You Can Call Me Gwen

I'm not fast, but I'm slow.

 

Way back in September of 2010, I purchased a big piece of furniture at our local Goodwill store.

September 11th, to be exact.

 

I blogged about it here (scroll down through the post).

That big piece of furniture sat in our garage in it's original condition until April of this year.

Here is what it looked like:

 

In April, I finally had enough free time and good weather converge to go out there and start working on the piece.

On April 16th, to be exact.

 

 

The first thing I discovered was that the knobs were not removable; they were glued on, not screwed in.

The next thing I discovered was a pair of men's socks; they were stuck behind one of the drawers.

I laughed.

I guess this was used as someones dresser in it's former life.

After I sanded and washed the piece down, I put two coats of my favorite black paint on it.

After it dried for a few days, we brought it in and put it up against the 'new' wainscotted wall in the dining room.

It was supposed to be temporary, but it's still there.

And it's full to the brim with the china and dishes I took out of my other hutch when we started re-doing that room.

I think it's beautiful.

I wish I could get a good picture, but this is the best I've been able to do.

 

 

I'm pleased with my $37.50 buffet.

I'm glad I got it done before we had to celebrate a one-year anniversary of ownership.

I'm especially glad to have it done now, because Saturday we brought home 5 more pieces that need to be redone.

Soon.

Real soon.

Rubberband Books

 

 

I have a little book-making tutorial for you, courtesy of the lovely Miss B (of Zentangle fame).

When our D'Art group got together to play on the 8th of July, we got to make paper beads with Able Baker Dana and rubberband books with Miss B.

Definitely an inchie moment (hour? day?).

 

 

 

It was so easy-peasy to make these books, and they make such lovely little gifts, that I thought I'd just share the how-to with all of you Dear Readers.

Here are the supplies you will need:

 - One sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper for the cover (you can use cardstock, scrapbook paper, even something from your recycling bin...the possibilities are endless)

 - One or two sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" copy-weight paper

 - One #19 rubberband

 - A bone folder (you can use  a tongue depressor)

 - A scissors or a paper cutter

 - A bit of glue (or some glue dots or double stick tape)

Ready?

It's nice if you can start with a piece of paper for the cover that you think is...

  

 

 

Since my paper was 12" x 12", I had to do a little trimming to make it the correct size.

Of course, I didn't just make a straight cut to trim that extra inch off one edge...

 

 
 

...because I'm still in a manic paper-bead-making phase, with no end in sight.

Once the paper was the correct size, I just followed these instructions:

Step 1. Fold your cover paper in a 'hot dog' fold (long edges together) with the front side facing out and make a nice crease with your bone folder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, you might notice that my paper is upside down here, and that's important.

I made these next important creases all wrong (several times) when I was using paper which had text (or a design needing a particular orientation).

If you stick with me, you'll see that you need to be careful at this point if you are using paper like this for your cover.

Step 2.  Open your paper and fold the bottom two corners in to meet the middle crease (I don't know why I had to confuse you by turning my paper upside down so that I had to fold the top two corners)....

 

 

 

...and press with your bone folder.

Step 3. Now fold the paper in a 'hamburger' fold, bringing the point to the center of the top edge like this...

 

 

 

...and press that bottom crease with your bone folder. 

Step 4.  Place glue dots or a small piece of double-stick tape (or a bit of glue) to hold the inner pockets closed...

 

 

 

 

...and fold your book closed along the original hot dog fold.

Your cover is almost finished!

Step 5.  To make inner pages, hamburger fold a piece of copy weight paper, and crease along the fold.

 

 

 

Step 6. Now cut 1/4" off the folded edge like this...

 



 

...and a generous 1/4" off one short edge like this:







Step 6. Fold your pages (short edge to short edge) and crease.



 



You can make pages from any copy weight paper, and the beauty of this little notebook is that the pages can be replaced any time.

If you happen to have a friend who loves graph paper every bit as much as you do, and you happen to be planning to give her a little notebook next time you see her, you might want to add some pages made from graph paper.







Step 7.  You're going to snip a little bit off the cover at the folded corners, so the rubberband can meet and hold the inside pages in place.

I center my inner pages along the outside of the cover and hold them in place while I snip off the corners...

 







...like this:



 

 

 




Step 8.  Now just line the center creases of your inner pages up with the center crease of your inside book cover and slip a #19 rubberband into place like this:







Et voila!







You have a nice little refillable notebook!

You can tuck a few index cards inside the pockets, too.







Do you love it?







Now, when we made these in 'class', we also made one which was not refillable.

We used a needle and thread to sew the 'signature' of inner pages into the notebook.

I loved the fact that we could dress up the book by adding paper beads to the tails of the thread on the outside of the book.

In fact, I loved it so much that I decided I couldn't do without it, even though I wanted this book to be refillable. 

So, I just removed the pages, sewed the book cover together so I could add the beads, and then put the pages and rubberband back in place.

Now I really love it!

 







( If you notice that I clipped the outer edges of my book cover, even though it wasn't necessary from a functional standpoint, well...it's just because I've got this problem with symmetry.)

Another wonderful thing about these little notebooks is that they fit perfectly into a standard A2 envelope so you can mail them (minus the beads, of course).

I made several for Me Darlin' Mither to mail to her friends (in a lot less time than it took me to write this post).

Think of the potential uses for a nifty little book design like this (Thank you, Miss B!).

What a kewl thing to make with kids the first day of a vacation or a week at camp so they could use it as a journal or an autograph book.

I'm really wanting to make some of these using old phone book or atlas covers for cover paper.

I think there is a lot of paper floating in and out of our lives which could be recycled with this project.

I'm going to send one of these to you if you give me a suggestion for a recycled book cover for which I actually have the material on hand.   offer expired 8/1/2011

Okay?

