Warm Welcome & a Giveaway!

You may have noticed a new button on the top of the right hand side of the blog over the past month. I have been meaning to let you know all about it, but alas, the never ending sicknesses in our home prevented me from doing so.

Now, without further ado, I would like to take the time to give a very warm welcome to a new sponsor Desert Dyeworks


Photo courtesy of Desert Dyeworks

I have had the pleasure of chatting with Kathy, the owner of Desert Dyeworks, over the past couple of months and I have to say her creativity really shines through, even via e-mail. I fell in love with her shop. Not only does she have beautiful children's playsilks for nature tables and play (some of our favorite 'toys' in our home), captivating canopy playsilks, and sweet dress up skirts, but she also has scarves, women's shirts and gorgeous pillow covers. (I am coveting the one below, wouldn't it look great with my folksy flannel throw?)


Photo courtesy of Desert Dyeworks

Here's some more information on Desert DyeWorks in Kathy's own words:

I began dyeing in 2002, after seeing some playsilks that the local Waldorf school was selling at a bi-annual street fair here in Tucson. My daughter was just over a year old and I wanted to make some silks for her. I bought my supplies and jumped right in.

Though the solid color silks were wonderful, I wanted to expand my knowledge of dyeing and the different techniques. In my research, I came across a community of dyers and tie-dyers who were very open in the sharing and exchange of ideas. With this wealth of information at my fingertips my interest in dyeing went into overdrive.

I learned some basic folds as well as some more intricate ones. The fold I was most drawn to was the mandala fold. You can see the result of my first ever mandala fold, it is Desert Dyeworks avatar. Since that moment, I have been experimenting with the fold and different color combinations to give each silk its unique and vibrant qualities.

I stopped dyeing for a few years because my full-time job, besides the mom job, left me little time to be creative. I left the job in the summer of 2009, and began dyeing again. It was refreshing to feel my creativity flow again. I like to think of it as the rebirth of my creative soul.

I love what I do. Though sometimes I feel like a tie-dye geek, obsessed with color and the results of my efforts. My advice to anyone wanting to dabble in dyeing and tie-dyeing; do it, it’s fun and actually pretty easy. My one warning; it’s addictive!

To learn more about Desert Dyeworks please visit:
the shop
facebook
twitter

Kathy has generously offered her beautiful Star Flower Mandala Playsilk seen below to one of you lucky readers.



"Your child can become whatever they imagine using a playsilks. The silk will transform your child into a butterfly, a wizard, a princess, or anything they dream. There is no limit to a child's imagination!

This is a hand dyed play silk. The silk is a large 35" x35" 8mm habatoi(china silk) square. It is dyed using high quality Procion dyes that will last a lifetime."



All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. If you would like more than one chance to win, post about this giveaway on your own blog and then come back here and leave another comment letting me know you did so. That will earn you two extra chances to win. I will close the comments on Thursday March 4th at 6pm PST and then announce the winner later that evening.

Thank you so much Kathy for this opportunity. Good luck everyone!!
Wishing you all a warm weekend!

Warm Welcome & a Giveaway!

WIP Wednesday: Can it be????

Am I really typing a WIP Wednesday post?! It feels like it has been so long. It feels good to be back!

Current WIPs:

- The lazuring if the girl's room : I ended up going over those three dark walls with another coat of white paint last night to start over. I feel good about my decision and hopefully learned my lesson. I did go ahead and add the next coat to the one good wall, this coat was yellow. It seemed really light, I can barely even tell it's there but I painted it at night and it's dark and dreary here right now so I will wait and see what it looks like in the sun light.

- Playing catch-up : I haven't had the chance to get online much so I am way behind in my e-mails. I hope I can catch up soon.

Now some current WIPs with pictures:


K and her best friend Fi last June

Remember my friend that is having a baby soon? Well, I wanted to make some presents for her other daughter as well - who just happens to be only two days older than K and her best friend.


Bonnet


Using up every last scrap for another goody

It's a big deal becoming a big sister for the fist time, so I feel like that should be celebrated as well as the birth of the baby. I also can remember how much it really seemed to help K (after C was born) when she got a gift along with her new baby sister.

