Beam Me Over Scotty!

I'm going to Scotland in a week.  I'M GOING TO SCOTLAND IN A WEEK!  This is a big deal for me, a homebody who has never even left the country.  It's true.  I'm quite content to stick around home.  Bucket list?  There isn't one.  My greatest travel aspirations might include road trips around the country to see the national parks.  That would be nice.

But my children are very different than me.  Well, at least two of them... so far.  The two oldest.  They get around.  If you have read my blog from the beginning, you know those two boys have lived in Taiwan, Japan, China, (Utah) and now, you guessed it... Scotland.  Glasgow to be specific.  My oldest and his wife (front center and front left in this picture of my family) are living in the West End for a year while he gets a masters in International Politics-China at the University of Glasgow.

And yes, said university looks like Hogwarts to me.

Well, it WAS founded in 1451.

Anyway, something happened last summer and now there's this...

And that's why I'm going to Scotland in a week.

Yes, my first grandchild.

A pale, blond or red headed, freckly baby girl should arrive

about the same time I do... keep your fingers crossed. 

Knock on wood.  Say a prayer.  Whatever works.  

My plans in Scotland are to be a homebody there, too.  

I need to take care of the new mama so she can take care of her new sweetie pie.

No other big plans while I'm there...

well...

Ok... maybe I could sneak out for a little while and see this:

I mean... it's located right on the university grounds.

I'm talking about The Mackintosh House, a reassemblage of interiors

from one of my favorite architects, leader in the art nouveau movement,

and legendary Glaswegian, Charles Rennie Mackintosh!

 Among his gorgeous designs:

The iconic trademark Mackintosh rose,

the 1898 Argyle chairs and the famous 1902 Hill House chair (center)!

I used to have a Mackintosh Rose poster up in my kitchen in Provo

when I attended BYU for Interior Design back when this boy I'm visiting was born.

So, it's meant to be.  I need to sneak over there...

...and maybe on the way I might come across a thrift shop or two...

or a fabric shop here and there.

There's a Cath Kidston in Glasgow.

And not that I've been cruising all over the google map of Glasgow

and obsessed with street view and checking out fabric shops called

Timorous Besties, Mandors, Remnant Kings, or Zum Zum...

or thrift shops with fascinating names like

Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor... but, I digress...

Anyway.

We'll see about all that.

First, I need to concentrate on someone who

I used to think would someday look like this:

An early Victoria magazine picture cropped from an article about something vintage that I loved back in the 90s.  This beautiful little girl, whoever she is, is all grown up now.  I used to think if my son and his wife had a daughter, she might look like this.  But now I think she'll be even more fair and more blond.  We'll see, won't we?

Until then,

Cheerio and Haste Ye Back!

Stocking Up

I'm a big believer in creating traditions!  My family members can attest to that.  When my kids leave home, I want them to remember all the fun they had growing up here participating in Valentine treasure hunts to Halloween songs.

One tradition (perhaps my first) was started sort of by accident and long before any of them was even a twinkle in somebody's eye -- a yearly Christmas stocking for my husband.  Here's how it started.  In order to ensnare my candy-loving boyfriend, I made him a stocking way-back-when in (oh my gosh this seems so long ago) 1976.  Gasp.  My diabolical plan worked!  I delivered the handmade sugar packed treasure on Christmas eve and sure enough he planted that first kiss on me the next day - Christmas!

Made from a McCall's pattern, it was a felt track shoe with one of his high school nicknames on one side and track team number on the other.  Little did I know that stocking would be the first in a long line of candy-filled creations that have inadvertently summarized our life.  I didn't plan to do it... but the next year I made another and another after that.

 Then he served a mission in Tokyo and I had to make one to send to him there.

Well, then we got married.

These stockings are simple: felt, puffy paint, glitter glue -- 

never taking much more than an hour to create.

Always celebrating milestones in my husband's life.

Like graduating from college

or the birth of a baby daughter.

Or a year jam-packed with buying a house, having a baby,

getting a master's degree and holding an extra part-time job.  Yikes.

 And we can't forget the Packers!

 Or the big Y2K scare...

 In 2000, Larry researched his deceased father's prisoner of

war experience and wrote a book about it for family members.

And then 911 happened.

 In 2006, my husband wrote a book about all the president's inaugural addresses

and their faith related comments.  Check it out here on Amazon.

 Here's the year Larry had very serious neck surgery in January

and visited Mt. Rushmore in August.  Notice George's cervical collar.

You may remember two summers ago when all my kids

came home to roost for a couple of months between semesters.

This is a take off on the old woman who lived in a shoe...

And this is the latest stocking edition... from 2011.  There was a lot of political turmoil in our state last year and teachers... well, I don't want to get into it.  But this stocking illustrates how it was stated that some teachers live high on the hog... so I made light of it by planting a picture of Larry in his '99 Ford Escort waving a fist full of money.  Perhaps a bit sarcastic... 'nuff said.

What will be the subject of this year's stocking?

I'm starting to think about it.