Okay.

A Book Themed Wedding Shower

 

And now...

Back by popular demand...

The Inchies, ladies and gentlemen!

Actually, there hasn't been any demand, popular or otherwise, but I do have two and a half month's worth of unposted inchies...along with all their back stories.

Seems like I should know how this happened, but I really can't remember much, except that I had my gears in overdrive for a lot of May and June.

So, anywho...

Because this little blog really does serve as a log for me, I'm going to round up some of those inchies and kind of bounce back and forth from past to present for awhile in my posts.

Today I'm looking back on part of May...

Someone I love is getting married, and I had the privilege of being one of the hosts of a wedding shower for he and his bride in May.

On and off during the month, I worked on decorative details for the shower.

I already showed you the invitations...

 

 

 

...though I don't know if they were complete at the time.

Once the invitations were in the mail, I got serious about making decorations for the shower.

Because we were trying for a casual and comfortable atmosphere, but wanted to have something pretty for the tradition-embracing bride, we decided on sack lunches for dinner, but something beyond the brown bag.

Imagine how thrilled I was to discover the perfect napkins to do the job for us!

 

 

 

This little business of having sack lunches (croissant sandwiches, fruit, chips) prepared - along with help-yourself drinks on ice and tiered trays of pretty cupcakes - really left all the hostesses free to enjoy the evening, and the guests free to eat whenever they wished.

It was perfect.

And finding the napkins and being inspired with the design was my perfect inchie moment for the day.

 

  

 

After that was figured out, I turned my attention to Phase II of the paper dogwood blossoms.

For the shower, I wanted to use book pages for some of the blossoms, along with the 'natural white' paper, so I scouted the thrift stores and made a couple of great finds.

One book was titled, "Flowers for You", and was a collection of scriptures and stories for the various seasons of life.

 

 

I considered it a bonus that this book was printed with brown ink; highly unusual, and so much 'gentler' for the blossoms.

The other book was titled, "I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah" ; a scriptural look at love and marriage by one of my favorite speaker/authors, Ravi Zacharias (it was difficult to cut that one up, but I knew my "adopted" son would appreciate the details; which he did).

I left the leaves off one of the branches and used it as a guest book at the shower; letting each of the guests sign a leaf as they came in, and then attaching them to the branch with glue dots (I love me some glue dots).

 

 

 

 

 

  

Also at the entry table were the name tags which were made using the leftover paper from the invitations (the bride was meeting many of the guests for the first time).

Because we were using books (one of the bride and groom's great common interests) and flowers to decorate for this shower, I was really happy to find I had the perfect rubber stamp on my shelf for the name tags.

 



 

Completing this pretty little detail was the inchie moment for May 13.





 

The night before the shower (gasp!) I remembered I was planning to make a wreath for the front door using an idea from this great book. 

I am so glad I remembered and had the time to make it - with Miss Helping Hands' help - because I loved it.

We used every page from this book...

  

 

...along with a few sheets of green patterned paper (which previously served as placemats on the tea table) to make the wreath. 

I started by running my ink pad (and I'm totally loving this color and it's name - Pear Tart, dig it) along all the edges of the book.







 

Then we took all the pages out of the book and starting rolling them into cones.

Since I was behind the eight ball on this project, I completely forgot to stop and take pictures (but the step-by-step instructions are in the book).

Some of the pages were rolled from the long edge, and some from the short.

They were stapled at the narrow end and some more color was added by just lightly running the ink pad along some of the points and sides.

Then they were glued in circular rows to a large round piece of cardboard.

I remembered to take one other picture while we were working (probably when I realized we were going to get it done and I started breathing again).





 

Somewhere around the point when I started breathing again, I also realized I was growing faint from hunger.

Miss Helping Hands kept telling me to "Stop and eat. You need some protein, Mom."

I finally said yes to her offer to reheat a barbecued hamburger patty.

I guess she thought it was a pathetic sight all by it's lonesome on the plate, because this is what she brought to me:







I'll bet you've never had mustard served to you in such an artistic fashion.

Don't be jealous; you can copy this if you want to.

All I ask is that you give Miss Helping Hands the creative credit when you post your pictures.

Bwahahaha.

Once we had all the cones on the board, I had to do a little digging around on-line (I was grateful for Facebook at this point) to locate a photograph to personalize the center.

The addition of a few small blossoms finished the job.




 

I had Miss Helping Hands hold it so you could get an idea of the size; I had no idea it would be so large.

 

 


...but it was perfect for the door.





 

The shower, on May 20, was wonderful.







Just like the bride and groom for whom it was given.

The Circle of Life

 

(I'm going to give all of you creative Dear Readers some more time to come up with captions for my last post. I know you're all working on it. Meanwhile...)

Twenty-two years ago I was making many little sundresses from this pattern...

 

 

 

...for my own baby girl.

Tuesday, during the very long, tense tornado watch, I got out this pattern and made a little sundress for another Baby Girl.

This fabric, which I purchased to add a spot of color to the bridal shower food table,...

 

 

 

...was bought with this companion fabric so I could use it for Baby Girl's sundress.

 

 

 

It's a lot wilder, and in a different color scheme, than I'd normally choose, but Miss Helping Hands reassures me that "it's summery and it's really cute".

I do so love this pattern.

 

 

 

I love the pocket details.

 

 

 

And I love the back; especially when it's lined with a contrasting fabric.

 

 

 

Baby Girl generally wears a headband with a ribbon or some other fanciness on it, so I used some of the leftover fabric to make a matching flower.

 

 

 

 I'm going to sew a clip to the back of it so it can be attached to a headband.

Although the dress is a size 1/2, it still looks big in comparison to Baby Girl.

I'm anxious to see how it fits.

And if it does fit...

