Guitar Girl!

I finished another embroidery project today: this one was designed by Lucky Jackson. Check out her awesome blog 365 Lucky Days. You can buy this pattern and other great patterns here.

My next embroidery project is going to be one of my own design. In fact, I have it all set up and am ready to start embroidering; however, since it's part of the wedding plans, I won't be able to share it on my blog for a long long time.

I find that sewing patterns by other people is like tracing and teaching oneself to draw. Or reading writing by someone else in order to become a better writer. Hopefully, Jackson's pattern will help me a long in my next project.

Super Girl!

Here is Super Girl! Isn't she adorable? She was a gift to my dear friend Jamie, who is having a little girl in late June. Her own little Super Girl.

This is not my design. It is from Imagine Gnats. You can buy this pattern from her shop on Etsy for $5 here.

So freakin' adorable I could poop! (How cute is that?!)

I want to make a little boy next for my same friend's soon-to-be-3 son. He will face the opposite direction and the two Super Heroes can hang out side-by-side.

How to make paper flag pendants

Today, I hosted a baby shower for a great friend of mine. My methods of decorating were as follows: paper flag pendants, house plants, annuals (that I can now plant in my containers and enjoy for the rest of their season).

For the pendants, you will need: adorable scrap-booking paper, scissors, twine/kitchen thread, mini hot glue gun, mini hot glue sticks.
Step 1: To save on paper, I simply cut the scrap-booking sheets into halves from corner to corner, creating four triangles.

Step 2: I assembled my twine, scissors and hot glue gun and hot glued the twin to the backs of the triangles, following as straight an edge as possible.

Step 3: I hung the pendants!!!!

This was super easy, and they're really cute. My friend and guest-of-honor loved them, and one guest said, "I wouldn't take them down."

I want some for my wedding, but I think that I will sew some fabric ones in case it's damp/raining.

10 List

I am in the processing of finishing my first embroidery portrait. Not bad for my first attempt, although I feel that it falls far short of my grandmother's adorable charm in the photograph. The more I look at this photo at her, the more I am struck by how uniquely beautiful she was. The final step is to applique the piece to fabric and frame it, and I have a few prints in contention for the job. A lovely butterfly print left over from an apron that I made for my sister; a simple turquoise polka-dotted print; and a flower print with greens, browns, and turquoise. I think I really bit off a large challenge for this first attempt because of her smile. It's so unique and toothy, and I probably would have had an easier time if I'd chosen a photo with a closed-mouth smile.

Here's what I am grateful for this week.
1. Both of my grandmothers, Rita and Eva. Aren't those both beautiful names as well?
2. Spring break begins today!
3. Green, blue and purple signs of spring.

4. The amazing massage that my friend Dan gave me yesterday, during which I was able to enter a deep state of relaxation.
5. Creative projects!
6. Dreading going on a run and then having a wonderful run during which I can process stress and develop ideas.
7. Watching students grow.
8. The fact that my class is over!
9. Celebrating the end of my class at Dove ViVi! Yum! Deep dish cornbread pizza with amazing local sausage!
10. My chickens and their wonderful eggs. And if I'm not wrong, I think the creatures are becoming more affectionate. I swear they love getting petted and nuzzled when I go outside to visit them.

In addition to finishing my grandmother's portrait, my next project is this Luck Jackson pattern that I purchased from her shop. I've read that great writers will sometimes, in moments of writer's block or frustration, copy the writing of those who inspire them. They will type out poems or entire chapters, and doing so will help them learn the rhythm and cadence of other writers. Annie Dillard says in The Writing Life:


On break, I usually read Conrad Aiken's poetry aloud. It was pure sound unencumbered by sense. If I ever caught a poem's sense by accident, I could never use that poem again. I often read the Senlin poems, and "Sea Holly." Some days I read part of any poetry anthology's index of first lines. The parallels sounded strong and suggestive. They could set me off, perhaps.

This is one of the reasons I bought Lucky Jackson's pattern. Not only do I like it, but I feel that I can learn some techniques by copying and sewing from another's design. That's the hope. The pattern is smaller and more detailed than the portrait outline of my grandmother, so that alone will be a good challenge.

an ounce of action and a bundle of spring

Running is becoming less painful as more and more shades of pink and green appear and spring begins. Despite the cold rain and rainy cold and slush and snow and rain and clouds and wee bits of sun and clouds. Fractious weather, fractious season. But I surpassed my running goal this week, reaching 11 miles. So this week's goal is 12, if the weather is kind and willing.

