JemJam

Five

I do not want you to stay little.

I want you to grow and be the confident and independent little lady that you have been since your first days.

Go ahead, eat the frosting off of your cupcake first.

Keep updating calendars & making your bed each morning.

Continue to draw and write random things daily, especially in the morning, it will make your day even better.

Wear a skirt and play soccer. And win, or just have fun.

Love journals and pencils forever.

Don't give names to toys if you do not want.

Love Darth Vader, zombies, unicorns, & cats and own one pair of pants if you'd like.

Yes, if you see someone doing it wrong, show them how to use a knife, even if they are 8+ years older than you...

Keep drawing zombie Rapunzels.

Continue to question people, especially when they tell you "girls can't marry to a girl."

Yes, you can dance all day and night in that party dress. Who cares if someone thinks it is uncomfortable.

Continue to be selective. I see what it can do to people when they lower their worth.

We love you, little stinker! And yes, you can have an alarm clock now.

Bag Break...

Guys, I am not keeping up with the bag challenge, I am directing my time to other projects that I am highly interested in right now and I feel like I should take advantage of the opportunity.  I want to finish the challenge, but, I am going to space it out a bit.  I'll have a plan by the end of November AND I WILL HAVE IT POSTED!  I want to write other blog posts right now, but I cannot ignore the lack of challenge posts.  

 

I'm finishing up some small bags for a craft show on Saturday, I'm a little stressed about it because it is the first time that I will not have a lot of items, I never planned to make a lot because I am working on sewing models for spring classes and I always plan to do too much and I feel crazy.  

 

Also, Thanksgiving.  I can't even think about next week until Sunday has passed.  

 

My brain is feeling like a game of Tetris right now.  

 

Maybe I can sleep a little easier tonight after publishing this post.

 

I am going to have a fun weekend, I'm so excited!

The Crafty Ornithologist

It's true, there are bird lovers at this home, the most involved is the tiny one.  At the hopeful age of 1, she was certain that she would catch a robin, they would taunt her by letting her get close and as she went in for the grab, they would fly away! She did not let that stop her, although at 4, she no longer tries to do it.  Each year since, I've taught her the common birds that we see out of our window, I could not believe that she learned so many so fast, oh, our little orny! 

 

Here is a nest that she made for a dead worm.

 

 My best Bird sent me The Cornell Lab of Ornithology this summer and we hit the ground running!  Each Monday we go to CLO and focus on 2-3 birds, we look at their pictures, videos (if available), talk about which part of the world in which they live, and listen to their calls/songs.  It was fitting to start with a robin bird, after the lesson, I printed an embroidery sheet that I found online (The Floss Box) and let my little orny color it, she wanted to send it to Robin "because she will be so exciting!"  That suggestion lead to an addition to the lesson--bird craft/art.  

 

 

I found these 2 birds and she colored them as chickadees.  

 

 

 For 2 separate sessions, I sewed some birds while she filled them with cotton.

 

 

I showed E how to sew the tail closed, she did it all by herself!  Also, we were still in pjs.

 

Her little babies...

 

Mommy, daddy, and kid bird...

 

Stay tuned for the sequel! 

She calls robins "robin bird" to make a clear distinction between the person and the winged creature, you know, we adults are just so crazy!

Thanks for thinking of us, Robin!

Glitter Market!

Hey everyone!  I am doing Glitter Market again!  Cindy decided to give spring a chance and I think that it will be a fantastic event!  

Unfortunately, my bird will not attend, I am thinking of her all the time right now and maybe she'll feel like leaving her nest.  Really, I just want her to grieve and feel well, it sucks when people that we love die.  We do love & miss you, Robin!

Holly, we are also sad that you will not be joining us.  I wish your healing to be fast and not painful, bionic woman, you!

So, Jackie Peters will be there with so much of her fabulous items, really, so many things!  The star of the show, for sure!  I already have my eye on one of her Colette Pillows.  

Amy Baldwin, one of my most excited friends, will be there with her mosaic beauties--her windows will make your stomach hurt!  What?  You don't believe me?  Check out her windows gallery.

Linda Land will be there along with her friend Brenda Little, they are both extraordinary artists!  They create beautiful things for you to wear or for your home to wear.