 

 
 

 

...look out.

I'll be putting the pedal to the metal on that Bernina. 

Your mission, should you decide to accept it...

 

...is to help me write the captions for these cards I told you about in my last post.

I managed to get nine of them made before the sewing bug bit and I went on to other things.

I know you are a creative bunch, so let me hear from you.

I'd like to send a couple of these out to one of you Dear Readers, as a little token of thanks just for being there; I talk to myself a lot, but it's much nicer to talk to you.

Just mention the picture number for which you are writing a caption, and we include your name in the drawing.

 

#1

 

 

 

#2

 

 

 

#3

 

 

 

#4

 

 

 

#5

 

 

 

#6

 

 

 

#7

 

 

 

#8

 

 

 

#9

 

 

 

Here's the little inchie to represent all the fun I had cutting and pasting.

It's one of my favorite images from the book because, yes, it was upside down there, just like it is here.

 

 

 

And, you know, a new perspective can be quite refreshing.

Inchie Roll Call

 

I'm finishing the roll call on April inchies; at last!

 

For some reason, the past three or four weeks of my life have been extremely full.

So when the Prince and I had a little time to curl up together and watch a Masterpiece Theatre presentation on the 17th...

 

 

 

...we really enjoyed it.

-------

The Monday following Easter I was a little late for work.

I was fretting about it, because I had simply mismanaged my morning and I felt I should have been more careful.

Until I pulled into the parking lot at work.

I pulled in alongside two geese and their seven goslings, who were taking a little stroll on the premises.

I stopped my car, rolled down the window, and got out my little camera.

They stopped as soon as I did, and I worried that I was frightening them.

Then I realized the adults were simply letting the kids refresh themselves in the little puddle of water left by recent rains...

 

 

 

...and I knew I'd arrived at work at precisely the right time.

By the time I had parked my car and walked across the parking lot, the little family was exploring the courtyard near the entrance.

 

 

 

The goose on the left appeared to be standing guard for mama and babies.

I knew for sure that he was when I had to pass nearby and he honked out his warning.

 

 

  

"I'm sorry, feathered friend, I've just got to get to the door."

I think I prefer to remember them...

 

 

 

...at the swimming pool.

------

I had a "first" with Baby Girl on the 26th.

It was our first time to keep just her little sweet self.

Little Man was being treated to his first theatre movie, and we were being treated to some one-on-one time with our favorite little girl.

I like to bathe the grandshoots when I have them; I love the smell of all those baby soaps and shampoos.

 

 

 

And who can resist a freshly bathed baby in a sweet little nightgown, playing with her chubby little toes?

 

 

 

"Not I", said the Little Red Hen.

-------

We ended up our April with a short visit from my Leetle Brudder, and the beginning of a week-long visit from my Beeg Brudder and his Bride. 

The first night they were in town, we met  for dinner at our standard Friday night spot with Beeg Seester and Bro.

Beeg Brudder slipped me a quilting magazine and said, "I think you'll be really interested in the contents of this magazine."

He had tucked this incredible woodcut inside:

 

 

 

 

Does the design look familiar?

He is a Dear Reader, and he took the design from the post about this papercut I had done (the pattern for which came from this wonderful blog):

 

 

 

Oh, I love to be loved!

My brudder has some mad skills; this is the same brudder who made our family bench.

 

 

 

...with our wedding date and the birthdates and birthstone colors of each family member.

 

 

 

(He sells these, by the way, should you be interested in having a treasure like this for your own family.)

(Hmmm. I don't know how he got my birth year wrong. I'm only 30...)

He brought the bench when he visited last Mother's Day, and the Hedgehog Love woodcut when he visited this Mother's Day.

 

 

 

I am trained now.

And I can't wait for next Mother's Day.

------

It was small thing, in the way of return, but I had them over for homemade pizza on the 30th.

The Prince (and most of the male shoots in the family) like to have their pizza made with meats, cheeses, and marinara sauce.

I like to make my own pizza with homemade pesto sauce and piles of fresh vegetables.

A little bit of cheese just to hold things in place and...oh-my-yummy-goodness!

 

 

 

What a way to end the month; delicious food shared with beloved people.

I like that.

An Interview With Annski - Tote Bag Tutorial

Hello, Dear Readers, and welcome to Gwen's first-ever interview with a guest blogger.

After Dear Reader Annski gave every member of our book club one of these awesome totes...

 

 

 

...made from recycled pet food bags in March, I've been thinking it might be nice to get the back-story on these little beauties and their maker.

Annski generously agreed to visit Gwen's studio for a Q and A session in mid-April (um...nearly a month ago!) and I finally get to share our conversation with you.

So, without further ado, here we go!

Gwen: I've been really impressed by both the artistry and skill of your sewing, Annski. (I'm not sure whether I really said that, but I meant to). Just how long have you been sewing? (I did really say that.)

Annski: Hmmmm. For about 50 years. My mom started teaching me when I was about four or five years old. We made Barbie clothes on her Singer featherweight.

Gwen: Zowie! That is amazing! Barbie clothes at age five?! Did you continue to sew all through your life?

Annski: No, not continually. I got my first machine when I was thirteen or fourteen; mostly just to show my teachers I could sew better than they were teaching. I started sewing some of my own clothes then.  Remember the skirts with multiple tiers we used to wear? I made some of those.

Gwen: I remember! And the peasant blouses...they've all made a comeback or two since then (though I don't know how this is possible since we're still so young). So, you made your own clothes?

Annski: I made some of my clothes at that time, but I didn't sew during my college years. I began doing a little sewing again when my son was young. I did some hand-smocking back in...83? Then my mother-in-law, who was a crafter, started giving me things to make and sell in gift shops. That put me in touch with Homespun Memories(etc)and I sewed collars and jumpers for them.

