More than There was Before

During summer vacation, a few years ago, I wanted a project that the kids and I could work on; actually I wanted identical projects that we could work on, each in our own style and pace but with the benefit of watching and learning from each other.  When we saw a cart of old, used hardcover books on the sidewalk in front of a shop, I had an idea.  We each bought one ($1 a book).  My choice was Heidi by Johanna Spryi.  I've never read this book but the point of this project was not to choose a book for reading but a book for inspiration.  The books became sort of scrapbook/doodle pad/file folder/coloring books.  I told the kids they could do anything they wanted in these books; draw, cut, color, paste, sticker, glitter, tape,  paint...We were gung-ho for awhile but then the books got put away for some reason and now, I've just found them this past week.  And I can't stop working on mine.

When did it become so hard to doodle?!  I can't think of what to draw.  During my writing meeting this week, it was unanimously decided that part (only part, mind you!) of my problem is that I need to loosen up...just let go.  But, like, how do you do that?  So,...this doodle book is good for me.  There is no purpose, no planning.  The more scribbling and coloring and gluing and adding, the better.  And, I'm having to violate one of my biggest rules, "Never write in books"! Yeah, this is out of control.

When you reread a classic,

you do not see more in the book

than you did before;
you see more in yourself

than there was before.

- Clifton Fadiman

Own Your Own Mood

Kate's performance as Aphrodite Colossus Athena Swenson in her middle school production of Dear Edwina is coming fast.  It's a small role but a fun one with a cute song.  This past weekend, our "to-do" list included creating a '50s themed costume for her.  I made this poodle skirt thanks to tutorials here and here.  We found the V-neck sweater and blouse at a thrift store and added ribbon and buttons to make it look like a cardigan.  The white tennies were on clearance at Target and we used a black Sharpie to turn them into saddle shoes. 
I saw a newsletter on parenting in my email inbox this weekend.  I subscribe to a site that sends them out every so often.  I read this one and it applied so directly to how I was feeling, it was eerie. As our kids get older, we expect more from them and when they don't always live up to those expectations, we get cranky.  Or if they're cranky, we may get cranky.  I know I sometimes do.  This article talks about these expectations and these mood changes and the need for us, as parents/friends/spouses/coworkers, to avoid taking on the moods of those around us.  The concept isn't exclusive to parenting and the article reads in such a simple and "duh" way - I was happy to have found it.  Here's a link to a link of the word.doc article if you'd like to read it (it's the "Allowing Our Children their Moods" article).

The Secrets I Kept

I mentioned, before Christmas, a few projects I was working but couldn't tell you about, of course, because they were gifts.  Well, this pillow was one of them.  I saw a pillow like this in a Garnet Hill catalog years ago and thought it was such a simple fun idea.  Every year, on my side, we draw names to see for whom we have to make a homemade gift.  It's couple to couple; for example, Mark and I had to make a homemade gift for my brother and his wife.  That way we can tap into (and take advantage of) each others talents!  For the pillow, I drew on the people with a brown Sharpie, then traced them with shiny chocolate colored puff paint.  I used a deep red binding so that it can be used all year or only during the Christmas season.  Turns out they had our names in exchange and had been stalking my Pinterest boards for months to come up with the perfect idea - a custom-made boot rack to hang outside the entry door at the cabin!  I'm so excited for spring and upside  down rain boots on this new rack after our walks through the trees.
I bought Mark's gift last September at the Little Falls Craft Fair.  As I'm about to tell you what it was/is, I'm reminded of what I bought him for his birthday.  Hmmm, seems to be a theme.  Well, here's the lamp I bought him for Christmas.  It's for at the river and was made by a couple from the North Shore.  They collect rocks and driftwood from Lake Superior and make these lamps. 

Serious Withdrawal

I'm so deprived of crafting time that I'm tying Kate's hair in bows!    In the last fourteen years, I've kept this household on track, given the kids the right stuff in the right place at the right times, volunteered at school, and helped friends with odd jobs but haven't worked regularly outside the house in...a real long time.  Although always busy at home, I had the luxury of doing things like grocery shopping during the day when the crowds are minimal and the kids are at school.  During this holiday season, I've been working outside of the house.  And now, doing the shopping in the evenings, everything is different and takes twice as long.  Anyway, in the process, I've lost any spare moments in which to work creatively on projects.

