shop news

::place mat napkin sets::wristlets::bibs::burp rag sets:: scarves::the updates to the shop will be throughout the week but I will be starting with some place mat sets and wristlets tomorrow afternoon.


::Check out this site I came across today. The materials, design style and attention to detail is refreshing.

for a good time on a saturday

Today I will be spending a wonderful afternoon at a booth outside Milagros Children's Boutique here in town. It is going to be a lot of fun getting out there and selling again. Despite my original plans for sales the summer this is the only one I actually signed up for.

If you are around and would like to shop some great handmade goods feel free to come down and support some local Mamas.

Crafty Mama Bazaar at Milagros
Saturday August 25, 11 am - 3 pm
Milagros is located at 5433 Ne 30th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97211

an honest look inside

There are very few times in my life when I have an empty bag or that I use the same one for a full week. I tend to switch bags often and can find a number of things collected inside from previous weeks or days. I am always impressed by my friends who still carry the same diaper bag or purse every day. Everything is so neat and organized ready to go. I on the other hand never know where to find the sunscreen or Miss. A's water bottle.

While working I would find myself reaching into my bag for something only to pull out a hand full of trail mix or crayons. It is amazing what can be found in cleaning out the bag. I would love to document the contents of my bag more often. It is almost an archeological tale of my week/ month.

::For notes on the content of the bag click here.

working away

I am actually popping in quickly to post a little something because I am sick of the last image posted. We have been quite busy around this place with an anniversary [#6], trips, house projects, transitioning to a 'big girl bed' and more. All of these things I would love to post about soon but for now I will leave you with some images of bibs and placemat::napkin sets I am working on for a show coming up next Saturday. It feels great to be producing some items that have been in the sketch book for some time.


Have wonderful Friday.

Blast from the Past

Our family loves to use the public library. It is a perfect way to get involved in community resources, test books, music or movies before we buy or just plain enjoy the book groups they have to offer. Miss. A loves the library very much and whenever we get ready to go she has to find her "choo-choo" bag and fill it with all of the books she wants to exchange for new ones. Recently I have been requesting episodes of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. You see we rarely watch TV around here and when we do it requires going down into the basement and sitting on wooden school chairs. This is not a very conducive environment for media viewing and so Miss. A never really done much of.

So the other day when we were at the library picking up a Muppet Show DVD we had on hold I quickly perused the other DVD they had to offer. I was so excited when I saw that they had a season of Quantum Leap. I don't know about any of you but I loved this show when it was running. Not growing up with a TV I did not have the chance to see all of the episodes but once I discovered that a good friend of mine also liked the show it soon became a weekly thing for us. So like Twin Peaks this is one of the few shows I remember truly getting into when I was a kid.

Well last night Daniel and I along with a few friends decided to sit down and watch a few episodes. I will admit that it was not quite as good as I remember but it was entertaining especially when we started recognizing the special guests they cast during the season. We have not finished the season yet but so far we have seen both Brooke Shield and Jennifer Aniston. Then this morning when Miss. A was watching her Muppets who should be a special guest but a young 15 year old Brooke Shield. It is quite entertaining to see how these actors have changed over the years.

new work

I was inspired a few weeks ago to try some new fabric bibs and I truly enjoy how they are turning out. Miss. A's new found love for Etch A Sketch greatly influenced the sewing design of the gray hue bib. I am looking forward to experimenting more with monochromatic combinations of fabric. The size of these bibs are the same as the oilcloth covered ones but I see these as being used for younger children during the cute drooling stage.

It has truly felt wonderful sitting down in my room to sew and have my brain fill with new ideas. I hope to continue with this momentum and get a few things into the Shop by mid-month.

Crossing the threshold

The more time I took away from blogging the harder it was for me to come back. The variables that have played into my absence are many, some excuses and others good distractions. I would love to say that I have been productive in my Studio and as a result there are amazing things I want to share but this is not the case. It seems that the amount of time I have spent away from blogging equals that of being away from my Studio. I am only just now getting warmed up to my sewing machines again.

I guess in part a lot of what kept me away was the ever-growing list of things that we were doing. It seemed that the more we did the less I wanted to write because there were so many things to write about. We have enjoyed an amazing summer of long dinners out on the patio, sandbox parties, hikes, camping, welcoming new friends back to town, welcoming a niece into the world, working, commuting and more.