GwenGwen: I did that too! All those jumpers were sold at craft fairs...I wonder how many I made. My "jumper money" paid for my Bernina sewing machine. I've always been glad I did that.

Annski: Remember the watermelon collars?

Gwen: Yikes! I do remember! Although I can happily report that I never wore one, lol.

Annski: After the jumper/collar phase, I began making a line of coordinated accessories for a gift shop in Nichols Hills. There were all kinds of zipper bags and covers for things; including fabric phonebook covers! Guess there wouldn't be much call for those anymore.

Gwen: Aha! That's why the little zippered wallets you make look so professional. I was pretty well amazed at the one you gave to me. I'm still waiting for my matching phonebook cover..

Annski: Well, I pretty much gave up sewing when I discovered the computer.

Gwen: What do you mean?

Annski: I started making lists.

Gwen: Lists?

Annski: I'm an inventory freak. The first electronic list I made was an inventory of all our VHS tapes.

Gwen: Oh, I know a little bit about your inventory compulsion. Tell my Dear Readers about the fabric inventory you started keeping when you began sewing again recently.

Annski: I use a program for my iPad for that. I take a picture of each piece of fabric I buy and I make notes about the color, manufacturer, and where they were purchased, etc. That actually does keep me from repeating a purchase when I am collecting pieces for a quilt.

 Gwen: Let me interrupt. You don't just take a picture. You set up a "jig" so that all the photos are taken from the same distance and include the same amount of fabric! You texted me a picture of it and said, "I set up this jig to take photos of my fabric. I imagine it's along the same lines as the way you photograph your inchies." I laughed for a long time on that one! I don't even know what a jig is! My poor inchies each get set on the same piece of paper for photographing, but that's where any consistency ends! Annski, do the letters OCD mean anything to you?

Annski: Well, yes. But in a fun way. My inventory lists are important because my general thinking is: "If I don't have it in a catalog, it doesn't exist."

 Gwen: Lol! Okay, finish telling the Dear Readers about your fabric inventory.

Annski: Hmmm. When I first starting buying fat quarters (when I got hooked on quilting), I would enter the color by name...say, "light green" or "brown". But I quickly realized that there are so many shades and values to every color, that these words weren't going to be sufficient for my purposes. So I got out a color fan-deck, like the kind used in paint stores - and I began to assign each piece of fabric a color number, instead of a name. This way I know about the color value of the piece, rather than just that it's "brown" or "orange".

Gwen: Omigersh! You're kidding! Annski, do you have as much fun sewing as you do buying and keeping inventory of your supplies? It's hard to imagine...

Annski: Yes, I do now. Because I like completion now. I used to have all kinds of stuff, but not many truly finished projects. I had all 329 colors of floss when I did cross stitch; even baby-barf yellow, lol. Then I bought a lot of the colors Fimo clay came in, and a lot of beads for jewelry-making. The first time around with quilting (in 1995), I bought all the fabric to make these big quilts and wound up only doing enough to make throw pillows. I did the same thing with yarn and afghans. I just wasn't much of a finisher.

Gwen: So, now you're back into sewing and guilting and you are quite the finisher! What changed?

Annski: Well, I started reading your blog. Then we became friends. And the first time we went to the quilt store together you said, "Now hurry up and get that project done, because we can't go to the quilt store again until it's finished". Your blog just inspired me to complete things.

Gwen: I sure talk big! But, apparently, you missed the blog post about my eight or ten unfinished quilts...

Annski: Lol!

Gwen: From quilts to totes made with pet food bags, is quite a stretch. Can you tell my Dear Readers what inspired these bags?

Annski: At Ikea they have bags in the store to use while shopping, and they're made from the same "fabric" as the pet food bags. So I started looking at all my pet food bags...

Gwen: And?

Annski: I saved thirty empty bags before I actually made any totes. I do love an inventory. After I had about thirty empty bags stockpiled though, I caught my husband sneaking the bags off to the trash. I figured I'd better get busy.

Gwen: You made thirty tote bags? Do you have any left?

Annski: I gave them all away. I had to save another bag to make one for myself!

Gwen: I'm sure glad you gave one to me, but I know exactly how that goes! Are you saving pet food bags again, or is it "been there, done that" for you?

Annski: I got used to mass production. I'll probably be compelled to save them while I'm waiting for a new idea.

Gwen: What's up next for you?

Annski: Quilting is gonna get big. I want to make an OKC Thunder spread for my son. I keep thinking about concentrating on one medium. I have an intense paper inventory. I plan to thin the herd, pick the best of the rest, and then learn to sew paper. I'd also like to get back to Zentangle. And I did knit and crochet a bit...

Gwen: It's nice to know I'm not the only one who wants to do everything, lol.  Back to the bags... You've been kind enough to post on your blog a step-by-step tutorial for making totes from recycled pet food bags. What level of sewing expertise is necessary to complete this project, and is there anything special we should know before starting?

 Annski: I would say beginner to intermediate. I used nylon filament thread to sew mine, for durablity and because I didn't have to be concerned about color that way. I had to adjust the tension settings on my machine for the thread, so that's something to be aware of. Otherwise, I think the tutorial will see you through.

Gwen: Well, I think this wraps up our interview. Thank you so very much for sharing a bit of your life and this great tutorial with us. And if you ever run out of things to inventory, I've got this closet in my studio...

 

 
  

...and I no longer know what's in there.

Emptiness and Fullness

 

 

I guess we usually think of emptiness as a negative thing.

But after years of calling the ironing pile Mount Neverest, I still feel celebratory every time I empty the basket.

 

 

 And I can't overcome the feeling that it should echo when I speak into it.

-------

On Easter, we celebrated another emptiness. 

 

 

 

And a beautiful emptiness it is!

