encouraging creativity

respite

2009-08-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

We're back from our trip up to Paisley, Oregon and here are some highlights...

For those of you who don't know, the house originally was the Paisley schoolhouse in 1895.

Then it became a Catholic church (some of the stained glass windows are still there), and then a private residence.

We even found out that it was used as a storage facility for the local gas and electric company for a while. Gavin's family bought the house in the early 1980s.

Nadine has done such a wonderful job of restoring and renovating the house, and yet she managed to retain so much of its original charm.

We were in Paisley for a week, and during that time we visited with local friends and neighbors,

had another memorial service for Nadine complete with a potluck dinner,

went to the local swimming hole (called The Falls) of the Chewaucan River,

had dinner at the only restaurant in town, The Homestead, and spent a lot of time in the hammock,

watching the kids ride their bikes, reading and cleaning. It was a full week and it was worth every moment.

Despite our restful time in Oregon, I'm feeling like a deflated balloon. Although I'm looking forward to getting back into a schedule, I'm also exhausted by the mere idea of getting back to it.

It's still so surreal to think about all that we went through with Nadine this summer. My interactions with people feel strange, awkward. At the risk of sounding overdramatic (some might even admit to thinking I've been this way for a while), I'm thinking that we're forever changed from this experience of terminal illness. I know it'll just be time that brings us back into the present. Not that we want to forget, but that eventually these thoughts and feelings won't be so close to the surface anymore.

We were in such a mode of day-to-day living for so many months, not knowing what we might face at the beginning of each day. And then over the last few weeks, we were in 'go' mode for the memorial services, family visiting, and funeral arrangements. Now all that is behind us and we're feeling quite blah. Now we have a choice. We can either stay in this mode and isolate ourselves from others and from activities, or we can choose to participate in the things around us and start to gradually move on.

Life moves on, our family needs to continue to function, and our kids need us to keep going for them. It's all very strange. If I sound confused in my thoughts, believe me, I am.

Our first step to 'getting back to normal' (what is normal, anyway?), happened yesterday. We actually cleaned our house, and I started to go through some of the bags of stuff we brought up from Nadine's house. This week I'm planning a trip to donate things to the thrift shop, we're going to get to Nadine's paperwork and we have to start notifying the DMV, insurance, financial institutions, etc. with the death certificates (sorry to be blunt, no other way around it, I guess - it's reality).

Gavin goes back to work tomorrow and the kids start school on Wednesday. Soccer started last week too. I've busied myself with sewing activities - I even brought my machine up to Oregon.

I made an apron for myself (I know, it's blurry), and then the girls each wanted one of their own,

and then I made placemats with the leftover fabric I found.

We're leaving it all in the Paisley house so it's there for us to use during our visits. I also made a wrap skirt from the Sew What! Skirts book.

If you made it all the way through this blogpost, congratulations - it was a long one. Although this next week has potential to be exhausting, I'm looking forward to the changes, and to moving on. Thanks for listening.

Honoring Nadine

2009-07-26T09:07:00.001-07:00

Nadine O'Sullivan
July 21, 1939 - July 22, 2009

Nadine's illness quickly progressed over the past 6 weeks and she went to be with the Lord this past Wednesday night. We are so glad that Gavin was able to be at her side when she passed. It truly was God's mercy because we knew she wasn't getting any better, and that last week was really hard. We are comforted that she got a chance to see her family and closest friends during these past 6 weeks and had a lot of precious moments with each person. Our kids even got to have some time with Nadine on Wednesday morning, and she was pretty coherent during that time.

Nadine is known best by her love for people and going the extra mile to help someone in need. She had a knack for rallying people together for a cause and mobilizing people for community outreach. She cared deeply for her close friends and family and loved time with her grandchildren more than anything else. During her past five years living in her cottage across our driveway, Nadine was a dedicated volunteer at the local Community Gift and Thrift Shop, a member of the Garden Club, volunteer for the Chamber of Commerce, and active with the local schools.

We knew this time was coming, and have thankfully had time to prepare ourselves as well as our kids. However, even though we were anticipating the 'sadness', there's no way to be prepared for the feeling of 'loss' the comes seeping in around the edges and eventually covers us in the day-to-day. We are just taking each day at a time and are trying to give ourselves the time to sit quietly and reflect, and reiterating to our kids over and over that it's ok to cry and be sad, and we'll continue to grieve for quite a while.

This next week is being consumed by all the arrangements for Nadine's memorial service in which we're trying to do our best in honoring the wishes she shared with us along with figuring out other details we didn't get a chance to talk with her about. Gavin's dad spent the weekend with us and was such an incredible help with sorting through all the photos and boxes of memories. We are so grateful, Mike, for your time and dedication. My mom arrives later today and will be here for the week. She's such a welcome distraction for the kids and just emanates warmth, love and comfort to us whenever she comes. Thanks, Mom!

Nadine's memorial service is this coming Saturday and we're hoping it'll just be a nice time for all of us to get together and enjoy reminiscing old stories. I'm usually not a socially outgoing person, and I'm not always comfortable in large groups, but having family around during this time has been so helpful and I'm looking forward to having everyone here together.

For me, I've been pretty reflective of my relationship with Nadine. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law stereotypically aren't known for being close, and our relationship started out much that same way 15 years ago. But through the years we've worked through a lot. Asking Nadine to move essentially next door to us was just about the best thing God could have orchestrated in our lives. It forced Nadine and I to work through our differences and to settle our skirmishes quickly instead of letting distance drag them out. Totally separate from Gavin and the kids, she and I developed such a pleasant friendship and I just wish we had our 'girls nights out' more often than we did. God knew that we needed daily time with Nadine and she with us, knowing that our time would be cut short down the road. We are now filled with such precious memories and we get to chuckle with fondness at the things that used to bother us so much. I'm not the only one who has shared that Nadine taught me how to let go of things like the need to be on time, needing things to be 'just so', and making relationships more important than those things. In her own quiet way, Nadine was a rebel. She questioned authority, broke petty rules, and encouraged others to join in her shenanegans! And I'm really missing her!

Whenever there are such major events in our lives, it causes us to reflect and take stock of our own lives. I'm planning on taking hold of those moments and am going to try not to let busy-ness get in the way. We're leaning on God and He is so faithful to bring us comfort, blessings big and small, and His mercy.

After the Memorial Service, we're planning a trip up to Nadine's home-away-from-home, Paisley, Oregon. It's a small, tight-knit town and we know Nadine will be missed by many there. We've been going up to Paisley every year and it's been a place for us to unwind and have some peaceful family time. Now more than ever, we're looking forward to our visit there.

i just couldn't resist

2009-07-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

While the girls were in LA last week with Grammy, Boppa and Aunt Sandy, Worker Boy and I were home workin' on stuff. We decided that summer jammies would be a lot of fun and we got busy.

I almost ran out of fabric for Worker Boy's jammies, but I had enough for the girls and plenty leftover. I used the Bandana Pants pattern from Blue Yonder. Worker Boy had me add belt loops so he could wear his belt because, in his mind, these were not just for bedtime!

Upon hearing about the extra fabric when we talked on the phone last week, Sunshine Girl immediately begged,"Jammies for Nellie and Samantha! Pleeaasse?" So this is how it happened.

They've been parading around in the jammies all afternoon and can't go ANYWHERE without Nellie and Samantha! They even came to dinner on the patio at Gramma O's house.

Worker Boy couldn't help but get into the spotlight too!

snippets and handbag fever

2009-07-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

I've been back at my sewing machine and draining my fabric budget! (I don't really have a budget for fabric) I've been surprising my family with my new handbags that are so fast, fun and easy to make. Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol has been my source of inspiration.
Here is the Pleated Beauty Bag. It's such a great size, I think I'm going to make another one.

I've already made two of the Charming Handbags and I'm sure I'll make more soon.

Our 4th of July Parade was especially fun this year because our very own Pumpkin Girl played her flute with a marching band comprised of kids from 3 different area schools.

It was such a proud moment for us.

Gavin videotaped them in front of the judges and then followed them along the rest of the parade route. He almost got stopped by a bike cop along the way!

I've already been pretty sporadic with my blog posts - so different from my intentions at the beginning of the year. As I've previously mentioned, my mother-in-law has metastatic liver cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy. About a month ago she went back to the hospital with complications and now she's back home (right across our driveway) with hospice care. We're trying to just soak up our time with her. It's been such a blessing to have her at home instead of at a care facility. Our kids have been able to come and go, and are very natural in their interactions with her instead of sterile and awkward if we were going for a visit. We've been hosting lots of family and friends who have come to help, spend quality time with her and to say good-bye. They've been such precious moments mixed with laughter and tears. Right now she's on a plateau and we're relieved that she's fairly comfortable most of the time. Hospice has been great as has all the help from local friends and our church. We don't know God's timing in all this, so we're just taking one day at a time and trying not to borrow worry from the next.

craft hope dolls

2009-06-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to a friend's cabin with their family and my friend said she had a sewing project she planned to work on while we were there. It's this cool project for Craft Hope where they're sending handmade dolls to kids in an orphanage in Nicaraugua. A missionary is going to deliver them on her trip there. I hadn't touched my sewing machine in two months, so I wasn't sure whether I was 'in' or not, but nevertheless brought my machine, supplies and fabric scraps just in case. Our oldest kids (ages 7-10) were pretty interested in making the dolls, so we decided to at least get started. We didn't finish during our trip, but knew we had plenty of time before the deadline to complete and send off the dolls.

