Hello,

I am home from my travels to Florida to help with Susan’s recovery. In the fifteen days of my stay I saw a lot of growth on her part.

 

She progressed for a support forher broken wrist on her walker to using a cane some of the time. She mastered use of the stairs with the walker on her own. She went form house bound to an outing where she went nine blocks. I am quite proud of her.    This is a shot of her with the stamps she made and printed one afternoon.

 

 

Laura came many times and we worked in a parallel fashion.  She is and excellent water color painter in my mind and this is her painting of me one day.

 

 

I started the Childhood Memories project because of Susan’s suggestion so I  brought them along so she could see them.   I had never laid then all  out before and was a bit surprised  by the size.

 

I enjoyed the green and all the flowers as well as the bird song during my visit.    We worked every day on art of some sort. Chris came   one day to visit and we did collage.

 

 

 

 

I did a lot of collage work at Susan’s.    Here are about half of them.

 

 

 

 

 

On the Friday before I left I went to a play day at Barbara’s. Beth had all the fixings for making knows and we had a good time creating the little guys.

 

Here are the finished little guys.   Left to right – mine  Barbara’s , Beth’s,  Georgia’s.      It was a fun day.

 

 

 

 

Georgia also shared her paintings. I like what she is doing.

 

 

 

 

Tue was the first one of Feb so there was a QuEGs meeting. Sue Ellen was busy and made this great pillow case that will be for sale in Cazenovia at the Artisans.

 

 

Susan is working on these four 12″ pieces for QSDS this summer. The challenge was/is 1 2 3 4.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Sandpipers  I got this work nearly completed before I went away. The birds are all stitched down and I only need to stretch it.

 

 

Summer Robins I finished the machine drawing and washed out these too. I am not happy with the placement yet and may even need to create an additional bird to be happy with it. I am still shifting and testing.

Drawings
I did draw every day and have a lot on new work. There were two specific evenings where that was the soul purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did lots of little collages too,

25 Million Stitches I am glad to have finished this work while I was visiting. I will press it and add the label and then it will be ready for shipping.

New work I did purchase some beautiful linen while I was away and started this bit of hand work as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- First and Second Grades
The early school years for me meant that we made a special trip to the local drug store to bye workbooks along with new pencils, tablets  and crayons. I stared first grade with a bad case of Poison Ivy. There were lots of weeping soars on my skin and the teacher sure made me aware if how repulsive she found that. I did wear a lotion, but by late morning before I went home for lunch it was really bad. My parents did take me off to Iowa City to see a specialist and that really helped and cleared up the problem.   From that experience, I learned it is really hard to get beyond first impressions. My only other memory of first grade was the difficulty I had with word regition and spelling. I did the work in the spelling book and Mom spent time quizzing me. She even made red construction paper flash cards. I especially remember straggling with “ What – Where -Were- When and Why”. The reading technique in that school at  that  time that was used was one of shape recognition- not individual letters or sounding out  the words.  I am sure that did not help me at all. The teacher was so frustrated with me that I got spanked in front of the class for each word I misspelled on the spelling tests. I was so shamed by the whole thing I did not tell Mom until years later and she was appalled. Mom worked with me on addition and subtraction too. She made up games with playing cards were I had to add every two cards that were turned over.  The game  was modified for subtraction, having to always subtract the smaller number from the larger one. Later the game changed to one of color to determine the process. If I drew red first it was addition and if I drew black first it was subtraction. I really got the logic of mathematics and did well in that subject all through school.
Despite my trouble with spelling I was advanced to the second grade. That class room was up stairs on the left. We learned cursive that year and I was so very proud of myself even though I did not think it was fair that Joe Fox got the same red star for his name that I did for mine – Carol Mc Elhinney. An early lesson on the” fairness factor” in  life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Toys
I have good memories of the toys that we got as we grew up and where we lived when we got them. Gene and I got a little red folding table and  a two chairs set while we lived in the Junction. We had a few meals on it and played many a game at that table. Grandfather Howard made a wooden cupboard with a pullout drawer that was painted blue for Christmas while we lived there. It was so very sturdy that it survived through my child hood and Wendy’s. It was here in the house when Alexis was little but I do not think she played with it. I recall two different “Play School” products. One was a red plastic clock with white hands that one could adjust. The numbers were pale blue and could be removed to show minutes underneath. I got that concept quickly as a result I think. The second Play School toy was a balance scale with hooks on both ends. There were lots of blue plastic numbers with loops on the tops of them that were all of increasing size and weigh. The goal was to teach values and have the arm of the scale be strait. We also had various games like Kootie and card games. My first memorable baby doll was a Betsy Wetsy. She came with a beautiful white dress, eyes that opened and closed and wonderful short, soft, curly brown hair. She took a bottle that was filled with water and then wet her diaper. I remember wanting her – perhaps due to TV adds- but quickly tired of the novelty. The doll bed soon gave way to a home for my Tony Doll that I loved. She had a stiff body and limbs with eyes that opened and closed and hair one could comb. She could even stand alone if one balanced her correctly.   Mom made lots of changes of cloth for her and I still have that doll. Mom made soft dolls too. Gene had a sock little boy with green stripe pajamas that was called Mousy. I had an Aunt Jemina made with a pair of Dad’s brown socks and she had a red poke-a-dot dress and scarf along with a white apron. Both of them survived to recent times and although gave Jemina to a friend who collects dolls, I still have Mousy.

Keep Creating

Carol