We had a lovely Easter.

The goilies kept to tradition by hunting for hidden jelly beans inside the house on Easter morning.

 

 

 

It got fairly brutal near the end of the hunt, when both goils went for the same jelly bean and Miss Helping Hands knocked Miss Mary Mack's entire bowl of jelly beans to the floor.

Perhaps we will start leaving the jelly bean hunt to the next generation.

They were here for Sunday dinner on Easter, along with our married shoots and Me Darlin' Mither.

While we were at the dinner table, Miss Mary Mack entertained us all by telling us about her Easter morning in fluent Spanish.

It's exciting to have someone in the family who is bilingual.

And she's determined to teach her little niece and nephew to speak Spanish, too.

Here is Tia Maria y Mija celebrating Mija's very first Easter.

 

 
 

 

Muy linda!

The grandshoots posed for pictures with their bunnies.

 

 

 

 

But my favorite photos are the ones we tried to take of the two of them. 

After a few minutes, Little Man, who'd lost a shoe in the ordeal, had had enough.

I captured a shot of his escape; with Baby Girl falling off her perch on his lap and all eyes focused on Dada.

 

 
 

 

 I love the real stuff.

And kids always let you know...

 

 

 

 

...when they've had enough.

Produce Sticker Collection

 

 

It's been awhile since I updated you on my growing produce sticker collection.

And since I've been thoroughly enjoying the sweet, sweet oranges we've had lately...

 

 

 

... and I've been eating so many salads that I actually got to add a new bell pepper sticker to the collection...

 

 

 

...I thought it might be time to post this.

There are little bits of art where you least expect them.

Good Times

 

Have some fun along the way.

Because sometimes the way is long.

I took Me Darlin' Mither to an appointment on April 7th, for which she needed  $50.

Because I was a little late coming from work to pick her up, I told her she could just borrow the two twenties I had with me, add the ten she had with her, and we would stop at the bank after the appointment to get her money.

We were well on our way home after the appointment when she realized she'd forgotten to stop and make her payment.

I told her I was just sure they would understand if she called and explained, and I offered to write a check and send it off to them (Mither is legally blind and can no longer write checks).

I also told her I was just too tired to stop at the bank, and I would catch up with her later about paying me back.

She said, "I don't want to be completely without cash, but why don't I at least give you these two twenties. Then I'll just owe you the ten."

Pause.

"Um. Slick, Mom. You're going to pay me back for the check I'm writing for you with the cash I just loaned to you? And they talk about people taking advantage of the elderly!"

Me Darlin' Mither was horrified at her mistake.

 

 

 

 

But we laughed for a long time.

From Screech to Exquisite

 

Bittersweet.

Some things in life are just that.

When we went to see Miss Helping Hands play in the last concert of her school career, the experience definitely qualified as bittersweet.

For twelve years, from the screechy notes when she first picked it up in the fourth grade, to the powerful performance of Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture in the final concert of her senior year at university, Miss Helping Hands has been playing her violin in school orchestras; and we've been in the audience marveling.

 

 

 

 

Now it's over.

 

 

 

 

And twelve roses, for twelve years of beautiful music, only begins to represent our gratitude.

We Play Games

 

We play games.

We play lots of games.

We play games nearly every time two or more members of the family are together.

Miss Helping Hands and I play Big Boggle.

The game is not available in stores anymore and somehow, over the years, our two sets of Big Boggle letter cubes have gotten all mixed up and we've had to play with a compromised set.

Compromise is not a good thing in this case, so I scouted around on Ebay and found a used-but-complete game for sale (at a GREAT price!).

It arrived in April 4th's mail.

 

 

 

I just know this means I will win more games against Miss Helping Hand.

I just know it.

-------

The Prince was out of town for several days at the end of the month, and the male shoots were ever-so-kind and conscious of the fact that it was probably the first time ever for me to be all alone in The Big House.

Smirkins came over for the evening on the 28th, and we set up the card table on the porch, played several games of Sequence, and enjoyed the fine weather and each other's company.

 

 

 

 

Because I'd nearly cancelled our plans earlier in the day - when I was briefly overcome  by all the things I had on my to-do list - we got to discussing some of the things that were on my list.

Actually, he asked me to tell him what it was I had to get done.

And then he said, "Let me help you. I'm here, Mom, and what do I have to do? Let's get something crossed off the list."

He helped me wrap some gifts.

He cut down a cardboard box, so we could use it to mail those gifts.

And after we'd wrapped, taped and addressed the package, he said " I'm going to go put this in your car so it will be there when you're ready to go to the post office".

Here is some advice, Dear Readers:

If you're still young, have kids.

And if you have kids, have nice kids.

It's pretty wonderful.

Making and Re-making

 

Besides being full of giving and receiving (heavy on the receiving), April has also had a big dose of making and re-making.

I found a white wicker shelf at the thrift store one day and it was such a throw back to my childhood years that I felt compelled to buy it.

We never owned one; my mother (rightfully) thought they were terrible dust collectors.

This one had collected a lot of dust over it's many years, but was otherwise in good condition.

 

 

 

Since I'm always needing shelving/storage in my little studio (and I prefer to rescue, rather than buy new things)...

...and since the price was right...

 

 

 

I brought this little baby home and got out my trusty black spray paint.

There wasn't quite enough in the can to finish the job, so I had to run the hardware store for more.

Now, some people get light headed and dizzy when they use spray paint.

I get light headed and dizzy when I stand in front of the spray paint display.

 

 

 

Oh, my!

I can't tell you how long it took to tear myself, and my overworked imagination, away from this!

The little shelf was painted on April 12.

 

 

 

 

It's still sitting in the studio waiting for the Prince and I to have time to hang it.

 

 

 

 

There is another spray-painted item sitting in the studio waiting to be hung.

