Wise Craft

appreciation for the little things

Well, I disappeared from this space last week unexpectedly. I am not surprised. Picture me, making a *lot* of lists, then making another list to prioritize the lists I made. As I sit down at my computer to type this post this morning, I am thankful for the peaceful feeling in the house right now. Because I know that soon enough we will, yet again, hit the ground running later today. One of the big issues on our minds right now is figuring out where Emma will go to middle school. Middle school... Next year... Oh my god... Its coming fast and we're trying to think through our options rationally and realistically. Its taking a lot of my mental energy. Because that's what moms do, devote a lot of mental energy to things like that. At the same time I am spending time with Emma, the fifth grader, cause she's pretty great. We go shopping for cool headbands and cute shoes. We paint our nails. We talk about boys (sometimes, when I can stand it). I cherish little moments like this with her.

And work. I really like my new job. It feels good on many levels. Many have asked for me to give more details. There are lots of proprietary things I don't feel comfortable sharing, but I can certainly talk to the idea of how me working out of the house for the first time in nearly 12 years is affecting myself and our family, because a lot of us struggle with that. The office I work in is a small one, with a lot of good energy every day when I walk in. Its super important for me to feel I'm making a difference in what I do, and to feel good about work. We get things done there, which also feels great. Sort of like I would imagine going back to school might feel to me, the unexpected appreciation for little things that happen there are exciting. I will admit that there are days here and there when me working makes our family life a little more harried, but Peter and I are learning to work together on things like this, and that also is very good. (And I am learning to love my slow cooker, which really requires its own post, "ode to my slow cooker"...) Like the other day when I felt I needed to work a little later and get a package out the door to one of our factories. Peter jumped in, changed gears, and picked the kids up from school. Just like that. Now, of course, me being mom, and knowing things like that don't happen often (if ever) but may happen more, I was curious about what the kids were thinking. I asked Ian "Did you wonder where I was, and were you surprised to see Dad after school?", to which he, very matter of factly, replied "Well, I just said to myself, 'Mom must have had something extra to do at work, that is why Dad is here'." It may sound silly, but I guess I love that he got it and that he was not worried. Emma, being 11 in a few weeks, is of course very excited and intrigued by the fact that I work for a clothing designer, and she often says "your job sounds fun". Ian, being 8, is very intrigued by my descriptions of the sweet dog that hangs out in our warehouse with his owner and greets me at the door and sits on my lap.

I feel like our house has entered a new phase. Each of us is realizing a new role within the family. There will be bumps, big and little. But it feels like we are gaining new appreciation for what each of us contribute to the whole.

Now on to those list(s). Halloween costume to be finished, a new project for Value Village stores that I'm excited about. And, um, cleaning the house. That probably should move up a little higher on the list.

fallish

Tuesday felt like fall. Drizzly...cool...overcast... Oh, Fall! I'm ready. Its my favorite time of year. There is so much going on around here, yet somehow the thought of having a new routine to get us on a formal track is not coming a minute too soon.

I was looking at my closet today and thinking I really need to clean it out. Well, I did clean it out, actually. I got rid of a ton of stuff, but now I need to organize it. Yes, the sweaters are folded, but nothing else is. Good intentions, but organizing closets is not at the top of my list, so I'm always happy when I look in there and see things like those little sacks of dried lavender I put between the sweaters back in the Spring (like the one sitting on the green sweater, far left). See? I have good intentions. Those fabric boxes have been so great to keep my overabundance of scarves and bandanas organized. The one on the far left was made by Dacia, and the other two were made by Melissa, who will also be teaching a class at Portland's Bolt on how to make them. I wish I could take it. Its so fun to sit and sew with a group of women.

So, there you have it. Why I craft. And why I blog. I look in my closet and, upon closer inspection, don't see a mess at all, I see pretty fabric boxes made by friends, with scarves from friends hanging out of them.

And the new header. Hexagons! Everyone is doing them. I did these when I was in North Caroling visiting family this summer, when I was sitting and chatting with my mom in the evening. I have no idea what I'll be doing with them. Mom and I decided I could make a quilt with them if I make a few thousand more of them.

