wise craft

the mail that sends me over

One of the very nicest parts of having a blog and being a part of this creative community we have here is the mail.  In a world of technology, the mail is tangible and real, made by your hands and I love that.  Yesterday I opened my front door to this beautiful train case from dear Meg.  We have been pulling a swap together for a long time (truth be told, it has taken me a year to put a swap package together, but I'm trying to get better!!!  I swear that was only once!)  I am so in love with my gorgeous train case, it is front and center in our home and I plan to get creative with whatever it will hold, something good for sure (the kids suggested candy).  Meg, your work is just brilliant, I love it.  And I promise that my end of this deal is not a year away!!!

The kids also benefit from all this good mail (although Peter has yet to reap much...I should work on that).  We were paired up with Emily's family for Tracy's kids CD swap and the kids loved our package so much.  An audio CD of the My Father's Dragon series (one of our all time favorites), a CD of some great music (Ian's favorite new song is this one), homemade chocolate chip cookies (yum!), Moleskine journals for each of the kids with stickers.  Emma jumped right into composing a cartoon of bugs eating popsicles with her loot.   It's all being thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, such a thoughtfully prepared box.  Emily, yours is coming soon I promise! (shhh...don't tell Tracy how late we were).

I got some gorgeous felted knits from Heidi, (check our her etsy shop for some lovely felted goods).  Thank you guys all so much for your generosity!

Speaking of etsy, I've already started my Christmas shopping.  I have taken the pledge to either make handmade gifts, or purchase handmade gifts for the holidays this year.  The only exception I would make to this is books.  Because I do love to give and receive books.

 

more book talk, Amy Butler

I didn't get to post all the beautiful books I wanted to last week for Abby's theme, I ran out of time.  I think I will continue posting about books all through this week, there's just so many good ones out there right now.  And I do love to talk books, especially creative books, and that's what I'll post about.

I spent all weekend crushed out on Amy Butler.  I don't consider myself a die hard A. B. fan, and I casually picked up her newest book, Midwest Modern, the other day at the bookstore.  But wow!  It is a gorgeous book, filled with tons of inspiration from her home, which is beautifully represented throughout.  I initially resisted buying it mainly because of the price (it is a $35 dollar book).  But I will say you can be sure if the names Stewart, Tabori, and Chang are on the spine, there is most definitely a beautiful book in your hands.  I ended up going back and buying it a few days later because I couldn't get it out of my mind.  Books that make me happy simply by opening them are very hard to resist.

Yes, the pages are filled with her fabrics, but the photos show a playful and very effective use of mixing patterns, which I sometimes have a hard time doing.  She ties her inspiration back to nature, vintage fabric, etc.  We have all seen Amy Butler's fabric and goods, many will say to the point of over-saturation.  I know I felt that way.  But what I do admire about Amy Butler is the brand she has created around herself and how she markets herself, she clearly works hard and her aesthetic is consistent.  She has a clear vision and is able to communicate that to the public.  That kind of thing gets my attention.  I am fascinated by the process of making a marketable brand, and learn more about it every day working side by side with Peter.  She has recaptured my attention with her new book and her newest home decorating weight fabric line. This book is beautiful and inspiring, and I will look back through many times, I know. 

It just so happened that I was making a roman shade using an Amy Butler fabric for our master bathroom window over the weekend.  This was completely coincidental, but I'm sure there was some subliminal action of some kind going on in my brain.

Our master bath is all in quiet white and butter shades (by the former owners of the house...we have plans for this room that our bigger than our current budget).  Just a bit of color was needed in there somewhere, and when I saw this pattern, Grandifloral, I thought it was just the thing.  This shade is a pattern from this book, I know Yvonne made one from the same pattern, which turned out beautifully.  It was simple, straightforward, and I plan on using the pattern again.  The whole thing is velcro'ed on to a wooden batten so it can be pulled off and washed.  And that's a hemp strand tied up with bits of nature I got from Papa Stour hanging on the side.  Its amazing what a difference a small spot of pattern makes in this bathroom.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  We were graced with very good mail this weekend, more on that tomorrow.  Just a few other things...I am making more pendants (thank you for asking, I'm so glad you like them) and some other things.  The shop will be updated again soon.

Oh!  A few had asked to see a bigger view of the desk in Peter's office he made from a door, here it is.

the beauty of books

From Georgia O'Keeffe's In The West, for beautiful books week.  This book was given to me years ago by a dear friend (Tracey, are you out there??  I miss you!).  It is a large book, and never fits on any bookshelf.  We usually struggle to find a proper way to store it.  But the largeness makes the pages even more striking when I do pull it out and look through it.  The sheer size requires careful attention, and the paintings themselves take you from there.  O'Keeffe's love affair with the American Southwest is evident in every brush stroke and color.  The paintings have such an intensely quiet yet strong quality about them.  She depicted colors and shadows the way the unique desert sun showed them to her, and when I look at these paintings I feel it too. 

My friend Neece, a wonderful artist, has a similar beautiful soft style. 

And what about you, what do you consider your beautiful books?

I am talking a little about what I've hung up as my Fall inspiration over at Inspiration Boards blog today.  Thank you for interviewing me Lori!

warmth

(Emma fell asleep reading on a very dark afternoon and Gracie decided to join her.)