Well, the deadline is Saturday and my girls and I just finished the dolls and sent them off (Priority Mail, mind you) yesterday! Even though I helped with some of the assembly and I had to remind them to keep things simple (you wouldn't believe the embellishments they wanted to do!), they made the dolls all on their own and were very proud of their results.

Now they're ready to make more dolls, and this time I think I'll let them embellish however they want since we're not on such a short timeline. Of course we also have fabric waiting for the reading caddies they want to make for themselves ... we've also talked about making some skirts for the summer ... as well as more pj pants since their current matching pair seem to get smaller after every wash ... not to mention that Craft Hope will have a new project announcement on the 14th.

Not enough time!

honored

2009-06-11T16:30:00.000-07:00

My oldest daughter's 4th grade class took me by surprise the other day. Last week was the end of school (yes, I'm a little late with this post), and like most of you, it's a scramble with teacher gifts, class parties, and deciding what to do with the massive amounts of projects that come home in that last week! Well, in the midst of the chaos, Pumpkin's class put together something pretty special for their volunteer Art Docent (aka: me).

They made watercolor pictures that incorporated their initials and tied it together to make a book. They also gave me pretty flowers and a few chocolate bars that are long gone. :)

I was totally blown away. Their such a thoughtful group of kids and they got so much pleasure out of watching someone receive something they had made. It truly was an honored moment for me.

The kids and I had fun working on gifts for their teachers, too! We decided to make reading caddies for their teachers. The girls made theirs completely on their own and I made the one for Worker's preschool teacher (unfortunately I forgot to take a photo!)

I also had fun making a tangy tomatillo salsa. Hubby was pretty excited that it hadn't all been given away!

Lastly, there were group gifts from the class to their teacher. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to pull all this together and was quite doubtful up to the last minute. Being the art docent for my daughters' classrooms, I have an opportunity to have the kids create something as a group that would be near impossible outside of school. Given that, I decided to make my final lessons of the year into something we could give to their teachers in appreciation.

For Sunshine's class, the kids made watercolor apples which I mounted on mat board and framed.

For Pumpkin's class, the kids watercolored small squares of paper with their names already on them and then, when dry, wrote something encouraging to their teacher. I decoupaged a small box and labeled it the Encouragement Box.

It was very fun doing all these projects, however, I discovered that all my normal downtime (you know, 5-10 min. sitting time, max!) was being taken up by these other activities. They were very fulfilling activities, but I definitely needed a break! And as my husband noted, what's going to happen next year? (I think I'm beginning to get a reputation at school - good or bad??)

more cuties

2009-05-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

Our two blue cochins arrived the other day and, boy, did they cause quite a ruckus in the box! Our biggest chicks turned into well, for lack of a better word, chickens! They were trying to get as far away as possible from these little fuzzy newcomers. It was pretty funny to see. I kept checking in on them throughout the day to make sure no one turned on these little gals.

Introducing..... Speck

and Snips

Now they're all great friends and sleep in one big huddle.

chicken fever!

2009-04-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

As promised, after Spring Break, we got more chickens. The original plan was to get four more so we'd have a total of eight. That's a lot of eggs, considering that we get four every day right now! However, get a gal who can hardly resist all those cute little peeping furballs in a room with close to 600 new chicks, and she's bound to get a couple extra! So Worker Boy and I picked up 5 the first time (the girls were quite bummed that they had to be at school!), and then I special ordered 3 more which should be coming in this week! We'll have a grand total of 12 chickens, which is our maximum for space.

Now to introduce our five little girlies:

Starla is our biggest chick. She's an Araucana and she's the dominant one of the bunch. I think green eggs are pretty cool, too.

Sunshine is our Buff Orpington and is pretty mellow overall. (I know, Sunshine is also my nickname for our middle child!)

Snowy is a Silkie Bantam, and I can hardly wait to see her plumage when she's grown! Gavin loved her so much, he wanted to get another one, so I ordered a buff-colored Silkie.

Brownie is our other Araucana and is almost as bossy as Starla.

Our added extra this time around is Midge. She's quite tiny but doesn't allow herself to be pushed around too much. She's showing that she's quite capable of holding her own! I found out she's a Mille Fleur d'Uccle Bantam and will be quite beautiful. I also love her feathers on her feet.

www.mypetchicken.com has been a great resource for us, and has pictures of all the breeds.

Yes, we've named them all. I know there are those who think livestock shouldn't be named, but we keep them as pets, not as future food! Of course, the eggs are a great benefit. However, clearly I was going more for the appearance this time as the bantam eggs are pretty small and infrequent.

I can hardly wait for our next three - more photos to come!

Where has the time gone?

2009-03-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

It's so funny how there can be a few weeks' time where I find time to do a lot of crafting and blogging, and then suddenly those windows of time get sucked up by a whole variety of other things. That's how my last two weeks have gone - it's been pretty crazy.

The next couple of weeks coming up aren't going to be any better either! Since we've done all the finishwork in our addition backwards (i.e. running out of money, just wanting to move in, taking shortcuts), we're just now finally getting to the putting up of all the trimwork. And now it's time to paint it all! Plus we never finished cutting in some of the paint in a lot of areas. As we walked around with our painter and friend, we kept adding more stuff, "Oh, yeah, and over here..." So while the kids and I are in Los Angeles for a week visiting Grammy and Boppa over Spring Break, the painters will be trying to get everything done in five days! That means that we need to move most of the furniture to the middle of each room and also completely gutting our master bedroom and closet because right after the painters finish we're getting carpet in because there's NO WAY I'm moving furniture again! Ever. (famous last words, I know)

There've been a lot of fun things intermixed with all this extra stuff too. Sunshine started softball for the first time and she's going to play catcher - she loves it! Pumpkin just started track last week and her coach says she'll be a great long distance runner. Worker is getting ready for Kindergarten Roundup and can hardly wait for T-ball next year.

I haven't sewn a single stitch since the Sewing Day Sarah and I had together two weeks ago! But here's what I did accomplish that day....

A drawstring backpack for Worker Boy

A small purse based on the one I made for myself a little while ago and a matching skirt using the Lazy Days Skirt Pattern from Oliver + S. This one is for Sunshine Girl.

And here's Pumpkin Girl's skirt and purse.

On hold for now is the smock apron for myself as well as a summery shirt. As Nadine says (and I love this saying), "It'll get done when I get to it."

Check back in a few weeks and I'll be happy to report and display a more finished house! I can hardly wait to be on the other side!

even a cold can't stop me!

2009-03-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

A little of this...

and some of this....

and hopefully a lot of this....

and then I can still do this....

I WILL NOT let a stuffy nose and a cough prevent me from getting to be crafty tomorrow! I've got everything all set to go and I just plan to ignore these symptoms. Go away yucky nose and yucky throat! I'm counting on the endorphines that will be released when I start sewing to miraculously make me well - that makes sense, right? Anyhow, I can hardly wait for tomorrow!

modified

2009-03-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun modifying this shoulder bag. I incorporated 3 bags into one and I love it! It has lots of pockets - and I just love having a spot for my cellphone, keys and of course, my daily list!

On the subject of modifying, this week we are having work done on our house. We are finally getting all the baseboard, window trim and other finishing touches done on our addition (which comprises of the better half of the house). The night before they started we realized we needed to move everything away from the walls, so we stayed up really late just throwing stuff in the middle of each room! And of course then I had to pick up all the hideous dust bunnies - ick! We didn't get to my craft room, so now I need to move it all by Thursday. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about putting the finishing touches on our house, but moving stuff that would just rather stay where it is isn't my cup of tea. Perhaps I'll become more organized when I start to put everything back....then again, perhaps it'll be messier because I'll go through withdrawals and will just want to jump onto another project!

Speaking of projects, Sarah and I are getting together for a Sewing Day this Saturday and we're both super excited about it! She started precutting patterns and I haven't quite gotten that far. My girls love the shoulder bag, so I thought of making a smaller version for them and maybe even a coordinating skirt. And of course Worker Boy would love something too, so I thought of a drawstring backpack for him. Anything else would be too risky since he's pretty particular! I've also gotten excited about making my own clothing - mostly shirts and skirts so far - so I'm eager to make more.