I recently read an article in the November 2012 issue of Martha Stewart Living titled, this is your brain on crafts by Lisa Borgnes-Giramonti.  The article expounds the benefits of crafting, studied by neuroscientists, psychologists and physical therapists.  Apparently, when we craft, our nucleus accumbens (the pleasure center of our brain) becomes stimulated, a signal is sent to release dopamine (the happiness juice), our beathing becomes more regular, blood pressure goes down...all the good stuff happens.  And we like it.  And we want more.  And more.  And when we don't get it...we start tying our kids hair in bows! (actually it turned out really cute - and she liked it - cool.)

Hat Trick

Last week was my littlest nephew's birthday.  I wanted to give him just the perfect gift.  Then I remembered these perfect books (that I read nearly every time I'm at Target).  I have been waiting for the perfect little reason to buy them for a perfect little person.  Perfect!  And I made him this (going too far if I say perfect?) red hat.
I love reading these two books.  If Kate or John are at Target with me, I read them aloud.  (They're not really thrilled with that privelege - at all).  If not, I try to restrain myself.  Just so fun.  And they are so engaging.  Reading together, you can't help feeling conspiratorial in knowing where this plot is going.  And, oh no, it's not going to turn out well - lying and stealing - never turns out good.

(The rabbit doth protest too much, methinks.  See, you could introduce a little Shakespeare even.)
I think that hat belongs to the bear.  What do you think?
(nods) It does.  It's the bear's hat.
Is the rabbit going to give it back to the bear?
(shakes head) I don't think so.  He wants to keep it.

In the book, This is Not My Hat, a little fish takes a big fish's hat while the big fish is sleeping.  Then the little fish goes to hide.  A crab (or lobster?) sees where the little fish is hiding but promises not to tell.  So the little thief fish says he's "not worried about that."

Do you think maybe the little fish should be worried?
(smiles a little devilishly) Yeah.
Did the crab keep his promise?
No.
Is that little fish going to get in trouble?
Yes.
Is the big fish mad?
Yes because that is his hat and the little fish took it and it's not his and he's trying to keep it and you can't take stuff that's not yours.
SCORE!
Do not steal.  Do not lie.  And hang on to your hat!

Lotion Bars

We're noticing the dryness in the air as the weather gets colder.  We need to moisturize.  Last winter I made these lotion bars during Girls Craft Day. (we need another one of those!)  I'd seen these lotion bars at the Little Falls Craft Fair.  Actually, I'd bought lotion bars at the Craft Fair three years in a row and loved them.  The ones I bought were citrus-almond scented - really nice.  The bar is lotion solidified.  When you rub it between your hands, it warms, melts a little and moisturizes your skin.  Perfect for in a purse, backpack or computer bag.  I found a DIY on line (I made the "luxury" bar), bought the supplies, and let it all sit on that old project shelf for awhile.
So, when the Girls Craft Day was planned and approaching, I decided I would take one thing off that shelf and DO IT!  I don't know why I procrastinate.  It was a very easy project.  I then bought these little zip bags at Ax-Man Surplus - (300 for $0.75!), and decorative waxed paper at the craft store to package each little bar.  And I want to make them again except I have so many, and they last so long.  I gave them away to other moms in the stands during baseball and softball games.  I still have alot!  But...'tis the season...I will stick new ones in our bags...and find other someones to gift them to.

Why Not a Parents' Room Redo?

Painting the dressers for Kate's room redo went so smoothly, that I decided to paint the hand-me-down that is in our bedroom as well. 

Our bedroom decor has been sadly neglected for some time.  We had most of our windows replaced a few years ago and the curtain rods originally above our old windows ended up hanging 3 inches below the tops of the new windows.  I just haven't taken the time to fix them.  But when we re-did Kate's room, she decided not to hang curtains with her shades, so I grabbed her rods and stuck them in my closet for when I'd get around to switching them out.  Remember the pile of projects in my sewing room?  Well, these curtains (on the top right in the linked photo) have been sitting there for...um...a long time.  There were only two panels and I need four so...the project involved cutting each panel in half, re-sewing the top casement and the bottom hem, and finishing the side hems.  Plus they're lined so...just never got that motivated.  Until now.  And it feels so good to have the new rods up (above the windows!) and curtains off the project pile and onto the windows.