Well then, I should get busy.

back to school

We are in back-to-school mode here, so I (reluctantly) need to take a break from the lovely, oblivious patchwork world I was happily living in. I am cleaning out rooms and closets, clearing out clothes that no longer fit, finally putting away or recycling all the paper brought home from last school year. Its not a task I look forward to, but powering through it makes us all happier in the end. We were only given a short list of required supplies by the kid's school, so I will supplement with lots of cool pencils, erasers, and things like that. Because the geek in me loves buying school supplies!

 

(photo from Graze Organic)

*I love these snack bags (isn't the "surprise one fun?). I'm really trying to make the kid's lunches full of less waste, which will mean sewing up more cloth napkins so we have plenty on hand. I'm also making some of Betz's sandwich wraps. Knowing my kids will not carry any fabric snack bag made with prints that they deem "too silly" or "not cool", my choices will be extremely key in all this reusable stuff (and having plenty on hand, because the laundry can never seem to keep up).

 

(Photo from Camp Creek)

*This wonderful writing nook is good inspiration for me to keep on cleaning and clearing. Emma is entering the 5th grade, a year of big preparation for middle school. Good study habits learned now will be key for her, and to have a place where she can peacefully study and perhaps feel inspired will help her focus.

I will be making some things here and there, as time allows, to supplement our back to school shopping. I'm really interested in making a lap desk for each of the kids. After tackling the beanbag, this sort of project seems completely doable to me. I also want to finally make the kids some bed pockets for their beds. I did a completely botched version of this once, deep in the recesses of this blog you will find it. Bleh. Ian's bed is a loft bed, so no bedside table and this would be good for him to put his books in. I have some cute book lights stashed away that I will stick in the bed pockets as a surprise. Aaaaaand, we'll be redoing our morning routine rules again this year. This is good, and so simple, visuals are everything to most kids, and it works to keep my kids on track. Plus, our school days start 15 minutes earlier this year, so staying on track in the morning is more important than ever. 

Alas, I must get back to the cleaning out part. What are you guys doing to get ready for back to school?

the valley of the lillies

Our neighbor left a bouquet of lillies on our front porch, picked from her beautiful garden. I decided to put them in separate vases on our mantle. Their wonderful smell fills the entire downstairs (I didn't know lillies could smell like that!). Several of you have asked about that mirror before. I thrifted it, then painted it, for Peter for Christmas the first year we were dating. So...16 years ago. I went a little nuts on the faux finishing (what? it was big then), but we still like it even now. The vases are a mixture of new Jonathan Adlers (the second from the left is an J. Adler toothbrush holder) and ones I've picked up thrifting.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments about the quilt (and about Ian's birthday) you've left me! Brightens my day as much as these flowers.

eight

Well, I didn't mean to just take off like that without a word, sorry for being rude. Seems like time just got away from me before we left for our annual summer trip to NC. In a way I'm glad, because you continued to leave some great cleaning suggestions on that last post. I have read through them all and plan to do adapt several of the suggestions. I'm excited to clean! (Well, okay, a wee bit excited.)

We got back home last night (and Seattle, thank you for resuming your normal 65 degree summer nights just in time for my return). Today, we have been celebrating Ian's 8th birthday, which involves nibbling on his favorite birthday cake (Chicken's gingerbread cake has been his official birthday cake every year for 3 years now) and stepping over the new giant Lego sets that he has been gifted. I can't believe he's 8. I've been thinking so much about his life today . Went digging through our old photo boxes to pull out some pics (and became very annoyed at the fact that everything after a certain point in our lives is only digital.)  I keep saying to myself that we are beyond lucky to parent this kid. Beyond. He is absolutely, unapologetically Ian in every way (and those that know him know what I mean), and I am often told by friends that he seems to be so completely okay and content with life in general. You can only imagine how that makes me, as a mother, feel, I so hope its in fact true. In Ian's world, you can be loud, play Legos, play with friends (girls or boys, doesn't matter), read graphic novels, and eat often. He is a homebody like his dad and me, but he also enjoys the occasional new and different (with a little coaxing from his sister).  He thinks his sister "hangs the moon" (to quote the south) and actually looked depressed when she went away to camp this summer. He constantly reminds me that most things which seem problematic at first glance really aren't ("mom, don't worry, we'll find your keys"- and then, of course, we do)... that sometimes it really is just better to be by yourself for a little while... that sleeping in when you can is good...and that everything is better with a chocolate chip cookie. Happy birthday Ian, how lucky we are.

