wise craft

reading list for young girls

Thank you all so much for the reading suggestions. I knew you guys would be a good resource. For some reason, I was struggling to find books that felt right. But now I have a ton to read through and suggest to our girls. I think I will give a list of these and to the moms and daughters, since we won't get to all of them. Maybe group them by genre, something like that. That would help me, because I could spend all day in a bookstore, or on amazon, looking at what each book is about. Ten year old girls are still teetering in that little girl stage in my mind, so I don't want to throw on something too heavy too early. Here's the list (in no particular order)-

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (our group will be starting with this one)
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Are You There God, Its Me Margaret by Judy Blume
Frindle
Esperanza Rising
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
A Year Down Yonder
The Giver
Everything on A Waffle
City of Ember
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw
The Lightening Thief series
New Moon Magazine (love this Heather, thanks!)
Where the Red Fern Grows
A Wrinkle in Time
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Outsiders
The Sign of the Beaver
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Bridge to Terabithia
An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
Mr. Poppers Penguins
Tale of Desperaux
James and the Giant Peach
The Cricket in Times Square
My Side of the Mountain
Caddie Woodlawn
Harriet the Spy
Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes mysteries
Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes mysteries
Blue Balliet's Chasing Vermeer/Wright Three/Calder Game books
Tamora Pierce's books
Absolutely Normal Chaos
Walk two moons by Sharon Creech
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women
Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine
books by Deborah Ellis , Carol Matas or Kit Pearson
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Babyface and Silver (topics like abuse and divorce are delicately covered, so read before your daughter
does)
Homecoming by Cynthia Voight
Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voight
The Goose Girl series by Shannon Hale
Exiles by Hilary McKay
Girls in Love, Girls in Tears, Secrets, and Lola Rose by Jacqueline Wilson books (a British author, could
not see her mentioned on amazon)
Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
The Care and Keeping of You American Girl series (I, personally second this series, Emma has loved all
of these!)
Because of Winn Dixie
The Doll People        
Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
Me and the Blondes 
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 
Loser by Jerry Spinelli 
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimann
Betsy, Tacy and Tib books by Maude Hart Lovelace
The Mother Daughter Book Club
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of A Tree by Lauren Tarshis
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Just as Long as We're Together by Judy Blume
Number The Stars by Lois Lowry
Blubber by Judy Blume
The Wanderer by Sharon Creech
Searching for Redbird by Sharon Creech
Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
The Daring Book for Girls
The Emily of New Moon trilogy by LM Montgomery
Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner

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I received some emails asking for more information about our mother/daughter group, so I thought I'd include it in this post in case others have questions too. I am very fortunate to be very close to the moms whose daughters are in Emma's 4th grade class. Most of the girls have been in class together since Kindergarten, and, in my opinion, have been exceptional as far as kindness and consideration towards each other. The social problems among them have been few and are usually handled easily, these are very easy-going girls. A few of us invited the moms in our class to create this discussion group with us. It would be a place to begin to talk about some of the many changes that will begin to take place (or has already begun to take place) in their lives...puberty... boys...social conflicts...body image...etc. One of our moms is also a teacher, one who is well respected within our community for her sensitivity and knowledge of social emotional lives of young children, and she graciously agreed to be our group's facilitator. A group like this needs a facilitator. I cannot stress the importance of her role enough; she prepares what we will discuss and do at the meeting beforehand, keeps the flow of activity going, ever so gently pushes us all to try new things, and helps us establish our group "norms" or rules, which are:

1. Come in with an open mind.

2. What is discussed in the group stays in the group.

3. Challenge yourself (and I'm not wording that one right, but the idea is to try new things.)

We also ask that no siblings attend, that food or snacks happen at the beginning and then is put away (before we made this rule, food was a huge distraction for the girls during the meeting). We give the girls 15 minutes at the beginning and end of each meeting to run around, play, and catch up. The actual meeting itself is 1 hour, so an hour and a half total. That is the limit of the girl's willingness to focus and keep in the discussion, at times we've even ended early for lack of focus. It should be casual and fun, but an active discussion, and we try to be sensitive to what is working.