Other goals for this wonderful week:
Finish my grandmother's embroidered portrait.
Complete my lame-ass PSU class! Hooray!
Build planter boxes for kitchen windows.
Choose a theme and create invites for baby shower for J.

I found this lovely blog by a Portland writer and artist. Her name is Alicia Paulson, and she said this about starting and maintaining her blog in an interview over at Feeling Stitchy. It really resonated with me:

I had been a writer all my life and had worked as a book editor -- but before I started blogging I hadn't written a word just for myself in over eight years. So blogging was, in a lot of ways, a return to a version of myself that I had lost along the way. In the moment, it was sort of a direct reaction to these feelings of barely controlled professional chaos I was experiencing: staying organized on the blog helped me re-organize my real life and work in real time, somehow. But in a much larger way it also allowed me to reconnect to an essential part of myself that I had kind of put behind me. I think my reasons for blogging are still exactly the same as they were in 2005. I'm still very selfish about it. I still maintain that it's just a place for me to do and say and show what I want. I still see it as a personal blog and a way of telling my own story to myself.

In many ways, I feel this way about my own blog, "telling my own story to myself" and helping me organize my life around the aspects that are meaningful: nurturing health, staying goal oriented, and being creative. And I used to write. I filled journals and comp books with stories, poems, character sketches, and diary entries, and blogging is a way to keep writing--personal, creative, expressive writing--in my life. This is why I value this space and am becoming more confident and more insistent that it is my true voice.

Can't wait to finish my class! I ordered a few books using my free month trial of Amazon prime, so they should be all on my porch by Thursday! They include a book on urban farming by Novella Carpenter and a guide on over 400 embroidery stitches.

the funniest thing I've seen all week

For those of you who are fans of Arrested Development and/or David Cross, I had to share this awesome homage to his character joining the "Blue Man Group." This reminds of my awesome, witty, crazy smart friend Judi telling us all about how hilarious this show is, particularly this character and this line, while breathlessly laughing so hard we could hardly follow what she was saying and just had to watch the whole series for ourselves!

This is from Lucky Jackson's awesome and inspiring blog 365 Lucky Days. Last week was themed Arrested Development and several characters have one of their funniest lines stitched along with their portriats, such as "Has anyone in this family even seen a chicken?" I love it!

herbalicious; or, yogurt face

I like to run. It's not my sole exercising venture. It's not my top pick. But, running can be really good to me, like today, when I was zoning out to bouncy dance beats and later, when the beats and melodies weren't quite as enticing, when I began to process some ideas that I'd had. I'm headed to a certain festival on Thursday, and at this festival, the spirit seems to be about creative freedom without the complications of commerce or greed. Creativity for creativity's sake. And also, giving for the pure sake of giving. Not everyone who attends this festival believes this or can/does follow this credo. But many do. Many, many do. And I realized, on my run, my own creative gift. So, upon returning from my run, I cut a basket full of herbs that I'd grown in my garden, I visited my local New Seasons, and I got to work.

Here's what I now have in front of me:

Cleansing facial wash: Made from my bees' honey, pure castile soap, vegetable glycerine, and lavender. So gentle and soothing. Honey is both cleansing and healing.

Salt scrubs to exfoliate: I made scrubs from lavender and rosemary; chamomile and lavender; bee balm and lavender; hyssop, mint, thyme, and rosemary; rosemary, citrus, lavender, and cloves; and one sugar scrub with basil, cloves, and orange zest. Making these was addicting, especially since I was working with my friend Amy. I can't wait to use them on my skin and to give them out as gifts to others. If any of these entice you, let me know, and I will send some your way.

Facial masks (not exactly sitting in front of me, because that would be gross): I plan to mix together yogurt and oatmeal, adding honey for dry skin and lime for oily skin. These masks, which should help rejuvenate skin that's been exposed to the sun and elements, will be applied for 15 minutes with cucumbers on the eyes.

Toner: A rosemary and rose hips toner spray, and a chamomile and mint toner for especially oily skin.

SPF 30 moisturizer, not made by me. And SPF 25 chapstick.

So next weekend, I will be giving free mini-facials in that order: cleansing, scrub, mask, toner, and SPF moisturizer, as well as a foot bath in minty carbonated water and then a minty foot lotion. I kept having these half-assed ideas: maybe I'd make bracelets or maybe I'd make tea. But this will be so soothing and fun and meaningful for people. And the fact that so many of the ingredients come from own yard is empowering.

