Little Women ... which are you?

For my AllThingsAlcott challenge, I have reread Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I really love this heart warming story! From the moment I open the book, I move as a shadow among the March family watching with as much pleasure and longing as Laurie does as he watches them from his window next door. The book is not the same in many aspects as the various films created over the years. I will do a post about all three movie version in a later post but recommend you read this book if you have only seen the movie.

I was thinking about these four sisters and how, like my own family, they are all different. Have you ever considered which of these four sisters you are most like? Or perhaps you are a combination of some of them?

I think I have some of Meg, Jo and Beth in me. I think I have Meg's sensibility and feeling for responsibility. I have Jo's passion, creativity and sense of unbridled fun. I also have her feeling of shrugging off what people might not approve of. She is not worried about growing up and being a lady but being alive! I have Beth's sensitivity and, at times, her shyness although that has so improved with age. I don't feel I have Amy in me. My mother always used to jokingly call me Homespun Heidi so no Amy there.

What about you? I would love to hear your thoughts on these four sisters.....

Perhaps it is the quilter in me.....

.....but when I see things, I can become very inspired by their pattern. For example, I dream of making a quilt after a pattern of roof tiles on a building we visited in France one year. Being on vacation in Quedlinburg last May has also left me with inspiration from various buildings and floors that I have seen.

This beautiful town of timber frame (Tudor style) houses is so quaint and inspiring in itself. The colors of the buildings inspire to work with fabrics, the timber frames inspire to work with pattern and the feeling of the town inspires to something echoing times past.

If you enlarge the photo below, I hope you will be able to discern all the various patterns of brick. This building has a different motif created with the brick laying in each separate section. I wonder if this was perhaps a test for someone learning the trade?

Oh but the floors! Just things of beauty waiting for someone to look at them instead of just passing by quickly from one room to another. They are saying stop and take a moment to think how a craftsman came and laid me out piece by piece...

Even simple terracotta floor tiles can evoke a warm and country feel in its pattern...

I see how many things like quilting have perhaps had influences from things around us. This floor is like a lovely patchwork quilt.

Try to take a moment to look around you at patterns. Maybe you might find inspiration by things around you.....

Summertime.....

...and the livin' is easy, especially when my Papa opens up the front door first thing in the morning when he comes downstairs. He says it is to let the morning cool breezes in. I say it is so I can gaze out into the big world to say 'Good morning' and sniff that fresh air...sniff...sniff...

Since I love my Mommy and Papa so much, I am a good boy and never venture a paw outside. I just sit here and watch the world go by. Until I get tired that is and then it is back to bed to lay on a nice soft pillow for another cat nap. Meow!

Paws to you!

Dagi

Picture worth a thousand words.....

One of my little quirks is when I am in a castle or manor house, I am totally intrigued by the portrait paintings. I find some will actually capture me to the point of having to stand for sometime staring into the eyes of that person. I recall a portrait of a jonkheer in Castle Doorwerth that was so entrancing that I felt like his eyes were following me in the room.

So when we were on vacation in May in the German town of Quedlinburg, the one highlight was going to be visiting Castle Hill to go into the Quedlinburg Castle. It was a wonderful castle to visit and I was glad we took the steep walk up to the castle in the rain.

There was a number of portraits to capture my imagination many of which were of woman. Women played an enormous part of the history of the town. It was Saint Mathilde, widow of King Heinrich I, who founded the convent on Castle Hill. Her own female family members became the rulers of Quedlinburg as Abbesses.

I now wish I had taken along a notebook and noted the names of the ladies in the portraits. But as I entered this room, I was pulled to this wall with the portrait next to a beautifully crafted cabinet. And then I turned and saw this...

She is by far one of the homelier looking portraits in the castle yet she pulled me in and held me captive. The artist has the proportions wrong in her arms when you look at it well but I was captivated by the details of her dress. The chintz must have been of the most beautiful quality. The floral pattern is so pretty but the lace details of her cap, collar and sleeves made me wish I could touch her dress. Now perhaps that is the bobbin lacemaker in me, but I spent time studying this lace detail.

I took a photo close up hoping it would be sharp enough to see again at home. That lace which adorned this 18th century (?) gown now adorns my blog as my header photo.

A picture of a rose.....

