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.

much needed momentum

I feel like the momentum ebbs and flows so quickly around here. The past few weeks I have been productive in the sewing room but have had little motivation to document or write about the work. I have found the calendar to be filling in quickly these days and am excited about an opportunity to have a table at this great craft extravaganza the third week of April. Just in time for mothers day.



I am also working on a few new items that I am excited about and they will be posted in my shop at the first of the month. But for now this translates in to a lot of time sewing in the evenings which I find to be hard when all I really want to do is read a book.

experimenting

It is hard to believe that a week has passed just like that. Where does life go? I guess in part it goes to a toddler who is teething for what seems to be the hundredth time. Honestly I just want the rest of them to come in. Actually in all honestly it has not been so bad with the exception of excess drool and snot. She was taking long naps during the day which was a nice trade off but that all changed with this new time change. She is now all out of sorts and did not even take a nap today, instead she just lay in her bed and talked with the whale CD she had playing. Now that I think of it maybe that is what kept her up, she was just having so much fun communicating with the whales that she did not want to sleep. Ok note to self don't play that CD at nap time again....turn on the classical music.



Well every since last weekend I have been sketching up some ideas that use felt and I got quite excited about some prospects. Then I went and got myself a few Japanese craft books on felt and I could not resist making a few new things. It was a lot of fun working with these botanical pieces and I know that there are more to come but I am even more excited about some bags I have in mind. I need to still place an order for some thicker felt and see what I can do with that. It is a bit discouraging that there is not a felt distributor in town who sells thicker stuff. I just want some small samples just so I can start working with and see if it is the material I even want. Sometimes ordering online is hard because it cuts out the tangible aspect of the process. Aside from working with felt I am currently in the process of making some different models of bibs. It is fun to start experimenting with new patterns and seeing how the process morphs as time goes on.

A new week means new things. May I stay inspired.

happy weekend to me

This weekend was wonderful in that it seemed to last forever. I was blessed to spend some quality time with both family and friends and that is what a happy birthday is all about. The weekend seemed to start on Thursday and go well into this evening. These are just a few of my favorite things.

::opening my shop:: going to hear an author speak about her great book::receiving a gift subscription to Selvedge magazine:: going to the museum with the family:: not cooking a single meal:: having brunch with the extended family:: receiving a beautiful necklace made by SCHEER:: going to see a great movie at this new theater in town. i would recommend this place to anyone who lives here:: wrapping up brown paper packages tied up with string and shipping them off:: sketching ideas in a new journal, it always feels good to finish a journal:: walking to the park with friends and playing in the sun:: knitting with friends::

There is something about having the sun come out that just enhances the events of a day. The weather around here has been so nice and is has put everyone in such good moods. I know that the rain is said to be coming tomorrow but I believe the events of this weekend will hold me over till the next sunny day.

shop news

I am happy to announce that the scissorstitch shop is now up.



This whole process has been a good learning experience. I have truly enjoyed the whole process. I am actually now ready to get back into the studio and make new things.



It is amazing what a bit of time off and then a big push to the finish can do for a bit of inspiration. There are many new ideas swarming around in my head and I am eager to see them come to fruition even if only in the form of a prototype.



I want to thank everyone for all of your encouragement and support. Without this wonderful community I would have never known my full potential.

[february] calendar&hat

February has passed so quickly and it is now time for the hat and calendar page of the month to be revealed. The hat of the month was no small task as I mentioned before. Despite the many times that I ripped this hat out it was a lot of fun to make. I am currently working on sizing it down in order to make it in a child’s size. The shape and texture of the hat is so fun and it makes for a unique knitting experience.



This months calendar page was made by Jo. Her calendar page was built around the theme of 'these are a few of my favorite things' and with this she combined a smattering of objects from the craft world. She included samples of her favorite artist, designer and fabric designer. It was wonderful to get a glimpse into someone else’s inspiring forces.

Now back to figuring out Etsy and writing up product descriptions. If you would like to be notified of shop updates please email me at christina[at]scissorstitch[dot]com.

studio work

Well the first of March is fast approaching which is the self-imposed launch date of my Etsy shop. I guess I could see it as a little birthday gift to myself, it never hurts to have a driving force to get something accomplished. Yesterday I spent Miss. A's naptime photographing products. For some reason it was such a daunting task that I had put it off until now. I believe that part of my hesitation is that I live with a photographer who does product shot for a living and so when I asked him for a little help to set up lighting etc it took quite a bit of time. There are just so many details that I don't take into consideration. I guess it would have been easier if I would have just done my own setup of products upstairs but since we have the small lighting studio in the basement I figured I should take advantage of it. So after 1.5hours of shooting I had about 70 images and only about half of my items documented. The above images are of some dishtowels I made special order for a friend. Last summer I gave her and her husband aprons for their wedding gift and she loved the bird&tree fabric so I made these to be added to their kitchen setup.

The exciting thing for me it that the shop is finally becoming a reality and I am eager to start working on some new projects. Just this past weekend I went to the fabric store for the first time in a month and bought just a few fabrics to work with. I am very drawn to solids right now and I have some items of clothing that I want to make for Miss. A this summer. one of which is the smock that Alicia posted last week.

I am excited for what's to come but for now I need to get back down into the basement and document a few more products. The first is just around the corner and there is still so much to do.