My role is to simply schedule the meetings, which happen monthly and rotate at each family's home.

We have been meeting now for a year. Some of the girls simply don't like it and don't want to come (a few have dropped out). Some of them love it and wish we had more meetings (that would be Emma's perspective). We try to be sensitive to what works and doesn't work, evaluate when we can with a moms-only meeting. We spent the first 6 meetings or so doing a variety of activities that helped us see our likenesses, or to learn new things about each other ("I didn't know you did bird calls!?"), after that we slowly worked our way into topics such as "What does mean feel like?" and "What does a confident girl look like?", which is really just touching the surface of what our group will eventually cover. These meetings are not to finger point at anyone (I don't know why anyone would come if that were the case.) Book discussions work really well for these girls right now. We've had a guest author come and talk with the girls about her book, and girls who never spoke up were suddenly full of questions. A few of the girls told us that they feel most comfortable discussing while doing something (suggested maybe an art project, cooking, etc), less eye contact made them feel more at ease, so we're going to try some new things. That's why we've decided to stick with books for a more casual summer meetings, with a little emotional, social aspect in there for us to discuss.

But, to be clear, this is not a book group, but more of a friendship group. Our hope and our goal is to spend quality time with our girls on a Sunday afternoon, once a month, to gain insight into everyone's feelings on the topics we discuss. I'm always surprised by Emma's comments in these meetings, pleasantly so. I was an incredibly shy kid (so was Peter), my hope is for her to find her voice, to believe that she matters, regardless of what icky social things that may come up in the future (which they will, I believe that's how we learn and grow at that age). I love spending this time with her and the other moms and daughters. I highly recommend it to any group of women and daughters who feel they could gain anything from a group like this. It does not have to be highly structured, or really be anything more than a meeting to be together. I am not an expert, I only speak from my small example. I stumble constantly as a parent, and it makes me feel good to know Emma has this support system of strong, confident moms in her life.

bedroom redo 09

Thank you all so much for your girl reading list recommendations! I am compiling a list of all of them and will post it soon.

(gnome lamp from Urban Outfitters, a clay dish made by Emma, felted rocks, me)

Things have changed enough around our bedroom since the last time I showed pictures, I thought I'd update with some new photos. I know I really love seeing other's homes who embrace the DIY spirit as we do here at my house. What started out as our complete lack of decorating budget has really become a way of life for Peter and I. Home is sanctuary for us, it needs it to feel calming, inviting, and special, because we spend plenty of time living and working here. These days, we are trying to embrace the "if you don't love it,  why keep it/buy it" and its making us look at things in a very different way. So, with all that, here are some pictures of our newly freshened bedroom. Done on a shoestring. Less than a shoestring. Little did I know when I tore out and tucked away this inspiration photo from Elle Decoration UK February 2007, that it would in fact become inspiration for our bedroom.

Hi!

We started with a fresh coat of paint, Benjamin Moore's "Paperwhite". (Because of our consulting business, we own a bazillion Ben Moore color fans, which is good and bad when you're trying to find that one perfect shade). See the beige in the before shots here and here. Peter was skeptical he would like it, but now I think he does as much as I do. Its calming, definitely cool casted, but that works in this room with its southern facing windows. The mirror above the bed used to be black, but I gave it a coat of high gloss gray/blue to compliment the walls (I also painted the side table by the chair the same color, top photo). Our "curtains" are actually bed coverlets from Urban Outfitters. I love love love using their coverlets for curtains, they have big beautiful patterns. (Just be sure to prewash before you hem and hang, they shrink quite a bit). Wait for them to go on sale, these were $30 each.

The bed quilt, as many long time readers may already know, is my pride and joy. The pattern is What a Bunch of Squares from Denyse Schmidt's book (favorite sewing book of all time by the way) and I love it every bit as much as the day my tired little fingers finished hand quilting it. We only use it in Spring and Summer, its just not heavy enough unfortunately (which I sometimes think is a good excuse to make a heavier one, but then a slap myself back to reality). Our Fall/Winter duvet cover is a simple yellow ticking, so it will work well. The wall art is from 3191, and you can see even from this perspective how the top two are from 3191 Mornings and the bottom two are from 3191 evenings, just because of the natural light in the photographs, which I really love. And on the top, is one of Steph's branches.

