Friday, July 3, 2009

Things books and/or movies make you want to do . . .

By Lonnie Cruse

When I was a young girl, a friend and I walked several blocks to downtown Las Vegas to see a movie. It might have been WHITE CHRISTMAS, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, by the time the movie ended, I wanted to be just like actress Vera Ellen. I wanted to lounge around in pajama tops like she did in one scene. I wanted to eat green apples and drink buttermilk, just like she did. So I talked my step-mom into getting the apples and buttermilk for me. The apples I loved. The buttermilk? Not so much. Reading Nancy Drew stirred my desire to solve crime. Reading my way through Mom's grown-up fiction made me want to be Amber in FOREVER AMBER, or the other heroines.

Recently I've fallen off the mystery reading bandwagon, having immersed myself in reading and/or listening to the ELM CREEK QUILT series by Jennifer Chiaverini. And reading PRAYERS FOR SALE by Sandra Dallas. Both authors feature characters who love to quilt. And now my fingers are itching to quilt. To sift through beautiful fabrics. To mark and cut out the pieces. To piece them together. To admire the blocks and decide how to place them. To pin the layers together and quilt them. To see the finished quilt spread out on a bed or hanging on a quilt rack. Below is a quilt I pieced using my fabrics and fabrics my friend gave me. She also taught me the pattern for this one, House and Garden.

If a book features wonderful recipes, I want to try making them, not to mention eating them. If a movie features wonderful scenery, I want to visit there. If I love a book, I want to be the characters IN the book. Sigh, I'm so easily led.

Do books or movies inspire you to take up activities you haven't tried in a while or to try new ones? And if so, have you actually given in to the temptation and dived in? Did you ever try to become like a favorite character? Care to share with me what book or character that was?

As soon as I finish my current cross-stitch project, I plan to piece a quilt top together or at the very least, quilt a one that I already have on hand. But, as easily led as I am to try new things, to imitate fictional characters, I suppose I might oughta skip watching TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. You think?

4 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Definitely skip the massacre! :)

Like you, I love the way quilting SOUNDS. It's just the reality of the skill involved that stops me every time!

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Sheila Connolly said...

The only books that drive me to action are about cooking.

Although I firmly believe that the Nancy Drew books made me look at the world in a different way. There are clues everywhere!

Sandra Parshall said...

Descriptions of delicious foods always make me hungry. I should learn to skip those passages in books.

Lonnie Cruse said...

Well, I suppose I meant it when I said I was ready to quilt. I bought fabric this weekend. Now to find the time to cut it.