With Fi meaning so much to me and being so special to K, I wanted to take the time to make her something I thought she'd really enjoy. She loves mermaids so I found this fabric very fitting, and with living in Florida now, she could always use some good protection from the sun. There is another mermaid surprise for her as well, I'll get some pics of that when I am ready to package it all up.

And finally, some finished gifts for the baby:

I felt like these two projects were never going to be done because I didn't have the chance to pick them back up until a couple of days ago. Luckily, I got around to them and they are, indeed, now done.


Shorties


Bonnet

I just can't get enough of little ones in bonnets, nor can I get enough of sewing them, obviously! They are so cute!!

So the package is almost complete. I am hoping to mail it this weekend. My friend's baby was originally due on C's birthday, April 18th but then they realized they had the due date wrong and the baby is actually due early March, so this package needs to get out the door ASAP to get all the way to Florida in time. I can't believe it's this close already! It's a bit bittersweet for me because they are like family to us and I miss them so very much, but I know I will see that precious baby and my dear friend and her daughter soon.

Thanks for joining me on this WIP Wednesday of great memories.

What are you currently working on? Happy creating!!

WIP Wednesday: Can it be????

.:During:. Part 2 of Our Lazure Process

Rainbows dance on the prepped walls

The girls' bedroom has been primed and painted white for a bit now, but I hadn't started the lazuring yet simply because I couldn't find the time. Finally, over the weekend I had a free day to start the process.



I gathered all my supplies and mixed the paint for my first coat.



Once it was mixed up it looked a bit too dark to me (there are many layers of paint in the lazure process, so you don't want the paint to be too dark), but I took a risk and put it up anyways.



The first wall came out just like I wanted it to, very light and airy just like the kindergartens I have visited, so I figured the paint mixture was ok after all. But after that first wall my mind wandered elsewhere, instead of meditating on the wall in front of me, and my painting went a bit crazy. I am not quite sure how I managed it, maybe I was pressing to hard with the paint brush or maybe I was adding too much paint to my brush at a time, but each wall got progressively darker, and my paint strokes more and more visible.



You can see in the picture above, the light airy pale pink color I started out with on the wall on the right and then the dark pink with strong brush strokes on the wall on the left (I promise the ceiling isn't pink the color just reflected on it in the picture). Seeing how at least 3 more coats of color will be applied to that, I don't think I could leave it like it is. I really want to put a coat of white on those three walls I painted too dark and then start over. Since the first layer of paint consists mostly over water, it's not a huge loss of supplies, just a loss of time.
But at the same time I kind of just want this to be done and over with. My girls want their room back, plus my mother in law is coming in April and she'll need a place to sleep so I don't have tons of time. I don't think the perfectionist in me will let me rush this, though, and I probably will end up painting over my mistakes and starting all over... hmmm, maybe tonight...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Here's hoping I get to type a WIP Wednesday post this week *fingers crossed*

.:During:. Part 2 of Our Lazure Process

Giveaway Winner

The randomly chosen winner of the Lisa Leonard Mama necklace is:



cat - oh i realy want one..haha what a gorgeous necklace!



Congrats, Cat! Please e-mail me your info.
Thank you everyone who entered and thank you again, Lisa for such a wonderful gift!

Giveaway Winner

Moving Closer to Self-Sufficient Knitting

Kinda like self-sufficient living, eh, just go with me on this...

I have a dream. Ok, I have many dreams...but one in particular is someday having our own farm with a sweet cow to milk (oh how I miss milking cows!), barn cats to drink the milk, chickens running all over, and most importantly sheep grazing in the fields. Ahhh, yes...sheep. Sheep that my girls can love and tend to, sheep that our dog can herd, and most importantly sheep that I can sheer to spin and weave their yarn into clothing and items for our home. It is a simple yet heavenly dream.

Before I can live this dream I need - well, money first and foremost, but I also need to learn how to do every step it takes from taking the wool off the sheep to having a finished item. Over the years I have been learning bit by bit. It does seem as though I am going somewhat backwards in the process as I learned to knit and dye yarn first, although one of my jobs was to care for the sheep when I was a volunteer at the Gentle Barn years before then so maybe I am not all that backwards...


