and the craft was all around

birthday table setting

In all rooms, in all media, in all corners, at all times of day, some secret, some not secret, with friends, alone, with Christmas music or hiphop, while reading, at night, morning, and afternoon.
Crafts with scissors and glue.

Or just scissors.

Fabric, of course. These are going to a sweet family of three: hankies for the whole family!

So I was invited to participate in a cookie swap, a first for me. I blithely said sure, thinking I'd make a batch of cookies and bring them to swap a few with the ladies involved. Actually what I had happened upon was a cookie swap not intended for the faint of heart.

pj pants for my dear boys

shhh! secret!

(Did I mention that the instigator might have a future in roller derby? Yup, she's hardcore as well as a fellow fan of hedgehogenalia and cute little toadstools.)

So we were to make two dozen cookies for each of the participants (6 total, including ourselves), which friends, let me spare you the math, is 144 cookies total. (In laywoman's terms that translates to a metric $%^@-ton of cookies.) The idea is that you can make up little boxes for teachers and friends, etc. which on paper is totally, absolutely great and logical.

I broke it down into a half-day of dough making and a half-day of baking, followed by an hour of icing. Which worked out fine, as I had chosen a recipe for sliced cookies. But now I am faced with transport: iced cookies do not like to be squished. I have every available cookie sheet and one pizza pan covered in iced lemon sugar cookies.

And then there was my own dear sweet boy who turned twelve this week. The morning of his birthday was quite the same as the morning of his very first: rosy dawn and snowy. He was wide-eyed and curious about the world then as now, though over the years we have gotten to know his unique twinkle, humor, generosity, and grace. He loved the tricky candles that kept relighting until we were gagging from the smoke!

35, day 1

(Well actually, I have only been 35 for about 6 minutes...But hold on! If I was in New Zealand with Mary Nanna and Miss Smith, I would already be well into my 1st day of 35!)

party favor Valentines

repurposed Nikki McClure calendar,

you know those little mini pictures of the months that live on the backside

of your calendar

Rolled-hem hankie crafternoon! (Reminder tutorial is here.) Lots of laughing, pretty fabrics, fun books to share. And sewing friends.

A Gratitude Wrap made by Marcia, so I can take my notecard-writing on the road.

Inside, three pockets for a notebook, notecards, and stamps. So pretty and functional, and let me point out to you that there is a LOT of bias tape on this project. Which is a pretty big pain to sew. I do appreciate that detail!

We had snacks. This wasn't one of them. (But may I say: Y U M)

These folks know me well. Somebody even organized these friends into bringing lots of fat quarters to share with me! Look, this is the chicken themed pack (Note the white fabric with what appears to be hexagons: it's chicken wire!):

This is the yummy greensy goldsy bluesy selection (including some fabrics at right that originate from Ghana) and a little gifty from Rhea of Alewives (awww.):

And Oh. My. Cuteness. Donut and coffee mugs. Little tiny Japanese girls with parasols?! I ask you.

And we now have our very own Chia Obama, the "Determined" version (he also comes in "Happy"). We will post progress photos of our first African-American president with his organic green afro. Yes! We can!

Books and hankies will never go out of style

In library school we are always compelled to have the discussion about whether, in this digital age of Kindles and online books, real print books will become obsolete. Let me say right now that I have never used a Kindle and would happily try it with an open mind (I already know the reasons why people think they're cool and convenient) if someone tossed one my way, as a tool that has a specific purpose.
But my argument is always something like this: The more time we spend at our computers for work and play, will we really want more screen time at the end of the day, as we curl up in bed? Do we even know how screen-reading impacts our eyes, long-term? (The answer is no, we are the guinea pigs.) And finally, reading is forever a tactile experience that includes smell, texture, sound, and the physical weight of a book in our hands.
The thrill of holding this copy of Peter Pan in my hands, from 1911, with its thick pages, spotty brown in places, with broken spine and worn cover, is not even in the same universe as a digitized book.

Photoplay images? Come on, this is pre-talking in movies!

The Swap--CHOO update...Is that my hankie is almost ready to send off to my partner, and I know just which poem I will send her! I like to think about 16 ladies, as near as two miles away and as far as Norway and Italy, who are making rolled-hem hankies for an unknown person somewhere else in the world. Check out our Flickr group to see what's been posted.