A lot of what took up my time is the latter items on the list. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to take on a small job at my Father-in-laws company. It was presented as a small project that would only take about 80hours with very a flexible work schedule. This sounded like a fun change of pace for me at the time. My sister was kind enough to take on the extra hours watching Miss. A and I took on the task of going back to work. In part it was fun being challenged in a new way and being back in a work place with other adults. Part of me did enjoy getting up early and into work at 6 just to get a good start on the day. The other part of me soon realized that 80 hours was not going to be enough to finish the job and I started working 3 10hour days a week for a month. The hours grew long and despite the fifteen minute commute into work the commute home killed me. After working for a good 10 hours I would hop in the car and drive (better yet crawl) along four different freeways to pick up Miss. A. This segment of the commute would tend to take 1.45hours and by the time I got home I was ready to crash. On the weekends we all just wanted to get out of the house and hike or spend time as a family. I literally could not cross the threshold into my studio for a good three weeks. It was like I had a mental barrier and could not over come it. On the weekends I would try to pick up on a project and give up before even getting into the room. For now my segment of the work project is finished and I am slowly getting back into sewing. I have ideas that I am hashing out on the sewing machine and it feels good to be at it again.

I hope that in writing this post it will help to push me back into blogging again. I truly missed being away not only from writing but also from reading. I look forward to catching up on others posts and hope to be writing more frequently now.

wrapped up

I have been finding some time in the studio recently to work and it feels good. My sister has been so generous as to watch Miss. A once a week and that has been a big blessing. Having a full day to work on projects makes all the difference. Currently I am wrapping up my work and getting to the end of a long and productive day. It is enjoyable to see that such times produce good results.

I am continuing to work with linen and gauze fabrics that are perfect for summer. It is funny that in the midst of making items for the shop and for others I often forget about myself. One of these times I will keep a scarf or two for myself.



Along with this work I have also been working on a bit of a strange request from my brother/sister-in-law. The request is for a sleeping/docking station for a Blackberry. This item is to be a birthday gift and I have found the appeal to be a fun challenge.



I am currently awaiting approval on color/design and will go from there. This is one of those projects I am looking forward to the end result because I want to see how my mental picture is going to be transformed into a reality. They are never quite the same are they?

slow movin'

Miss. A is now to the point where getting to a place is as much fun as the place we are going to. She loves walking around and exploring every little detail along the way. She smells each flower, talks of the water they need, and points out each manhole or fire hydrant and talks about the water that is in each one.



Last week Miss. A and I drove down to my hometown to visit family and friends. We were meeting some friends for dinner but were about twenty minutes early so I parked two blocks away. This was the perfect distance because despite my wondering what we would do to pass the time she showed me by exploring the whole two blocks.



This is such a wonderful age. Her vocabulary is growing each day so much so that it is hard to keep up. She will want to recap events from the day before and talk about who and what was there. I can tell that this summer is going to be filled with all sorts of wonderful walks and adventures that she will be more than willing to talk about if someone were to ask. I am learning to take it slow. Park farther away and enjoy the process of getting to our destinations.

outside vs. shop update

the sun is out and it is hard to get Miss. A inside for a nap or at the end of the day for that matter. she is in love with the sun, dirt, grass, water and anything that is outside. this afternoon i made the mistake of trying to transition straight from the car into the house for a nap. she insisted in playing for a little bit in the yard which in turn only made the inevitable nap that much harder. as she was going dow she was crying for 'outside' and then just fifteen minutes ago she was talking in her sleep about outside. i have a feeling that very few days are going to be spent indoors this summer.

that said my work will be trickling into the shop this week. i am quite excited about the new items i have been making and hope to continue exploring new fabrics and designs.



just this afternoon i was in my studio working with some new linen gauze. the light weight texture is wonderful for summer scarves and i love the way it falls when wrapped and layered.



i have also been working on a few new library+market totes.



in addition i will be adding patchwork bibs and burp rag sets.

but for the rest of today we will be enjoying the sun. oh yah and trying to not get burnt, poor Miss. A is subject a few burns in her life thanks to my fair skin. just yesterday we discovered her first few freckles. they are quite cute i will admit but we are taking no risks and making sure to lather her with sunscreen every few hours.

coffee is not so good...

...for your computer that is. But it is good for productivity. Yes that's right I spilled some coffee on my computer a few days ago. As a result the computer was out of commission as we tried to dry out the keyboard. Now some keys I can do without but the major ones that are required in passwords and the like are the ones that don't work. So instead of looking at flicker, reading emails, typing invoices or doing anything computer related for that matter I busied myself with work that truly needed to be done.



Recently there has been a rush in orders both from individuals and shops. This is wonderful but also means that I need to be very intentional with my time. The break was actually good and I have made some major headway with my 'to-do' list. Along with sewing for the orders I have added a few items to the workflow in order to put stuff in my sop throughout next week. I am planning on uploading a few items each day so check in during the week if you would like.




