Evoking Permanence

per·ma·nence

noun

1. ...the state or quality of lasting or remaining unchanged indefinitely.

The road that we travel to reach the interstate from our rural home takes us through a small town where the road is lined with small, brick, mid-century ranch style homes. There is one stretch of the road where each home has an aluminum storm door adorned with an initial; this, along with the style of the home, hearkens back half a century and, in my mind, evokes permanence. I remember as a small girl riding in the back seat of the family car when we would go visiting. One time my Dad was looking for the home of an ages-old friend on a busy road. The man's last name was "Standing", I spotted a screen door with an "S"in the middle... bingo! Of course this was his home, no one ever moved back then. I can recall very few friends in elementary school whose family ever moved away, the sixties were a different time for sure. Something about these personalized doors brings comfort to me and every time we drive down this small town road, I think about the family, or more likely the aging couple now, who might live behind these doors; I think of how their children, once upon a time, would run in and out of these doors... the big intial slamming behind them. I also believe these identifying doors to be warm and welcoming: "Yes, it's us, you've found our home... please come ring our doorbell".  I've assigned names to the families who might live here; this house belongs to the Millers. The Youngs and the Dixons would be their neighbors.


I realize that I am conflicted over this affection for personalized inanimate objects because following one of these drives me nuts.

Why on earth would anyone place a monogram on their car window?

It's beyond me.  Maybe the personalized license plate they wanted was already spoken for.

It makes no sense, I know.

So, back to the houses and my comfy-cozy reminiscing of days-gone-by. Take a look at the chimney here; this is taking permanence to another level entirely. When your initial is built directly into your brick home the owner never plans on leaving. I mentioned my inner conflict over such things... this personalized "E" chimey is on the very same house with the "M" front door pictured above! Hmmm. The only way I can rationalize this is to imagine that the Emerson's, who built the house, left it to their daughter who married a Miller and she still calls this house her home... after all, how could she ever leave? Like I said, these objects bring comfort to my mind, just so long as there aren't any of those ridiculous monogrammed rear windows in any of these driveways I'm good.

Life is Good!

Initially Speaking...

When it comes to monogrammed children's clothing these items typically are so uniquely personalized that there is little that can be done with them when they're outgrown... usually they can't be handed down to friends or family unless the initials are the same. This is a non-issue with items monogrammed for Lynnleigh (these two onesies, shown here) or for big brother Gregory. My daughter in law is saving every little thing that bears their name or initials for a someday quilt to be composed of patches from their personalized baby and childhood clothing. Clever. Imagine how much I love that idea!

While I had the embroidery module attached this past week I monogrammed a couple of super cute cotton knit dresses for Lucy Ann too, she'll make these look adorable! My daughter doesn't have plans to construct anything from personalized clothing and that's always been a distant concern in the back of both of our minds: "we wish we knew what could be done with monogrammed clothes once they're too small...". That thought hasn't ever been so great that it stopped me from monogramming for her, but it does feel limiting. Anyway... a few months ago I was in a quilt class displaying Lucy Ann's Picture Play quilt for show and tell and a class member told me that she had a baby granddaughter whose name was also Lucy Ann! I was so surprised. You can imagine my amazement when I learned that her Lucy Ann has the same last initial as our Lucy Ann! My first thought: "would she be interested in "inheriting" monogrammed items"? She told me that she thought her granddaughter's family would love that. My daughter thought this was one terrific solution too! And so, I delivered the first load of personalized clothing from our Lucy Ann to hers last month! There will be lots more where those came from! 

For Lucy Ann now... and later on too!
Life is Good!

To The Letter

Idiom: "to the letter" To the last detail; exactly: followed instructions to the letter.

My daughter brought some items for monogramming the last time she came home, these are the results~ to the letter! Indulge me here: seriously, don't you think that this precious child could be America's Next Top Baby Model? He was so sweet and compliant about trying on this little shorts outfit as soon as Nana finished up the stitching! His Mommy liked her personalized apron too, and posed for a photo-op but wouldn't allow her identity to be revealed. However... Mason's baby sister is beginning to reveal her whereabouts (hard to tell here, I should have asked my daughter to turn sideways)! It looks like I need to find some tiny little something to monogram for my soon-to-be granddaughter so she won't feel left out!

Life is Good!

To Market, To Market...

I stitched monograms on a few items last week. (The purses are for identical twins who just so happen to have the same initials!) The Market Basket is my daughter's, isn't it just the cutest thing? It's completely collapsible, the frame comes off (which made the embroidery easy-peasy on this item*) and reattaches with the little velcro tabs, I am going to search for some of these, they would make fantastic Christmas gifts. They are super lightweight, I can literally think of hundreds of uses for a great basket like this; (beyond the market) can't you?

Life is Good!
* this was certainly not the case when it came to hooping in, under, around & through those huge rattan handles on the purses! Arrggh!!

Throwing In The Towel

I don't give up, or 'throw in the towel', without a fight... literally. My husband and I have plush, thick, absorbent towels in our bathrooms for guests to use. Our bathroom, though, was a different story. It's not that we don't have nice, new towels. We do; stacks of them. I just don't put them out for us to use on a daily basis, as a result our towels became very thin, threadbare and string-y. My husband finally declared that enough was enough, and began using the "nice" towels himself. I was still determined to keep on with the old, worn-out ones however. I kept thinking "one more time"... as I yanked off yet one more straggly edge and tossed it in the trash. In all acuality, the towels that my husband uses to dry off the car were in much better shape than MY bath towels were. Yes, past tense... I finally gave in and literally 'threw in the towels', all of the old see-thru ones... into the rag bag! I carried, ceremoniously, a stack of lovely NEW towels into our bathroom on Monday. These towels are so nice, in fact, that I decided they needed monograms. I worked in my software program for most of that day creating monograms in different sizes and fonts for my husband to approve. I printed them out on pages the actual size for viewing and carried them back to the bedroom/bathroom to "try them on" and attempt to get an idea of how they would look on the nice, new towels. My husband passed on a few and ultimately selected one, we discussed thread color for the monograms and I then folded that towel up, with the pages, and laid it on the loveseat in our bedroom. This morning, when I stepped out of the shower, I saw those monogram pages scattered all over the bedroom floor. It took me a moment to register what, exactly, had happened. Hannes was sound asleep on the afore-mentioned towel, he'd made a nice little nest out of it. A soft, cozy nest from this luxurious, new towel! He had to dig with his front paws, furiously, to get his little towel-nest 'just right', too! Have you ever seen a dachshund dig? Let's just say that it's what God created them to do... and when they dig, for all their worth , in a brand-new towel... it loosens more than a few surface threads: I can trim off the pile of loose threads... (I'm used to threadbare towels, anyway!) I'm not sure this one is still deserving of a monogram however! I can't be mad, for long, at this dog... could you?

I ask you...is this the face of remorse?
Life is Good!

Hannes knows that, and it will be good for him again too...
whenever he gets out of the proverbial dog house! ;)