Jill & Susan will be selling baked goods again!  Mmmm!  I had one of their lemon bars and they were really good!  Okay, 2 lemon bars.  I make lemon bars and I love mine, now, I love theirs, too!

Medeah Kitsmiller will be there, she teaches classes at Paper Crown, here's a peek at what she will have in store.

Martha Green and Valisha Hall are also 2 vendors that will participate in tomorrow's big event.  You may take a look at their work on Paper Crown's blog.

Donna Layton will be there with some of her famous wallpaper packs and she's painting now, she has those there as well!  I'm looking forward to being next to her!

I am excited to be a vendor as well!  I will have plenty of aprons and tiny embroidered bags to sell.

Here's a peek:

We will be in the store next to Paper Crown tomorrow!  Get in line and bring your bucks!

 

Hey, I've Got it Going on...

So, the second day of the workshops started too early (did I say that?)! I skipped breakfast and ate my backup cupcake--lemon is a fruit, so...
We again, started our day with Kaari; we made fabric flower bouquets and they were really amazing! Kaari had a table set up with a dozen or so fabric squares for us to choose, a small table with ~20 spools of ribbon, and an overflowing amount of embroidery floss for our project. We had a little piece of heaven that day, I was so overwhelmed, that I did not take pictures of the setup. Bummer, her shears alone deserve their own blog post, they had "French General" etched in them all! Mmmm. Oh, yeah, flowers... here's mine, I slapped it on this bag, it looks really good with the ticking!

In this photo, Shelley is wearing her first one and putting the finishing touches on the second, she is a machine, MecaShelley is what I call her now.

Next, we all attended a luncheon and the very first thing that I did was find and meet Amy Butler! That really made my afternoon! She was really nice and cheery and just happy to be there!

I know what you are thinking--yes, she's 6'10!" Okay maybe not that height, but, she is tall and she had on some major heels. I don't wear heels, so, that's all me. The lunch was great, the panelists were great, it was really a good time to sit back and just eat.

Our last class Shelley and I had together, it was with Charlotte Lyons, we made a handy travel tray. I use it to tote jewelry kits from room to room. It came together well, I will make a few more for gifts.

I had a lot of fun with my OK gals! It was fun to share a room with Shelley, she was compliant with my need for a warm room. She may have unwillingly lost five pounds, though! MecaShelley made all of my gifts, she is a sweetie!

Excuse the terrible lighting and editing--

this is a little sign for my sewing room and a box, I keep extra needles and thread in there for now.

I love my little journal! The burd pendant sits on a birdcage near the sewing machine, and those lil' legs! I don't think that she was able to squeeze all 8 letters for a name tag for me, I love it!

This is from the journal that she made, basically, we said this the whole weekend!

That was a nice weekend, but, I must admit, I had a margarita on my way home from the airport!

What's the 411, hon?

On a windy weekend in late April, 100+ females met in St. Louis for a workshops event hosted by Mary Engelbreit. Three of us from OK traveled together, Renee, Shelley, and myself flew to MO for a great adventure. Soon after arriving to St. Louis, we hopped in a car and drove to Mary's studio for a grand tour, I explored more than I clicked....

Next, we ate lunch, checked into our rooms and headed to the much anticipated Red Lead Paperworks.

Red Lead is run by 2 sisters who were chatty and funny, their store was swell.

One more shot...

I introduced my travel buds to Urban Outfitters (they have never heard of it!) and we hit up Anthro, too. We prepared for the welcome night where Mary greeted us, she's so excited to see me!

Here's a fella bella, Rachel V. and Shelley

Everyone made their own name tags for the event, here's my roomie and me with ours:

After the meet and greet, the 3 of us enjoyed a cupcake or two, it was a perfect end to almost any night not involving alcoholic beverages.

The next day, we wake up bright and early for breakfast at 7:00, luckily, Shelley and I had our own bedrooms & bathrooms, so we did not have to get up before 6:00. Our first class was a charmant bracelet.

Our instructor was Kaari Meng, look at her name tag!

I ended up with both colors for the bracelet, they were just irresistible.

I had this gilded beauty signed by the author and contributor and mailed to my greatly missed bird.