*computer status:: Keys still do not work but we have since plugged in another keyboard for now. I hope that it will dry out over time and if not off to AppleCare it goes.

this+that

Time has flown and we are now heading into the second week of May. How did that happen? Well there has not been a dull moment around here and at least we have been productive. This past weekend we found ourselves going out on a friday evening to an opening. Now this is something we have not done in a long time and it was the first time we had actually bought a piece of work at a show. For quite some time Daniel has talked about how much he likes Matthew Feyld's work and so for part of his birthday gift I decided we better check his work our for ourselves. It was well worth it and we are now looking forward to picking up or piece at the end of the month.



On Saturday we enjoyed a quick visit from my mother in the morning and then Daniel and I were off to our annual Derby Day party. As always the show of hats were entertaining, the race was exhilarating and the company enjoyable. It is always fun to participate in something like that and as an added bonus we got to see the Queen this year. This was her first trip to see the Kentucky Derby.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to playing in the first soccer game of the season. The weather is expected to be in the mid 70's. Just what I need when I have not touched a soccer ball in over nine months. Both Daniel and I have played on the same team for the past four years and it is always a lot of fun playing on Monday nights. Unfortunately Daniel is out for the season due to a knee injury. So this time around he is the childcare which I guess is a good thing since Miss. A would not have done as well being in her pack-n-play the whole game like last year, I don't think she has missed a game yet. Actually she went to her first game when she was seven days old.

change in weather

After a few days of rain we were thankful for the sun that came out today. It was truly a spring day and one to enjoy. Miss. A and I enjoyed some time playing in the park this morning only to return home to warmer weather and sun that would only duck behind the clouds momentarily. Miss. A did not even want to go inside the house but instead insisted on playing in the yard.



So in the yard we stayed playing and eating lunch. Daniel was even able to take a bit of time off from to join us outside.



The progression of the plants and flowers in the yard are exciting to watch. Since this is our first full year in the house we are captivated by the different plants and are always talking about what should stay/go, how to trim different trees, etc. We have just finally finished identifying the plants in our yard thanks to our local nursery. The even let us know the plants that were poisonous and may not be so good to have around with a little kid. As the weather warms up we are finding ourselves slowly waking up from hibernation. House projects that have been put off for months are being revisited or started. There is something about the changing of the season that has allowed us to be revived. This is going to be a wonderful spring.

a progressive update::

This week I will be updating my shop in stages. I am excited to get new items in the shop but I want to take my time with all of the processing and descriptions that need to be written. So check in throughout the week if you are interested. I am just finishing some more bibs that I am very excited about. They are patchwork with an oil-cloth and my stock was sold out at the last sale so I have been working on more. Those and many other items will be in the shop soon.

It was a lot of fun having Miss. A help out with modeling items. I agree with Martha that it is truly hard to get a little one to stay in one place for long. There was a lot of cajoling that went on but in the end everyone went away happy and she was quite the trooper.

In addition to working on shop stuff I have been making Miss. A some great summer bloomer pants. I have just made a prototype to far but she loves them. There are a few things that I am going to tweak about them but I am thinking they may be her new spring/summer wears.

bloggaversery:: missed by 1.62days

So it has been a year since I started this blog, that is hard to believe. Over the past year so much has happened, I have grown so much as a individual. Little did I know that a year ago when I started this blog (all thanks to a great friend) I would have met so many amazing individuals all over the world. I love knowing that there is such a talented and supportive group of women even here in my own town. When I became pregnant with Miss. A it was quite unplanned despite four years of marriage [hence the title of the blog]. At the time I was quite involved in my job working in special education and was looking into applying to graduate school. Daniel was just getting started with his graphic design business and so we were just getting by. The idea of me staying at home was not in on our minds but it was hard to image going back to work after just a few months. Thanks to a wonderful supervisor who encouraged me to take a year leave of absence from my job I am now a full time SAHM. The funny thing is that I never imagined myself as one but then again I was still not imagining myself as a mother.

So thanks to the wonderful encouragement of the amazing people in my life. A year with my blog has encouraged, inspired, pushed and coerced me into the place I am today. Without this outlet I would not be working on running my own business, doing something I love and never had time for before. I would not be pushing myself each day to be the mother, friend and wife I know I should be. It is with a great "Thank You" that I continue this blog. I look forward to seeing what the next year brings.

light reading

So back at the end of March I picked up the wonderful Maritime Garden Guide. I felt inspired to work hard in the garden and get a raised bed set up. Actually that weekend we even started making a new compost bin in order to move the current one. The one we have now is taking up prime real estate in the sunniest part of the yard. The guide has been quite inspiring but between all the time consuming events since the end of march we have not made any further progress.