Several things happened this year...

a cross-country trip to drop Chelsea at college,

s son who performed at Summerfest,

the death of a beloved brother, 

knee surgery,

Keaton's Band Revue...

Well, whatever it is, it will be the 37th edition of the annual stocking!

Merry Christmas!

May all your traditions be meaningful and fun.

Mary Lester Fabrics - part 4

It's interesting to look back on the history of Mary Lester Fabrics and see how it rose and fell with the popularity of polyester double knit.  Or was double knit the last hurrah of yard goods... the last years when most women all had sewing machines... the last of the days when sewing was a Home Ec requirement for teenage girls in school...?

Here is an ad from 1970.  Polyester double knit was definitely ALL the rage - the miracle wash and wear fabric that never needed ironing great for everything from pantsuits to wedding dresses. 

Mary Lester had ambitious plans as evidenced in this 1969 ad from the Milwaukee Journal (Let's not even talk about the humor of the legality of an ad asking specifically for a "man" -- a "young" man and seeking full details of "marital status"... hmmm... more than sewing has changed since 1969).

The Capitol Court store closed in the early 80s.

My mom and I ended up with our own pattern cabinets.  She was offered a job at the Northridge store and actually tried it for a short time, but it just wasn't the same.  Pretty soon the whole chain closed down.  To quote Eugene Lewandowski, Mary Lester General Manager, in a 1977 Journal article, "The piece goods industry lost direction during a decade where greed overshadowed common sense and rapid fire retail expansion was as rational as Christmas in July."

I don't think we Mary Lester clerks realized any of this back in the day.  We just kept showing up for work, planning new outfits, and cutting fabric for customers... and occasionally chasing a thief or listening to a mallway serenade.

Mary Lester Fabrics - part 3

I didn't start working at Mary Lester Fabrics until my senior year of high school, but it was a fun job for a girl who sewed.  Every month employees got free patterns (promos) and always a discount on fabric.  A good portion of every paycheck probably went to fabric purchases.  Remember that bumper sticker... "She who dies with the most fabric, wins?"  Well, with three women working at a fabric store in our family, we were on our way to winning.  The "hold" bin at Mary Lester was always full of irresistible remnants waiting to be purchased with the next paycheck.

The women who worked together at Mary Lester were like family.  We knew each other well.  There was LuAnn, JoAnn, Bert, Sandy, Doris, Bernie, Mavis, Sylvia, Margaret, Helen, Julie, Debbie... the list goes on and on.

Mary Lester had a diverse clientele because Capitol Court was situated in the old world neighborhoods of Capitol Drive and south.  Over the span of Capitol Court's lifetime, the neighborhood deteriorated.  Many of my memories working at Mary Lester include theft.  People stole a lot of fabric.  In the 70s polyester double knit was at the height of popularity.  There was a lot of interest in the brighter colors like chartreuse and purple for men's three piece suits sporting wide lapels and bell bottom pants.  Guys would come into the store wearing big parkas and slip the double knit off the bolt, fold the heavy unwieldy load under their coat and stroll out the door with enough fabric for several pimpin' cool suits!  You could always tell when somebody was on the take - like a lone gopher sticking his head up over the fabric bolts furtively glancing in all directions.  That's when we'd casually stroll over and find the need to straighten up the fabrics at nearby tables.  It seemed to me that something like indignation rose up inside whenever I realized someone was stealing.  Clerks would take risks not otherwise attempted.  Once my mom chased a big guy out the door with a feather duster like she was shooing birds using her loudest gravelly voice.  The funny thing was - he ran!

After the mall was enclosed, one night late in the evening, I realized there was singing echoing throughout the mall outside the store entrance.  I was really mortified when I realized it was my boyfriend and his buddy singing at the top of their lungs in the twangiest southern accented two part harmony, "Cuz lovin' her was easier than anything I'll ever do again."  Waylon Jennings would have been proud.  Larry and Jerry found the acoustics and my embarrassment irresistible.

As I was digging through patterns the other day, I found a handwritten tribute to Mary Lester Fabrics that I had penned on a piece of broadcloth somewhere around the time I quit in 1979.  Here are some of the highlights:

Mary Lester is...

Nine cheerleaders who all want separate checks for their yard and a half of fabric.

A woman speaking no english who wants to return her scraps.

Having Mrs. Williams tell you "Ya don't know nothin'."

A customer who finds a flaw you can't see.

Finding an empty "dandy" bolt board on the floor.

Hearing, "Well, I'll just have to go to Minnesota Mills."

Finding red lipstick on $6.99 white Qiana.

Taking March promos when it's still January.

Mary Lester Fabrics - part 2

 

There's not a lot on the internet about Mary Lester Fabrics or about Capitol Court for that matter.  According to my pattern stamp -- apparently, Mary Lester originally had a shop on West Center Street at one time... 

 

Google street view shows that building is now a day care center.

The Center Street shop location was long before my time.

Remember when patterns were only 50¢???