My teacher's spinning books

Last month I moved ever so slightly closer to my dream by learning how to spin my own yarn out of cleaned and carded wool. My local yarn shop was hosting a series of spinning classes that went from the drop spindle to the spinning wheel. I started out with the drop spindle so that way I can teach K when she's a little older. Plus with money being such a huge issue for us right now and a drop spindle costing a LOT less than a spinning wheel, it was really the only way to go (maybe someday before we have our farm I can afford a wheel).


Some of my teacher's spindles set up and her lazy kate in the background

Using a drop spindle was nothing like I thought it would be. I admit I was a bit hesitant and wondered how I could have the patience to make yarn in such a manner but after just a half an hour of practicing I was completely hooked. It goes a lot faster than I envisioned and what a meditation it is! I could feel my stress melting away as each bit of fiber twisted down from my fingers to the spindle.

Now, as much as I was loving it, you could tell it was my first try. My yarn had so many lumps and bumps it looked like it was in a fight. My teacher told me that they would lessen over time with more and more practice. So what did I do after class? Practice! K really enjoyed watching me, so that made it even easier. I practiced on and off during the week, still with lots of lumps. Then when it came time for my next class, I tried a heavier spindle, took it a bit slower and to my surprise I had relatively even yarn!



You could see a huge difference between the yarn I worked on last week (the spindle to the back in the above picture) and the yarn I had just worked on that class (the spindle in front).


My funky two-ply yarn

So we took my yarn from the first class and the yarn I had just spun and then spun them together to make a two-ply yarn. It looks kind of crazy and I don't know what I would ever be able to knit out of it but I have a feeling I will be hanging on to it anyway.


My homemade lazy kate

I have to add that my teacher was amazing and she showed us so many ways to be frugal and save money with spinning our own yarn (which is one of the reasons why I wanted to learn how to do all of this in the first place - have you seen the price of nice yarn?! Eeeeeek!!!). She mentioned that spinning could become expensive, like any hobby if you go out and buy every little accessory and gadget, but really you don't need them. Just keep it simple - my kind of philosophy! She brought me in a shoe box and a couple of wooden dowels so I could have my own lazy kate to make two-ply yarn with at home. Just what I needed!



So, with all of that said: (and wow,that was a lot, guess thats what happens when I don't get the chance to post for while) I have found a new love, a new way to save money, and a new step towards my dream. Now off to the lovely little ball of pink roving waiting to be spun and knitted. Practice, practice, practice!

Wishing you all the sweetest of dreams!
Have a great weekend everyone!!

Moving Closer to Self-Sufficient Knitting

Foiled Again!

Ack! It's Wednesday and I don't have a post. Well, I have a couple of things I have been working on but didn't get the chance to take pictures. I ended up spending most of the day yesterday at the Urgent Care Center with Miss C. Fingers crossed that she is really getting better now. It seems like the sickies just don't want to leave our house for some reason.

All of that said, I do have a couple pics I found to share. They are things I started working on before the sickies attacked...and have yet to finish.



See that wrap-n-mat with the animals all over it? I got that thing back in 2000 or so when I lived in Cali. I loved it, but after researching vinyl and plastic and their affects on our health I couldn't use it any longer. So, it sat in a box for years and years, until a couple of weeks ago when I took it back out to figure out a way to make my own with out vinyl or plastic. I think I have it figured out. More on that to come, when I have finished them up and post them in my One Small Change post for February.



Above is just a little sneak peek at a special project for an inspiring online magazine.

So there you have it, my cheating (but for a good reason) WIP Wednesday post. Time to get back to my sweet little sick one.

Happy creating!!
-----------------------------------

Don't forget about the Lisa Leonard necklace giveaway. I am really enjoying reading everyone's comments and what name is special to each of you.

Foiled Again!

*Swoon* A Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway!

Yep, I said swoon. That really is the best way to describe how I feel when I see Lisa's jewelry. About a month ago I was gifted with a piece of her jewelry that may very well be one of the most special pieces of jewelry I own. It is her Mama necklace. I have been coveting it for quite some time, and I am so thrilled to have one of my own.

