I love pink flamingos. Love them. I know all about their supposed tackiness but there's just something so cutely, 1950s homey, about them. Now, the LAST place on earth that I can think of that I'd want to live would be 1950's Alabama so please, do not misunderstand me. Donna Reed would pop a high heel if she caught a glimpse of 2015 me, napping on my green chair, while my husband fixes dinner. (In fact, the real Donna Reed wasn't very "Donna Reed," she had three husbands -I'm on my second, I'm not judging her I'm just sayin' that fiction is fiction for a reason.)
ANYWAY, back to my flamingos. I've always loved them. Yes, I love the tacky and the brashness, and the fact that somehow, in spite of all of that, they managed to lodge themselves into our collective conscience as something "cute" and yes, homey, but more importantly, OVER THE TOP. There is something about them that speaks just a little bit of sneaky rebellion. Try to force me into a predetermined mold all you like, I shall give you PINK FLAMINGOS!
This stands outside my house:
Judge me all you want, it's staying.
Which is why, when I found green fabric with pink Flamingos on it, that sorta reminded me of golf pants, I just had to have it for Luna's quilt. (Really, think Bing Crosby, you go straight to green golf pants with pink flamingos, don't cha? Yep. I bet Bob Hope would have a pair to match.)
(For the youngsters out there, here ya go....The Donna Reed Show and Bing Crosby and please, don't need this one, Bob Hope )
When I was waiting on Q-Boo I'd made her a small baby quilt ( (out of owl fabric- I do have a thing for flying things) and a stuffed owl to match. I'd heard of the Chinese proverb, "A red thread connects those destined to meet. It may stretch or tangle but it never breaks," (it actually comes from a Chinese myth but has been shortened down to that saying over the years) and so I'd put Q-Boo's quilt together with red thread because of it. I'd thought that I was so smart and original but then, after I was done, I'd found out that it IS a custom in China to give a pregnant woman squares of cloth that she then makes into a quilt for the baby and she uses, you guessed it, red thread. I'm thinking I'm okay with not being original on this one, these kinds of "coincidences" make me smile.
This is Luna's quilt. This quilt is a MESS! It has crooked seams and pieces that don't match up and a border that I cut too short and had to "cheat" on…but I love it. I really do. It doesn’t help that I love the way that colored thread looks against colored fabric so, when I should use thread that matches the fabric to hide all the crooked seams, I often use, instead, a complementary color that screams to the world “CROOKED SEAM!” This one has pink thread against that green.
Whenever anything turns out this badly but I still love it for its randomness. I giggle to myself, Well, it was sewn by “Drunk Aunt Margaret," because it usually looks like something that someone's eccentric aunt Margaret would sew, in a drunken stupor, in the middle of the night, in the backroom of the house. I have this nice little dreamworld where I sell D.A.M. Quilts on Etsy with the tag line, "Designed by Fairies, Sewn by Drunk Aunt Margaret," and everyone loves them because they give me extra special credit that I am a genius and have designed these quilts just so, when in reality I just can’t sew worth a damn. I've been giggling to myself and selling very crooked, very charming, "not right," stuffed animals for a while now, so I must not be the only one who loves this stuff. Turns out Drunk Aunt Margaret may have been Artsy Aunt Margaret. ;p
My high school Home Ec. teacher was a wonderful woman but she’d hurl a thousand times if she could see the things that I sew -the things that I sew and that I love. That kid in kindergarten whom the teacher took the scissors from and just did the cutting for her because she was never going to be able to do it the "correct" way? That was me. I always hated that because whatever the end result, no matter how "correct," it did not come from me. My mother could tell me all she wanted to how great it was and I would want to say, "I didn't do that project, the teacher did." I've learned in my life that I've had to redefine "correct," and to learn to lean toward my strengths. I can do whatever I want to do, I can NOT expect it to be classically perfect. It won't be. Anyway. I love this quilt. I love that just like I put Q-Boo’s together with red thread because of that Chinese red thread proverb, I also put the main body of Luna’s quilt together with red thread.
I love the colors and the randomness and the little inside things that nobody else gets. I love the way that, down the front of the middle block it says, in a reference to the moon-filled heavens, “This way to the stars.” I love that little red bicycle that is a nod back to my first mental glimpses of Luna riding her bike in our driveway. I love the little word “grow” and the bigger words, “home sweet home” and “happiness” and “love lane.” For a little girl, who's never had a home, this is the perfect fabric. I almost started crying in the store.
I love that it is so many textures (probably one of the reasons that it turned out so badly is that that green is REALLY stretchy but some of the fabric is not.) I love that I put in elements that she can feel with her fingertips even if she can’t see them very well.
Yes, I especially love, love, love the pink flamingos. To me, they say, "Luna, you are home."
I even made these ragged pillows to go with Luna's quilt and to further celebrate all things "not quite right." The whole thing is a lot like that pink flamingo that sits outside of my house. There are a lot of reasons to find to not like it, but with the right amount of "love and understanding," it becomes something sacred and very special. Kinda like every one of us.
Many times, over the last few weeks, I've sat working on Luna's quilt, listening to a song by the Dixie Chicks called, "Lullaby." I'd smile to myself, and swallow the lump in my throat, as my mind flashed back to the first time that I'd heard the song.
On June 24, 2013, Q-Boo had been home for almost a year. I'm not going to lie, it was a tough year. That day I was sitting in my car listening to my newest Dixie Chicks CD, I'd had the CD for a while but had never listened to the whole thing. So, I was surprised when this lovely little song came out of my speakers. You can listen to it and watch the video, here: Dixie Chicks, "Lullaby."
Lullaby
Dixie Chicks
They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
I slip in bed when you're asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful
You can close your eyes when you're miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enoughCause I'm never, never giving you up
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
That June day, as the song faded away, I was sitting in my car, gulping down tears, and I turned around to see this in my back seat:
I long to see Luna, in this one, right next to her:
This past June, I took this picture of Q-Boo and every time that I look at it, I hear her in my head proclaiming, "I have a SISTER!" not because we were even talking about it at this moment but because this is the kind of joy that she has about the whole subject. I have seen looks similar to this on her face when we have talked about Luna. <happy sigh>
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough?
Cause I'm never, never giving you up.
You've got a lot of people who are gonna love you, Luna. Forever.
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