My family didn't become acquainted with Mary Lester until it was located in Capitol Court Shopping Center between 55th and 60th and Capitol Drive.  Capitol Court was one of the first open air malls complete with some awesome promotional ideas like caged animals such as monkeys on display, the automated Kooky Cooky House with Santa, and my favorite - Funtown, a small amusement park.  As I mentioned, my mother worked there for many years, but my sister, Barb and I also worked there in the 70s.  The store was relocated within Capitol Court at least three times as the shopping center was first enclosed and then remodeled.  

There were Mary Lester Fabric stores at all the malls in the area.  As a matter of fact, people my kids age would find it hard to believe that most malls had about three fabric stores apiece:  Mary Lester, Julie Ann, and Singers.  And out there in the non-mall world there was always Minnesota Fabrics, too. That demand has changed as sewing has lost popularity with the masses.  

This Milwaukee Journal ad shows that jobs and fabric stores
were both plentiful in 1969.

Mary Lester Fabrics - part 1

871-7022

That was the phone number of Mary Lester Fabrics at Capitol Court.  When I was a kid, I knew that number better than my home phone.  My mother worked there for almost 20 years and my two brothers, sister and I called her at work incessantly during the 60s and 70s... especially me.

Sales clerk:  "Fran, it's for you."
Mom:  "Hello?"
Me:  "Mom, Barb's chasing me around the house and says she's going to beat me up, so I've stretched the phone cord to the bathroom and locked the door.  Mom?   ...Mom??  ...MOM???"

Sales clerk:  "Fran, it's for you."
Mom:  "Hello?"
Barb:  "Mom, Brad won't let me watch Laugh-In."

Sales clerk:  "Fran, it's for you."
Mom:  "Hello?"
Me:  "Mom, Barb punched me in the arm and she was sitting on me."

Sales clerk:  "Fran, it's for you."
Mom:  "Hello?"
Brad:  "Mom, Dave took the car."

Sales clerk:  "Fran, it's for you."
Mom:  "Hello?"
Barb:  "Mom, Kathy and Sherry are making fun of me.  I'm gonna slam 'em."

More about Mary Lester Fabrics in my next post...

A Flower Garden in January

I'm so excited about my thrift store quilt find! 

It's a variation of Grandmother's Flower Garden.

All the seams are hand stitched.

It's about 72" square.

Check out these fabrics.

I'm thinking all of them are from the 1950s and earlier.

Some are from feedsacks.

Gotta love the colors.

It was in R-O-U-G-H shape.

It was never quilted, but tied with cotton cording.

Someone washed it and the old cotton batting

clumped up into baseball sized lumps.

It was no longer usable as a quilt.

But look at these wonderful fabrics!!!

I could remove the messed up batting

and make it into a better quilt or

I could salvage all these fabulous vintage cottons.

The best part?  Three bucks!!!

Lost in a Fabric Coma

It has been three days since I posted.  Those three days have been filled with the other side of my brain activities (other than watching a few episodes of The Office.)  I have been helping my sister with the books for her Bed & Breakfast (Honeybee Inn - check it out online).  Anyway, I have been entering receipts and I need to get up there to Horicon and do some more today.  Yesterday I spent almost the entire day on school board stuff... meetings and a lot of talking on the phone to put out fires and explain things.  I just kept being taken from one thing to the next.  There's always something controversial in the school district.

This morning, once I decided to make a blog post and started sorting through some fabrics and pillows, my brain just shifted.  For the last three days I kept thinking that I should do a post, but couldn't think of anything.  Now that I am in the creative zone, I can think of a hundred posts.  It's kind of like that left brain - right brain test they have on YouTube.  The spinning woman - which way is she turning?  One day, my daughter and I actually saw the spinning woman reverse directions before our very eyes when we started thinking math problems... it's freaky.  Try it.

So that's what I think happened to my brain this morning.  It switched from left to right when I dug out this box of fabric scraps from my sewing room.  I am cleaning out my sewing room - an endless task.  My mother gave these quilt scraps to me when she was cleaning out her sewing room.  We come and go, but stuff goes on forever.

My mother, the famous labeler, enclosed this explanation for the origin of the scraps.  Her Aunt Eunice was quite old back in 1979.  I can tell these scraps span decades from the early 1900s (at least) to the 70s.  Once I started digging in them, I lost it.  I soon entered a fabric coma.

I laid out some of the blues.

Pinks - aren't they cute?

Greens - see the seven dwarfs?

Yellows - some look modern, but they aren't

Reds - not so easy to find

Purples - what to do with all these fabrics???

Turquoises - infinite variety

Help, someone send the fabric doctor!  I'm lost in a fabric coma!  These combos only started to scratch the surface.  I could have kept going.  There are hundreds of fabrics in that little box - each one more interesting than the next!  Oh it feels so good after all the bookwork and meetings and emails and phone calls.

And my favorite piece?  For today (yes, today - it might be a different one tomorrow) for today, it's this little beauty which looks to be from the 30s.  I'm a sucker for red and turquoise.

OK, that's it for fun - gotta get up to the B&B and do the books.