Our bedside tables are small (we've had them for ages, I don't remember where we got them), so random bits end up on my windowsill. A photo of Peter rowing in college, a photo of a heart shaped rock Ian found at a local beach, and a coupon book from the kid's (a mother's day gift).

I think our style is a combination of so many different things...traditional, modern, funny (is that a style?), serious, preppy, you name it, its a lot of the 'can-do' with a little bit of the 'that's the way its was done when I was growing up'. Peter and I don't have our best decorating collaborations when we try to stick to just one period style, we are better pulling from everywhere to form an inspired thought, and we always like it better in the end.

 

The other side of the room is storage and seating. When we were shopping for a house back when we bought this one 7 years ago, one important criteria was that the master bedroom was actually sized as a master bedroom (in the last house we lived in, our bedroom was so tiny that you had to turn sideways to squeeze between the bed and the dresser). That chair is really comfy and well made, and has been with us for years (from the High Point, NC Furniture Market). I'm gathering the courage to slipcover it, I actually think I can do it.  I am thinking this fabric in the wheat color.  The yellow wool blanket I've shown before it's a family favorite (Peter still swears its the best thrift store purchase I ever made). We do have a tv in our room (left side of photo), you found us out. While we are very picky about what and when the kids watch, Peter and I love nothing better than settling in with good (or bad) TV or a movie. It sits on a mid century dresser we bought on Craigslist a while ago for a steal.

 

An orchid from a friend that I swear is going to bloom again one day. The tiny owls, gifts from friends.

 

Butterflies. The tray on the bottom is from Mexico, from my mom, the ones on top are from Anthropologie several years ago.

Pillows in the chair. The quilted one was made by Daria (as is the orange one on the bed), I love it so much. The one behind I made right after we painted the room. A recycled velvet pillow cover in a steely blue from Crate and Barrel, felted sweaters of yellow, blue, and gray cut into the flower shapes and appliqued on, a project from Betz's book Sewing Green. Again, nothing makes me happier than using up my stash on things like this.

  

The embroidered pillow was made as a Valentine gift for Peter a few years ago, inspired by a project in Marie Claire Idees magazine.

 

A fabric wrapped horseshoe on the door. For luck. An idea I've had in my head for ages. I have plans to make some more of these.

The flickr set has a few more pictures.

That's basically it. My father-in-law once remarked to me that he liked things around the house that tell a story, and has meaning. I've never forgotten that, especially when we are putting things around our space that we will see every day. Things that don't have some meaning often just feel like stuff. We found when we culled down and cleared out this room, then started putting things back in, being selective made each little thing just sing. Oh! And the reason none of the knick knacks or collections are Peter's is that if he had his way, there would be nothing in this room that wasn't absolutely necessary. But as his wife, I don't think he would be happy with that in the end.

We've somehow met in the middle, which is the way we work best.

buckets and buckets, and a question for you

I've wanted a whole family of MayaMade buckets for the longest time. They are so lovingly designed (repurposing old coffee bags into useful things like this is genious), Maya has a keen attention to detail and a great aesthetic. When she made her bucket pattern available as a pdf pattern, I clicked as fast as I could and tore through the house, looking for that coffee bag I had somewhere, but, alas, it has vanished. I do have home dec weight fabric though, and that works for these buckets too. So, I spent today with kids seemingly happy and content just staying and hanging around the house, and sewed up a few of Maya's buckets. OK, five. The pattern is flawless, I know its been tested many times and it shows.

These all were made from fabric I had here at home (some left over Denyse Schmidt and Lotta Jansdotter linen-from one of her scrap bags), and believe it or not, I also had the heavy natural canvas needed for the inside (which gives these buckets nice body to stand up tall). The two yellow larger ones will go in our family room (which could use a dozen more, really), the smaller ones in my sewing room, and the last large one on our stairs, so things that need to go up will go in there...and mom won't break her leg stepping on things.

