Christmas in July for Toni

Enufstuff · ‎03-12-2010

It is only July, but Toni's Mom sewed this skirt and blouse that Toni will be wearing for Christmas.

She wanted to get this done before Toni and her family take their Summer vacations at the beach and then to her aunt and uncle's farm, in the country.

Then it will be time to get ready for back to school and busy Fall activities.

This skirt is a replica of the red Christmas skirt that my mother made for me when I was seven years old. It is red felt with little green bows and tiny jingle bells. Of course, the green bows and the bells on my skirt were larger.

on the bay · ‎03-09-2010

So very pretty!

I especially love the added detail of the jingle bells!

Her summer sounds so much fun too.

Is that how your summers were @Enufstuff? The beach and then the farm which I think you did mention

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"

Desert Lily · ‎06-24-2011

Toni is definitely ready for Christmas in that absolutely darling outfit!

I like how Toni's mom incorporates styles from her own childhood into Toni's wardrobe.

Toni's mom is an excellent designer and excellent seamstress.

simplyfriends · ‎12-24-2010

Beautiful!! You are very talented!! Toni is very lucky❤️

Enufstuff · ‎03-12-2010

@on the bay Thank you very much.

I did wear that skirt for Christmas, but I have to wonder why my mother didn't just remove the bows and bells after Christmas and turn it into a poodle skirt. I would have loved that. At seven, it never occurred to me to ask her to do that.

We lived not far from the ocean and went to

the beach often, in Summer.

We also would spend time in Summer and Fall, in Maine. We had distant relatives, an elderly couple, who we would visit. They lived in a large farmhouse with an attached barn. They grew vegetables

but did not raise animals. We enjoyed the fresh from the garden vegetables and picking wild blueberries and strawberries.

On their property were three little cottages

where family and friends could stay. We had a lot of fun there, but there was no indoor plumbing. I did not like the outhouse and resident spiders. We also had to get water from a well. In our cottage, was an icebox for our food. We had to get blocks of ice for the ice box. I remember

my mother cooking on a Coleman stove. We did have electricity.

The neighbors were a MicMac Indian woman and her husband. They lived in a log home that had been built by my great uncle. I loved visiting them.

Her name was Zeleka and we became great friends. She took me blueberry picking and taught me how to make a blueberry pie. She even gave me a puppy, when her little dog had a litter. She also gave me a little handmade ash and sweetgrass basket that was made by the MicMac.

My brother and I took a trip about 15 years

ago, to see if we could find the place. My brother could not believe that I recognized the location, by the tall pine trees across the road and the driveway where the log home once stood and now a gas station was there instead. I think that I was about 12 years old, when I had

last been there.

From a neighbor, I discovered that the farmhouse was torn down, just the year before and now

there was a motor cycle shop. The cottages are no longer there. The neighbor had bought all that land and built homes for his two children.

on the bay · ‎03-09-2010

Thank you for sharing that @Enufstuff!

Staying at that farm sounds like such a unique and memorable experience!

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"