Lasso The Moon

Snow

Sometimes 4-yr-olds encounter disappointment.  I've been trying to help Emma deal with it by explaining that God's plans are often different than ours, but that He loves us, and His plan is perfect and what's best for our lives.

So yesterday, as we were getting in the car she noticed the fresh dusting of snow on the ground.
Emma: Mom!  It snowed again! What is God doing?!
Me:  I don't know...
Emma:  I guess he's doing my plan, now.

Emma and her cousin Camden, in town from Texas for the long weekend.  I didn't go skiing with them but Donnie said that she never got upset or angry when she couldn't ski as well as she hoped.  I'm a proud momma.

A real date for grownups!

Donnie gives really great gifts. 

He knows how much I love NPR and all public radio, so for Christmas he surprised me with tickets to a taping of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me in Chicago.  We live about 3 hours away, so we got someone to watch the kids overnight while we were gone, but we came back home the same night instead of trying to find a hotel.  I was so fun!  At one point the panel got completely carried away with the joke-making, so we got to see about 15 minutes of un-airable material.  It was so fun, and so totally out of the ordinary for a date experience.  And waking up in my own bed without one of the kids in my face was incredible.  It had been over a year since we'd spent a night away from them.  We really need to do that more often.  I told him that all I wanted was to sleep straight through until 9 o'clock.  I woke up at eleven!

This isn't the first time he's given me a public-radio-type gift.  For our first anniversary he gave me tickets to see Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, who was on tour and coming through Dallas.  I'm a huge fan of that show, but none of my friends are, so it was a huge deal to be in the same room with hundreds of people who loved it as much as I do.  They were calling out their favorite episodes, and I was like, "hey, I love that one, too!"  After the show I actually got to talk to Ira Glass himself.  I even gave him a show idea that I'd been thinking of, but he didn't go for it.  The premise was to do a show on people who are obsessed with his show.  Of course, modesty would prevent him from actually doing that one.  Over all, if you get a chance to be in a public radio audience, take it!  A really cool experience.

Resolution update

I have been having fun trying to wear something that I've made everyday.  I have plans to make a couple skirts and a dress, but so far I've been making it easy on myself with these three scarves, which I'm wearing almost every day!  The one in the middle is 100% mohair, and was knitted a few years ago.  The one on the far left is made of super-soft wool that I handspun, dyed, and knit before we moved up here. 

Other than those, there are the earrings that I'd completely forgotten about.  These are among the few earrings I own with a remaining pair.

And here's the first new item of the year:  This is actually the first knitting project I've done since moving here, almost 4 years ago.  I had made one sock before, just to see if I could, but this is my first time to make a matching set!

These will not be the last socks to come from my needles.  I had so much fun learning how to make these.  I haven't worn them yet, though, because I'm afraid to wear them out!

A sheepish success!

I want to extend a huge thank you to all of you--friends, relatives, and customers I've never met--for helping with the fundraiser I did in December.  Thanks to you, I was able to donate the full amount, $500! on December 28th.  I have done very few things in my life that have made me as proud as I was to donate that money.  With the five hundred dollars, Heifer International will be sending 2 llamas and 2 sheep to a village with a great need.  They'll use the animals to provide income, through breeding and wool production, and will pass on the first offspring of each animal to someone else in need.

Here's a picture of the confirmation and the thank you card I got from the organization.  The $500 goal was one that I knew we could make happen, but I was unsure how long it would take.  I was blown away by your generosity and eagerness to reach the goal quickly.  As a result, I've decided to continue with the craftivism idea.  This spring, I'll be making a series of 25 pincushions, priced at $20.  That money will be donated to the Susan G Komen race for the cure that my aunt Sandy runs every year, and has committed to run every year in honor of her mother (my grandma) who lost her life to breast cancer.  I hope to start selling these in February.  I've already made one, so I have the plan.  I'll let you know as soon as the first batch is ready to go!