If you've got some sewing projects you're excited about, I'd love to hear about them! I'm always looking for inspiration and I think we all benefit from positive feedback within our sewing community. You can either comment about what project you're about to start or leave a link to your blog with a photo of a recent project you've done. Can't wait to get started!

p.s. Since my house and craft room are quite upside down right now, it'll probably be a few days until my next post.

mommy gifts

2009-03-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

So here's my random compilation of birthday gifts from my kids. I guess you can say we're pretty practical around here.... pens, scissors, superglue (Worker Boy has already asked to use to glue - no way! He's only four!), and of course, notepad for lists! The kids had a lot of fun wrapping each item individually so I had loads of stuff to unwrap!

It's just amazing what kids come up with when they get creative. I was so pleasantly surprised by the gifts my girls, Pumpkin (10yrs) and Sunshine (8yrs), came up with. Just let me gush for a moment....

Pumpkin Girl was struck with inspiration a few weeks ago and asked to use the sewing machine and pick out fabric from my stash. We moved my old sewing machine (cheap Singer from Target) onto her desk and she excitedly picked out fabric after kicking me out of my craft room! It took just a few days for her to finish the project and she was just bursting with pride and anticipation. She had made me my own reading pillow - a pillow that has a pocket to hold a book. She did all the measuring, cutting, ironing, lettering, assembling, stuffing and finishing herself! WOW! And there's a coordinating bookmark.

Not to be outdone by her big sister, Sunshine Girl, who is quite handy with paper crafts, decided to make her own gifts. I never noticed her sneaking away with several sheets of paper at a time, along with oodles of scotch tape! She made me a mini blank book that I can use for drawing and writing notes. She also made a bookmark with a decorative chain tassle! Plus there's a paper hanging with foil art. It's kind of like looking at clouds - it's whatever you see in it! Sunshine is also very good with words and she wrote me a poem:

"A quilt of
magical love,
and memories
that come
from a long
time ago."

It's so much fun to have the kids so involved in gift-giving and creating. It's been a pretty amazing birthday.

On a final note, I managed to finish the shirt that was my parents' birthday gift (the bigger gift was my Janome Sewing Machine that was a combo gift with Christmas!). So here's the final product. It was pretty easy to make and I really like the fabric. I'm looking forward to the fabric softening over time.

a little closer to 40

2009-03-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

So today is my 37th birthday! Growing up I would never have imagined that I'd be living in a small town on acreage and raising chickens! Regardless of my lack of vision as a kid, I love where I live, love being in a more 'country' setting (I grew up in Los Angeles) and I have thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering my love for sewing and crafting, and thus giving myself more time to do it.

Since Sundays are pretty busy for us with church in the morning and Awana in the afternoon, we celebrated my birthday yesterday and last night. It started with an awesome breakfast...

and ended with cake!

In my next post, I'll gush about my childrens' gifts they gave to me - particularly the homemade ones! Right now I think my sugar high is crashing, so I better go find a pillow somewhere.

good news all around

2009-03-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

So the good news is that the chemo is working!!!! The tumors in my mother-in-law's liver are shrinking. Ahh, a sigh of relief. It was pretty touch-and-go there for a little while. Not that we're out of the woods yet - she still has day-to-day symptoms she's dealing with. But having a step in the right direction definitely helps boost our attitudes around here.

So to celebrate, Gavin and his mom stopped and picked up some pies -- yes, I said PIES, plural! She loves Marie Callendar's, but Gavin had a hankering for a Banana Cream Pie from Ikeda's, a local favorite. Of course, I'm a chocolate fan and I wouldn't have minded a small layer of semisweet chocolate between the crust and the cream, but it was quite good all on its own! Luckily Gavin took half to work this morning!

I'm quite wiped out from the past few days, a lot of driving, staying up late and just everyday stuff. I want today to be a home mental health day where I just do whatever I feel like - cleaning can definitely wait! So I think I'm going to start making the shirt from the pattern and fabric my mom got me for my birthday (it's on Sunday, by the way! 8th). I washed the fabric yesterday, so I'm all set.

In the meantime, my sidekicks will hold down the fort!

the comforts of mom

2009-03-02T07:08:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling kind of blah this morning. Partly because it's Monday, partly because my mother-in-law has a tough test today with uncertain results, and partly because the visit with my own mom has come to an end.

We had such a wonderful week together of talking, shopping, doing stuff with the kids, and celebrating our birthdays! Here's the compilation of sewing accessories I made for my mom.

This sewing table caddy helps keep miscellaneous items from getting set down and lost! It's also a great place to temporarily store loose threads to throw out later.

This scissor caddy I hope will come in handy to store scissors and protect the points.

You can never have too many knickknack bags! It'll be great for buttons, a tape measure, pencils, etc.

I found this pincushion tutorial from paper.string.cloth . I'm really happy with how it turned out. And it's reversible!

It's amazing that I can be living on my own, have my own family, be taking care of others, and yet I find that I still need my mom. She just brings comfort and a chance for me to unload all my cares. Not only was it fun to get out of the house and do fun activities, but our times of sharing we so precious. Thanks for everything you do, Mom! I miss you already.

fun in the mail

2009-02-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

I've had so much fun this last week getting all the fat quarters in SewMamaSew's Fat Quarter Swap! First to arrive was from Lindsey in North Carolina. She loves chocolate brown just like I do! Thanks, Lindsey!

The next day I got this cute bunny print from Lori in Wisconsin. She also sent along some vintage buttons - so fun! Thanks, Lori!

Then a couple of days later Lesley from Virginia sent this gorgeous print from Amy Butler and the red yo-yo. Thanks, Lesley!

And today I received my last fat quarter from Lisa in Massachusetts. I love limey green with blues and browns. Thanks, Lisa!

I hope you all enjoyed the quarters I sent to you. If you make something soon, please send me a photo! I'll do the same and will also post photos here. This is so much fun getting to know new people in the crafting and sewing world. I hope we can keep in touch.

Have a wonderful weekend. We're looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow after a very busy week. Speaking of that, I stayed up late finishing up my mom's birthday gift compilation. I kept getting inspired to add to what I had already done. I only stopped because I ran out of coordinating fabric! I'll post photos in a few days.

welcome home gifts

2009-02-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Our friends are safely back home from Ethiopia with their daughter and newly adopted son. We can hardly wait to meet him! I've been busy working on a fun welcome home package for the kids, and I just hope everything fits! You can find the cute shoes tutorial here.

My mom is coming for a visit this week - we're all very excited! Our birthdays are coming up (hers is March 2, mine is March 8), so I'm going to work on some fun things for her. I'll have to display the projects later so she doesn't get a sneak peek.

Sarah and I have a Sewing Day planned later on in March. I'm really looking forward to that! I think the plan is to have the guys watch the kids! Luckily it's not a lot of work since our kids love playing with each other so much.

ahhh ..... completion

2009-02-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

What a great feeling to finish making my first purse! I'm very happy with the results, and at the same time, I plan to get better at lining up those handles next time around! If you didn't catch it on the last post, this is the Marlo Bloom Handbag by Heather Bailey. I added pockets to the inside of the purse because I always like to have a special spot for my cell phone, keys, chapstick, whatever.

I'm heading over to the post office today to mail it out to another birthday girl in our midst (she's too busy in college right now to get involved in crafty blogs, so I'm not worried she'll see it before she gets it!).

Although I'd love to jump into my next purse, alas, I'm going to shelf that project for a bit so I can get started on those baby and toddler gifts for Kylia and Solomon! Here's a peek at the fabric I picked up the other day - the clerk hadn't even unwrapped the bolt yet!

mini iron saves the day

2009-02-17T07:38:00.001-08:00

I'm so thankful for this new handy little tool. I meant to buy thick fusible web interfacing for these purse handles I'm making, but when you're at the fabric shop, shopping for multiple projects and have all 3 kids along because of the President's Holiday, ya tend to take some shortcuts! As it was, I didn't realize that regular interfacing measures 22" wide, instead of 44" like most fabrics. So I ended up heading back to the store because I thought they cut it wrong - oops, I just didn't pay attention! I had forgotten the magnets too, so I picked those up.

So far the Marlo Bloom Handbag by Heather Bailey has been pretty straightforward. I've got the main body of the bag done, and now I'm working on the handles. But this will take some time because I'm using Quilter's Edge to tack down all the little pieces around the handles - there are 2 handles, each with two sides, so that's four handles essentially! This is where my Wonder Iron comes in - at least I'm not pressing the whole project over and over again with a large iron! It's been great for this detail work.

Alright, no more avoiding the hard stuff... onward!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

2009-02-16T06:31:00.000-08:00

What do you get for a great friend who is incredibly crafty herself?? Something handmade, that's for sure! And now I can finally put up the photo of this cute top that can either be a summery dress with leggings, a funky top over jeans, or something colorful to put over a longsleeve shirt during the drab days of winter! I used Simplicity's Pattern 3807.

And since I loved the fabric myself (from Joann's), I made this camera case using SewMamaSew's Fat Quarter Project of the Day Tutorial.

