draw near to listen.

Manha de Carnaval