Which leads me to a question for you all out there with 10 year old'ish daughters. Emma and I are part of a mother/daughter group that meets once a month or so. Our goal is simple...to spend time together, with moms and daughters we love, and find ways to talk about social and emotional issues that are coming up in these girls' lives, as they begin puberty and all that goes with that. Our summer meeting schedule is loose, but we will have two meetings, and we are doing a book discussion format for these summer meetings. Having a book discussion has been very successful for these girls, it keeps the focus off any one real life situation (which can feel uncomfortable at this age) and places the emphasis on the characters we've all read about.

For the first one, we've chosen The Hundred Dresses.  We (the facilitator and myself) are in summer mode, and not ready to discuss many of the books out there for this age group, like Are You There God Its Me Margaret (which I'm rereading right now), but we really want there to be an appropriate amount of discussion of emotional development. We are also trying to be sensitive that these girls have required summer reading to do for next year, so we want to keep it manageable. I would love and welcome suggestions from you guys on anything you think would fit into what we are looking for. I will compile a list and share it here. Thank you!

i do like a big flower

I made a bag. (I made some other stuff too, just need to snap a picture of them.) I had some of Anna Maria's lovely Drawing Room fabric that I bought in Portland and I wanted to make a bag from it, but was feeling zero inspiration the other night until I stumbled onto Ali Foster's pleated bag pattern (she's got a special running on 3 pdf patterns for $9.50, a great deal. I think I'm going to make myself the laptop case next ). It came together quickly, in one evening, which is about all I can allow for personal sewing right now. Plus it satisfied my need for something colorful to carry around this summer. Do you do that? I bet a lot of you feel the same way I do in the summer. Give me a navy blue T-shirt, white jeans, and my leather sandals all day any day, but I feel much happier when I can fling some happy color over my shoulder.

Emma has been getting up each morning and printing out a toy from A Toy A Day to cut out, fold, and glue together. She's amassing quite a collection, and it occurs to me we've really moved to a whole new level of ability at her age. The fine motor skills are sharp and capable, these little cuts and joints are absolutely no problem at all for her little hands. Which reminds me, I have noticed some great summer lists for kids cropping up all over, I think having one from me seems redundant at this point. I was looking at Let's Explore this morning and felt properly inspired in all sorts of new ways. I think I will print out some stationery from their blog post about letter writing and tuck it into Emma's camp bag (her first sleepover camp is less than 2 weeks away). I'm nervous. She's not. I am.

I wanted to let the Seattle readers know that my friend Cheryl Kuczek is teaching kids sewing classes all summer around the Seattle area. Emma took a class from her last year, made some great friends with the other kids in the class, and came out of it a very confident little sewer and had a great time learning from Cheryl. (And I don't want to set expectations too high, but there were baked goods included in Emma's class.  I'm just sayin...) From Cheryl-

Cheryl Kuczek of Paradiso Designs is pleased to announce her dates for Summer Sew Camp this year.  All kids boys and girls are welcome ages 7-17.  Projects are tailored for kids and designed by Cheryl.  Camp price includes project materials and a healthy snack each day!!!  Each 4 day weekly session is $145.00.  Please email paradisodesigns@comcast.net for more information.  Let’s Sew Rama for Kids!!!  Credit and Debit cards are welcome!

Email Cheryl directly to get the complete class schedule and all the details.

Summer is good so far, just what it should be, nothing more or less. Hope yours is too. All we need is some more new music, and that's just a week away.

Thanks for reading my randomness today!

the view from my coffee cup

 

Peter painted our bedroom on Saturday. Even on Father's Day weekend, the man just does. not. stop. He didn't even balk at the color I chose, Benjamin Moore "Paperwhite". Which in his opinion, completely lacks color. In Peter's big wide world of color at the wise craft house, his choice would have been something more saturated.

Early Saturday, as I lazed around, waxing poetic, clutching my morning coffee, saying things like "maybe I'll put a really subtle stencil over the new paint only on that wall, that could be cool", and "do you think we should leave the artwork in the same place it is now?" and "we should really clean that while its down", I took one sip of my coffee and turned around and I swear the man had already rolled the first wall and was onto the second. When this man has a job to do, this man moves. The walls were double coated and drying by the end of the day Saturday, and now, Sunday night, I'm sitting in bed, and the room is mostly put back together. If this had been up to me I would still be painting.