Some friends of ours are traveling home right now from Ethiopia with their new 1 1/2 year old son! He joins his now 3 1/2 yr old big sister in the family who is also from Ethiopia. So I'm endeavoring to make some toddler booties, matching bib and a coordinating skirt for sister. I've been scouring tutorials trying to find some cute and easy ideas. If anyone has ideas to pass on, feel free to let me know! I'm itching to go to the fabric store tomorrow to see what cute, hip (they're pretty hip parents) fabric I can find!

My kids had fun decorating cupcakes with their babysitter on Valentine's Day. They even made one for Gavin and I to have when we got back home! Guess who's got eaten right away!

fat quarter fun!

2009-02-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

I've been having so much fun with SewMamaSew's Fat Quarter Month! So far I've made these cute doorstops for the kids (Worker uses his like a beanbag rather than holding his bedroom door open!), I made one super-easy travel tissue holder so far,

I'm participating in the Fat Quarter Swap, and I'm looking at making some cute purses or wristlets! Here are my fat quarters all ready to get mailed out. I can hardly wait to see what I get!

It's funny, because I've been telling myself that I'm a painter (watercolorist), and yet I haven't painted very consistently at all. And when I do sit down to paint, it feels like it's a chore. However, now that I'm NOT calling myself a 'painter' anymore and I'm just being creative with fabrics, I'm having a blast! I'm so much more relaxed about this whole creativity thing now. I'm still working on my art quilt, and I'm really enjoying that. But for now, participating in Fat Quarter Month has given me little daily fun to dabble in my creativity using fabric.

Thanks to Sarah, I made this cute sewing machine cozy.

some housecleaning and progress

2009-02-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

On the SewMamaSew blog, they've requested fabric stash secrets. I took this as a challenge to actually organize my fabric stash. Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as I thought it would and I even found fabric I thought I had used up! The 'before shot' will give you a better idea of the mess I had to work with.

On to answering the stash questions...

I sew all sorts of things - home decorating items like curtains, pillows & knick knacks, baby quilts, some kids' clothing and costumes (of course!), I've made a few items of clothing for myself - skirts being the most successful, cat beds, cat and dog toys, purses and bags, and now I'm trying my hand at art quilting.

When I shop for fabric I usually get fat quarters because I can get so many! Of course if I really fall in love with the fabric I'll get 1/2 to a full yard. Most of the time I buy larger yardages when I've got a pattern or project I'm working with. I allow myself to be more impulsive with the fat quarters.

I'm only a pre-washer if I'm making clothing (I'm so paranoid about things not fitting right) or if I think the colors will bleed - although I don't always think that far ahead. I never pre-wash my fabric until I'm ready to use it that day - and of course I then kick myself for not doing it ahead of time because I don't want to wait to get started!

I never iron my fabric unless it's while I'm making the project.

Since I just sorted my fabric for the first time today, I decided to sort it primarily by color. I kept some juvenile and holiday prints in their own group. I also kept the flannels separate.

I wish I had a fail proof folding technique. I have too many folds showing in my stash and I thought about re-doing it, but then it seemed like too much work!

For storage, I have some cool raw wood shelves from IKEA that my husband needs to put up for me - I could do it, but in a few years it would probably fall off the wall! He's definitely the perfectionist in our family. So I sought out some baskets throughout the house today, chucked whatever was in them and set them up in my IKEA GORM storage shelving. For now it fits the bill and doesn't look to bad either!

I have no tips for building a well-rounded stash. I either buy for a project in the moment or whatever looks good in the store.

I love, love, love fabric, so I don't think I can ever have too much! (at least not yet)

For stash-busting, I look at SewMamaSew and other blogs for inspiration and new projects. It's really great to just grab some fabric in my stash to get started.

This is my favorite fabric right now. I got it at Stone Mountain and Daughter Fabrics and I unfortunately I can't remember the name of the fabric. I used it to make a dress for my oldest daughter.

The perfect stash would be having a fabric store in my closet complete with someone to keep it well-stocked and organized!

On to other things...

Here's a photo of my progress with my art quilt. It's a simple tree, a copy of the mosaic tile floor I did in my craft room. I'm having a lot of fun with my new mini iron, and fusible web is really cool stuff!

And lastly, we now have green eggs, too!

a bit of indulgence

2009-01-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

Is it so wrong to devour a bit of chocolate so early in the morning? Before eating breakfast even?? Well, right or wrong, that's what I did. Gotta watch it though - it's a slippery slope!

Anyway, I'm excited to venture out in a new direction with my creativity. I got a book a few years back on fusion quilts called Fusing Fun! by Laura Wasilowski. I want to experiment with making some art quilts (I'll start small), so today I'm taking a trip to get the right supplies... I'm also going to sign up for a free motion quilting class at the local quilt shop - it'll be so cool!

What's that you ask? What about the laundry room? Yes, it's still there and I haven't made much progress. Most of the delay is due to our new floors getting installed and the massive amounts of dust that got scattered far and wide throughout the house! They'll finish up by Thursday, we'll move all the furniture back by the weekend and 'normal' life can resume. Here are some more photos of the progress.

Check out this 'goose egg' we got the other day from one of the chickens! It turned out to be a double yolk.

Tidbits and Inspiration

2009-01-17T13:50:00.000-08:00

I haven't gotten to those pillows yet - there've been other little things I've been busy doing. I finally put up some curtains - yea! I love the curtains in my art room because of the aqua blue dingle balls - I think they're so cute. Luckily the cats are leaving them alone so far. I then got inspired to make some curtains for the laundry room.

I'll share my plan for that room in a little bit.

I also made a bed caddy for Nadine to have at her bedside or when she's lying on the couch (you can find the very easy tutorial here from SewMamaSew).

She loves orange and her carpet is green, so this fabric worked out really well. Nadine's doing really well right now. We had a little scare with blood clots, but that's all worked out for now. They still haven't named her cancer because they don't know where the primary site is, and they probably won't do any more searching for it because there's plenty to deal with in her liver. In a few weeks we'll see how her body and the cancer is responding to the chemotherapy.

I also made these cute bags for knick-knacky stuff. I reinforced them with interfacing and they actually stand up all by themselves.

So, for the laundry room....I've been struck by inspiration again and my accent color is: bright yellow!

This Martha Stewart tub is the source of inspiration. I'm planning on using these fabrics to pull the room together. The curtains are done, then I want to make a clothespin bag (I'll see if I can hang a small clothesline between the cabinets), a fabric box to put the dryer sheets in and maybe some more knick-knack bags - like for chicken scratch or gardening items.

I started painting(1st coat) this wall shelf to match the yellow tub.

I got these fruit crates last summer.

I'm planning on painting them the same yellow and distressing them, and then bolting them to the wall for storage above the washer and dryer. I'm so excited for everything to be done!

This week I'll have to confine myself to the art room or outside instead of the kids' work table because our flooring is finally getting installed starting Tuesday! It's going to make such an incredible difference in the overall feel of the room. I can hardly wait to put up photos for you to see!

One last little thing....as I was painting last night (hence the lowlight), I looked down and saw these two snuggling close together.

Aren't they beautiful?

2009-01-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

It's not like I made them or anything, but I just can't help but be proud of our four hens' production. Yes, we started with six, but we lost two just a few weeks ago. We tried nursing one back from an injury, but she didn't make it. The kids took it well. I told them we could get some silkies in the spring.

Gavin's mom is doing better and it looks like she'll be able to come home this weekend. Yea! Her first treatment of chemo went well, too.

She loved the chemo cap I made for her, and I made another one that actually turned into quite a cute, stylish version because I added a little brim on the front. I got the pattern from A Design by Angie on Etsy.

I've made progress on the quilt - I added the border and pinned all the layers together. I tried the walking foot for the first time yesterday - so exciting! It's amazing how much easier everything is when you have the right tool.

Art Room Decor:

The other day I got inspired to organize a little more in my art room, so I hung some more stuff on the walls and added some shelves.

Then I got overconfident with the drill and tried to put up the toilet paper holder in the kids' bathroom (such a simple item that has gotten put off for a very long time), and it flopped! I didn't use wall anchors, and the whole thing was way too loose, so I took it down for now. Ugh! Just when you think progress is happening.....

I was looking at my past posts and realized that I completely forgot about making coordinating pillows for our reading nook. Seeing the fabric again was inspiring, so I'll put that on my to-do list for this week. Of course, as I add new things, the prospect of getting all the Christmas decorations put away is less of an immediate reality! I suppose it's human nature to put off the things we don't want to do. More photos to come when progress is made.

What have I been doing all this time?

2008-12-31T09:37:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe how much time has passed! In the past several months, there've been two birthday parties

(including a first-time ever sleepover party),

lots of soccer games, art docent presentations, I've watched my oldest daughter flourish with the flute, my middle daughter successfully learn how to sightread music and perform, and seen my son's sense of humor grow immensely. I've also made lots of stuff - more reusable shopping bags,

poodle skirts for the kids' christmas show,

dresses for the girls for Christmas,

hosted friends from Colorado and others from Washington, took a watercolor class, lost and found my wedding ring diamond (yes, found!), learned how to knit

(definitely still learning) and had our first Christmas in our own house!

