Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Beautiful Hands






I am very enthusiastic by Lillibeth's new post that she has been mulling over for several months, and working on it on and off, about the woman's hands. It goes beautifully with the series here on frugality, for in times where there is a lack of things, hands are our greatest tool!


I really like all the paintings depicting the various ways hands are used.



http://thepleasanttimes.blogspot.com/ While you are there, check out her study on the making of sleeves. It sounds a little boring, but she managed to do a study on how sleeves are developed into the various shapes, and how the seamstress gets the design.
This scenic window is so nostalgic of childhood scenes when homes often had places to look out at, or walks afforded good scenery, even if it was a little slope here or a meadow there and a little creek. It is copyright free from Dover Clip-Art so you can use it on your blogs if you like.







7 comments:

Kimberline said...

I'm heading over to read it now :)

Also, I'm interested in the info about sleeves. I sometimes make up my own patterns and that is information that would be helpful, I think.

When I read your topic of women's hands, I suddenly thought of a poem that a young man in one of my writing classes wrote and presented. I believe it was called "Nanny's Hands." I am going to see if I have the papers still from that class. If I find that poem I will post it to you. You will LOVE it! It caused quite a stir in the class when he presented it and I often think about the poem when I look at my own hands.

Thanks for the encouragement your site has been for me over the past few days while I was not well. I felt strong enough today to work in my home at a pace suitable for my situation. By 2 o'clock my main floor was looking nice enough that I was not worried about the people who were due to arrive then.

My children helped me through the day and all of them commented on how nice the house feels when it is cleaned up and has nice touches added here and there. I actually put the children in charge of some of the "beautifying" such as trimming the stems and rearranging a bouquet that needed to have a few things culled out of it. When my daughter completed it, it was just lovely and she put it on a pretty napkin in the middle of the dining room table. The other children asked if I would set out fresh floating candles in a glass bowl and light them. My 10 year old daughter picked Spring Beauties and arranged them in a shallow dish. Each of my boys saw to cleaning details that caught their eye and then asked if I thought it helped how things looked. It did! I believe that work done with a loving heart always "shows" and it certainly can be felt!

I am so glad that my children are learning the value of contributing to the peace and beauty in our home. It blessed me today to watch them seeing to the small details so lovingly and with such enthusiasm.

It is sweet how you show your love for your daughter and your approval for her efforts to write. I love seeing it :)

Warmly,

Kimber

Anonymous said...

Lillibeth's hands essay was absolutely wonderful. Hands are something we look at all day long--what a beautiful and thoughtful reminder to make hands useful through good work! I found her sleeves tutorial very helpful as a sew-er, and the pictures with the doll were so sweet.

Kimber, you are so right. Work done with a loving heart always, always shows. There was a silly British sitcom a few years back where an upset character offers another a cup of tea. She replies, "No thank you, I will not drink a cup of your anger!" A silly bit, but it made a good point--attitude matters.

Kimberline said...

I loved the essay, Lydia!

And the information and pictures on sleeves was VERY helpful, so thank your daughter for me. I will try to send her an email later today. I saw that she has her comments disabled, but perhaps she will see this comment here :) GOOD JOB! Thank you.

Warmly,

Kimberline

Alexandra said...

Thanks for the link. What a lovely post!

Anonymous said...

Lillibeth, I know you don't take comments, so I will leave you one here. I loved your article about hands. Wonderful.

I've been wanting to take up crocheting for a while, and I think you have given me the inspiration to do it. My fraternal grandmother crocheted (as she watched some TV sometimes!) She would even crochet lovely, colorful borders around her common washcloths and towels that you would buy anywhere. She transformed them into beautiful items.

~ Ann

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

I enjoy your blog so much Lady Lydia! I do read Lillibeth's blog, but had not read it recently. I really enjoyed her post regarding hands, so true! And I adore Lillian Elinor's fashion report. Her dress is as darling as her mothers!

Lydia said...

goddesoffrench---your posts are welcome here. I only put the article for newcomers to the students who thought it might be fun to harass us all day long with their usual non-original talk about how stupid homemaking is.