Bless Her Heart

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 15

Day 15 ~ The Fixers...

Thankful that in this world of so many virtual things, we still have people who take real, life, tangible things apart to see how they work. It's that type of thinking that enables them to deconstruct, diagnose problems, fix them, and put them back together in working order. On this particular day, I happen to be referring to my husband, who will pull the steering column of his truck apart, or disassemble the front end of a car...sometimes out of curiosity, some times out of necessity, but always to leave it better than he found it.  On any other day, I might be referring to a tinkerer who repairs his sewing machine or vacuum cleaner, an appliance repair lady, a mama that fixes her own water heater or a papa who installs a a disposal in the kitchen sink. I'm thankful for those who have the patience, confidence and knowledge...and who share it openly, so that more people feel empowered to tinker and explore how things work.

Getting caught up in a very disorderly way...Halloween

I've been away far, far too long.  So much has happened over the last several weeks, and I'm feeling this intense need to document at least some of it for posterity's sake if nothing else.  The Girl is wondering why her Halloween pictures didn't get posted, as they have in years passed (here and here). She worked incredibly hard on this year's costume and would like to show it off humbly share it with you. This year she took on Princess Mononoke, a character from a Hayao Miyazaki film of the same name.

With a little help from Auntie, me and even her brother she diligently moved through the To Do list that she made for her costume production:

We visited my mama's house, attempting to capture menacing looking photos with her wolf-like dog (Princess Mononoke is a wolf princess). You can see that Tallulah is just too damn sweet to get anything close to resembling a battle-tested wolfpack leader. She was a good sport to pose with us though.

This is where you oooooh and aaaaaah.  Right?

 

The Baseball Dress

I like surprises.  This is something that I've only realized about myself in the last couple of years...but I do...I like a good surprise.  In this day and age of instant technological gratification, you have to work to be surprised.  Think of how hard it was to navigate the world just to NOT find out Olympic results before the coverage was shown in the evening. The fact that The Man, my sweet, sweet friend Kathie (the creator of the dress), my children, her children and so many of my close friends never spilled the beans over the months that Kathie worked on this dress is so precious to me.  This was my (surprise) birthday gift last month, and it is as close to perfection as anything on this earth for me.  Kathie has combined all of my favorite things in one place...my family, my kitchen, beautiful fabric, and BASEBALL.  She and I (and our significant others) share a deep, deep...almost crazy-loca (speaking for the women here) abiding love for the America's pastime. She worked this love so seamlessly (har!) into my dress, and it's so incredibly 'right' and beautiful, that if I look at it too long, I can get a little emotional.  I wish you could see it in person, because really, the photos just don't do it justice.  Of course, if you are around the ATX, you might just see it in person, since I seem to find a reason to wear it every other day. You can see more of Kathie's work here.

:: 30 Days with a Grateful Heart - Day 21 ::

Day 21 - The Makers

Grateful to be surrounded by and inspired by makers everywhere I turn. Our house has been buzzing with activity for the last week, amping up for gift exchanges.  I love to watch my children sit down and dedicate themselves to a craft, especially knowing that they are creating a gift for someone they care about.  One of my favorite things about this time of year is all of the busy-ness of hands and translations of the heart through making gifts.  Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it....

My Girlie loves her some Tim Burton: Lydia Deetz

Her Inspiration:

Book Review and Giveaway: Make Stuff Together

So, when one is 'officially' reviewing something on their blog, I think the goal is to be as unbiased and transparent as possible. In the interest of transparency I want you to know that I was provided with a promotional copy of Make Stuff Together as well as a copy to giveaway to one of my readers (**see below**).  Transparency, I have no trouble with.  The issue of bias will be a little more complicated.  If I hadn't been given a copy of this book, I can assure you that I would have purchased one off the shelf at my favorite local fabric store (aka Stitch Lab).  I can't help myself because I already know that Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever of Future Craft Collective are stupendously gifted crafters, teachers and mothers...and I want to shout it from the rooftops.  I feel blessed to call them both friends and couldn't be more pleased that this book, Make Stuff Together, will help the Future Craft Collective message spread far and wide.  We have loads of craft books in our home library, but very few marry the ideas of 'making' with 'together'.  We lean that way as it is, but it's so refreshing to read a book that really honors that process with a down to earth voice that really 'gets' what it can be like to create as a family.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"When we sew with children there are some moments of extreme frustration, but there are also moments of magic."

"Don't cram in a craft session when time is limited. Allowing enough time for the project at hand brings about way more peace, love and happiness"

"We try to inject celebration into the commonplace because it makes it easier to get through each day."

I value the message that crafting together allows the space for problem solving, laughter, ritual, and commemoration as a family.

Along with all of this crafty wisdom, this book offers up 24 different projects that can be made together, and then also used together with your family and friends.  

There are various projects for game playing:

adventuring and exploration:

and commemoration and celebration:

More information on the book is available here and at their Facebook page.  

After devouring the book page by page I offered it up to The Girl to pick a project for us to try.  She picked the Art Roll Up, which is perfect for all of the crazy running around we are doing this summer. We each created one, and found the instructions to be very straight forward.  Following the advice to not cram too much into one craft session, she did her cutting after camp one day, and her marking and sewing after camp then next.  It was a low stress project for the both of us, and I will certainly be making more of these as gifts for the young artists that I know.

The Girl picked two coordinating fabrics as suggested in the book. Action shots below:

For my exterior piece, I chose an old pillowcase that I had been saving to put on an apron for um....2 years? The interior is a dish cloth and the pockets are of a striped fabric that I had in my stash:

**GIVEAWAY**

I have one copy of this book to giveaway.  Do you have a favorite craft you like to do with your family? Or maybe one you'd like to try? Tell us about it!  Or not. Just tell us why you'd like a copy of this book if you'd rather. :)

Leave a comment below and I'll randomly select from the comments after 6:00 pm on July 6th. 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Working on her collection...

Squeeeeeeeeeel!

LOOOOOK at what I got for my birthday!!!  I'll have to get the story about how it all came to be, but my Mama gave me this amazing camera strap from my homegirl Kathie over at Ramonsterwear.  How they managed to make it all work without me finding out is a mystery...especially since Kathie was galavanting up and down the west coast for most of the summer, and Mama was occupied with helping babies be born. It's so gorgeous, and of course the workmanship is freakin' top-notch...I just can't stop looking at it. Just. so. dreamy.

She keeps me in stitches...

Warning: Youthful stitching humor ahead.

10:15 pm

The Girl:  Look Mama, I've been practicing my stitching.  Do you like my flower?

Me: Mmmhmmm, but it is getting really late.  Why don't you lay down here next to me and relax?

10:25 pm

The Girl:  No Mama! I'm working on my stitching.  What should I make next?

Me: You should make dreams babygirl.  It's time to lay down. Aren't you tired?

The Girl:  Just one more Mama.  Look, I made a star!  Do you like it?

Me:  (nodding off) 

10:35 pm

The Girl:  I'm having so much fun with all of this embroidery. What should I stitch next??  

Me: **Yawn**  Hmmmm...It's sooooo late honey,  I think all that's left to embroider is the inside of your eyelids.  Time for bed now.

The Girl:  Ok, Mama...just a sec....

10:45 pm

The Girl: Wake up, Mama...I did what you told me to do.

Me:  Huh? Oh! Bwahahhahaahahahhahaha......

Love that girl.

Wordless Wednesday: Kitchen Hands