i am interrupting my own textile-blog "holiday" to make this post, which is as good an indicator as any that i really still like doing this. see to the left -- a rather well-worn little patchwork apron. that is my little apron, made for me by a woman named orpha post.
orpha was a friend of the family -- specifically i believe a friend of my grandmother and her sister, my great-aunt alice. orpha, like my aunt alice, never married and never had children, but apparently, circa 1974, her fingers were itching to make a little something for a little somebody.
this is me -- pre-breast reduction, as you can plainly tell -- in orpha's apron. on my head, one of my dad's handkerchiefs, affixed with bobby pin and silk flower. lord knows what i was trying to evoke here but i remember being pretty specific about wanting it all this way.
this is orpha. it's hard to say if this photo was taken around the time the one above was taken -- i think it's possible that it was some years later.
i have noted long, long ago here (a full THREE digital cameras back! and it shows) about the process of framing some of one of my maternal great-grandmother's needlework. mattings and framings combining photos and textiles are a challenge (and headache) to the framer (hi richard), and are very costly. orpha's apron, the photo of me, and the photo of orpha -- behind UV protective glass -- i expect it to be between five and six hundred bucks, when i finally get around to it.
anyway, it's no surprise to discover that orpha is no longer living. when one of my grandparents died -- probably my grandfather -- my dad and his sibs went to empty out the house, and dad came home with volumes upon volumes of orpha's diaries.
i've had her 1937 diary for a couple years now and really ought to move onto other volumes. i have been using this to work on a short story. here are two entries that i particularly like -- may 1937 was a pretty big month.
"A terrible disaster tonight. The dirigible Hindenburg, caught fire and crashed at Lakehurst Airport. At first it was feared that no one was saved but later reports are not so bad. "
"The great day – Coronation of George VI. Awake before 4 + up before 5 in order to hear all the broadcast. I found it most thrilling, + interesting. Centuries old pageantry and modern radio. The rustling of people, slight coughings and all could be heard as tho one was there. The neighing and champing of the horses was as clear as the bells of the churches.
Later went to town and the hairdressers – then to work for rest of day. "