 

 

 

It's my new guest book holder.

It was rescued from the thrift store by Miss Mary Mack, who intended to repurpose it, but never got around to it.

 

 

 

When I inherited it, I realized it would be the perfect holder for the studio guest book.

I've had lots of guests in the studio over the years, and I like to have them write a little note while they're here.

The old 'guest book' was  a bunch of shipping tags, which each guest duly decorated with beads, rubber stamps, drawings, etc.

Last May I had a roll of adding machine tape appear in my studio (I know not whence it came) and after I'd moved it around for awhile, I decided it would make a great new guest book.

This is how it was kept:

 

 

 

(Does anyone else remember those pink sponge rollers? I hung on to a few I used for the goilies when they were little; the clip came in handy here.)

The thing about this guest book is, I didn't read any of the entries as they were written; I told my guests to just 'write and roll'.

I had it for nearly a year before I unrolled it and spent a glorious half-hour enjoying all the comments and reliving all the moments recorded there.

 

 

 

 

It was awesome.

Get yourself a guest book.

Or, better yet, let someone else get you a guest book.

When I turned my new holder over to paint the back side, this is what I found:

 

 

 

I didn't paint over it; these are real people and I have them all 'imagined up' now.

Another item in the April re-make category is the big credenza I bought last year at the thrift store (half price, mind you).

 

 

 

This ginormous hunk of furniture is going to be sitting in my foyer (hopefully before May is over).

I was sorry to discover that the drawer knobs are not removable, but I've started sanding and painting this piece black and it's looking good.

 

 
 

 

I sure do hope it looks finished before too long.

Sigh.

In the April things-that-were-made category are the little duckie cupcakes Able Baker Dana and I made on the 20th.

 

 

 

I still say they looked a bit deranged.

 

 

 

Also made, on the 21st,  were the little almost-chocolate bunnies.

 

 

The family has since split up; Baby Girl likes to chew on the ears of Tall Bunny, so she took her home on Easter Sunday.

And, of course, PeeWee was claimed by Miss Mary Mack.

Pudgie lives on at the Big House.

 

 

 

Of course, they breed like rabbits, so there will probably be more next spring.

The last thing-that-was-made which shows up on the April inchie line-up, was the first of 50 invitations to an upcoming (very special) wedding shower.

 

 

 

I am working this weekend on finishing these.

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon slicing paper.

 

 

 

 

I made an interesting discovery, too: If you buy a new blade for your rotary cutter, it does not matter how long you keep it in your studio, it won't do you a bit of good until you actually unwrap it and install it in the paper cutter.

Amazing, but true.

The scoring blade always works...

 

 

 

After all the paper was cut and scored, I lined the inside of the card, folded some of that wonderful Japanese paper tape over one edge, and glued down the sides to make the pocket.

 

 

 

I cut some blooms and leaves off a stem of silk flowers...

 

 

 

... and used glue dots to secure them to some small twigs I cut from a tree in our back yard.

 

 

 

 

The project is at this point right now...

 

 

 

...and, though I'd love to finish them today, I'm expecting my visiting-from-out-of-town brudders, seester-in-love, and Me Darlin' Mither for a pizza dinner and game night shortly.

And guess who's making the pizza?

Give and Receive

 

It's been such a full (full!) month that I haven't had much time to post.

The inchies are all lined up in their little places, but most of them haven't made it out into public yet.

I've managed to tell a few of their stories without including their pictures, but I think it's time to just gather them in groups and do the best we can about the rest of their histories.

We'll just call this first group "Give and Receive"; I see a pattern in my life when I look at the inchies.

And I like what I see.

On the 11th of April, I came home from work to find this hanging from my front door knob:

 

 

 

Here are the very kewl birds up close and personal:

 

 

 

These were made by Dear Reader Annski, whom I now consider a first-class ring-and-runner (as well as a first-class seamstress).

I don't think she'd mind me telling you that the pattern for these lovely birds is available on the Spool website.

If you make a bird mobile of your very own, don't forget to share a photo with them (and us, of course).

I'm so grateful Annski shared her mad skills with me.

 

 

 

 

But I'm more grateful just to be her friend.

I had lunch with another friend on the 13th of April, and she surprised me with a gift, too.

She found a set of six little birdie candles when she was doing some power-shopping in Dallas.

 

 

 

 

She said they reminded her of my little paper birdies and she wanted me to have them.

Look how perfectly they fit in the egg cups I bought in Eureka Springs after our failed camping trip.

 

 

 

 

See those other lovely things on either side of the sweet little candle?

I recieved those in the mail on April 14.

They were made by Dear Reader Fran.

The Easter card on the right came in a clear plastic box-envelope...

 

 

 

...which I thought was very kewl.

And the Easter egg came in a decorative take-out box, which was also very kewl, but which I neglected to photograph.

I did, however, draw the egg on the inchie, so I hope that counts for something in the way of keeping things even.

 

 

 

 

Whether or not I can keep things even in the give-and-take is another matter.

But my friends don't seem to hold it against me.

I am blessed.

Speaking of blessings, how wonderful it was to hear that my daughter-in-love not only wanted an apron, she loved the apron I made for her on the 19th.

 

 

 

It's cute on the inchie, but it's even cuter on her.

 

 

 

I love my family.

I love some other families, too.

The wonderful family we met on our camping trip last August sent me an envelope full of homemade goodness, including a card made with inchies, a little, teensy hanger with paper doll clothes on it, a beautiful Easter drawing, and a paper hero doll with an 'N' for Naomi on the front (which I am told includes many super powers).

 

 

 

I feel super loved.

And when I opened the mail on April 23rd, I felt super-excited, too.

Because inside were these perfect little sewing labels:

 

 

 

I sometimes think Dear Reader Annski has radar.