I finally framed my 3191 prints. I love these so much, they are a beautiful study of the way natural light changes from Spring mornings to Winter mornings, and the same with the evenings. I will give you a full tour of the room soon. I'm thinking it needs a touch of green somewhere, sort of the milky green in these prints. I am so incredibly happy to see the beige walls go away (here's how they looked the last time we spruced up in here, May 2006). We had looked at that color for 7 years, and this color is already way more interesting throughout the day. But honestly, in this room, its got to be a color that is nice in the evening above all else, right? We're not in here much during the day.

Because of all the events of the weekend, I'm not quite as ready for a shop update today as I'd like to have been. Give me a few days to pull together all the items I want to list, I'll keep you updated.

Hope everyone's weekend was good. Type to you soon.

a few summer rules

Hello first week of summer vacation. Let's see, so far we have made our own bubble mix and bubble wands, made our father's day gifts and cards, been to a concert, had very long (but fun) playdates, grilled out, played games, been to Portland, we've been to the water, limitless kid crafting, had some really fun music in heavy rotation, made cookies, painted wooden articulated lizards, filled up our Ipods and listened to them, and watched a couple movies.

Keep in mind we are wrapping up our first week. I am completely exhausted.

Summers are quite an event on their own around here. "Oh, how great that now they can sleep in", I am told. Great! Only, my kids are up at dawn. And I forgot that kids eat all day when they are hanging out at home. All day. They graze. They nibble. They snack. "Drink all your milk before you get down from the table please", thinking this will keep them sated, but it never does. I love that I control all this food, and can offer them some healthy choices, but I never seem to get out of the kitchen.

As a result of all of this, I have temporarily set aside my goal to post a summer list of activities. I am instead focusing on a summer rule list. Now, before you out there think I'm a little militant (what? rules for summer!?), here me out. My work still continues through the summer months, maybe not at full capacity, but its here and there's no one else to do it. And as much as I like to think I can multi-task with the best of them, I can't work and fetch food (...and lost shoes...and balls that get stuck in trees) all at the same time. I explained to Peter the other day that the hard part is that everybody thinks that what they need is way more important than what I'm doing at that moment, no matter what it is. Everyone else's loose ends are to be my priority. I don't fault anyone for that (I mean, its really nice to be needed so much, it is!), but its very hard for me to stay focused. My kids are 10 and going on 8, so they are older and not sticking their fingers into electrical sockets, but there still plenty of need there, but more of the "I'm bored, let's bake a cake" variety. If I can't drop and run to be with them at that moment, I feel guilty. I do.

And you see, without realizing it, our kids are brought up and dare I say, enjoy even, a little predictability in their lives. When I realized this, im a small attempt to keep things moving and positive, I made a poster and put it in the hallway upstairs. Just a few simple rules. Know what? Its working. We have blocks of time and activities that everyone is on board with. Here's our list-

*No TV or screen time during the week days. (As a kid, on Saturday mornings, I got up, made my own breakfast, and watched cartoons, and in that tradition, they do the same.)

*Everyone must be outside at least 1 hr a day (I've started following this as an example to the kids and its doing me as much good as the kids.)

*1 practice worksheet every day. (Emma does a math one, Ian does one to practice his handwriting. I bought a couple of skill builder books on amazon, but you could also pull some off the internet with a thorough search). Their teachers recommended these and so far, a success. We sit together at the kitchen table, spend 15 minutes working on these, then we're done. Ian's handwriting is already showing signs of improvement, I wish I'd done this sooner.

*On weekday mornings we are dressed by 9:00 am (considering how early my kids get up, this works really well and feels mentally more motivating if we want to leave the house.)

*When mom is working, wait till she's done (unless there is bloodshed). I ask for a couple of hours (or what is realistic) from the family every day, so I can catch my breath on the work stuff or correspondence (I set the timer). From there, I'm theirs, so to speak. Any work I do the rest of the is random, it'll be mostly life stuff...laundry, food, making that cake with the kids, etc.

