MAD FOR PLAID

It seems that the last couple of years plaid has been everywhere! I've always loved plaid, and the resurgence has really refueled my interest.

I thought I would take a look into my personal archives, and see if my love of plaid has remained steady.

Let's start with the 1940s. Every girl in grade school had a plaid dress. I was no exception.

Then in the 1950s, we all had our plaid shirts with the rolled-up sleeves to wear with our jeans with the rolled-up cuffs. Check out the plaid picnic blanket in the first picture; then the plaid curtains in my dorm room. By the way, do you think I was infatuated with this boy? Well, the plaid shirts must have worked, because he married me in 1958.
In the 1960s our nest sported plaid curtains.

Every little boy's room in the 1970s needed plaid wallpaper. We remember hanging this wallpaper one Sunday afternoon while listening to the Super Bowl, but you shouldn't get distracted when hanging plaid paper - if it isn't perfectly level, you have a mess. Ours looks pretty straight. Check out the macrame owl on the wall; please forgive me as it was the 70s after all.

Evidently, the mauve/blue years of the 1980s weren't conducive to plaid as I couldn't find any plaid fabrics in my house pictures for those years. But, I did make a quilt with red and & white plaid in 1988, and named it 'Tartan'.
This is our guest room in the 1990s with a plaid comforter and red plaid pillows under the floral pillow cases.

In the 2000s our dining room sported plaid valances that matched the wallpaper border that I hand-cut around all of those paisleys. Our dining room decor has changed a couple of times since then with the wallpaper, border and valances out of there.

The last couple of years I have been making pillows out of recycled Ralph Lauren plaid skirts. You can read one of those posts here.

Below is my newest pillow that I made last week. In 1967, we were in a Saskatoon, Canada department store where this fabric was displayed as the official Tartan of Canada's centennial. So I bought a half of a yard. This piece of fabric has moved with us from house to house over the years, and I decided it was time I did something with it.

I guess that means that my infatuation with plaid has come full circle.

I will be joining the following parties this week. Please check out these blogs for a plethora of inspiration.

Savvy Southern Style for Wow us Wednesdays

Little Red House for Mosaic Monday

Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

I GUESS YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD!

I mentioned in my last post how much we enjoy winter, and that the Colorado mountains are just glorious. This past weekend our church had a sledding party at the San Isabel National Forest. Our granddaughter was going with her youth group, but our grandson was too young unless accompanied by his family; so what are grandparents to do, but go!

We probably had no business going with my artificial hips on snow, ice and uneven ground; and Bob with his muscular dystrophy, braces, and cane. But, we went and had a blast!

What a thrill to watch kids have so much fun doing something old-fashioned and free!

Wyatt had never been on a sled before; but before Bob & I had hiked into the sledding area, he had gone down the hill (backwards!) and was trudging back up to go again. He went up and down the small hill, then the big hill so many times; he was one tired boy.



This is the frozen lake at the bottom of the small hill.

The big hill - it's a long way up there, but what a thrill coming down.

The older kids would line up on their individual sleds, hook their legs around the one in front of them; and go down in tandem.

Who's that old guy with the cane trudging up the hill? Bob went up the big hill about a third of the way, met Wyatt with his sled, then slid down with his cane on his lap. I wasn't as adventurous - it was enough just walking around. I only fell once flat out on my tummy; but one of those nice teenagers quickly came over to help me up!

Some hot chocolate to warm the body before hiking back to the car.

The road out of the forest was muddy/snowy and tricky to navigate; but we all made it home safely.

A small lesson relearned: sometimes joy outweighs a little risk.

I'm joining Susan of A Southern Daydreamer

for Outdoor Wednesday

P.S.: I know these are lousy pictures. Hopefully I'll have a new camera soon.

MY HEART TUGGERS!

Hello everyone! I'm not back to regular blogging yet, as I still don't have a new camera. Progress is being made in that direction, however. The weather here in Colorado has been cold and snowy, and I LOVE it. Warm and toasty inside, and beautiful outside - our mountains are glorious right now.

I'm stopping by as I just didn't want to miss the opportunity to wish my Valentine boy a happy 9th birthday. With those freckles and imagination, Wyatt, you tug at my heart every day!

And, a Happy Valentine's Day to my other heart tugger - Miss Caitlin!

Grandchildren are the BEST Valentines in the world!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU, TOO!