Okay, I'm back in life, so I'll be back here in this space with regularity again.

the art of cleaning

Today, as I was doing my almost weekly deep cleaning around the house, I started thinking about the whole business of keeping a home clean. Actually, this started last week, when my sister-in-law Jen and I were talking about housecleaning. She and I both share a love of the book Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson. Cheryl goes a little overboard in her housekeeping details, but the depth is not lost on me. I have learned so much from this book that I actually keep it in my kitchen, with my cookbooks. If I ever want to know the proper way to clean something, Cheryl has the answer. Anyway, I have stumbled through the whole subject of housekeeping my whole adult life. It wasn't something I was brought up doing a lot of, I was a horribly messy college roommate (sorry girls!), and as a young adult with a demanding job...well, we hired a cleaning person to do it.

But these days, its entirely up to us, and mainly to me, to keep our house is clean, working order. This is not a bad thing at all. I've taught myself a lot and learned a great deal from the women in my life who have done it much longer than I have. I've taken little bits from here, a good tip or two from there, combined it with instinct, and made a simple system that seems to work for our family. I thought it would be fun to start a discussion about what works for each of us.

A short list of what works for us-

*A quick 10 minute tidy at some point of the day, usually in the evening. Things get put back in their place, pillows are fluffed, the dishwasher is usually turned on, maybe a quick kitchen sweep. I keep one of the buckets I made at the bottom of the stairs now and its been a huge help.

*White towels. I wash them with detergent and Borax (I LOVE Borax), and add bluing to the final rinse and they come out great. If they are ever in need of more than that they spend a day in the sun. I love white towels as much as I love white dishes.

*I change the pillowcases a couple of times a week, and air out our pillows in the sun on occasion. The sun has its own unique way of cleaning.

*I love any housecleaning project that smells good. There was a time I bought Caldrea products, but I think I cleaned less simply because I didn't want to run out of what I had. Its too pricey for me. Now I am thankful for less expensive products like Mrs. Meyers (their Basil scent is my favorite), Method's almond scented wood floor cleaner (would drink it with dinner if I could, heavenly), and essential oils that I add to homemade cleaners (my current favorites are citus scents like grapefruit and orange, and tea tree oil, which has antibacterial properties). I make up a white vinegar/water solution with a couple of drops of essential oil in it and let the kids use it to clean their bathroom, a small bottle of essential oil lasts a very long time.

*We are lucky to have a great place for bulk lavender and essential oils, etc in town, Zenith Supplies. I've mentioned them before, if you live locally and have never been there, you should really go. I buy a bag of lavender, which I tie handfuls of in cheesecloth drawstring bags (used for herbs) and put them in our closet, between our sweaters, for moth control (you can also use cedar shavings sold for pet bedding and mix it with the lavender). I also buy these hunks of solid amber for about $6 that a break up into smaller hunks, put in a small bowl, in an out of the way place, and it gives off this absolutely incredible faint scent that lasts for a long time and fills the space. I think the scent part of homekeeping is really important to me. When I like it, and things around me are clean, my mood is immediately lightened.

*I'm not always dependable when it comes to regular mopping, but I do vacuum our floors regularly, and think this is especially important for our tile and wood floors. We are a mostly no-shoe household, and I've read this keeps lots of toxins off your floors and in general keeps your house cleaner. (We picked up this habit when we moved to Seattle, and its stuck. Its the first thing the kids do when they walk in the door).

*One day a week (usually Sunday these days), we all chip in and clean. The kids clean their rooms ("Dad clean" is our Sunday standard for them, meaning Dad will be inspecting), sheets are changed, laundry is put away, a little attention is paid to every room. Today, as I scrubbed the downstairs bathroom, Emma swept the front porch, and Ian was on Lego maintenance (because, as I have told him, there is nothing worse than coming in to say goodnight and stepping on a Lego- ouch!). Peter was trying to do some maintenance on the dishwasher. We do not spend all day doing this, I like to use the term "blitz through". But it gets done.