It's been quite a busy season, and I've enjoyed every minute and every project. Of course, I also went through a period of wondering if I should be more purposeful with my creativity. So far, most of my projects come about when a holiday, school event or celebration happens. So I ask myself, "Should I forge into unknown waters and generate a project on my own? Will I be able to stick with it to the end? Will my confidence falter and I'll give up on it completely? How do I come up with something I'll enjoy but that won't overwhelm me? Is that just part of the process? Why do I always think of projects in terms of its completion? Am I capable of doing something creative and not worry if it ever gets recognition?"

I'm sure you're assuming I'm leading up to New Year's Resolutions. Nope. I've never been one to do that. I try to look at goals in smaller chunks of time. However, as we begin this new year, we (meaning my family and I) have a new perspective and focus for an unknown timeframe. My mother-in-law just found out she has cancer. They're still trying to find out where the origination site is and simulataneously trying to deal with the mass that is currently in her liver and causing secondary problems. She lives in her house across our driveway and we're sure glad she's here and not on her own living somewhere else. Currently she's in the hospital and enduring a lot of tests. Actually, she's glad she's there and getting the care she was lacking over the last month. Gavin's been there after work everyday and they've had a lot of deep discussions and good bonding time. So far I've been able to take care of her dog and cat, clean her fridge, gather her mail, gather more toiletries, clothes, books and other homey items for her during her hospital stay, and done some research on the internet. I've also been able to make an eye cover so she can sleep despite the bright lights in the hall, and I've got a pattern for a chemo cap if we should come to that.

The complementary strengths of Gav and I are definitely in full swing: he's all about being in the moment, and just being; whereas I'm definitely a 'do-er' and I'm constantly thinking ahead for the next thing. The kids have done very well with all this news and although they really miss having Grandma around, they know she's getting help. Today we're going to work on a Welcome Home Poster as well as little notes we'll place around her house. She might come home tomorrow, but it's possible they'll want her to stay through the weekend. It's so touch-and-go right now and each test result leads to more changes.

A lot of blogs are coming up with a single word for the year like 'courage', 'change', 'leap' and 'expand'. All these are great words, filled with inspiration. It's weird for me to be living purely in one day at a time, not knowing what the next day will produce. It's a new perspective and quite an adjustment to this unsurety. Now, life definitely doesn't have to get completely put on hold during my mother-in-law's health issues. On the contrary, my kids especially need to have their routine and fun things to look forward to. Being mopey and worrying all day is not productive and not healthy for them to be involved in. That's helpful to keep me out of that mire too. There've been a few other times in our lives where circumstances have caused us to buckle down, take account of the things that matter to us in life, and get rid of or quit doing the things that are more frivolous. I'm sensing that we're entering into one of those seasons again. My goal will to not get so serious about the situation, and to embrace the laughter and fun things that happen in each day. Gavin and his mom share a dry wit together, and it's helped them to cope with all the stuff at the hospital. It's nice that they can be there together and share their sick jokes to keep the air light.

One short-term goal I have is to post more on my blog. Ugh, now I've set up an expectation for myself! That's ok, right?

On a sidenote, my parents gave me a new sewing machine and it's beautiful!

It's the Magnolia model by Janome. It'll be really great to use when I tackle finishing this quilt I started eight years ago!

snap, snap, snap

2008-09-05T12:40:00.002-07:00

Get ready for lots of show-and-tell photos - yep, that's right, I found my camera! Since I'm terrible at remembering 'Before Shots' (I'm always just too excited to get started with a project), you'll just have to visualize this area with all beige walls and tools, bins and random paper bags strewn everywhere! Not to mention the shopvac, baseboard trim and uninstalled doors!

I thought this blue was so calming - it's very similar to the color in my craft room. The kids love doing their homework here and it keeps everything off our dining room table so I'm not just moving piles of papers from one countertop to the next. It's also easier for them to keep track of their homework papers. And now their backpacks aren't on the floor by the front door either! I decoupaged a board with an old Curious George book and Gavin added the hooks.

I still had the inspiration to decoupage, so I made this homework clipboard to keep their papers organized. We'll see if it holds up through the year.

And finally this bookcase I grabbed for $3 at a thrift shop, so I painted it orange and decoupaged pages from old books. The color inspired me on the opposite wall of this room which I turned into our reading corner.

So this is our new reading corner and we are always finding ourselves hanging out in here. It's not a great shot of the olive green chair I picked up off Craigslist, but it fits me and Worker Boy quite comfortably with a good book! It's been a lot of fun pulling each piece together to make such a comfy little nook. Can you tell I'm just a little proud??

This cabinet I found at the Goodwill - it was all wood with the ugliest starburst brass knobs! So I painted it, scuffed it and put on a glaze and new knobs and I'm so happy with it. It's a great piece with great storage.

I went nuts with this fabric combination. Now I just need to get in and sew up some coordinating pillows to bring all the colors together! I can hardly wait.

In the midst of creating new livable spaces, I organized our mudroom which was a complete disaster. Eventually we'll install cabinets (I love being able to close doors for a clean look), but for now this is soooo much better. Each kid has their own shelf with a basket for shoes and a bin for miscellaneous stuff like soccer gear, dance stuff, jumpropes, etc. Notice the paint chips on the wall? We'll see what happens next. I'm really enjoying adding color on our walls.

My desk needed some serious attention too - so I forced myself to go through most of the stuff and I got bins for the things that didn't really have a spot.

I've still got a long way to go this year, but I feel like this is a good start; "a great shot in the arm" as Gavin and I say. Hopefully the walls, furniture and organization distracted you from noticing our concrete floors (rough concrete, not the en vogue stained and polished kind) or lack of baseboards and window trim! I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into those projects.

More to come.....

House Project Mania

2008-09-02T21:35:00.000-07:00

So I've been on quite a kick with getting our house to feel less like a remodel and more like a home! It's been a 5 year (yes, I did say FIVE) project and I've vowed to myself (and my family) that this year while the kids are in school I will be deep cleaning, completely overhaul our organization (or lack thereof) and actually decorate our home!

The moment the kids went back to school I was scouring (literally!) all our local thrift shops, goodwill & some antique shops - although there is quite a difference in pricing between all these! I've also been garage saling and craigslisting (did I just make up a new word?). Tomorrow I'll be meeting a woman at a halfway mark for a cool olive green velvet chair for our new little reading nook.

I've been such a fanatic about this new vision for our home, that I have completely neglected everything else - like blogging, even finishing sewing projects! Those cool grocery bags are still half-finished in a heap on my table. I haven't even thought about touching my watercolors - although I have painted, glazed and decoupaged quite a bit of furniture & room decor! I now have a pale blue wall opposite a burnt orange wall. I've bought at least a dozen fat quarters of coordinating fabric so I can make throw pillows and other stuff to pull it all together.

Anyway, I will be a lot more sparse this year with my blog because I am trying to be truly dedicated to finally finishing our home. I still have to work out cabinets thoughout the house, tile floor in the mudroom, closet organizers, floor, door & window moulding, painting all the trim, carpet in our bedroom and most likely engineered hardwood in the living room. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to coordinate all this and am looking forward to feeling great accomplishment at each step of the way.

I don't have any photos right now of my progress because a) I haven't taken any yet and b) I think I may have left my camera in Oregon over the weekend. I will be searching through our bags with the hope that it's deep down in a pocket somewhere. I will definitely post photos intermittently during the year.

end of summer recap

2008-08-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post! We've been running around to the pool, library, sewing camp, VBS, birthday parties, school shopping, etc. I think it's been because of our busyness, our lack of a schedule and the heat (which hasn't been all that bad, I have to admit!) that has prevented me from being inspired to post. Blah, blah, blah!

Anyway, since I heard from Beth at SewMamaSew today, I went running around the house collecting all of our summer projects so I could have something up-to-date on the blog. The girls' doll quilts will be on the Create and Celebrate post tomorrow - they're pretty excited about it!

Here's the list of cool stuff we made (including their camp):
drawstring backpacks, zippered pencil cases, long rectangle pillows, bolster pillows, aprons, placemats, bandanna shorts, old-fashioned dishtowels, pajama pants (I love the trim!) and a shopping tote (1 of 7!). It's pretty fun to line everything up - makes a girl feel mighty successful! Oh, and the girls and I made an apron for my mom when she visited last week. They just changed the color scheme in their kitchen, so we wanted her to have something fun to wear when working in it!
Tomorrow we're spending the whole day packing for our annual camping trip - we'll be gone for 3 nights (the absolute most I can do without a shower!). We'll be taking our dog, Tenna, with us - we'll see how that goes....

Then next week the kids are back in school! Everyone in our household is pretty ready for it. I might start getting some time to paint again, too.

