Groovin' with a good read

I belong to a book club. A very small book club. There are only four members, all of us former or current co-workers who sometimes share the same taste in reading. Sometimes not. At any rate, we meet once a month or so -- usually for breakfast -- and discuss our most recent book, a few bad apples we know, and life in general. It's a good time and a good way to keep in touch.

We recently celebrated our second anniversary with breakfast here (veggie quiche and bundt coffee cake). We are big on rules. Well, some of us are big on rules. (Like not knowing who submitted the book title as if I can't guess who threw the most recent big old lemon in the pot.) The rest of us go along with the rules to avoid the evil eye, but that's really of no consequence. So anyway, we celebrated our anniversary with a gift exchange (we don't do other occasions during the year) of items we made for each other (one of those negotiable rules). Gifts carried the theme of our recently completed book The Little Giant of Aberdeen County (Yes, read it), which was filled with plant lore. A quilt was also at the center of the novel, but I wasn't up for making 3 quilts, so decided to ignore that and stick to the plant theme.

My gifts were decoupaged pots filled with edible or beneficial plants. They turned out to be pretty cute and the real kick came when I got to go into a store and ask for Modge Podge. Talk about a blast from the past. Surprisingly, Modge Podge is still a happening item in the craft store world. In fact, there are all kinds of Modge Podge to be had. It's still, as it turns out, just white glue with a groovy name, but that name took me back to the late great 70s and that's not all bad. Not all good either.

The pots turned out great. Photocopied pages from the book were coffee dyed because they were just too white and the edges torn to give them a softer look, and decoupaged first. Then pictures of edible flowers that were downloaded from the internet were decoupaged on top of the print. The best part of the whole project came when Lynn noticed the printed design was actually text from the book. Being clever is so much more fun when it's noticed.

I'm not certain how the pots are holding up, but if they last one summer, that will be good enough. I did use outdoor Modge Podge, which I thought was a great find until I read the fine print that instructed frequent re-application to prevent damage to the decoupaged item. That's when I knew I'd been had by a brand name when Elmer's probably would have done the trick. But Elmer's wouldn't have brought back all those memories of skirts that were too short under a coat that was too long and never ever owning a pair of go-go boots. Still, decoupage is fun and inexpensive and unlimited in possibilities. And Modge Podge is still a groovy name.

When Alyssa was in college we decoupaged a bookshelf with leaves. It was pretty darned cool. I'm thinking of doing the bookshelves in my sewing room, if that ever really comes to pass, with patterns from quilt books. It might be kind of funky; it might be dorky. There's often a fine line between the two. When I decide on which side of the line this scheme falls, I'll let you know.