I just found these bear patterns via http://sewing.about.com/ - it's actually a kit from http://www.indygojunctioninc.com - but what a fabulous idea! A yo-yo doll with a felted head.

Isn't it cute? Hmmm....I need to work on those felted animals this weekend and let you know if I love it....if I do! Oooo!

Work has been keeping me too busy tho and not enough time in the day for anything stitchy! Maybe today will be better (but not if you see my "to-do" list!).

Labels: felting, sewing, softies

My daughter is having a difficult year. She's seven. I'm not even totally clear on why, but yesterday the reality came out that "I'm not popular." She's in first grade for heaven's sake! The "popular" girl in question is very pretty, dark haired, adorable. According to my daughter ALL the boys like her. According to the boys mother's the boys have no idea what liking a girl even means. They still rank wrestling and playing games with boys FAR above any "like" of girls.

So, I've spent the last 24 hours thinking about what it was like to be a seven year old. I remember caring a lot about boys and about what other people thought about me. I don't actually remember worrying about the "popular" part until we moved to the "big city" from a very small town when I was in sixth grade. Then the whole popular/not popular thing was absolutely devastating. I remember the warm feeling that you got when you held a boys hand and what a wonderful thing a play date was - enjoying Coloring, playing Barbies, playing with toy horses.

But I also remember the immense pain when someone didn't like you anymore or teased you because of your teeth or your clothes. As her Mother, I completely come to her defense - Mama bear in action! She's gorgeous, long blonde hair with highlights that people pay HUGE money in salons for. She's skinny, and tall - a "tall, lanky blonde". How could she not be "popular"? Because that silly statement is as random now as it was when I was seven.

The first words out of my mouth to my daughter were "ignore them" and "popular isn't important" but I realize how completely hollow those suggestions are. Frankly I can't really say I follow that at my age. I still care about what people think and if someone says something hurtful (which thankfully happens less at forty) it hurts.

So, if I were seven what would I do? I think I'd make some wonderful best friends. Not the "coveted" popular girls, but the normal kids...like me. I'd share our thoughts and feelings and then try to understand if they weren't my friend when they were trying to be popular. I think I'd try to love myself. That's what it's all about - if you love yourself then those people can never completely tear you down. I'd also come home and confide in the ones I love at home more. Tell them how much I love them and bask in the comfort that is home.

As for the boys, hmmm, girls will always be more interested than boys at that age. I guess I'd realize that they can just be friends that I enjoy and like to be around. Not love, just friendship. I'd try not to obsess about the "cute one" or the "smart one" and just enjoy playing with them, cars, crazy mystery games and dress up.

As for the "mean girls" well don't become one of them, treat people the way you want to be treated, but stand up for yourself. But I would also understand that the "popular" kids don't usually choose to be popular and that their lives revolve around having people like them. I would try to remember that this isn't the meaning of life nor should it be. It's great to have people like you, but it is always the most important to like yourself. "Popular" kids are always up for scrutiny on what they do and what they like. Most often the popular kids don't even know they're popular. They feel as alone and outside as anyone else.

So what's important at seven? Enjoying life, enjoying your friends and enjoying who you are. I know it's probably an unreachable goal, but now I just have to figure out how to try to get her to believe me! Wish me luck.

Labels: motherhood, ponderances

It's incredibly rare that I post twice in one day, but I had to pass this on.....be sure to watch the whole video. Whoever thought this up was a genius. COOL

And here's a group that does this on a regular basis! I'm a sucker for performance art.

Labels: art, inspiration, internet

Oh heavens, I TRY not to drool over things on etsy, but really....can you avoid this:
There are 3 of them, aren't they adorable? Here's her blog...good heavens, I'm sometimes amazed there is a creative blogger I've actually missed on the internet!

