a little inspiration

We spent the whole afternoon outside.  He dug out rocks and raked and helped and helped and helped. She worked on figuring out climbing up and down hill. They were both completely exhausted.

This place we chose to live in on such short notice has surpised me over and over with its beauty.  The sounds of birds in the morning, the sounds of children playing all afternoon.  Flowers and freshness and friendliness all wrapped up perfectly to be a balm to the soul after such a big move.  With the exception of the spider population which seems never ending and widely varied all the flora and fauna has been delightful.  A wild turkey in the yard today, some baby opossums hanging in the tree the other day.  And the planting here are so lovely I just wanted to share.  To be able to really spend some time outside the house has been a dream come true.  To have great children for E to play with, a blessing.  Surrounded by beauty.

Our days aren't all drama.  :)  Many days are as graceful as can happen with a new four year old and a new four month old.  The counselor that we went to see a couple times tells me that Emerson is just super bright and right in line with his age.  This makes me feel better.  Happy that he is where he needs to be, happy that, even in my regular failure, this is the "normal" challenge.  I am adopting Anne of Green Gables idea: Tomorrow is always new, with no mistakes in it. Also happy for the support of family and friends.  Happy that there is family so close and friends that understand the place we are at right now.  Near and far, the calls and emails after my last post about him were so wonderful, so needed, and so full of kindness. We also found a pre-school co-op that I think we'll be joining this Fall.  I can hardly wait.  We met the other day and played with them most of the morning.  The teacher is so graceful, so gent...

After completing my goals (or as close as I was going to get with that bag) I realized I had a few minutes before we went to dinner.  What could better than a new skirt to wear out?  This skirt came together in about 20 minutes.  I used an old skirt and as the pattern and cut and sewed it in no time at all.  I didn't get a picture of it on (of course!) but it looks and fits great (don't you just love knits?!)  I think I'll be making a few more.  This fabric cost $8 a yard and since the making was so quick I feel like another 3 or 4 would be perfect to freshen up the wardrobe with little effort or expenditure. Then after dinner I was out of fabric but Anjali was so happy I started asking for a fabric donation.  Stephanie handed me this awesome piece and I whipped out another sweet dress.  This time I folded the pleat in the opposite way.  And lime flower buttons! Oh my! After that I was pretty much toast.  This is what I looked li...

First up were the shorts for E.  I started them as soon as I arrived on Friday night.  I had edited all the ridiculous pockets and made simple patch pockets instead.  E can hardly get into a regular pants pocket anyway.  This way he can gather treasures without extra frustration.  I used the size 4 pattern and was so surprised when they fit him.  They look huge!! I got this adorable print knowing he would love every creature on it.  I want to add a strip of it to a t shirt as well.  So cute!  I hadn't measured his waist so I had to wait until I was home to finish them.  He is planning to wear them to gymnastics tomorrow even though it is only supposed to be in the 50's. That makes them a success in my book.   Next came the bag.  This turned out to be a total fail.  Giant, way too stiff to work with, nightmarish.  I think I managed to get through it with out any swearing.  I have no idea where that restraint ...

Okay people- I have a secret- I still make stuff!!  Even though I never share anything anymore.  I am still plugging away.  I have just moved to a house with very poor winter lighting.  The good news- daylight savings seems to have changed everything and I went on a Sewing Retreat somewhere else so I took pictures there! A Sewing Retreat is where you get together with some like minded ladies and stay up late and get up early to sew- mostly sans children. (I brought the  wolf baby, but she was more like a mascot than a child :)  I'd never imagined I could do something like this because I always thought it was expensive and exclusive.  Somehow, I fell into this wonderful group of ladies that meet at a church nearby every other week where child care is provided and mamas get to work on their own projects.  These ladies are generous and sweet, I never miss.  When they told me about the retreat I almost fell over.   I had lofty ambitions....

Recently I have been trying a new technique in parenting.  Stopping.  Stop saying no, correcting, redirecting, cringing.  Look away unless you think there will be blood.  Don't warn of trouble (You might fall if you x.) unless there seems a real danger of someone else getting hurt or serious injury.  You see, I am not naturally cautious or rule bound.  But somehow I have gotten it into my head that my son should be.  I think perhaps- because he is so fearless and so driven to do certain behavors that I would never consider- I have fallen into the trap of "parenting" all the time.  If I don't watch myself our whole day can sound like this: Don't bang on that. Put the stick down. Stop yelling. How about watching a program instead of helping me make dinner? Don't bang on that. Don't grab me. Be gentle. Stop yelling. Don't play with your food. Are you eating that or are you ready to get down? You get the idea, right?  Too much pare...

Yesterday Emerson wanted to make a card for our friend Jill.  He wanted to put flowers on it.  We used star stickers and I showed him how to draw a stem and little leaf.  And then he did it.  I am very impressed. 

Weeks ago we took the Bug on his first camping excursion.  At least, the first he would remember.  We went for one night his first summer.  It was an awesome party for Memorial Day party with perfect weather and so many fun things to do there was never even the slightest chance for fussiness. (from anyone- myself included ;) We set up the tent early and were ready to go in just as the perfect, warm day turned into a stormy evening.  You must imagine how exciting it is for a little boy obsessed with storms to sleep outside in a tent while the wind blows strong and the rain pours down.  I thought it was delightful, too.    Everyone else at the party gathered in the house, but I was to happy just to sit in the tent with him and "ride out the storm."  Once we settled in, the boys slept pretty well.  In the morning it was so sad to break down the tent and head back to the city. Perhaps one day we will live in a place where we can do th...