Plein air day

A couple of weeks ago, Brian and I took some wooden backers for frames, paints, brushes, wine, cheese, and crackers to Cannon Beach on the coast, and then we parked ourselves on the beach and painted.

Here's the Rhode Island Red and Elijah, surfing. They're both coasting along pretty well, but behind them is Leno, who just wiped out and is swimming to retrieve is board.

Then we sat in the rain and watched an amazing sunset beneath the clouds and on the clear horizon with this couple who joined us at our fire. We ended up drinking wine and stoking the fire and getting to know them for a couple of hours and have since gotten together with them here in Portland. That was our plein air day at the coast.

And then there were 3

On Monday, our little Rhode Island red laid her first little egg. The darker one is from the Americauna, the big one in the front is from the Speckled Sussex, and the little dirty one is from the Red. Since, she has laid four eggs, living up to her breed's reputation. Our other chickens had a much slower start at laying; her breed has laid as many as 365 eggs per year. Here's our little girl, all grown up.

 Thinking about her eggs and her struggle to fit in with the other chickens makes me miss our little black autralorp. Red had a tough go at it with Sussex and Americauna; I spent their first evening all together in the coop with them, trying to break up violent and excessive pecking. Red decided that she wanted to roost on my head, and it took over a week before she was allowed to sleep in the hen house with them. She still gets an occasional peck, but oddly, she seems to be more respected now that she is laying eggs. There appears to be a more peaceful acceptance amongst the flock.

Here she is taking a dirt bath. Chickens love and need to take dirt baths to prevent lice, mites, and other parasites from setting in. We let our chickens "bathe" every other day or so. That seems to be the only time they need a bath; sometimes I'll let her into her dirt bath area and she won't bathe but rather she'll munch on the comfrey leaves and peck out the ground.

My garden is growing despite our cold spring. The salmon berry bushes are taking over and will need some serious pruning after the first crop of berries is done. The sage, thyme, oregano, and mint are getting huge.

I'm quite proud of my foxgloves that I grew from seed. They are so tall. The hollyhocks are also getting rather huge and covered in buds. I've been grading and grading and grading, but school's out for summer. So now I need to spend some heavy duty time in the garden, weeding, pruning, staking, harvesting. We harvested two of our first ripe strawberries two days ago. I planted some beet seeds last week and want to plant the rest and some more beans and beets to stagger the crops.

I also plan on doing some self-indulging, errand running, party planning, trip planning, and wedding planning. I have a work meeting  and a knitting lesson (my second one! Here's my first planned project. By the way, this blog is adorable) on Tuesday, a message and haircut and book club on Wednesday, Brian's thirtieth birthday on Friday, and my sister's wedding on July 9! Whew! Adventures galore!

We put some of my photos in Brian's honeycomb frames in the living room. They look pretty rad. I would also like to alternate some with cool textiles or paints or collage. There are so many fun options.

Honeycomb Frames on Etsy

Brian has an Etsy! He has designed and started to sell honeycomb hexagonal frames from reclaimed wood. One of my summer projects is to fill a set of six with photographs and paintings. Check out his Etsy! You can click on the link or search for honeycomb frames or restored wood.

handmade holiday pt. 1

Here, finally posted, is my first handmade tote bag. I selected materials that I thought my mother would like. The sage material especially looked like a print she would love, and the pink complimented it really well. I appliqued a little bird on the bag, because in Portlandia, "you can put a bird on something and call it art."

Here's my second tote bag that I gave to Brian's mom for Christmas. I really like how these two fabrics go together. This one turned out slightly better since it was my second round at the same pattern, but I must say, whether it's a yoga bag or a tote, I hate handles! They are a pain in the arse!

2010 restrospective

New Year's Day seems to be a rather quiet day. Perhaps because so many of us are fighting hangovers from the debauchery of the night before. But there's also a reflective quality in the day. I looked up my resolutions and goals for last year, and it's interesting to reflect on how far I've come in the past year.

For arts and crafts, I wanted to continue knitting and crocheting, which I didn't do. But I did sew: curtains, pillows, tote bags, stuffed animals, yoga mat bags. I had fun with it and I'm still enjoying it, and I'm confident that I will keep it going. I have a long list of projects, including curtains for my bedroom, new turntable curtains, tote bags for friends, and more stuffed animals. Plus, I do want to learn to knit, still, and make hats, scarves, and fingerless gloves. Plus, I became a better photographer this year. And looking back at my photos, I realized that I'm quite hard on myself, but I've done some good work this year.