I remember the day it arrived here. I think I may have even squealed when I opened it up. I have to say - for as beautiful as the pictures on the website are, they do not do it justice. You can actually see and feel all the love put into it when you hold it in your hands. My girls both fell in love with it as easily as I did, and I do believe this will one day be an heirloom passed on to them.

The first thing that spoke to me about this necklace was that it has my favorite word inscribed on it 'Mama'. You really don't come across many things with that, anymore. They seem to be few and far between. 'Mama' is such a strong and deep word to me. I knew when K was born that was the name I was to have. Hearing her say that wonderful word for the first time, was when I felt I was truly born. I really hope my girls will always call me Mama but I know it will ultimately be up to them. So for now, I will savor and relish hearing their sweet little voices speak that one simple word that means so much to me. Seeing it every day around my neck is a little reminder, too, to enjoy it while I can. They grow up much too fast.



Needless to say, this necklace hasn't come off my neck since I opened it up, ok well minus the picture of K holding it on here...

Now enough of my ramblings and back to Lisa. Besides being creative and amazingly talented, Lisa has such a big heart and kind soul. I had the pleasure of corresponding with Lisa via e-mail over the past month, and I could not say enough good things about her. Knowing how kind hearted she is just makes her jewelry even more special to me. If you haven't already, please go check out Lisa's store (I am like a kid in a candy store drooling over all the beauty there) and blog today!



I am super excited to announce that Lisa is generously giving away this very same necklace to one of you lucky readers. Thank you, Lisa!! If you're not crazy like me over 'Mama' it can be inscribed differently. You can look at her webstore to see all of the details.

All you have to do to enter is a leave a comment on this post. If you would like more than one chance to win this beautiful necklace, please follow Lisa on Twitter and then come back and and leave a second comment telling me you did so. That's it! As simple as can be.
I will close the comments next Sunday February 21 at 7pm PST, and then randomly choose the winner. I will announce the winner later that evening.

Thank you so much, again, Lisa!!
I wish you all the best of luck and can't wait to see who wins!

*Swoon* A Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway!

While We Were Gone...

I ended up being away longer than I expected, even missing my favorite day to post : Wednesday. Truth is, even if I was better on Wednesday I wouldn't have had anything to post anyways, I can't focus on creating when I am sick, every time I try it ends up a disaster.

When I last posted I thought we were all on the road to recovery, and I was partially correct. The girls are pretty much all better minus some runny noses, I on the other hand, got worse. Since I thought I was getting better I started pushing myself trying to do too much before my body was ready for me to and I wound up with mastitis...again. So, the girls and I have been staying in bed and just having periods of light activities to get us through the days.

While we were gone, we have been:


Drinking lots and lots of tea


Bird watching


While the girls have been creating...


and I have been only able to think and dream about it


Because I was stuck here or in bed


Ignoring this


Celebrating doll birthdays (K decided bread with uncooked pasta stuck in it like candles was cake)


...many,


many times


Inviting friends, both big


and small

I hope you all had a great week. I'll be back Monday with an exciting giveaway and *hopefully* back to my regular postings. I have so many things I have been meaning to post about (like my fun drop spindle class) and can't wait to do it!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

While We Were Gone...

.:Before:.

I wanted to thank you all so very much for your thoughtful and kind comments on my last post. THANK YOU! We are still not 100% and now K is sick, too, but I wanted to stop by quick to share a little project going on in our home. I was going to wait until it was all done but I started this in January and I know that it will still be at least another month or two before completion, so I wanted to give a little sneak peek for now.

*Just a little warning - these are probably the worst pictures I have ever posted on here. I don't have a good wide angle lens so I had to use the lens that came with my camera body and to make it even more fun, the sun wouldn't come out at all so it was just a recipe for disaster. Yikes, maybe I should just not post when I am sick and can't think straight....*

The following are before pictures of the girls' room. When we moved in we just put in K's bed, C's changing table and a dresser any old way because we knew we would be re-doing the room soon. As you can see there is no trim around the base of the walls, that will be installed when we have new floors put in. Oy, I mentioned how much of a 'fixer uppper' this place is, before, right?