I hadn't even had the chance to tell her that the sewing bug had just bitten me again, and I am searching for time to make some summer clothes for Baby Girl.

 

 

 

 

I'm sure she'll be reading by then, since she'll be nine months old, and she'll look at that label when she's dressing herself and say...

"Who the heck is Gwen?"

Walk, Run, Pray, Squat, Kick

 

Naomi's Beeg Seester asked her if she wanted to go walk around the lake on April 2.

Naomi said, "Um. The whole lake?"

Her Seester said, "It's 9.5 miles. If I can do it, I'm sure you can. You're always taking those long walks."

"Um. Not that long."

"Well, how far do you think you can go? You can always have the Prince come get you when you've had enough."

"I might be able to do three miles. You going to carry a phone?"

"Yep."

"Well, okay then, I guess."

Things went a lot better than Naomi expected.

After they'd walked three or four miles, they actually started doing some running (at least they called it that).

At the six mile marker, the Prince was called to please bring water.

"Honey, are you going to keep going?" he said.

"I feel pretty good. I think I will" Naomi said.

At the seven mile marker Naomi began to come to her senses, but it was too late.

Who wants to get that close to the finish line and then quit?

She pressed on.

She lived to see this...

 

 

 

...and finished the course.

Well.

I'd love to tell you that was the end of that nonsense, but Beeg Seester liked that whole running thing and she's been getting Naomi out there pretty regularly.

And this week, when Beeg Seester has much weightier things to attend to, Naomi is being all grown up and she's forcing me to be her jogging partner.

Yesterday, about a mile into the run, I heard Naomi saying, "God, it's harder to find coins when I'm running, and I'd sure like to find a coin."

And the conversation continued.

"Let me rephrase that. I am lonely to hear your voice, God, and I'd like to find the coin you placed for me as a reminder that I am still yours, still loved, and You are not far off. I want to love You more."

Run, run.

Run, run, run.

Squat.

 

 

 

"Thank you, thank you!"

I'm glad Naomi found her precious coin.

Guess what she let me do?

Since she was being all grown up and everything, she let me be a kid for the last few blocks.

We like to play this game; we find something in the street to take turns kicking until we've kicked it all the way home.

On good days we find a golf ball, or a nice round stone.

Yesterday we kicked this home:

 

 

 

It was a lot more challenging to kick this all the way home.

I mean, there are rules and everything, and this shape made the game rather difficult.

If the object crosses the center line of the street, that's a foul.

And if it rolls under a parked car, that's a foul, too.

But, if the object jumps the curb and stays there, well, the game is over.

And that is very sad.

I saw Naomi cheat once and put the pinecone back into play after it came to rest on someone's lawn, but I didn't say anything, because I wanted my turn to kick it.

(We work together well that way.)

Naomi also found this on the street yesterday:

 

 

 

She's been collecting pencils from the mean street for quite awhile now.

She finds them just about as often as she finds the pennies from heaven.

When her Chicken Raising Seester sent her the link to this amazing art work done with old pencils (scroll down when you get there)...well.

You can imagine the explosion when Naomi's collection of rescued pencils collided with her plan to have a wall full of alphabet art!

I'm trying to keep her sanity intact.

We went out running again this morning.

And I heard her talking to God again.

"I hate to be piggish, and I am having a hard time asking, but it was so wonderful to recieve that penny from You yesterday and I'd love to be loved again today."

Run, run, run.

Squat.

 

 

 

"Oh! You are so kind to me! Thank you!"

Run, run, run.

"There's a nice round stone."

 

 

 

Squat.

Kick, walk, kick.

"There's today's pencil!"

 

 

 

Squat.

Walk, kick, walk.

It's good to be alive.

Chickens, Ducks, Harkerware and Quail

 

It's been a long time since I gave you an update on my chickens, Alistair and Ambrose.

Alas, I must tell you that Alistair has moved on to some other chicken-raising place.

My Chicken Raising Seester said "Too many roosters do not a happy farm yard make".

 I did finally get out to visit Ambrose a few weeks ago, though.

I took the Little Man and Me Darlin' Mither, too.

Ambrose was on the run and, no matter how the Little Man chased him, we couldn't seem to get him into a good picture-taking pose.

Little Man did finally get him cornered between two buildings...

 

 

 

...and I hope you can see what a beautiful fowl he's turned out to be.

Some of the other fowl were much more obliging for the camera.

These three paused together in this spot for quite a few minutes (I don't remember any of their names except Elvis; the black duck with the pompadour) .

 

 

 

I think they are lovely.

When we went inside the chicken coop, Little Man spent a long time trying to catch and pen up the four little black chickies.

I had to help him catch them, but he did a fine job of holding them this time.

 

 

 

What a difference a year makes.

Remember when he put the stranglehold on one of the chicks last year?

 

 

(Oh my! I still can't help laughing at this.)

But let me show you the funniest thing we saw in the coop this year.

My Seester caught up this duck for us so we could see the crazy place he'd decided to get his first feathers.

 

 

 

What a hoot!

Doesn't he look absolutely wild-eyed?

Maybe he wasn't happy about having his picture taken on such a bad hair day.

It was pretty darn hot day, too, so when Seester offered to get the hose and let Little Man and I give Sherman a bath, we were both right on it.

 

 

 

Neither of us had ever 'wershed' a horse before, but we're pro's now and I, personally, like the way it looks on my resume.

 One of the things I was planning to do when I went to Seester's place, was to ask her if she had any spring-y looking dishes I could borrow for the tea party I told you about earlier.

But I forgot.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I asked Seester if she would show me the inside of her new office building.

She does a lot of buying and selling of vintage and antique household items,and she had some of them in the office at that time.

I was looking through a box which held a collection of postage stamps she'd recently acquired when she held up some dishes and said, "Do you know anyone who might be interested in these?"