Holiday Hangover

It's not the kind of hangover that we usually hear about, but equally painful.  I suffered some temporary memory loss due to Christmas-induced-post-traumatic-stress-disorder, but it's all coming back to me now.  As it turns out, I actually remembered to take a few pictures of things that I made, so I'll share those.  And looking back, as stressful as our birthday-thanksgiving-birthday-christmas-travel-houseguest season was, we had the time of our lives and wouldn't change a thing about it.  We love our families and miss each member every day. 

This first picture is what I made for my sister-in-law this year.  She has an 8-yr-old with a great imagination and is always sending us scans of drawings or notes he has written.   Last March I made her this bag, where I appliqued his drawing onto a tote.  I had so much fun with it that I decided to try another one.   This time I used his handwriting.  Last year he got a little carried away writing Christmas lists.  He made a list of gifts he wanted from Santa for under the tree, one for stocking stuffers, and one for gifts he wanted from his parents. (To his credit, the 7-yr-old had chosen very modestly-priced gifts for the parent list.)  Not having tired of the exercise, he went on to write wish lists for his cat and dog.  This was just too good to pass up.

To make this mini-quilt, I printed out a page with his writing on it.  Then I traced this onto the white fabric using a pencil.  The drawings are mine, but they hopefully reflect the tone of the lists.  After everything was penciled in, I clamped on an embroidery hoop and did everything in a free-form backstitch.  To finish the quilt, I added batting and backing fabric, and quilted around the writing and pictures.  I used by free-motion sewing machine foot, but you could easily hand quilt this if you have the time.  After that, I trimmed the piece to about 8x10 inches.  I sewed two small loops to the top of the back, so they could hang it if they want.  The last step was to bind.  And voila!  I mini-quilt for a really sweet sister-in-law.

I love giving gifts like this.  I have a fear of giving handmade sometimes, because I never want to pressure anyone into keeping or displaying something that isn't quite their taste.  I feel a little more confident with something like this.  Actually, it usually gets me so excited to give that I pop it into the post office before I even think to take a final picture!   My sister-in-law loved it, but I feel compelled to offer this note about hand-made gifts:  I make things for people because it gives me time to think about them and pray for them as I do.  The joy for me is in the making and the giving.  I will never come to your house looking for it, wondering if you really liked it or hated it.  If you love it, I'm so pleased.  But if it's not your taste, you are free from responsibility. The last thing I would want is for a handmade gift to cause guilt or discomfort.  Give it away, keep it in a box, or display it in your home.  But it's for you to decide.  Merry Christmas!

Resolutions

Wow, compared to last year, I'm way ahead on this!  I know some people hate resolutions and never make them, but I am someone who loves them, makes them, and for the most part keeps them.  I get this from my mom, who thinks of January as the time of year to reevaluate and improve.  It's not like you can't improve throughout the year also, but the new year just makes it that much easier to keep track.  So here are mine for this year:

1. This is my big one--Wear something that I have made every day this year.  Okay, so it's only the fourth of the month, and I'm running out of items already.  The underlying goal here is to make more clothing for myself.  It will require much planning, learning, and creativity, but I am excited to give this a real try.  There is room for growth here, so this week I've worn several pairs of handmade earrings, a brooch, and the shirt I made for myself over the summer.  But that's a start!  And while my family was in town last week, I sat down and knitted a pair of socks during our dvd-watching time.  This was my first pair to complete, and I'll post a picture of them asap.

2.  This is more of a goal than a resolution, but I hope to have two craftivism fundraisers this year.  The "sheepish" goal was set and completed, and although I hope to go into more detail later, I want to let all of you know that we donated the full $500 to Heifer International last week.  THANK YOU!  The next two fundraisers will be for Susan G Komen breast cancer research, and (I think) Compassion International.

3.  Get a handle on my craft supplies.  I have a lot to go through, and much to add to my etsy supply shop, Rope.

So, are you making any goals for yourself this year?  I'd love to hear about them!

Retrospect 2008

I just wanted to take a minute and look back at some of the fun stuff that came through my little basement studio this year.  I have lots of plans for 2009, but I think the best way to motivate yourself to move forward is to take a look at what has been accomplished so far.  It was a great year, and I can't wait to share this next year with you, too.