(on my lap)

If it was as cold, windy, and drizzly where you are as it was here this past weekend, you definitely need a Gracie.  She's much better than any "warm" I could whip up.  And, please, stop and take a look at that cute pinkish white belly-up in that top shot.  (Which has gotten a little plump lately, we had to curb her food supply a bit, she was feasting way too much.)

This kitty has added so much to our lives, I can't say it enough.  I hear laughter constantly from the kids and no one has time to whine about being bored, they are too busy playing with G.

Thanks so much for stopping by the shop yesterday, everything will ship out today or tomorrow.  I wish there was some way to set everything up on etsy to "go live" at whatever time I choose.  Is there?  The only thing I know to do is to keep opening up a new browser window, list an item, then open a new browser window for the next item, and so on.... then click finish on all of them at the designated time.  Is that the only way?  I need help from you etsy experts.  Anyway, there will be another update next week, I'll post details here.

~play~

This is one of the vintage fabric pendants I worked on this weekend (that's Emma's sweet little neck).  These will be in the shop today at 10:00 PST, as well as everything else I've been working on.

I had a great weekend.  Did you have a good weekend?  I hope so.  I was almost afraid to look at our calendar on Saturday, but I'm so glad I did.  We had no commitments!  "Can we play alllll day??", Ian asked.

Absolutely!

shop

For those hoping for birds (and possibly some other things), the next shop update is this Monday, Oct. 22, at 10:00 am pacific time.

Have a great weekend!

ian's *work*

I have waited a very long time to see such wonderful fine motor work from him, and now suddenly he's full of ideas and things he wants to build and draw. 

I want to savor every bit of it.

hand-me-down...and back up

Sweet Oilily hand-me-downs sent to Emma by Jenny, circa...what, Jen...like, 1991?

(and by the way you need to update your blog Jen).

I was pulling out the kid's fall/winter clothes the other day and it reminded me that nobody does the details like Oilily (those are actual teeny little curtain panels sewn onto the skirt of the dress in the second picture).  That center piece is a dress knitted of denim yarn from the UK company called Little Badger which is sadly no longer around, at least online.  Authors of my all-time favorite kids knit book.  It fit Emma as a dress when she was 4, now she wears it as a smock and it fits perfectly (she'll be 9 in a few weeks!)  My kids are smallish.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on my two years of blogging.  I was happy to see several new people delurking which is always fun.  I was amazed to realize I've written 477 posts!

Now, back to work.

boy version

Apparently there were some expectations from the youngest member of our household after Emma's was completed.  Meaning that I had to follow through with my plan to make two study quilts, even though there is a whole pile of other projects waiting and people who are looking for mail from me. 

He won out simply because he's the loudest.

Molly, you said it feels like I'm whipping these out, and I assure you I'm not.  But this one comes the closest to being whipped out.  (But really, Amy's lap quilt is just simple, straightforward, and do-able.)  The sewing could be better, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Most of the time spent on this was getting approval from Ian on the fabrics.  His requests were specific requests like, "I like that green, its really soft." (that would be the corduroy shirt I bought second hand) or "more of the frogs and only a little bit of the horses".  You know, important style points like that.  The back is a solid brown (to save piecing time and to use up what's in my stash).  Brown is Ian's favorite color, so that was easy.   

And here you have what it looks like when used as a turtle's shell.  I think he's pretty happy.

Other things:

- I rollerskated today, for the first time since middle school, and I did not fall!  It was like a time warp, the only thing missing was Hall & Oates on the jukebox.
- I learn a lot about what's going on in Emma's class/life/etc when I have a group of girls in my car.  This phenomenon is actually so fascinating to me that I find myself volunteering to fill up my car for trips to birthday parties, whatever.
- I'm thinking about holiday gifts.  Are you thinking about holiday gifts?  All I know is that, I'm starting now, before I lose my mojo.   

2 full years of blathering

Thank you for all the get well wishes.  It worked, I never did get a full-on cold.  These days, I'm learning that by just listening to my body and resting when it tells me to rest does a lot of good and most of the time its all I need.  Thankfully, I haven't been really sick in a very long time.  (I'm also a little superstitious, so now I'll need to go find some wood to knock on.)

I realize that today its been exactly two years since I made that first awkward and nervous blog post and sent it off into the internet world.  (Claire left the first comment.  It felt a craft celebrity autograph.)  Two years... There have been a ton of changes in this world of creative blogs since I first discovered them, blogs in general.  With the amazing speed and devotion we spread news and support each other, we are a powerful force.  There are new, wonderful blogs popping up literally every day, so many I can no longer even attempt to keep up with all of them.  Where I used to sit every morning with coffee and my favorite blogs, now I usually take some time one day a week or so and try to catch up as best I can, demands on my time are different these days.  There is so much to see, to inspire, to take in.  I love this blog world so.  Thank you for letting me be a part of it.  You guys truly brighten my day.

It felt like time to change up my sidebar inspiration and books.  Those lists could be a lot longer, they really could.  I am actually really crazy about Joelle's newest book right now, its gorgeous!

I am planning a restock of my shop very soon.  Other things going on in our life have put it on the back burner, but now I'm focusing on it in earnest.  I am well in the throes of getting the kinks worked out of this little patchwork project, which is one of my favorites.  It will go in the shop in multiples if I get it right, as well as birds, plus some other things.  Its really all about pillows and cushions for me right now, so that'll give you a hint as to where I'm headed.

In the meantime, thank you all for that you do, for being there, and for supporting me.  I hope to continue on for a long time to come.