From the smocking period of my life.

Granddaughter Anna in 2007.
Of course, I still have the dress.
From the smocking period of my life.
These photos are from May 1987, taken in Kentucky. Sent by my good friend Joanne. We were so much younger then, we’re older than that now……
And a tribute to Phyllis George who passed May 14th.
Ruth – you and I reconnected as Army wives in Fort Knox, KY in 1986 after we both moved there from Germany, where we first met. You taught me the art of smocking and we spent a lot of time together stitching beautiful outfits for our little girls. Then we decided to make it a “cottage industry” and created our business Handsmocked in Kentucky. We took special orders and sold our work in the Kentucky Arts Council In Louisville … where we attracted the attention of Phyllis George (then wife of the Governor of Kentucky!) .
We had such fun and dreams with our little business, and then all of a sudden we were invited to Phyllis George’s home as a vendor for her Kentucky Derby celebration which featured Kentucky based artists! What an adventure ….33 years later I still have a lot of memories and a wardrobe of smocked dresses to hand down to some special little girl.My memory of Phyllis George was a gracious, giving woman who cared deeply about Kentucky artisans. (And she wrote us a check for a handsmocked dress for her daughter.)
Joanne was able to go into her boxes of photos which are all labeled and put her hands on these photos.
Photographed by Herr Spahn in 1985
Grafenwoehr, Germany
I smocked the frame (and Laura’s dress)
Mark Matthew and Laura
Now you’re mom to a one year old!
Happy Happy Birthday to you Laura.
You make life nice.
Love,
Your Mom
P.S. Refer to last year’s birthday post to see how time flies.
(It’s something old people say to younger people and then suddenly you experience it.)
Embroidery Floss.
You can see the faded old labels and the new labels with the bar codes.
I’m smocking again. Each color has a Number
There are 454 solid colors in this brand.
Thought I’d organize them in the little plastic box with bobbins, labeling each number in the corresponding color
Not exactly sure why-
An old musical box pillow I made when Laura was small. You know the tune it plays.