If you are local to the Baltimore area you will want to go check out Baltimore Yoga Village schedule this week.  They have some monks from Drepung Gomang monestary in India visiting and meditating and giving talks through June 3rd. It was a lovely way to start the morning.

  Oh my, oh my!  I've been wanting to share this for about a month.  We have this little area at the front of our garden bed that has never quite been right.  Everything I put in there gets burnt up by the sun or crushed by the people who walk by every day.   In adding more zen to my life I thought a rock garden might be just the thing.  It doesn't photograph so well, but I really do think it looks pretty.   And after we started we just couldn't stop.  I also filled in the ugly, weed filled open square on our sidewalk and the Bug picked some pansies and phlox to go in it.  He and the other kids on the block were such great help for this project.  It was great to see them all playing in the dirt and working together.  Everything seems to be doing really well! It is so much more pleasant now! {Speaking of pleasant, aren't the new big pictures wonderful??!}

This morning I was told it was "santa hat day" at school and asked to whip something up.  I didn't have any red or white around that would do the trick.  Only an old black sweater someone had felted by accident and handed over to me.  I had just read the other day about machine couching and so I grabbed some red wool roving and added that.  Senor insisted it needed a pom-pom so I made two. The scarf is his Solstice gift.  I cut into some beautiful wool and cotton blend plaid from Liberty of London that had been gifted to me from a vintage stash.  Papa got one and I made myself a shawl.  Now we all match!  I am so happy to have found something so everyday useful for this beautiful fabric. After getting ready for school we had to drop by a neighbors house and give her a Christmas card. Happy Solstice everyone!!

This is cheating.  I didn't take this picture.  But I thought you might like it anyway.  Thanks Papa!

A dozen lavender and chamomile eye pillows off to doubledutch Boutique tomorrow.  Buy local.  Support handmade.

You may have noticed my list of "inspirations" over on the side and I hope you've had the chance to click on a few.  One of them is my dad, Old Bike Rider .  My dad has been an inspiration to me as long as I can remember.  We've been lucky that we've always really clicked.  I've always thought we are very alike and I've always been proud of that. He is the kind of person that you can depend on to help you do anything.  He can tell you how to fix your sink over the phone.  He can take great photographs.  He can wrangle farm animals or college students.  He can help you choose fabric for a sewing project and tires for your motorcycle.  Or anything for your motorcycle.  You can talk to him about life, love, catastrophes, mechanics, God, celebrations or food. He will take care of you when you need it if you are his child, parent, spouse, friend or stranger.  He will let you believe what is true for you even when it isn't true for hi...

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath.  So I thought I wouldn't keep you in suspense any more. Here it is!  I want to tell you about how it came to be- are you ready to listen to a convoluted history of how my brain works?  If not, just look at the pretty pictures. First- I love Alicia Paulson .  You all know her, right?  She makes all these beautiful things with little squares full of flowers and pink and purple.  I always want to do one of these projects when she shows them but let's face it: one- I am not so girly, two- I live with a grown (very wonderful and sensitive but still a) man and a little boy who is showing me each and every day how little boy he is.  Yesterday he bit into his first earthworm.  Today he wanted to go find more.  I did make that last quilt , which was very likely Alicia's fault.  I love it too. Two- I then found this basic quilt style done for boys.  It was already sold when ...

Ladies and Gentlefish I am proud to announce.... a shop ! To inaugurate it I am working with Mel Yukna who started "My Share" on facebook. MyShare is a group of Baltimore area folks who want to eat local, shop local, support local. How cool is that? The first offering in the shop has to do with just this idea. Cloth produce bags for taking to the market (or grocery store.) If you are like me, when you go to the market you go for many reasons and one of the biggest is feeling like you are doing your part to reduce consumption of fossil fuels by buying food grown near you instead of half way around the globe. And you find the most beautiful peaches or raspberries, your mouth is salivating imagining the deliciousness as you wait your turn to pay and the farmer dumps them into... a plastic bag! It's like someone took the needle off the record and ruined your perfect little moment. Well, no need to hear that icky scratching sound again! Now you can buy reusable cloth...

I made a from a pattern (I always think "recipe") in Stitch Magazine . My sweet neighbor Jill asked me if I could use some old pants that needed to be retired and of course I said yes. When she was dropping them off she also asked if I could make a small bag for her out of them. I immediately thought of this pattern (recipe). I had in mind to make myself one as well and almost cut out my fabric at the same time but didn't for whatever reason. And now I am glad. I like this bag, but it isn't the kind I would carry (I need far more room for diapers and rice puffs) and though my bag would be made of different fabric I would have cut it to line up the same (since I was going to use some retired corduroys as well) and I feel like the effect isn't the same as the picture in the magazine where the sides are different from each other. Though it may just be the denim that is throwing me. I tend to keep denim in jeans and the occasion skirt and away from everything e...

On the Winter Solstice the night is long and the day is short in the Northern Hemisphere. In ancient times, when humans were more connected to the earth, in almost every culture this day was marked by some celebration. The Romans worshiped a sun god called Sol and on this special day they celebrated his re-emergence from the dark. I can imagine a time before the sophistication of the Romans when the long night was a time to gather and share stories and warmth and keep away the pernicious thought of the sun staying dark forever. This is a night of great hope, of faith in the return of the sun. So this year, when we are finally home, near our garden (which worships the sun in its own way) and our friends we plan to gather together, share company and stories and burn a light through the night to help welcome the sun back from its long journey in morning. Won't you celebrate with us?

Despite the rain all night and and all morning into the the early afternoon we still made it out and completed most of the job yesterday. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all those who made it over and especially those who braved the mud to put our garden together. An extra shout out to Missy for taking pictures with my camera. There are many more pictures on fliker and as things start growing I am sure you will all see lot's more.