I went further with my garden/homestead than I'd originally planned, but in many respects I also fell short. I have dried tomatoes, figs, and chanterelles, but nothing canned from my garden. I do have frozen kale and berries, peach jam, apple butter, and green tomato chutney. I have garlic bulbs wintering in stockings in the basement. We have drunk most of my own chamomile, and we haven't bought eggs since June or July. This year, I want to grow even more teas and herbs, more lettuce, peas, carrots, beats, leeks, tomatoes, garlic, etc. My bees need more management, so I will need to take some classes and do some work with them this year that may involve collecting wax and making some candles and finally harvesting some honey. Fingers crossed! My hens are fat and happy, and my garden sleeps under blankets of straw from their coop. My compost is lush and wonderful.

As for career goals, I got my full-time teaching job! At the school that I most wanted to be working at! That's been everything, really, having a job that I can put my heart into and apply my creativity and love of reading and writing and education. I can be organized and analytical and creative and weird. I can sing songs to my freshmen about conjunctions, and I can ask my juniors to create their own class agenda. Time to rev up. Back to work on Monday!

If I were to set some goals for myself for 2011, they would be to grow as an educator and continue my work with rewriting the way we grade and measure our students' progress, to create a book club with a few fellow book-loving friends, to learn to knit, to keep on sewing, and to grow another wonderful garden with happy honey bees and plump egg-laying chickens. Plus, I want to backpack and camp, including biking around the base of Mt. Adams and then summit in a two to three day adventure!

 

Happy new year!

Aminals!

This year for Christmas, I had so much fun making little stuffed animals for kids in the family. The above owl, monster, and elephant went to my cousin's kids, and today, the oldest girl called and thanked me for her owl. Then she asked, "Did you make Jake a monster?" I told her that yes, I had made a monster. She then yelled, "It is a monster!" And then I heard Jake going, "Rhaa! Rhaa! Rhaa!" in the background. When I asked what he was doing, she said, "That's his monster noise!" My cousin (their mom) then got on the phone and told me she was a bit jealous and wasn't sure which one she liked best.

I made this sock monkey for little Elliot, my friend's little boy. We always joke that he's a little monkey, and he dressed as an adorable one for Halloween. Plus, he has sock monkeys on his curtains, so it seemed like a good fit. I bought these tights at the Bins over a year ago and finally got around to making them. Here's Brian's niece posing with her owl, pretending to be one herself.

I still have more Christmas presents I want to make for people! I wonder if I'll turn into one of those dreaded grandmas or great-aunts who always gives homemade gifts rather than the cool store bought stuff. Like the aunt who made Ralphy the pink bunny pajamas in the BB gun movie! Ha!

this was all before thanksgiving, oh my!

I have put away my gardening gloves and picked back up my fabrics and threads. These new kitchen curtains above I redid from a single curtain I made for our hobby room. Those were miserable curtains, despite the cheerful print. Just a single dull panel with a crooked cut. I cut them in half and turned them into two new curtains.

I have been working for well over a year now on a braided rug. Actually, I worked on it a bunch over a year ago, and then I didn't look at it again until recently when I spent the day watching "Pride and Prejudice" (the Colin Ferth version) and sewing the braids. Not finished yet, but here's a preview with Leno modeling.

 And here he wonders over Sock Monkey, still unfinished. Starting projects is such a joy. Finishing projects is also a joy. It's the middle part that's a wee bit of a slog.

We had a snow day last week, although in Portland, snow days are more like ice days. Here's what it looked like on my garden.

And for the fans of the chickens, here they are in their first ever bit of snow.

And here's what a snow day should look like (says the hardened former up-state New Yorker).

We drove up to Mt. Hood to hike and ski, but the snow was too fluffy and the air was too cold for me to do anything without snowshoes or cross country skis, so while Brian skinned up the mountain, I read Alice Walker short stories by the fire in the lodge.

Portland has no way of dealing with snow or ice. There are no snow plows, salt trucks, or sand trucks. Black ice is deemed the deadliest of threats, and when there's nothing more but some slick roads and a dusting of snow, schools are closed and we head to the mountain where the real powder is. We went for a lovely snowshoe tromp in the woods Thanksgiving weekend, but we used Amy's camera, so pictures must wait.

I love that I can just drive up to Mt. Hood for a snowshoe in the woods or to snowboard.

Give Handmade

On Sunday, I may head over to the Give Handmade Sale to get my holiday shopping on. I'll gladly hand over some of my cash to local artisans who have agreed to donate 10% to the Oregon Food Bank. This way I can purchase unique gifts for a good cause. Who wants to go with me?