We desperately needed some wall art but it is very difficult (for me anyway) to choose wall art for a bedroom.  Well, I had these canvases in the sewing room from another project I abandoned long ago and so I printed out lines from "our song" and modpodged them onto the canvas - I really like the "wordy"ness way it turned out.
So, all of a sudden, we have "new" dresser, curtains, and wall art - I'd say that counts as a redo!  AND the stacks of unfinished projects are getting smaller - yay!

Still Wired and October Beer

I thought my telephone wire distraction had passed.  The other day, however, when I passed John's bedroom and noticed his bed was made (!), I also noticed how the duvet cover I'd made him reminded me of this telephone wire pic.  When I first made the duvet, I had train tracks in mind as John is nuts about trains - and I still think the fabric combo calls to mind creosote soden ties, blackened iron tracks and blue, blue sky.  But telephone wires, hanging against a blue, blue sky, create similar imagery.

Our October Minnesota-Beer-of-the-Month is Sweet Child of Vine India Pale Ale from Fulton Beer in Minneapolis.  Grateful to have been helped in their entrepreneurial pursuit, the guys at Fulton Beer will put 10% of their profits into a fund (Ful10) which, when grown large enough, will be loaned to other entrepeneurs who are unable to borrow funds traditionally.  Cool.

And my kitchen tree in her fall glory:



Need...To...Organize...(and simplify)

This is one little corner in my sewing room - so many projects waiting to be finished.  Unfortuantely, there are similar piles all over the house.  It's feeling rather overwhelming.  It's all simple stuff, some of it even fun, enjoyable, but there's just so much.  Plus all the other silly stuff I have to do like cooking and driving and, ugh, cleaning.  So, I am on a desperate mission to get organized, stop procrastinating, take things one little step at a time.  Oh yeah, and throw everything in the garbage simplify.
I had a few white hooks left over from Kate's room redo so, yesterday, I attached them inside my closet and pulled all the purses out from the bottom of my closet and look how organized it looks (those jeans aren't dirty - they're my painting jeans):

Today is receipt day.  I have this easy system of highlighting the date on all our receipts, then filing them into these month/year tabbed boxes.  Except when I've neglected to do those simple steps in...um...about 11 months.  So, now I have this overflowing shoebox of receipts that looks like it would take me the next three days to highlight and file.  I do not have three days to dedicate to this project.  But I also can't just throw them away (too much of a control freak).  So, I'm just plugging away at it.  It will get done.  It kinda feels good to focus on just this one thing.  And if I get it done today...I'm gonna feel good.  

Teen Room Redo - Complete!

Victory!  We successfully and harmoniously (gasp in disbelief) transformed Kate's little girl room to a teenage mecca that we both love.   (If you'd like to read her personal rave about the room, check out Kate's blog.)  I got my way with white walls and dressers.  She got her way with a wall of posters and magnetic white boards:

After hours (maybe even weeks days) spent pinning on Pinterest, I finally used one of the great ideas to make this photo collage heart - defintely our favorite project in the redo:

And those cheapy bookshelves that I settled for?  So happy I did 'cause it made me feel not a bit bad to stick cork board and little plastic hooks to the sides of them for further organization.  My favorite use of the little hooks is this solution for all the loose Cds laying around the bedside stereo:

Homecoming and September Beer

Tonight is the Homecoming parade and football game in our town and although it's bright and warm this afternoon, it'll be chilly when the sun goes down.  So I've been digging out sweatshirts and hats in our school colors.  Last year, during a particularly cold baseball & softball season, I made this stadium blanket from remnants I found at the fabric store.  It is double layered and very large so we can snuggle up and share.  I predict that nobody will want to carry it in tonight but everybody will fight over who gets to use it.

In honor of homecoming, one of our September's Minnesota Beer of the Month selections is Big Island Shandy from the Tonka Beer Company .  "100% of profits from our craft beer sales go to support Save-Our-Lakes^™, which funds initiatives of Conservation Minnesota and the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center to protect our lakes and rivers from zebra mussels, milfoil and other invasive species."



Our other selection for September is a variety case of James Page which is now brewed by the Stevens Point Brewery in Wisconsin.  Both Tonka Beer and James Page have their origins in Minnesota but have been outsourced to Wisconsin.