Oh yeah, here's another reason I've been busy

These girlies are so cute! Sunshine Girl named them all: Caramel & Peanut, Thunder & Lightning, and Tweetie & Sweetie. We've had them for about 10 days and they've already doubled in size. Gavin's working on the coup and I told the kids we'll get to paint it and 'cutesify' it. More photos to come. The kids are thrilled that we're on our way to becoming a 'farm!' The only future additions I see are a pair of goats - no cow, pig or horse for me! I think I've forgotten to mention our 3 kittens, though...here they are napping in my craft room.
I keep remembering stuff, so it's making this post really long - go figure! We also finished off another part of the house: the woodstove hearth and mantle. We're very happy with the results.

Gavin created the mantle with an oak tree off our property. We left the cultured stone up to the professionals and they did a fantastic job. And then we could get the woodstove installed so we won't have such a huge output of propane heat! I'm inspired now to work on finishing other parts of the house while the kids are in school.

If you've made it this far down the post, I'm impressed! I promise not such a long one next time - and in a shorter time span. Thanks for visiting!

celebrating four years

2008-07-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun day celebrating Worker Boy's 4th birthday.

After 'pirate training school,' the kids went out on a treasure hunt...

and found the treasure chest hanging up in a tree!

Then we celebrated afterwards with cake and ice cream!

At the end of the party, we (Gavin and I) sacked on the couch while the birthday boy ran around with one of his new presents: a superhero cape.

The custom cape came with a personalized story and a really cool mask.

He is one happy camper!

Fun at sewing camp!

2008-07-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

The girls have been having so much fun at sewing camp this week. First they made these great backpack bags that close with a drawstring ribbon. They're so great for swim towels, books, dolls, etc. We found the headband pattern in their book, so we made coordinating/reversible headbands to match!

I even joined in and made a couple of headbands for myself. If you know me personally, you can probably count on getting one in the near future! Just let me know what color scheme you want. They're so easy and quick - I made one in under 10 minutes!

The girls also made placemats and started on bookmarks out of felt. They ran out of time, so we'll finish them at home. They get to go back to the camp the week after next. So fun!

We've been really busy this week getting ready for Worker Boy's 4th birthday party. It's going to be a pirate party - and it's tomorrow! I stayed up way too late last night making a somewhat authentic looking treasure map with watercolor. I'll have photos after everything's all done. We're all pretty excited - the girls are not only helping with the party, but they've choreographed a skit for the kids! But for now, I'm pooped out!

Doll Quilts

2008-07-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

I signed up the girls (Pumpkin Girl is 9 1/2, Sunshine Girl is 7 1/2) for a couple of 2-day sewing camps this summer. The first one is next week and I decided I better give them a primer on the sewing machine before they go! So we decided that making a doll pillow and quilt would be a great way to practice.

The girls had a great time picking out their fabrics (most are from my scrap pile), planning the layout of the quilt and cutting the squares. They were very patient with each row, wanting to be careful to line up the pieces and pin them together. They also really enjoyed ironing their seams along the way! I was amazed at how much they enjoyed the entire process and didn't peter out. The only parts where I helped were the first half of quilting everything together (I didn't want too much puckering), and sewing on the binding. We added the bows for a little bit of character. Oh, and the pillows were fun too - I think by the end of the summer, their dolls will have quite a few additional pillows!

It's so much fun to see my kids attempt, accomplish and enjoy a new craft. I especially enjoy the fact that it's an area that I find so satisfying myself. I hope in the next year or so I can get Worker (almost 4) started on some sewing. You may chuckle at that because he's 'all boy', but he helps out quite a bit in the kitchen and of course, always wants to do what his sisters are doing!

I will be sure to post the girls' projects from their camps.

first jam of the season

2008-06-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

I was at a friend's ranch for a few days and we took full advantage of the trees laden with ripe peaches. Picking and eating a ripe peach right from the tree is heavenly! We ended up with several bags full - some not quite ripe because of our little helpers who didn't know the difference - and decided to make jam. It was quite the jam-making production in the kitchen that night with one diehard soul putting all the kids to bed - especially mine who had a harder time settling in (thanks, Chris!). The next morning we all enjoyed sampling the excess supply on our toast - yum!

I still had some jars leftover, so I got a half-flat of strawberries at the local Farmer's Market near our house. Last night in the midst of needing to start dinner and getting one dancer ready in her makeup and costume for the dress rehearsal, I decided to make the strawberry jam - crazy, I know! I guess I figured I was already in the kitchen and had a lot of momentum going. Despite the process taking longer than I thought, I managed to get spaghetti and meatballs, salad and garlic bread on the table and Sunshine Girl off to her rehearsal without any major mishaps.

This week the girls and I will start their quilts for their American Girl Dolls, Nellie and Samantha.

I think we're going to just make a simple block quilt and put it together with ties. The girls have handquilted before, so I think this time I'll give them sewing machine lessons with this project. They've got a couple of sewing camps they're going to in July, so I'd like them to have a familiarity with the machine.

We put up Worker Boy's curtains last week and they're really great because they block out a lot more light than the shades. I was so relieved that they covered the window because I measured, but I was really loose about it. The girls' curtains are still awaiting installation of the rods, but Gavin's working really hard right now on making a wood mantel for the cultured stone rock we're having done behind our woodstove. I think they're supposed to start next week!

pillow surgery

2008-06-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Worker Boy's pillow is incredibly special as I know many of your children have special loveys too. It's only 2 years old and has already gone through a lot of repair! It has finally reached the point that major work had to be done. I actually felt like I was conducting major surgery - and I had to make sure Worker Boy wasn't around because I think seeing his pillow that way would have caused him horrible trauma. So here are the photos of the entire process...
I had to cut open the pillow to take out the stuffing and add a liner.

This is what stuffing looks like after hundreds of washings!

I quilted the liner to the pillow fabric so that any future tears would be contained to a small area (Gavin's idea - thanks, Hon!)

This pillow definitely wouldn't win any aesthetic awards, but at least it has been reinforced and will hopefully last a long time now!

Despite some initial apprehension (my mom couldn't believe he'd even notice), Worker Boy has reunited with his best friend!

more Yosemite

2008-06-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

Yosemite is so breathtaking! It was amazing to just look around and see these immense mountains of granite that have taken on beautiful shapes after thousands of years of snowmelt, waterfalls and rain.

I'd like to say that we hiked up to every waterfall and peak, but surely I can't say that! We stayed on the main paths and took the tram around the village most of the time. One day we rafted down the Merced River which runs right through the valley. In this photo we had stopped at a little beach to skip rocks and have a snack.

Next time when the kids are older, maybe we'll do more hiking.

Yosemite dreams

2008-06-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun time in Yosemite! I even got a few hours to attend a watercolor class through the Yosemite Art Center. Our class went behind The Ahwahnee and got this amazing view of Glacier Point above Stoneman Bridge. The hardest part was my needing to move to a shadier spot in the middle of the day, so my view became a little obstructed! It was fun to be with other artists as well as whole families painting together. I stayed a little longer and moved to the edge of the Merced River and got an amazing view of Half Dome to the Northeast. (I have to apologize for the partial images of my paintings. My scanner is smaller than the paper and I can't figure out how to reduce - argh!)

Anyway, since we were in Yosemite with my parents and sister to celebrate my parents' 45th Anniversary, I decided to frame the Glacier Point painting for them. My dad kept reminding me that I hadn't signed my name on the painting yet - just a reminder that I don't quite feel like an 'artist' yet. I'm still exploring so many other mediums and really want my main focus to be my family right now. Not that I don't grab moments (or hours) to be creative. I'm just concerned that if I start to think of myself more in terms of occupation, my creative side will start to compete with my mommy side. For now, I'm happy with the amount of creativity that my 'mommyness' brings my way. There are so many women out there who successfully manage all the different facets of their lives - the crafty blogosphere is evidence of that - and I enjoy seeing into their projects. Because I tend to throw myself into every project I do, I completely forsake (and often resent) my regular day-to-day items on my list which can include my children! Then I just get stressed out, I feel like a terrible mom and my house completely falls apart. But when I just do one project at a time and take breaks in between, I tend to feel more balanced. Am I making sense? Or am I just sounding completely ridiculous?

Maybe I need to stop overanalyzing and just get a door for my art room.

vacation mode

2008-06-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

We'll be in Yosemite for the week. We'll take lots of pictures to share!

visions of Laura Ingalls

2008-06-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago my daughters went to a pioneer picnic birthday party. We got pretty excited and I made these fun outfits for them: linen skirts, aprons, and white puffy shirts. The shirts were originally sheets from our local thrift shop I made into dresses for their school holiday program. For the shirts I just cut them, added elastic and eyelet trim. The bonnets were part of the party favors. So cute!

Kathy over at Pink Chalk Studio made a cute peasant ensemble for her daughter. And just like hers, my daughters have worn them often just for fun.

This summer I want to teach the girls (and eventually Worker when he's older) how to work the sewing machine. I told them we could make aprons and quilts for their American Girl Dolls (Samantha and Nellie).

So while the kids were scampering around the garden, I had to face a hard reality: I think I need to leave the gardening to the green thumbs!