The plan for this weekend is to finish the compost bin just in time for Earth Day and get a bit more reading done with both the Maritime Guide and my first (three weeks old now) issue of Selvedge. I have read a few of the articles and am looking forward to the rest. I am also tempted by many of the books in their Bookshop issue as well. I can just see the bank account being depleted by the end of the weekend. But that actually may be due to the home repairs we are getting quotes on. Oh the fun of owning a home.

she can do what...

So I guess my daughter is a contortionist but I would not have believe the news if it were not for the photo documentation. I was not around when the event took place but Daniel said it was unprovoked and he could not believe it so had to photograph for proof.

So about three weeks ago I found this amazing wooden toy house at a thrift store. The whole thing including a large lot of people/freniture only cost $20. I was shocked at the deal and had to buy it. Miss. A loves it and wants to play with it all the time. Well on the night in question I believe she got a bit to into playing with her people and decided she wanted to get into the house. Mind you this house is not that big but she found a way to join in the fun. Somehow she was able to get herself through the living room and out the front door.



Since this incident she has only done it one more time but this time I was there to witness and it scared me a bit as visions of us cutting the house apart to get her out were running through my head. It has been about a week since her last contorting adventure and I hope that maybe she has forgotten about it.

love all around

I am not sure who was more excited last week when our package from UNIFORM Studio arrived. Miss. A has fallen in love all over again with a new coat. The amount of compliments we have received makes me think we need to start carrying around Martha's business cards to pass out. The only trouble now is getting Miss. A to choose between her newest jacket and her winter one we got back in November. At this rate Miss. A is going to have a small archive of Martha's clothing line spanning her childhood which I would not object to.



This past weekends sale went well and was a lot of fun. I enjoyed meeting many new people and getting to see old friends who stopped by for support. Crafty Wonderland is an enjoyable venue to experience both as a buyer and seller. I was hoping to update my shop following the sale but due to the depletion in stock I am going to need a few more days to work on more items. During the sale my table was setup across from Old School Stationers and I admired a piece of work the whole time. By the end of the sale I just had to make a purchase and Miss. A truly enjoys saying 'hi' to her rabbits as she leaves her room.



It was a lot of fun getting together my package for the vintage button swap. I believe it has been since the last button swap that I had done something like this and it was nice to get back into putting a little something together for someone in a different country. I am looking forward to getting my package in the mail.


I do hope to get back into to blogging more regularly but I will make no promises. For now I need to work on uploading three cards worth of images to the computer, I am a bit behind on that. Have a wonderful rest of the week if I am not back before then.

studio notes

::sorry for the break. our house was hit with two weeks of sickness leaving me with little energy to post. ::



i am quite excited to announce that i am finishing up some work for my booth at Crafty Wonderland this weekend. they are celebrating there one-year anniversary and the atmosphere is promised to be festive.



i am also pleased to announce that three of my current products are being sold Milagros Boutique, a locally owned children's clothing store. after this current show the plan is to get the studio back to a manageable work environment and to work on some more personal projects that have been put on hold.

a little something for Miss. A

More often then not Daniel asks 'why don't you make ______ for Miss. A'. He always wants a little something made up for her and for a long time it was knitted items. My excuse was always that she would grow out of it quicker then the time it took to make. Now don't get me wrong I have made things for her but very few because of that very reason, she is growing so fast. Recently all of that has changed it seems as if every other thing flying off the sewing machine or needles is something for her.

On Friday I had finished my March 'hat of the month' and she decided to co-opt it for herself. Over the weekend I got quite inspired during her nap and decided to take a pillow that was going to be donated and transformed it into a new log cabin quilted pillow for her. This was my first attempt at quilting not just patchwork and I'm hooked.

The pillow was intended for her big girl bed when she makes the transition but for now it is being used in her new swing that was just installed (finally, it only took about three weekends to get it put up).

Yesterday I picked up my latest order from superbuzzy. Let me tell you how much I love having Mariko live right up the hill from me.

Honestly I think I may be making a monthly order from them. Well the fabric I got was so inspiring that I picked it up around 2:30 and by 9:30 I had made Miss. A her new library bag. And since I was on a roll I made her a matching tissue holder.

It looks like after her nap today we may just have to put that bag to good use and get a fresh supply of books. Now don't worry I am also making a bit of time for myself to read I just always have to make a choice between all of the things I would love to be doing.