During this class, Shelley and I sat a seat apart and magic happened. There was some snickering, talking under one's breath, and mild profanity, basically, we made a friend.

Priscilla is her name, her bling would make Lil' Wayne proud, she was hilarious and will understand the Mary J. Blige reference that is the title of this post.

After lunch, I made a glitter chandelier with Wendy freaking Addison, yo! I have been a fan of Wendy for about 5 years, longer than I even knew who Mary E was! That was such a labor intensive class, it was 98% cutting, I am not exaggerating. It was a handoff between an exacto knife and scissors, my fingers will never be the same again, neither will my sewing room where the chandelier hangs. I love it. Love it!
During that class, her assistant quickly became my life coach, she said that I was too anal or detail-oriented, she did not get far with me, she surrendered.

We ended that night with a fabulous dinner, wine, and dessert, of course. Day 3 coming up next!

Pink Fluffy Flowers

While the outside temperature was still in the 40s, I decided to move forward with the seasons. I am going to be ready for spring when it arrives. I will take more pictures of the springing blossoms and track how fast that pussywillow grows in the pond. Also, I am going to have clothes ready, of course. 

As I clean my closets of old shoes and unworn clothes, I dream of things to fill the fortunate one's closet. Sewing, of course.

 

I saw this fabric on sale at J.Caroline's near empty spot and bought a yard and challenged myself to do something useful with it. Now, you should know that sitting pretty is useful... I went to a pattern that I have learned to love, that Kwik Sew dress.

  

It is not spring yet, so, here is her seasonal segue.

  

The rosette is a birthday gift from Aunt Bird. Ain't it perty? 

 This skirt gives me dry-heaves:

   

I just made it 2 days ago and as I was editing the photo, I have thought of another skirt to make with the prints, look out for that. 

It's almost spring break and I plan to make a raincoat for the child, I hope that goes well. 

***I'll be at Funky Finds Spring Fling in Ft. Worth this Saturday, come out and support the handmade artisans! Want to find me? Look for red shoes and polka dot knee socks.

I Will Not Say it Anymore, After This Post...

Donna Layton was our instructor at Paper Crown for a honeycomb balls (last time) garland. She has got some talent, the scary kind. The honeycomb was an interesting construction, overall, it was not complicated, but it is hard to do something like this when I want to talk the entire time. This is the final product:

   

I added the heart charm and bead to mine, very sweet.

   

Donna made our name tags, she drew the flowers. Is it not pretty? I wore this cardigan that Jimmy washed and shrank (no! not the anthro clothes!). I wore it anyhow.

   

Yes, it looked like it belonged to 3 year old E, I don't care. Look at how well this tag matches my sweater. Please, do not try to ignore the necklace, it is 3 strands of FG goodness. It took about 4 hours to make. Worth.it.

Legit

The bird and I signed up for a class at Paper Crown for the end of January; it was going to be a great way to start a new year and rid of any possible holiday funk and stories from aforementioned events. Unfortunately, the class was canceled due to a snow and ice storm. I was disappointed, I was ready to struggle to make these honeycomb balls and now we had to wait 3 more weeks! 

Finally, the class was rescheduled for the day before Valentines Day, which meant one thing, I had to make something for my bird in which I share a pod. Sadly, I did not take pictures of the item, because I suck. I did however, take pictures of my gift that she made for me. It is a larger, softer version of this.

 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. Raw edges
2. fabric-covered button
3. 2 beads (vintage!)
4. seam binding
5. luscious velvet
6. Rouenneries fabric square
7. Red toile 
8. Heart on the back that looks like it says "Je" but, it does not
9. coffee stains
10. V-notches

and with this gift, 

I am sanctified.

Our Toddler

Is one year older! On her birthday, she got another haircut, wore a new dress and the three of us sat at her table and celebrated. 

 We sang to her

   

she opened her gifts from us (she would shake this everyday for 2 weeks, she thought that this was chocolate candy):

   

we ate cupcakes 

   

and most importantly, she received a train set!

 

 

This special moment lasted less than 15 minutes but, it was worth every second. It was so important to us to be able to do this with our daughter because we may never get the chance again to have such an intimate moment with her.