Jonas drawing a dragon.
Wow.

Jonas spent the other afternoon after school copying a dragon from a book. Not tracing, mind you (which is also OK), but actually using his eyes to copy the image he was seeing. I love it that the art instruction at his school is integrated with everything, not just a class that comes once or twice a week. And what is at first implied (in grade one) and later (middle school) directly taught, is how to see something in the world and translate it mentally onto your page. That's what I learned in art school, much later than first grade.

Swap--CHOO!

Spring may be coming (here in Maine, at the pace of a glacier), but the sniffles are still around. Need to brighten your purse? Lift your spirits? We have the answer...

Peggy, of Skip the Chips, and I are collaborating on a hand-stitched, rolled-hem hankie swap, entitled, what else? Swap--CHOO! We are sweetening the deal by encouraging you to include a favorite poem with the hankie you send off, in celebration of April (National Poetry Month). It doesn't have to be an original poem, just a favorite, and if you pen it in your own hand-writing (in this age of computerized print) we'll love you even more.
The great thing about hankies? They use such a small amount of fabric that I can almost guarantee you have something in your "scrap" pile that could be a hankie. You can go wild and make it colorful and floral or wacky and wonderful! You don't need mad sewing skills either, but I will say that my success was greatly improved by a skinny needle (as opposed to the big ones with big eyes that we mostly have around here). It's a project of short duration; really, it takes about a half hour at most. (And if I can do it, what with the various crazy school and home-related dramas of my life, so can you.) Wouldn't you love to impress your friends with your totally earth-friendly AND gorgeous AND handmade remedy for a spring sniffle, that was made by a stranger in some far-away place? Or perhaps flaunting it as you wave from the deck of a large ocean steamer, flapping your hankie in farewell?
So. How to do it. Check out Skip the Chips, for her original post (what got me started on hankies), and her flickR page for a close-up. Visit the Tutorial from Purl Bee. Leave your email address as a comment on this post (or on Peggy's post about the Swap--CHOO) and we will let you know who your swap partner is by Wednesday of next week (March 25). Make your hankie in the next three weeks and you should have yours by Easter/Passover! The talented Peggy has also set up a Swap--CHOO flickR group so you can upload your pictures there and see what others have made also.

Getting Our Craft On

Thanks to Skip the Chips I have embraced yet another Grandma craft, yes, now I can say I have made a rolled-hem hankie by hand just like my Aunt Stella used to. She posted a link to a lovely tutorial from Purl SOHO, if you want to get your Grandma Craft on.
It's so fussy and super detail oriented that I have not made it start-to-finish through one hankie...I usually take a few stitches, then move on to something else. As it happens there are a couple birthday girls who needed presents. Would they have chosen this pattern of fabric? Probably not, but I figured why NOT have something bright and happy to blow your nose on?
You may remember the fabric from the Tiny Purse project that started this whole sewing thing.
One of Sylvan's very dear friends, Miss S. is turning 4 on Tuesday! As I am pretty sure she is not reading this blog, I feel confident to show you the interior of her birthday card. She will be getting a special gift of the very last Tiny Purse in stock and a doll.
This is Sylvan displaying his 3rd place ribbon that he got from his VERY FIRST skiing race, in icy and fast conditions, at yesterday's Family Fun Race hosted by the Ragged Mountain Ski and Snowboard Club! He was so excited to be wearing that bib, displaying his race number (#57). The ribbon has his NAME on it, on the back---he wants me to tell you---and they announced his NAME and NUMBER and TIME on the loudspeaker. Although there was initially some totally slapstick humor style misses on the mountain...Sylvan had no helmet, Dad had the helmet on the mountain somewhere, Sylvan waited for him, then decided to go up and find him, Dad came down (repeat this a few times)...all ended well and they finally reunited.
And I had to repeat last week's cinnamon rolls. This time I made extra for our friend Ed who plows our driveway at no charge, a significant gift, as plow prices are steep and this winter is such a doozy. They are saying 8-12" of snow for tomorrow?!?! Come on. So when I get the chance, I like to make Ed some goodies. I froze his rolls unbaked so that he could have the aromatherapy for his house also.