The On-Going Creation of the She-She-Shed

The She-She-Shed... in the distance...
mid-snowstorm.

chichi: adjective,

showily or affectedly elegant or trendy; pretentious.

she: pronoun

the female person or animal being discussed or last mentioned; the woman; anything considered, as by personification, to be feminine; a female person or animal; an object of device considered as female or feminine.

(www.dictionary.com)

Thus, my She-She-Shed, is that feminine space dedicated to all things chichi and absent of: mens’ socks on the floor, baskets of laundry that second as a dresser drawer, malodorous exhausts of any kind, disused wrappers on the floor that never quite made it into the trashcan, and beef jerky.

Things that are allowed in the She-She-Shed: light perfume, creams and pinks, (although I think I’m going for a slightly more vibrant color scheme), a comfy chair, a crafting table, and walls and walls of books. Add to that, one corner that will be a mini film studio, another corner that houses my writing desk, and a coffee station. (Never forget the coffee.) And just for good measure, although I’m not a particularly ruffly-flowery sort of woman, I do like creepy dolls. Yes, I am that woman.

The doll that goes by the simple moniker, "Creepy Baby"

The other things that are/will be allowed: kids, (occasionally), husbands, (occasionally), writing buddies, (but shhhh, because this is a quiet writing place), and the occasional guest in need of a quiet space to sit and read or write… or drink coffee.

There hasn't been a lot of activity on the She-She-Shed this month. Well, I did move most of the tools out and into the official "tool shed". And I did move in a large crafting table. There's still a lot of cleaning out to do, but it will have to wait for the snow to go away. We typically have at least three days of hellish winter here in Virginia. Okay, we've used up all three of those. We're done now, (please?) so it'll be back to work for me after another day or two of melt.

After my last post, I connected with my friend, Leah, who was willing to share pictures of her she-cave! And it had a lovely story. The room, originally intended as a "Man-Cave", was gifted to her as a sewing room. And since that time, she has turned that sewing space into a fabulous business, Tryon Quilts! See what can happen, given a lot of hard work, a dedicated space, and the support of people who love you?

If you would like to see more of the fruits of Leah's labor and Tryon Quilts, you can visit her at: www.TryonQuilts.net or at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at Tryon Quilts! I can think of several ways to thank her for sharing her space with us.

Tryon Quilts headquarters!

I love the pine green wall color.

She with the most fabric wins!

Simple Pleasures

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

 It’s been a brutal winter so far, and for some of us it’s far from over. The news has been saturated with shots of gigantic snowdrifts and ice-choked lakes. It’s a dangerous time, when just the simple act of going to work can be life-threatening – if you can get there at all. Even here in the southern part of the country we are coated in ice and a huge number of schools and businesses are simply closed as we struggle to keep warm.

But, once all are well and safe at home, there are compensations. The work of spring – cleaning up and planting the garden, for example – is still safely locked in the future. There is only so much that can be done in the house and, in this season of hunker-down-and-keep-warm there is a disinclination to do housework. (For some of us there is always a disinclination to do housework whatever the season, but that’s the subject for another blog!) The power supply can be iffy, but there are the alternatives of fireplaces and candles and lots of quilts, all in a perhaps unwilling imitation of our pioneer forefathers’ lives.

Don’t get me wrong – I would have made a lousy pioneer. I like my modern conveniences, but still on occasion I can handle the primitive life, if for no other reason than to foster an appreciation of my current electrically powered and well-insulated lifestyle.

When the failure of electricity takes away the TV and radio and computer, we are forced back onto the old methods of amusement – reading, or charades, or board games, or (gasp!) just talking to each other. Of course, you can do these things with the power on, too, but when the power is on families unfortunately tend to fragment into their own spheres.

Whether you have power or not, when you are left to your own devices there is always reading. Even when the weather outside isn't frightful, there is an atavistic comfort in bundling up in quilts, perhaps in front of a cheery blaze if you are fortunate enough to have a fireplace, and reading a book. It doesn’t make any difference if it is a paper or an electronic book, though electronic readers will have to be recharged sometimes, which is a vote on the side of paper books… Anyway, add a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies or, should you be so inclined, a nice hot toddy, and the scene takes on a positively desirable quality.

I realize that it might be considered simplistic or deliberately naïve to even think of taking pleasure from what to so many is close to a national tragedy. On the other hand, my grandmother always said the weather is inevitable, so if it’s going to happen anyway I believe we should go ahead and take what joy we can from it, even as we dream of spring. Happy reading!

Beautiful Things from Scraps

Log Cabin Variation Baby's Quilt

Writing is one of those creative endeavors that requires material from many different sources. We don’t just sit down and write with no experience from which we draw our stories. From people watching to research, we build information we have gathered into a whole story.

When I’m at a loss and my creative muses have bowed out for whatever reason, I’m inclined to turn to other creative efforts. Gardening is top of my list when the weather is warm, sunny and dry. Since I no longer have a garden, I dig around in pots and tubs on my balcony. This past weekend, that is how I spent the better part of Saturday morning, instead of working on my novel in progress, This Can't Be Love.

Welsh Pennsylvania Square from Scraps 

While potting around, I had time to think and breathe in the good earthy smells and let my thoughts wander freely. In the process, an idea bloomed for my monthly contribution to Classic and Cozy. I admire my fellow bloggers here who contribute and always come up with something worth reading and drawing others attention to.

I sometimes think of gardening and other forms of distraction as part of my attention deficit or displacement activities. Yet, they have a creative purpose all their own. When the mood strikes me or I have a good reason, one of my favorite activities is making quilts. This was a favorite pastime of my mother as well. In fact, sewing of any kind is a passion we both shared.

Attic Window from Found Fabric

I wasn’t always interested in quilts. My first love was dressmaking, but I went to an exhibition of Welsh quilts in Llanidloes, about ten years ago, put together by Jen Jones, another American living in Wales. A few years before, I had been to the American quilt exhibit at the American Museum in Bath, England.

Having a close friend, Sue Mordan, who is a talented quilt-maker, also encouraged my interest and I began with small projects such as wall hangings, pillow covers and table runners. I was also intrigued by the influence of Welsh quilting tradition on the Amish in Pennsylvania. Though the Amish quilts have gained international acclaim, their simple solid color quilt designs are based on traditional Welsh, multi-colored design patterns, as the book Making Welsh Quilts, explains.

Every quilt requires imagination, planning, design, choices. The process frees my head for other things. A form of daydreaming, the same sort of freedom that allows all thinkers to come up with theories and stories that may change the world.  For me, it seems a good exercise to prepare for writing a novel.

Making Design Decisions

© 2014 Leigh Verrill-Rhys

All photographs (except Making Welsh Quilts bookcover) © 2014 Leigh Verrill-Rhys