It’s funny the things I remember from my early childhood. We lived in a house on Hesby Street in North Hollywood, California, until I was four. While I don’t recollect much about that time, I recall the way the street lights shone on the front yard on hot summer nights. I remember the view from my highchair in the large kitchen.
Ken Osmond, who went on to play the insincerely polite and obnoxious Eddie Haskell on Leave it to Beaver, lived a few houses down. While the adult Mr. Osmond became a police officer and upstanding member of the community, he may have had something in common with his character when he lived on Hesby Street.
I have a vivid memory of toys piled in a shower. I addressed this unlikely scenario with my mother not long before she passed away. She confirmed my recollection. The shower was broken, so she used it to store toys.
I’m certain my mother said any number of important things to me, but the one I remember best from my early years was, “You can’t put red and pink together. They clash.” I’m certain this sage advice pertained to something I wanted to wear. I took it to heart, feeling if I should ever mix those two colors, I would be persecuted for the unmitigated gall of having breached societal norms.
Oddly, those colors together truly appealed to me although I could not shake my fear of using them. Later in my childhood, clothing sewn for trolls and stuffed animals was often created from red and pink felt. This was, due to my underdeveloped brain and overdeveloped desire to conform, a forbidden pleasure.
Well, it’s time for Valentine’s Day, and I am far from four years old. Pink is, after all, light red. I still think they look swell together.
Here are a few Valentine’s decorations.
I need to find some fabric in my stash to make a border, but you get the idea. The pattern is called double slice and you can watch a great how-to video from Jenny at Missouri Star Quilt Company here:
The great thing about this quilt is I never used a pin or matched a seam until I sewed the rows together—info for you quilting enthusiasts out there.
My lifelong infatuation with pink and red has been satisfied—at least for this year!