*Ask yourself if you could do it all by yourself first. (This would apply to things like getting a glass of milk, cheese and crackers, a bandaid, a book from the basement, things like that.)

So that's our list for now. I'm reminded again that my kids are so visual in their learning, having these things written, and not just spoken, makes a huge difference.

Success here during the summer months is very dependent on my attitude, if I'm positive, everybody stays positive for the most part.

tuesday's portland

Had a perfect day in Portland yesterday. Perfect.

I ate my way through the city...

using fabric stores as important landmarks...which makes total sense, right?...

and beautiful terrariums. (Had a dream about that giant terrarium last night.)

I left Seattle Tuesday morning and had three hours in the car with this incredible person, all to myself. Yes, she is as fun and interesting to talk to in person as you would imagine her to be. We arrived in Portland, promptly parked and made ourselves at home at Melissa's (which is always my first stop in Portland, I recommend it to everyone, there's always good coffee and warm welcomes there, it feels like home), then we three toured the town, before meeting up with some of my favorite people*. Portland trips fill me with nothing but good. There is no "getting to know you", its chat, catch up, filled with the "but wait, you already know about that" 's.

 

Our warm sunny weather seems to have temporarily left our fair city. Tonight the I'm taking the kids to the zoo to see The B-52's, where we will dance and be silly, come rain or shine.

Summer is most excellent so far.

*A blanket apology to these ladies for my continuous goofy smile and blabbering on so. It really wasn't the wine. I tend to do that when I get to Portland.

Oh who am I kidding? I do that everywhere.

new version

Could there be more flowers splashed over spring and summer clothes this year?

This is a newer, more modern version of my fabric flower pattern. I made it after seeing the ginormous one in June's J. Crew catalog. (We can't let them have all the fun.) This version is big, fluffy, springy, summery, and romantic, done in a fabric that has interesting contrast  on both sides (a little shimmery on one side, more matte on the other) and that really billows. I need to pin this onto my favorite cardigan, to wear when the evenings get chilly, because really, how can I not have fun wearing this?

When I start making these it's really impossible to stop at only one, so I am planning to put a few in the shop, which I will update next Monday, June 22. I can't promise what will be in there, but there will be an assortment of things.

finally, summer

Excuse the mess while we exhale. School is out!

teacher gifts

Thanks so much for all the kind words on the checker set. If you're thinking of making one, go for it  and include the kids on the felted rock making, they will love it, super easy. Be sure and check back in the comment section of that post, I answered some general questions that came up and linked to a tutorial on making the rocks.

OK, the school year is nearing its end. T minus 2 days and counting. Some teacher gifts were in order. I thought a stack of fabric covered moleskines would be a nice goodbye gift, what do you teachers out there think? Aren't things better in stacks?

Betz mentioned that the kraft brown covers of her moleskines showed through on the ones she tried, so I played around with some different light-grounded fabrics. Light ground fabric does seem to give mixed results, so maker be warned. I would say quality of fabric definitely makes a difference in these, meaning if you use a thinner, quilting weight fabric with a primarily white background, there may be some show through from behind it. And you may not consider it a problem if its uniform in appearance. But you may consider using a home dec weight fabric, or just go with a darker ground instead.

For those of you who are interested in these, but who don't want to make them yourself, I will be putting some in my etsy shop, along with some other things I'm working on, very soon (let me get through this super busy last week of school). I'll let you know when.

The kids will write a thank you note on the front page of one of them after school today, and I'll tie up a set of 3 (the one with the note on top). Its such a small gesture for teachers who have been so good to my kids this year. They are amazing.

If anyone local hears screams of delight on Friday afternoon, that will be my kids. Do you remember the feeling of that last day of school? I do. I think cupcakes will be in order...or maybe ice cream. Having to make a decision like that will keep my kids quiet and reflective for at least a minute. Then it will be back to happy screaming.

One more thing, I had to link to friend and illustrator Ed Fotheringham's fantastic interview over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. He and Peter are probably trading emails downstairs right now about bike frames, cause they are both equally as nutty about cycing.