Actually, Gavin's been doing most of the work anyway. However, we don't seem to be having as much success as in the past.... just not the right year I guess.

finished quilt

2008-06-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that I finished the quilt today! It feels so good to cross another item off my list. I really enjoyed this quilt because it wasn't so big that it was overwhelming. It's funny how along the way I would doubt the color scheme, but now that it's all put together with the binding to frame it in, I really like it! My girls made me promise to make them one when they graduate from high school. Not a problem! I had a hard time finding a flannel fabric I liked that wouldn't overpower the front. I really like this green with the brown-olive dots.

I have to give Gavin major credit for getting my sewing machine to act normal again! I never knew there was a little screw on the bobbin case that needed to be retightened - that was the heart of the thread tension problem apparently. Although the thought of a new machine is enticing (my Singer 1725 from Target is quite basic and not really worth the cost of maintenance!), the reality of researching and forking over the dough isn't so inviting.

down to the wire

2008-06-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I was supposed to go on Pumpkin Girl's field trip, but Worker was still getting rid of his croupy cough, so he and I stayed home instead to rest. Luckily there were enough drivers so I didn't feel like such a flake! So while Worker rested, I was able to catch up on some projects that weren't getting done on their own.

I'm the volunteer Art Docent for Sunshine Girl's 1st grade class, and I decided to make little watercolor booklets for the kids to have over the summer. I also included a watercolor pencil for each student. It was a fun and very easy project: just cardboard, cool scrapbook paper, stickers for their initials, watercolor paper and string. Voila!

Here's a closeup of one of the booklets. I hope they get inspired this summer!

I also decided at the last minute to make a quilt for a friend's daughter who is graduating from High School in 2 weeks. It's a lap quilt for when she goes off to college and is up late studying or writing a paper (I remember those days!). I've finished the top and now am ready to machine quilt (I don't have time to handquilt), but my machine is acting funny - arrgh! I think the thread tension is off, but I can't seem to fix it. I might have to take it over to a friend's house. (you know who you are!)

I know the white with pink polka dot is called "Pink Lemonade" by Me and My Sister Designs. Unfortunately I didn't write down the rest! Some were fat quarters from Joann's.

I hope to have the quilt done by the end of the week for show and tell. I'm also on a deadline to finish the 1st Grade Teacher's gift from the class by Thursday (last day of school). It's a book of their art and quotes about their teacher. It's coming along pretty well. I found some great ribbon for the ties from a great garage sale find a few weekends ago.

pondering questions

2008-05-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

I've been a little introspective lately, asking myself lots of questions I cannot always answer. Like, 'Why do I keep a blog?' Is it for connection with others? Is it for the comments? Am I focusing too much on the amount of traffic I receive, or don't receive? Why should that even matter? Then I remind myself that the whole reason I started this blog was merely to document my creative process. I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of posting my various projects - no matter how small. I think I've gotten a bit intimidated, though, when I look at other blogs and see how much they have going on - giveaways, contests, parties, etc. I also remind myself how much work it takes to maintain a blog like that and I'm just not there right now. I'm not sure if I ever will be there. I'm a pretty reserved person and it was even a stretch to start this blog in the first place. I considered deleting it a dozen times! So I now am choosing to stop worrying about being 'popular' (that just adds too much unwanted pressure anyway), hold my chin higher than I have been, just relax and enjoy all the creativity God has given me - which includes a lot that I haven't discovered yet (I hope)!

So, onward, friends!

I've decided to put the shelf giveaway on hold (Sarah understands, that's what friends do) and give it a try another time when I feel the time is right.

In the meantime....here's a neat watercolor that reminds me of Worker!

No, I didn't paint it. The illustrator is Jon J. Muth who is absolutely amazing. This is from the book A Family of Poems, compiled by Caroline Kennedy. I get simultaneously inspired and challenged at the same time. It's been so busy lately with the end of school next Thursday, I haven't been in my studio AT ALL and I can hardly wait to get some protected time in there!

And let me clarify that just because I don't want the amount of traffic or comments to govern my blog, I WOULD enjoy connecting with others and hearing comments, ideas, etc. - just like our dog Tenna (Golden Retriever) really enjoyed her new buddy Zeus!

completion

2008-05-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

I actually finished putting the glaze on the cabinet today - yea! I'm very excited about the results - especially since this is the first time I've attempted something like this. I still need to apply the clear varnish (otherwise I'm worried that dust will collect in droves since it's kind of sticky) and then put on the new hardware when it arrives.

For those who didn't see it the first time, here's the memory of the ugly cabinet's past life....

And here's the makeover version! Sorry about the clarity, I wanted natural light instead of the flash. I promise a better photograph for the final product.

Since I have all the supplies still out, I'm thinking about doing the same process to a wall shelf I've never done anything with. It should turn out pretty cute. And then I thought maybe I'll do a giveaway with it. What do you think? If you're interested in participating in the blue-glazed shelf giveaway, just leave a comment to this post and I'll draw a name from a hat next Monday.

progress...

2008-05-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be a good idea to show my progress on the ugly cabinet - which is not so ugly anymore, by the way! When I put on the first coat of blue paint - Bay of Fundy (funky name, hunh!) - I kept telling myself not to freak out since the white primer was showing through. So by the second coat I was a lot happier with the results and almost considered putting on the varnish and skipping the whole scuffing and glazing altogether since I'd never done that before! But I forged ahead (more photos to come).

It's amazing how quickly a project progresses when someone else is occupying the kids and you decide not to worry about the appearance of the house! BUT, then that time period is over, you have to return to reality and the project gets put out in the Back 40! I worked a little bit today right up until getting dinner started couldn't be delayed any longer. I think I see a window of opportunity on Sunday?? Wow, that's pretty far away.

Here's a fun quiz if you have a few spare minutes...

Take the Quiz here!

way too much going on!

2008-05-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

I have so much to catch you up on!
Two weeks ago we did a really cool project for the 1st grade art lesson and now it's all put together. The students each got a section of the picture to paint with just three colors and they didn't know what the whole picture was.

The point was that they were more focused on the colors and mixing them than on the end result of their painting.

They loved seeing it all put together a few days later.

I feel so honored because the teacher wants to put it up for Open House this Thursday. We also worked on their end-of-the year art portfolios.

I don't know about you, but it suddenly seems like there's a lot more to do between now and the end of the school year. Open House, field trips, talent show, luncheons, parties to plan, not to mention teacher gifts! I'd love to hear any cool teacher gift ideas that are not too time consuming.

Plus, I've got lots of my own stuff too! I've been working on that ugly cabinet I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

I'm still not done, but I'm at the antiquing part now. I'll just show a few photos now and gradually add more as I progress. I was very thankful for Gavin's orbital sander which helped speed along a normally very slow step in the process.

And Sunshine helped paint the primer in all the corners - there were a lot of them!

We also finally planted the veggies in the garden. I asked Gavin to run out this evening to reinforce the wire fence to protect the garden from greedy deer! We'd all be so crushed if everything got eaten. It was a great way to spend Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day, by the way, to all you wonderful, hardworking moms out there!) - the whole family outside digging in the dirt, getting the soaker hose ready, babying the seedlings. Now the hardest part is waiting for the harvest. The kids and I painted pictures of the veggies on scrap wood a few weeks ago, so we put them out next to the seedlings - we hope to put them on stakes soon.

So, of course, in the midst of this flurry of activity and busy-ness, I had to buy material for curtains for the kids' rooms - as if I needed another project! Actually everything was $2 a yard! I thought this fabric looked like buildings in a city, perfect for Worker's construction-themed room.

The girls have pink and purple walls and didn't really need a busy pattern, so this seemed just right.

I'm not too sure when I will get to them, even though curtains aren't that difficult. It all boils down to time.

Please don't even ask me about the Everyday in May thing - I haven't touched any of my watercolor supplies since last weekend. Maybe I'll be more dedicated in the summer?? Wait, the kids will be home all day wanting me to be their Planning Director. Despite my perceived complaining, I'm definitely looking forward to summer days and not having as tight of a schedule. The kids and I are starting to put together a list of projects (most are not that big) that we can do together. I'll keep you posted.

gifts for the kids

2008-05-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to mention the planned crafty activity during my trip to Lake Tahoe last weekend. We made bracelets, so I made two for the girls. I don't usually get into beadery, but it was a lot of fun!

Then I realized that my boy would not be that interested in a bracelet (well, maybe he would for about two minutes), so I had better think of something to bring back for him! Shopping was not something I wanted to do that day, so as I took a walk, I started collecting some rocks! I found all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes. He was very excited about my finds.

painting on location

2008-05-05T12:53:00.001-07:00

So I went to Lake Tahoe last weekend and it was just beautiful. The water was so clear! Although it was sunny, it was pretty chilly. I also didn't expect to see so much snow on the surrounding mountains - the lifts were still running!

So I stole some time away for myself and took out my travel watercolor supplies and actually painted something. Most of the time I pack that kind of stuff with the best intentions and then I never even take it out of my bag!