Teen Room Redo - Started

Okay, we've started re-doing Kate's room, and I'm happy to be finding some white!  Last weekend, we cleaned off the bookshelves and emptied the dresser drawers into boxes.  With all the furniture in the garage, we primed and painted with lots of white paint and now these old dressers are transformed to a beautiful, clean, white:

These are pieces of furniture I inherited years and years ago.  The black one has been painted a few times before this.  The bookshelves (cheapy veneer from Target) didn't take paint so well at all.  Actually, they turned into a yucky mess.  So, I ended up scrapping them and contemplating making new (no, I don't know how - just think oh, I could do that!) before coming to my senses and buying a new set of cheapies from Target.  Afterall, they are going into a teen bedroom which will look sparkling clean for about 1 hour and after that, really, you won't notice the cheapy bookshelves.
This weekend we'll have the windows open, the music blaring, and walls will be changing from pink to white.  Hopefully I'll have pictures to show you next week!

Little Falls Annual Craft Fair

This past weekend was the annual Little Falls Craft Fair; which is also our annual Girls Weekend!  The weather was phenomenal as we took a break from shopping and enjoyed a little people watching from the top of the post office steps.  I didn't take any photos of the crafts themselves (it is frowned upon) but I bought a few things (can't share with you yet as they're Christmas presents and somebody might be reading) and jotted down a few inspirations (I'll share with you if they become reality).

The weekend started off Friday night, with gourmet burgers at A.T. The Black and White.  This retro styled restaurant has many of the old signs from buildings around town that have been torn down or remodeled - so cool. 
Friday night dessert at The Black and White is always Banana Foster - oh - yum!  Bananas, brown sugar, banana liqueur, rum and ice cream - you cannot possibly go wrong!

The lake is within easy driving distance from the craft fair so we slept there and spent Sunday on the water.  Thinking about all the different crafts, I noticed this beautiful web at the side of the dock;

so like the doilies we had seen the day before.  Here is a picture of the doily my Grandma made us as a wedding gift.  The delicate work of both is amazing.

Sleep Issues & Quilt in Progress

Everybody has their sleep issues; sleepwalking, nightmares, trouble getting to sleep, trouble waking, not getting enough sleep....  I snore. Kinda loud - wake myself up sometimes.  John thrashes his limbs.  Share a bed with him on vacation or even put your sleeping bag next to him and you're liable to be black and blue in the morning.  This week, in fact, he thrashed right through his sheet - which turned out to be to my advantage.  I'm making twin quilts for the bunkbeds at the river and I've vowed to only use fabric from my current stash - NO buying more.  But the little design voice in my head continues to groan, no, no, not that color, you need a better blue!  And John's old sheets are the perfect provencial/denimy blue color that I need. I know this sounds suspiciously like the times we came home from with "distressed" holes conveniently cut in our jeans but I truly did not sneak in and slash the pretty blue sheets!

My goal was to have these finished by next weekend as we'll have more guests in the fall (mainly hunters) and will need all the beds covered.  After the kids are in bed, I've been cutting strips and sewing, sewing, sewing but Teddy, here, is holding the only square completely pieced so far.  Yep, I've got a ways to go!

Back-to-School Shopping and Bleach T-Shirts

This is me in my new back-to-school clothes, probably first grade, with my name and pertinent information pinned to my groovy hip jacket.  Notebooks under my arm and envelope with official documents in my other hand.  Wow - the patterns of the 70's!  There are cuffs on those slacks!  My mom made this outfit - honestly, pretty impressive matching of plaid at the seams.
We've been doing back to school shopping around here; clothes and supplies.  (No, I haven't been busy sewing.)  Kate spent much of the afternoon organizing her supplies.  And remember those Muppet Band-Aids?  Well, Kate found a whole new use for them - her classes are now "Muppet-coded":

My favorites are 1) the Swedish Chef on her Chinese folder and Animal on her Math folder (her exact personality when it comes to math homework!).
We had Kate and John's photos taken today at a Target portrait studio.  For half the cost of two school portrait packages, we got multiple individual shots of each, as well as, pics of the two together - turned out really, really cute - so happy with them!
During our stay at the lake this summer, we made this cute bleach t-shirts, using bleach pens on solid t-shirts:

Diamond Willow Buttons

When the kids were younger and we were spending a few days at my in-laws, Kate wanted to work with her Grandpa in the garage.  I had been crocheting a sweater for her and was grateful for the extra quiet time when my father-in-law took her for a walk in the woods in search of diamond willow branches.  They selected the perfect branches and removed the bark.  Then Kate watched, with her way-big safety glasses on, as Grandpa sliced the branch into little coins of varying thickness.  Having decided to make buttons for Kate's new sweater, they started experimenting with drilling holes in the delicate slices.  I remember it took quite a few tries before they could drill four holes without the button cracking.
I finished the sweater that weekend and varnished the buttons when we returned home.  They turned out so cute.  Unfortunately, Kate outgrew the sweater far too quickly.

