On the Danforth, poetry, parties and cupcakes

Last night my classmates and I from the Book and Magazine Publishing program celebrated the completion of the program and of the print issues of On the Danforth magazine with a fantastic wrap party. There were cupcakes and drinks and raffle prizes that some people had been coveting for weeks. It was a huge tragedy when no one from our class won the Hunger Games prize pack.

As sad as it was to be having our final night together, we spent just about the whole party laughing. And also feeding my friend Sarah cupcakes. She kept bouncing up and down and saying, "I had six cupcakes for dinner!" And so I took the obvious course of action: I wrote a poem.

I had six cupcakes for dinner—

And I think it makes me a winner. 

There's frosting and sprinkles all over the place,

And one great, big smile on the front of my face,

And I think each kid in the whole human race

Should always have cupcakes for dinner!

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Tablecloth Shirt: Putting those lovely, old linens to use

With school in its final week and a deadline for a freelance project approaching, I haven't had much time to devote to crafting. Still, there are moments when I've just had enough of the computer screen and I need to make something pretty. That's when I go work on this:

It's very much a work in progress, full of pins and with no sleeves or straps yet, but it soothes my crafty soul.

My original plan was to make a shirt with vintage handkerchiefs, but the dimensions didn't work out. So I turned to tablecloths and table runners instead, cutting around stains and looking for ways to get the most out of my yardage. I don't regret the switch—just look at these details!

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Vintage lace flowers

A silly, little poem

 

He gave her a violet.
She gave him an orange.
He have her a turquoise on top of a ring.
They feasted on greens topped with chestnuts and peaches—
The colours ran out then—and so did their fling.




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Poetry and a rhythm lesson

An impatient poem this week turned into a rhythm lesson. I imagined my Mom's grade two students chanting it in quarter, half, eighth and whole notes and ultimately overlapping the different rhythms with each other.

Pencil crayons aren't my usual choice, but they're portable and I wanted to get back in the habit of drawing.

Waiting

Tap-toe. Tap-toe.
Too slow. Let's go.
[quarter notes]






Tap-toe. Tap-toe.
Tap-toe. Tap-toe.





Tick...Tock...
Slow... Clock...
[half notes]






Tap-toe. Tap-toe.
Tick... Tock...

Twiddle thumbs and fidget bums and Wriggle, wriggle squirm.
[eighth notes]

Tap-toe. Tap-toe.
Tick... Tock...
Twiddle, fidget, wriggle, squirm.
Twiddle, fidget, wriggle, squirm.







                      Heave...       A...
                     Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

                       [whole note]

Tap-toe. Tap-toe.
Tick... Tock...
Twiddle, fidget, wriggle, squirm.
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

HERE WE GO!

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Cleaning vintage linens

Some of the linens my mother gave me were yellowed, and all of them made me sneeze, so I looked around the Internet for a gentle way to wash them. This technique didn't get the more stubborn stains out, but it freshened everything up and it certainly brightened the whites.

Step one: Pour 16 cups of cool filtered water into a bucket - or, failing that, your sister's mixing bowls (no, that bowl does not hold 16 cups—I ended up using three). I didn't want to buy special water and I don't know much about what comes out of the taps, so I just ran it through a Brita filter.

Step two: Mix in 1 cup of white vinegar.

Step three: Put your linens in the water. Make sure there is enough room for them to swish around a bit. Leave them there for several hours.

Step four: Rinse your linens and hand-wash them in a gentle detergent. Hang them to dry.

 When I get the time I will pull out my back issues of MaryJanesFarm organic living magazine and refresh my memory on the natural stain-fighting powers of things like borax and cream of tartar and milk. In the meantime, I have plenty of clean hankies to work with. I can't wait!

Note: I did find that, even with this reportedly gentle method, a few tiny holes had grown a little bigger after soaking in the vinegar water. I'm not sure there is any way around that, though, with such old, delicate fabrics.

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I was wrong—I couldn't balance TwilightTree and Retrouvé on top of work and my other school assignments. TwilightTree, I apologize for my inattention. Followers, if you want to know what I've been up to the past month, check out Retrouvé online magazine.

But now I'm back! And I'm back with a whole new source of creative material. This week I managed a rare visit home to my parents in Northern Ontario. Mom and I went through the old cedar chest together and she gave me...

...an absolute...

...fortune...


...in vintage hankies...


... and doilies...


...and napkins...


... and table runners.

I am going to have so much fun with these!

In fact, I can't wait to get to work creating, so that's all I'll say for now.

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Erin

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