I would love to hear what works for you guys.

zapped

I made some progress on Ian's marquee quilt. I'm liking the selection of fabrics I finally settled on (with a little help from a surprise package from Erin back when I started). Very gender neutral is what I was hoping for. He's just feeling too old these days for hedgehogs and robots (which, at the ripe old age of almost 8, is sad, but true). This all feels more in line with what I had in mind. All those 12" x 40" strips will soon be sliced perpendicular, into smaller strips, which will then be pieced into new strips, or, um, something like that, oh, actually, I don't quite remember...its so hot around here I can't think straight. 90's all week (no air conditioning). And anything involving quilt assembly and a steam iron is the absolute last thing I will be able to do. I took this photo just before we shut the house up, vault style, closing shades and blinds, and hanging sheets over windows with no covering. We're like a bunch of vampires, running from the sun. Its dreadful. 

Our niece Kate is visiting us for the week, so we've been showing her the sites around Seattle.

Today, we're going to show her how we run through a sprinkler.

(I'm closing the comments to this post, trying to stay off the computer a little this week. Thanks for stopping by!)

just enough...

patchwork...

tour...

sunshine...

picnics at the beach with friends...

board games...

I really can't believe our summer is halfway over, but that seems to be the case. In many ways, this has been our best in a long time, but for simple reasons. The kids are able to find what it is that they enjoy (reading...drawing...journalling...building tracks for cars...Legos) and have no need the structure that the rest of their lives provide. I offer up opportunities to do art projects or present activities. Sometimes they are all for it. Other times, they just say "no thanks mom, I'm going to keep doing this" and continue playing. So, we eat peaches that make embarrassing messes of our hands and faces, we walk to get ice cream, we fill our shoes with sand that we pour out at the end of the day, we read chapter upon chapter of a new favorite book.

So, please excuse the laisez faire-ness. Our summer is both full and empty.

Just enough, it seems.

I hope yours is.

bits of our wednesday

Today is first quiet day we've had in a while. I took the kids with me for a quick visit to our accountant's office, which meant a stop on the way home at the really large Goodwill nearby. My kids zero'd in on an electronic Battleship game, then found a treasure trove of 79 cent paperback books. I, myself was browsing through the other shelves and hit the jackpot on a back wall.

 

I have been looking for a full set of The Family Creative Workshop forever, and it seems my patience has finally paid off. For those of you who haven't discovered these, published in the 70's each volume (I believe there are 23 or 24) is full of craft ideas, covering everything from glassblowing to wire sculpture to quilting to macrame (of course) for kids and adults. I am going to have so much fun looking through these. I talked the manager into letting me have them for $1.99 each (usually $2.99 each). I actually didn't bring home every one of the volumes in the set (because, as an example, although I craft a lot, I don't plan on glassblowing any time soon). Only problem is they smell pretty bad, I don't think they have been opened and aired since the 70's! Does anyone have tips on getting rid of that musty book smell?

 

On a less-smelly subject, yesterday I got the assortment of sunny yellows and orange fabrics I ordered from Pink Chalk Fabrics. Its been a while since I bought a lot of fabric (other than the owls) and when I did the patchwork pillows I realized that my fabric purchases tend towards the greens and blues (a lot of the warmer fabrics in those pillows were actually teeny tiny swatches that just barely made a strip, its a travesty, I know). It was easy on Kathy's site to just click on the yellows and the oranges, and now I feel like I've filled out my assortment. These will probably be going into the Value Quilt that I've started (completely Katie's fault), even though I have one quilt started and another one I was going to start. But I have to admit, if you're looking for a quilt to make and enjoy, and have a stash of pretty fabric (or need an excuse to buy some), make this Value quilt. It comes together so quickly and easily, and it gives people like me a chance to use all those fancy, pretty florals that stand no chance around here on their own. It really does make a terrific light/dark pattern to use lots of different, random patterns and colors. I think this quilt will become a family room quilt, the one we use in there is actually a quilt I made pre-blog and its really embarrassing! Let's just say I had huge issues with quilt binding back in 2004.

If you drive by my house, this is what you will hear us playing right now. Off to make afternoon coffee. Happy Wednesday!

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.