A Visit to Quilts from My Past

It was my intention this summer to visit some of the quilts I've made.  As I am usually finishing a quilt in the last few minutes before I wrap it, I have very few photos.  So, I also planned on collecting photos to record here.  But, now it's August and I only have this one.  Will try to do better in the following months!

In the early 70's, when my mom was home with three kids under age 5, she cut these pieces of wool into perfectly even squares - kind of mental health therapy, I think.  The wool came from a handful of old family wool coats, from a previous generation, that had been saved in a box in the chicken house at my great grandparents farm.  My mom disassembled the coats, removing the lining, seams, collars, buttons, and pockets. After washing the fabric, she trimmed out these thick wooly squares and stacked them neatly in a box.  After my brothers and I left home and my parents moved into a newer house, she asked me whether or not I wanted the box of squares. 
Well, you can't just get rid of them, I said. 
So, yes, I'll take them.

The box sat in the closet of my first house.  Then those squares sat in the attic of that first house when I rented it out and moved to California.  They moved to the basement of that first house when Mark and I moved back into after being married.  We moved the box of squares to a newer house when John came along and we needed more space.  (Isn't my husband patient with my weird fabric collection?) 

Now we would like to fix up the basement here, in our "new" house (10 years later!) and I must do something with these boxes!  For our adult gift exchange, at Christmas, my family draws couple names and must make homemade gifts, as a couple, for the couple whose names we've drawn.  Last year, Mark and I drew my parents' names.  Voila! - I had an idea - I decided to give back the squares!  Not just stacked up in the box; that would be silly (funny though!).  So I made this quilt (while Mark kept the kids out of my hair - that's the "couple" part!) for their cabin.  There were also some very pretty light blue squares but they didn't quite go with my design.

So, here is my first visit and photo-op of a quilt from my past.

Taking Inventory and Looking for White Spaces

After years of incessantly covering all our white walls with any (and every) other color of paint, I find myself looking for a blank canvas...to paint...white.  Just white.  I'm not sure what, if anything, that might say about my life right now - I'm guessing probably something like slow down, lose the crazy, SIMPLIFY.  For now, I'm just letting it linger.  I'll wait till fall and if I'm stilll looking for white, I'll open the windows, move the furniture, and start painting.
This little quilt I made for Kate just before she was born.  I came across it, in the closet, the other day and decided to record it here.  This is a good place to inventory the things I've made in the past.  I remember these little cross-stitch patterns of animals.  The patterns did not instruct to fill in the backgrounds with stitches but...I just couldn't leave the white spaces - I had to fill them in.  And I like how it turned out but find it funny now to notice the absence of white space.  The khaki borders around each square are cut from Mark's old work pants and the back (which you can't see here) is a fabric that I really don't care for - a paper-bag brown with green and pink flowers - very drab.  Maybe I'll switch it out one day.  Or maybe I'll like it one day.  We'll wait and see.

Two Sheets to the Hair

I always have a hard time finding a headband that doesn't either slip off or else squeeze my head so tight that my teeth hurt.  One wide black fabric band has been my staple accessory until I started thinking the famous (or fatalistic?), "I could make that!" 
Okay, that was a few years ago and the pattern I found on Larissa's blog has been sitting patiently on my project-to-do shelf (which spilled out from my project-to-do closet).  I had some fabric left over, and still on my sewing table, from the Tell Me a Story Quilts and a Peanuts sheet that I got at a garage sale for a quarter.

I really like each of them but I think Kate has alreay claimed the Happiness is..., which is also reversible!

When visiting my Grandma K. as a child, my cousin Tina and I would have our hair "put in rags" after our baths.  The rags were an old sheet torn into 3 inch strips.  After winding hair around the fabric, you wind the fabric back up around the hair and, in the morning, you have long ringlet curls.  My Grandma had four daughters and every Saturday night they would bathe, comb out thier hair and wrap it in rags.  Kate asked me to do her hair last night:

And in the morning:

Once you comb your fingers through the ringlets, it creates very soft curls. As Kate used to say, beau-fa-ful!