Labels: etsy, inspiration, internet

A friend of mine passed on these potentially scrumptious knitting books but I've vowed to never EVER knit, so I'm passing them onto you. I seem to get a few comments here on my blog, but never enough for my self involved personality, so I'm giving them to the 25th poster (postage included unless you live in Australia and then we'll have to chat! :-) ) - so comment away and I can't wait to see who gets them!


I can't wait to pass them along and see how many of you knitters regularly lurk on my blog! :-) And just so you know I do like to do "something" this is what I was busy working on last night:

**And Katrin is the winner - hooray! Nothing like 25 posts, but I was probably being too ambitious!

Labels: Blogging, embroidery, giveaway

For some bizarre reason this morning I have been sucked into the vortex of social networking. I'm sort of bad anyway, but I started reading blog, then got wandering...well you know. My Space is so tacky. I just wonder if I would have loved it in High School.

Anyway, I found a cute site that does these - a random photo of Missy C. I think it does the best with portraits, but it's a good time waster.

I think it turned out pretty cute.

Then there's this http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ - really interesting - anonymous postcards revealing deep dark secrets. Oh, and I'm playing on Twitter. Still not sure what I think of it (you can see my updates in the sidebar).

Ok, enough playing. I really really need to get to work! SIGH!

Labels: art, internet

This is a piece I did a few years ago. It always gets a bit of action on the Creative Commons licensing on Flickr. Anyway, Happy Valentines Day to you and yours! :-)

Labels: Crazy quilt, family life

Woo hoo! (extra hoo). I was totally productive this weekend. In anticipation of the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters meeting I did two round robins. This one is for a gal who's making a quilt for her daughter out of her Dad's flannel shirts. This one is a butterfly:
I tried to soften the bottom by adding the flowers and little feather stitch. We're actually running out of room on a lot of these blocks! The one below is gorgeous. I did the fleurette (sp?) at the bottom. It's hand dyed on one of our crazy quilt retreats. However, note the beaded flowers above my addition....aren't they great?
We're going to learn how to make those over the next two RMCQ meetings...I can't wait! :-)


Then! I got something off my UFO list (see my sidebar). Woo Hoo! It's nothing major. it's pre-quilting reversible fabric I bought a LONG time ago. Anyway, because it was reversible I had to do french seams down the middle and a rolled seam around the edge. It needs to soften with washing and I'm not thrilled with the shape, but keep in mind I HATE my sewing machine and have no real sewing sense at all, so I'm excited about the french seam!

I also started and finished another one of Sandra Dallas's books. It was fabulous: New Mercies . Has a crazy quilt on the cover so I had to read it first (I borrowed another one too) . Great story, talks about crazy quilting and Denver history. All in all a good read.


So, more stitching tonight and probably going to watch "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe". I love a fun and productive weekend! :-)

My poor inlaws (and various other rellies - have to be an Aussie to get that one) haven't seen any good family pics in a while so here's a particularly good one of "the boys":

Labels: beading, Crazy quilt, embroidery, family life, sewing

A few days ago we had a repairman around - not to fix the plumbing or electrical (although heaven knows we could use that too) - but to tune and look over our piano. This is not just any piano, it's a turn of the century carved upright. An antique. However, it's really so much more than that.

I took piano lessons as a kid. Kind of going back and forth as to whether I liked it or loathed it. I never was (or am) very good at following directions. Obviously, reading music and listening to a teacher is all about following directions. However, somehow I learned to read music and enjoy playing the piano. I did an arrangement once for "Stars of Tomorrow" and won the first round, but only because I arranged the three pieces of music I liked and called it "I don't know what I want to be when I grown up".

I spent my "post-lesson" days playing some music I liked. In my late teens I inherited a baby grand piano, an antique Steinway. It was wonderful, but HUGE! I don't know how many of you have had to purchase a house around a huge piano, but it's really difficult. So, after a few years of paying crazy prices to move it and having the cats lie on it and throw up hairballs I sold it. I was sad to see it go, but I'd sort of fallen out of the habit of playing it.

