Tuesday, January 3, 2012

~A Maria-kind-of-day~

Welcome to my blog!

~A Maria-kind-of-day~ is a project that has lurked in my thoughts for quite some time. I became inspired by reading the blogs of talented fiber-artists, painters, weavers and knitters. One late night I found a knitting blog from a young woman, Jen Little, from New York. I began to wait for her weekly entries, pictures and patterns. She would write about her work, her home, her life and show tiny baby sweaters and hats, quilts and bags. "Looking Glass Knits" opened the doors for me to believe that I, too, could try and share my passion for the arts. The doors opened even wider when I came across the blog of Jane Thornley, a Free Range Knitter from Nova Scotia. In there, she would reveal, in detail, her knitting tours around the world, and her patterns, love for color and beautiful pictures would make my mouth water! And then I found Karen McTavish and her spectacular quilts. A talented artist, mother and musician, creator of "McTavishing", a quilting technique described as "wind or swirling waves".... Since then, I have increased my library of blogs and talented people, all willing to share their artistic gifts so the rest of us can learn. I am encouraged.



Stormy day in Pucon, Southern Chile

What's in a name?

If you are wondering what the name ~A Maria-kind-of-day~ means, it is simply an expression that I use often on Facebook to express my delight when the weather turns cloudy, cool, windy, stormy, rainy, breezy, snowy.... "It's a Maria-kind-of-day"! While I love all kinds of weather, Fall and Winter inspire me. And if it is stormy in the summer ... well ... that wins the ultimate prize!


What will this blog talk about? A little bit of everything...


Knitting

                                                                       

Fiber Arts
Heirloom Sewing
                                       

Painting (Quintero, Chile, where I grew up)




And friendships, weddings, quilting, cooking. It will have family and friends tidbits, information on different subjects and sometimes tutorials. I want it to be fun, colorful, enjoyable and, hopefully, as the blogs that I have treasured until now, inspiring. It will have a place for you to make comments and suggestions. I hope to create a community of friends that come together to make life better, as we help each other to be the best that we can be.


                                      ~The Beginning~


My magic wicker basket with the felt flowers on top


It all started with a little sewing basket that someone gave me on my 6th birthday. It was round, made of wicker, with felt flowers on top ...I did not know it then ... but it was a magic basket, full of never ending ideas and dreams ... and there are still more inside ... like this blog!


Grandmother Emilia and I

I remember carrying my sewing basket filled with little projects that my grandmother, Emilia Pastoriza Rousseau Vargas, born in 1899, would teach me how to make. I treasured the old black Singer needle books, a wooden egg for mending socks, a little pair of scissors. Today, when I hold my basket, I can close my eyes and be transported to more than 1/2 a century ago, the smells, the flowers in bloom.



The grape vine by my window, where the summer rains would resonate like a drum on the green grape leaves at night....

My little knitted cap with the white angora wool and my coat with velvet pockets
I remember holding a little ball of snow-white angora wool, that was a left over from a hat that grandma Emilia had made for me and the soft, black velvet pockets of my winter coat ... the feel of a sheer, starched, organza apron, with bright felt flowers on the pocket ... a rose color shawl, with little buttons on the front, that made me feel cozy-warm. And one of my favorites, that I kept in that basket, a collection of traditional children's stories, the condensed version of Gulliver, Snow White, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Goldilocks.... tiny little yellow books, of not more than a dozen pages, with black and white illustrations. I must have designed Cinderella's wedding dress a hundred times using the book as inspiration and would create little wardrobes for the Princess and the Prince ... and I would dream ... and be transported to other times ... and other worlds...

Much has happened since I received that little round wicker basket with the bright felt flowers on top ... so long ago. My children asked once if the world was black and white "in those days". Since then, at times life has been black and white, but at others, full of color.

So, on this first post of ~A Maria-kind-of-day~ I welcome you into my creative life. I hope to post, at least, once a week, more often if I can.

Congratulations to my friends Sue K. and Anna W. who suggested the name. I love it! You will both receive a little surprise, made by me, as my thanks to you. And thanks to all the friends who sent awesome ideas as well.   Special thanks to family and loved ones who gave me encouragement and believed in me, husband Joe who tries hard to make the impossible, possible, and for teaching me this word of Internet and blogs that I am so slowly learning. My children, who are my muses and models, my source of inspiration, my grandchildren, who keep my creativity in constant motion as I design one more piece for them to wear, one more mural to paint, one more hat to knit.


                                     I Christen this blog

                                ~A Maria-kind-of-day~





Maria at age 6 (after I cut my own bangs)




3 comments:

  1. Que fantastico! I love it, Mama did it again! You have tied both worlds together with beautiful threads of vibrant colors, making a neatly woven masterpiece that I look forward to watching further unfold.

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  2. Congratulations! Looking forward to reading about your world!

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  3. Kudos to you Maria! I look forward to your posts and seeing your world and thoughts and creativity woven together into this sharing place! I'm glad to be there for the opening act!!

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