 

 

 

How lovely!

The Grand Weaver placed the perfect dishes in my hands with perfect timing!

Seester told me they were Harkerware...

 

 

 

...which meant nothing to me at the time, but which I've since come to appreciate.

I have only seen one piece of this particular pattern available on-line, though I have seen other pieces of Harkerware for sale.

I am so glad I bought this set from Seester.

 

 

 

It was perfect for the tea, and it was lovely on our Easter table, too.

Guess what else I brought home from Seester's?

Two button quail.

Meet Fred...

 

 

 

...and Wilma.

 

 

 

I brought them home on Sunday, April 3rd.

And on Wednesday, April 6, Wilma layed her first-ever egg.

 

 

 

I got pretty darn excited when I saw this little beauty!

 

 

 

Though, admittedly, Wilma was probably even more excited when she layed it.

Paper Dogwood Blossoms - Phase One

 

I wish I could write one, long, meandering blog post to show you how the Grand Weaver puts together all the different things that make up any given day, and then weaves all those days together into a cohesive whole life.

I wish I could.

But I don't know if I could pay attention long enough to write it, much less expect you to pay attention long enough to read it.

So, I'll weave a shorter (though probably not short) tale which involves the paper dogwoods and the first phase of my occupation with them.

Remember this picture I showed you of "what the sofa cushion next to me looks like tonight"?

 

 

 

This whole thing started when I saw the paper dogwood blossoms on Martha's blog.

I loved the thought of having some of them around for spring.

I thought they'd look perfect in the foyer, sitting atop the black credenza-which-is-still-in-the-garage-being-sanded-and-painted.

When our D'Art group meeting for April 1st (first Fridays we do art together) needed to morph so one of our members could welcome a new grandbaby, Miss B said she was game to motor on down to Gwen's to make paper dogwood blossoms with me.

 

 

 

Since we made our blossoms from copy paper (rather than the cardstock Martha specifies), and I just happened to have (I see the Grand Weaver everywhere) the perfect rubber stamp for the flower centers in my studio already, I had only to add a few sheets of green cardstock to get the project rolling.

We cut our squares about 4 1/4" (half a sheet of copy paper) when Miss B and I did this, but I later cut the size down to 3", which I like even better.

Here is Miss B creating the very first branch:

 

 

 

And here are some of our 4" blossoms up close and personal:

 

 

 

Because I knew I would be making many (many!) of these branches, one of the things we did (actually, Miss B was kind enough to do it) to make mass production easier was to cut two different size leaves and then trace them until we'd filled an entire sheet of copy paper.

I used that sheet for a master and ran my green cardstock through the copier (those are the sheets you see in the background of that first photo).

This way, all the tracing is done only once.

Yipee!

Now, the reason I knew I would be making many of these is that I had a table to decorate for a tea at the church, and I have a wedding shower (outdoor/picnic theme) I am co-hosting in May.

For the tea, I used the plain white blossoms...

 

 

 

...and added some aqua-colored paper birds (tanagers) I made to match the sweet dishes which the Grand Weaver placed in my hands just in time (and that's a story for the next post!).

  

 

 

 It got a little crowded at the table once we put all that lovely food on it.

  

 

 

 

I made favors for each of the ladies at my table, because I had planned to give the larger branches to the guest of honor and Me Darlin' Mither.

  

 

  

My hands felt like mitts when I was trying to fold those little teeny weeny pieces of paper for the small flowers!

It was someone else's suggestion to perch the favors atop the water glasses...

 

 

 

 

Lovely idea...thank you, whoever you are!

My sweet friend, Diane (an artist who works with real flowers), was hosting a table also, and it was decorated with her collection of Scandinavian wooden horses...

 

 

 

...and real flowers, of course.

When she exclaimed so enthusiastically over the favors I'd made (ever meet people who are just out-and-out cheerleaders for others?), I told her I was planning to give her mine after the tea.

She said, "I'll trade you real flowers for the paper ones."

I had no idea she meant an entire plant!

 

  

 

I don't think it was a fair trade, but I'm sure enjoying my beautiful hydrangea.

 

 
 

 It reminds me of my beautiful friends.

I am blessed. 

A Man Named Pearl

Dear Reader Annski, who keeps track of these things (bless her pea-pickin' heart), informed me on Friday that I hadn't posted inchies for two of the days in March.

Ironically, one of the inchies was the one for March 17...

 

 

 

... which represents the awesome tote Annski made from a bird seed bag and gave to moi.

Even more ironically, Annski was here in Gwen's studio on Friday, being interviewed for Gwen's first-ever guest blogger post; which will include a link to the tutorial for making these bags.

Welp.

There's a little teaser for you.

You'll have to stay tuned; Gwen has her fingers in too many pies these days (and this week, some of them will be actual pies!), so I don't know when she'll get around to turning the interview into a post.

The other neglected March inchie represents a video titled "A Man Named Pearl", which I watched with the Prince on the 22nd.

It's a documentary, slow moving and easy to watch, about - you guessed it - a man named Pearl.

He took his 3-acre yard in Bishopville, South Carolina, some plants rescued from the compost heap of a local nursery, and (with no formal training or education) spent 20 years creating what is now an internationally reknowned topiary garden.

He is the son of a sharecropper and, training or not, he is an artist. 

We were delighted to find that his garden - which is open to the public on a donation basis - is only a two hour drive from the North Carolina shore where we'll be spending our vacation this fall.

We plan to tour the gardens and, if we can arrange our schedule just right, worship in the church Pearl attends (it's featured in the documentary).

 

 

 

And that, my friends, really does bring an end to the March inchies.

Though there are sixteen (!) April inchies waiting impatiently for their fifteen minutes of fame.