Then 3 years ago we acquired my brother's piano. He was moving to England and my parents didn't want him to put it in storage. So, we found a corner of the living room and in it came. I must say I had mixed feelings at the time. Our house is mid century modern and our decorating sense lies much more toward "funky" than antique. However, the kids were little and it was fun to have the piano.

So, there it sat for 3 years, the kids pounded on it occasionally, the cats walked on the keys, but I didn't play it much. Finally a month or so ago I sat down to play and EEEP! It sounded awful. It was so far out of tune it was hard to tell if it was my fumbling playing or the piano!

So, this past week, as the repairman stood there with his machines and fabulous techniques for putting the piano back into shape, I started to tell him the story of the piano. My great grandmother purchased it for her two daughters to learn on somewhere around the turn of the century - probably the early 1900's. She was a single parent who had thrown her gold seeking husband out when he ran off to one too many gold rushes. They were Catholic, so never divorced, but she supported her two girls by making dresses for Molly Brown (among others). Then the piano went to my grandmother, where my mother learned to play on it.

I remember it in our house growing up and giggling when I found my grandfather's initials on the side of one of the keys "A.S.S." - yes, they were his initials and yes, he really enjoyed that they were! Inscribed inside the piano, above the pins are the carved name of a tuner who tuned the piano in 1910.

My family will tell you that I'm probably the least sentimental of the group, mainly because I hate when things are stored away because "we couldn't possibly give it away". I love to see things used. I think in this case, this piano will continue to be loved and with any luck for another 100 years.

Labels: art, family life, music

My first article on Art Versus Craft led me to some interesting insights. Basically the first article was really a question, "What defines "ticky tacky" and where's the line between that and art and craft."

I posted this on the Fiber Arts board and got some fabulous responses: http://fiberartsmixedmedia.ning.com/ Probably the biggest response was discerning "crafter" from "craftsman" and artsy from crafter. A lot of this was imagination and taking techniques and "winging it".

"The crafters are the ones who as you say "cut and stick", use kits, copy trends (usually slavishly), jump on the bandwagon with popular items"

Not to mention crafters who sell their items to people who have no idea the amount of work or technique that goes into them:

"I just hate to be lumped in with the cut and stick brigade. I wouldn't want to deny any of these people the enjoyment they derive from their hobbies, but when they fetch up with their cut and stick cards at the same artists and craftsman market as me and tell me that I am putting off customers because my well designed and lovingly created handmade goods are too expensive, I GET A BIT CROSS!"

But some defend the word craft and all it includes. After all, many traditional quilters copy and repeat patterns and yet are amazing crafters…using techniques that make items special, like color and technical ability.

" I would like to reclaim the word "craft" which I think contains the idea of a special body of knowledge and skill passed on from generation to generation. My art is what I make; my craft is the skills I have learned in order to make it well."

A couple of great resources came up in this discussion, one is a fiber artist, Gwendolyn McGee who has a wonderful insight into art vs craft that can be found here. Another person suggested "Notes on Camp" by the late Susan Sontag.

Labels: crafts, ponderances

One of the great things about working at home is that I meet clients in great coffee shops...in this case a wonderful one at the Tattered Cover book store in Denver. Poor me!

I'm sitting here as kids descend from the high school across the street and I'm amazed at how times have changed. Every one of them has a cel phone...taking calls and arranging apointments as they eat their lunches. I wonder if we would have stayed on campus more if all of these technical advances were available to us? The closest we got to this was sneaking to the arcade to play Pac man (there, I'm totally dating myself).

I did want to update everyone that I've just posted some awesome new classes over at Helping Handmade! I've postponed our first class date a bit to get my ducks more in order so that hopefully the classes will run very smoothly.

I'm still hunting for more sewing and crafting teachers tho, so if you are one, or know of any, please let me know.

Update: The day ended with a weird phenomenon called Thundersnow. Some days are just meant for ponderances.

Labels: Denver, helping handmade, ponderances