My Edith Holden cluster rose has been blooming so beautifully. And some words written by Louisa May Alcott to celebrate...

O flower at my window

Why blossom you so fair,

With your green and purple cup

Upturned to sun and air?

'I bloom, blithesome Bessie,

To cheer your childish heart;

The world is full of labor,

And this shall be my part.'

Whirl, busy wheel, faster,

Spin, little thread, spin;

The sun shines fair without,

And we are gay within.

O robin in the tree-top,

With sunshine on your breast,

Why brood you so patiently

Above your hidden nest?

'I brood, blithesome Bessie,

And sing my humble song,

That the world may have more music

From my little ones erelong.'

Whirl, busy wheel, faster,

Spin, little thread, spin;

The sun shines fair without,

And we are gay within.

O balmy wind of summer,

O silver-singing brook,

Why rustle through the branches?

Why shimmer in your nook?

'I flutter, blithesome Bessie,

Like a blessing far and wide;

I scatter bloom and verdue

Where'er my footsteps glide.'

Whirl, busy wheel, faster,

Spin, little thread, spin;

The sun shines fair without,

And we are gay within.

O brook and breeze and blossom,

And robin on the tree,

You make a joy of duty,

A pride of industry;

Teach me to work as blithely,

With a willing hand and heart:

The world is full of labor,

And I must do my part.

Whirl, busy wheel, faster,

Spin, little thread, spin;

The sun shines fair without,

And we are gay within.

With my journey on the All Things Alcott challenge, I am enjoying discovering new things including this poem which I read for the first time called 'The Rose Family - Song 1'.

Uncle March's library.....

I love books and libraries. But I love the libraries of old that are a beauty unto themselves. I love the smell of a book...the feel of a book in my hands as I read.

We will be moving in the autumn and I have decided to start packing up my bookshelves. I want to do this myself and need to take time for it, so in the terrible heat we are having this week here in Holland, I am packing book boxes. These are special boxes made for books. Jos will then take down our bookshelves. It will mean living with things packed for the coming months but that is okay. There is a sadness of not being able to see my precious books though. I am pulling out a few books along the way to read in the coming months.


I am considering how I am going to be decorating in the new house and one of the things we have discussed is the fact that I have an extra room in our new house. Jos asked if I wanted to finally create a library which is something that I have always dreamed of having. The only thing is that this room is up on the top floor of the three story home but still I am considering it.

Have you ever dreamed of having a library? Or perhaps you already have one or a reading room? I love going to look at libraries in manor houses and castles. One of my favorites was at the Château de Chantilly just north of Paris. This room is breathtaking as you can see from the photo. When our tour guide took us into this room, I never wanted to leave again. I have never forgotten it years later...


As part of my All Things Alcott challenge for this year, I am rereading 'Little Women'. I really do love this book! I will be using it for a post later on its own but was struck by how fitting the description is of Uncle March's library to this entry...

"I suspect that the real attraction was a large library

of fine books, which was left to dust and spiders since

Uncle March died. Jo remembered the kind old gentleman, who

used to let her build railroads and bridges with his big

dictionaries, tell her stories about queer pictures in his

Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever he

met her in the street. The dim, dusty room, with the busts

staring down from the tall bookcases, the cozy chairs, the

globes, and best of all, the wilderness of books in which

she could wander where she liked, made the library a region

of bliss to her."

Been shopping?

When Saskia and I were getting ready to leave for the tea garden, I mentioned that I am looking for a doll cupboard to use for my doll quilts that I hand make. We stopped at a brocante shop as she needed to pick up something for her house. Next thing I knew she was asking me if this cupboard was what I meant? I could not believe it! If you need something just ask Saskia and she will find it within the hour. *wink*

It is like a little apprentice armoire and is about a half meter in height. When you open the very well made doors, it has three shelves just waiting to be filled...

...with little doll size quilts.

Before we left the tea gardens, we stopped in at the shop there and I found these beautiful porcelain balls. I have seen these often in black or blue and white which does not go with my interior. When I found these in brown and cream, I did not hesitate.

For now, they are in my wooden trough until I can make some tiny patchwork cushions. I have long wanted to make miniature patchwork cushions for in a wooden bowl and was so happy to have found this nicely shaped trough recently.