I was so excited to use my 'new' watercolor notebook. I cut watercolor pages from larger pieces, punched holes, tied it with heavy string, and put it in one of Gavin's grandfather's old leather pocketbooks (he had quite a fetish for them), and voila - travel watercolor book! I had fun with the pinecones because I tried to keep the painting looser than I usually do. I'm also finding that I really enjoy using a black fine tip pen to give more definition.

I was inspired by french toast girl and her idea of Everyday in May.
I haven't exactly painted every day so far, but twice in one weekend is pretty good for me. Of course, now that I'm back home to all the realities of life, maybe I'll change the motto to 'Every Once in a While' for myself! It's good to have goals, though, right? No matter how unrealistic sometimes.

Estate Furniture Finds

2008-04-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

We didn't exactly go to an estate sale, rather, it came to us! My mother-in-law cleared out her mom's house so she can rent it out and had all the furniture and boxes of stuff sent to our house so we could go through it all. I thought there might be a few things, but I think I got caught up in the moment because we ended up with a lot of stuff!

We had so much fun on Friday and Saturday discovering trinkets, letters, coins and gadgets in each box. Gavin just sat and read through his grandfather's letters, journals and looked through a lot of old photos. His grandfather didn't talk much about his earlier years, but apparently he was quite the conservative Scottish rebel at Oxford - and quite handsome too!

This is Arthur's desk and chair. It has a bookcase on the other side if we wanted it to face out and the desktop is made of leather.

I was so happy to have a nice bookcase for storage.

I just love this sidetable that now sits in our bedroom. The tabletop is white marble.

This dresser was made in Sweden and is in excellent condition. I told Gavin I didn't know where to put it, but I'd find a place! Notice all the dishes I found on top of the dresser. There's a really nice cabinet with glass doors that I plan to use like a hutch. I will finally be able to display my grandmother's china!

This cute cabinet is for storing silver. I found several sets of silver (probably not complete) with interesting designs. We'll have a silver-polishing party sometime.

We also got a lot of art to put up. Most of it is very serene with muted colors. This is a large piece and will add interest to a plain wall.

Some of the styles I might not pick out if I were shopping in a store, but it's been fun getting all these eclectic additions for our home and adding character to each room.

There's another armoire we'll bring into the house when Gavin gets some help (not me!). It's pretty ugly in its current condition, but I'm planning on painting it and then distressing and antiquing it. Hope it works! But it'll be great storage for the kids' art supplies and gift wrapping materials. Ugly photo soon to come.

Worker Guy wants an apron too

2008-04-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

So amidst all the girlie things I've been sewing lately, Worker Guy has expressed a desire to have something made for him too. I don't know why it's so hard to find a decent sewing project for boys. If anyone has ideas, please let me know!

So I bought fabric the other day and still didn't have a clue of what to make. I finally settled on this 'toy truck carrying apron' and added grommets and brass D-rings for lots of hardware. This is an improvised version of a craft apron tutorial I found from Autum at Creative Little Daisy. I've made a few of the craft aprons and really like how they turned out.

This is one of my craft aprons, but Worker was not up for a photo session - he's been this way for a little while.... can't wait for this phase to pass...

Anyway I also finished an apron for a friend's daughter - it will match the one I made for my friend at Christmas - mother-daughter aprons! I also had extra fabric and tried making some kid-sized oven mitts. I still need to finish the trim...

The birthday party is next weekend and my girls are all ready for the 'Country Picnic' theme with their matching skirts, old-fashioned aprons and eyelet-trimmed blouses. They're getting bonnets at the party. I'll be sure to have some photos!

It's been a weird week

2008-04-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

So I had all these great creative plans for this week and nothing got done. My bad cold from last week actually turned into walking pneumonia this week! I was pretty much in bed everyday and went through lots of books and movies.
Gavin took the kids to school all week and 'Worker Boy' went to an extra day of preschool so I could rest. Sunshine and Pumpkin were very worried about Mommy and kept checking to see if I was feeling better. Pumpkin thought since my fever was gone (thank you, antibiotics!), I was not sick anymore - wish my body could have listened to that reasoning!
Alas, today I had enough energy to get a few things at the store and pick up some more books at the library - and I wasn't completely wiped out afterwards...have I finally turned the corner? I didn't dare have any type of dialogue with anyone for fear of the inevitable coughing fit that would ensue.
My girls' teachers told me to take next week off from coming into the classroom to rest - but I at least want to present the art docent project to the 1st graders! I'm very excited about it and can't wait to display all the photos here.
I even started another watercolor last Sunday of some pretty lilacs from our backyard. I'll have to cut new ones in order to finish since I didn't add water to the vase all week and the flowers dried up! oops!
This weekend I will try to lay low as much as possible, but with my seedlings bursting out of their containers, beautiful sunshine and spring fever, I only hope not to relapse from doing too much. Ugh! It's so hard to hold back. And the weeds don't slow down for sickies!

the wraps are done

2008-04-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

I actually finished the wrap skirts for the girls last week (when I wasn't feeling so yucky), but got around to taking the photos today. Since it was an impulsive decision to make them, I rummaged through all my extra fabric and made separate (somewhat) coordinating panels.

'Sunshine Girl' tends to like brighter, flashier prints and her skirt ended up with five panels. 'Pumpkin Girl' likes more understated prints (although the watermelon is quite bright) and her skirt has three panels.

I love that my girls still love wearing stuff made by 'Mom' and I hope that lasts for a while! I'm trying to ingrain in them that homemade is really special - even though it's not always perfect.

So yesterday while I was a 'blob' on the couch, Gavin worked with the kids in the vegetable garden. Today he's going to hookup the watering so we can put the soaker hose on a timer. There will be much less of a chance of plants dying because I forget to water or get lazy later in the summer! And I think the kids and I will plant some of our seeds (carrots, beans & flowers) in some egg cartons today too. I'm still hesitant to plant in the garden this early because, even though it's warm right now, it can still change pretty dramatically this time of year. I think we'll wait a few more weeks.

Last night I ran out of books to read, so I started sketching from some children's books and really enjoyed it. I think I'll do some more today and possibly even paint. I'll try to have some photos later in the week of these exercises.

She finally paints!

2008-04-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

So even though I been feeling pretty cruddy because of a bad cold, I forced myself to at least do something on Thursday (my one day when everyone is in school). These are not my original ideas - just some cool watercolors in a cookbook that I like. It's a good exercise for me to just imitate the painting style. Next time - when I'm feeling better - I'll branch out on my own as well.

Here's a closer view. I really enjoy using pen and ink with the watercolor. I still think I need to push myself to add depth to each image.
This one is pretty fun. My parents are taking a trip to France in May and I've asked them to take lots of photos of "scenes" that I can paint in watercolor. This reminds me of something they'll see at some villa there.

Thoughts for the Day...

2008-04-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

I think this is such a cool mug! My absolute favorite color is chocolate brown, and I love this light blue with it. I'd like to think that I could've designed something like this - but I wasn't asked! When I think thoughts like this, it basically tells me that I need to be spending more time at my art table just painting. Often when I paint I'm trying to create a finished product and I desperately need to get out of that mode. I really like the combination of watercolor with pen and ink - I get inspired whenever I see that style in my kids' picture books. Ok, enough said, now go 'do.'

These were some cute 'finds' from my local thrift shop. Just fun containers to put 'stuff' in! The middle one is pretty funky, but I like the colors.

I went to the nursery the other day and practiced A LOT of restraint! I did end up with these yellow bell peppers and Sweet 100 tomatoes - yum! And also lots of seeds - carrots, beans, sunflowers, morning glories - I hope my kids can keep up with the watering because I don't have such a good track record. I have a lot of gusto in the beginning of a project, but then I peter out or get too busy! Here's the beginning stages of our garden (we have to wait a few more weeks to plant):

I am so ready for Spring

2008-04-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

These little cuties came out later than the others this year. The tulips are on their way now too. I'm trying to hold myself back from planting anything new right now since it's still kinda cold, but it's so hard! This year we're planning on developing our front yard area - defining different areas, planting trees, new walkways, etc. We'll see how far we get!

So instead of planting, I've been busy sewing spring things! This is the first shirt I've ever sewn for myself - not too bad. I've worn it once, but had to have a sweater on the whole day!

I've also been making skirts - no hope of wearing them unless I want to freeze! So here's the vintage tablecloth skirt I made. It has a zipper in the back. I also made a wrap skirt and have started wrap skirts for my daughters. I'll post those photos when I've finished.

It's pretty addicting to keep making more clothes - especially when they are simple patterns. So I'm telling myself to take a break so I can work on other things . . . like painting! My creativity started blossoming a few years ago when I realized how much I enjoy and appreciate watercolor. But through that process, I've also realized how I use my creativity every day!

I think I know what I'm doing...

2008-04-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

So after many attempts, practice and help...I think I've made it!

I'm an at-home mom who is slowly gaining some 'me' time for exploring my creative side. Here is a photo of my art room - yea!