I will get try to get some pictures this week of the current state of their room. The furniture is temporarily out - the bed is in our bedroom and the changing table is in the living room. The walls and ceiling have been primed and painted with a matte white zero VOC paint and now we are now just awaiting our safe coat glaze to begin the fun part - LAZURING. I can't wait, but I admit I am also so afraid of it. I don't want to mess it up (think positive thoughts for me, please). I plan on painting their room the traditional peach blossom color of the Waldorf kindergarten classrooms. It is so warm, safe and inviting and that's exactly how I want the girls' room to feel for them.

Wow, looking at these pictures reminds me of how small their room is, I have no clue how we will fit two beds in there with that closet that takes up a whole wall. Any ideas?

I hope to be feeling better for my post on Wednesday and will respond to the last two posts either today or tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with me!!
Wishing you all a wonderful Monday!

.:Before:.

Down and Out

C finds comfort in her favorite baby quilt made by my Great Aunt

C and I are feeling quite under the weather right now so we are taking the day off to recuperate. I'll be back Monday with a new post and replies to the last two.Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Down and Out

WIP Wednesday : Spring Babies

Another little something for my friend's baby

I have been working along steadily on presents for my friends baby. I just started the above project last night on a whim. I think she'll like the colors.



I finished up the project I was working on for her last week over the weekend. Both of my girls and at least one cat have tried to steal it, so I think I might need to make one for us eventually, too.



I have been trying to squeeze in some time to work on C's birthday sweater, too. That way I am not trying to knit it up last minute like I have been known to do in the past. This is my first attempt at lacework and I don't know what took me so long. I am loving it, but I have learned to only work on it at night because I have already lost track of where I was at in the lace pattern a couple of times from being distracted.



Lastly, I thought I'd share my girls WIP project from yesterday. They rolled beeswax candles for Candlemas, and had so much fun doing it. I had some issues, though, with the beeswax cracking because it was too cold. Any suggestions on how to remedy this for next year? Our house is on the cooler side at about 60 degrees in the day.



What are you making? Happy creating!

WIP Wednesday : Spring Babies

The Monthly Rhythm Question

Our meal planning menu

I received quite a few e-mails over the weekend about my rhythm post on The Magic Onions, and I wanted to thank everyone for them. They mean a lot to me! There were a few questions asked and I am still trying to answer them all, but I did notice there was one question in particular that was asked quite a few times : Do we really only get groceries 1-2 times a month?! I have to start out by saying I did make a mistake on that post by saying we run errands/shop for groceries 1-2 times a month. I really should have separated errands and groceries; errands 1-2 times a month and grocery shopping 2 times a month.

Grocery shopping can be quite overwhelming to little ones and adults alike. Especially when you are on a tight budget and have to compare prices and write out the math to see how much you are spending the whole time. On top of that, we go to 2-3 different places for our food so it ends up being at least a half a day ordeal. With all of that in mind and our need for a strict budget I knew I needed to start meal planning.

I can remember my mother doing this when I was little. Every two weeks we went grocery shopping together and she would bring her list of meals she planned on making the next two weeks and she would always stick with it. That's just the way we did our groceries and what I was used to. It's funny because once I was out on my own I didn't follow that routine. It actually wasn't until we moved to Oregon that I saw how important my mother's wisdom was.

Our budget shrank dramatically and we really needed to save as much money as possible. Plus I was constantly getting burned out with the never ending question of what's for dinner. I became inspired to re-discover meal planning by my wonderful Season's Round Exchange (Autumn)partner Meg and her post on her family's menus.

Since my husband is always paid on the first and fifteenth of every month we planned our budget and meals around that. So about every two weeks, I sit down and plan our meals for the next fifteen days (with input from my husband and the girls) then we venture out and gather our food, armed with a planned out menu and list of needed ingredients.

I like to have the menu out in easy view for reference so we use one of the many watercolor paintings K makes every week and write out our menu on that then put it in a frame by the kitchen sink. Now, I should say that I don't follow the menu exactly. For example, I have subji and pooris listed for dinner Thursday night but if I have a hard day and don't have the energy for that I might pick something more simple from another day on the menu and make that instead. I always cross off the meal I made so that way I know what ingredients I have left without ever even looking in the pantry. Not only does this save us time and headaches but it also saves money. Before we would wander the grocery stores aimlessly just buying things that looked good but didn't necessarily make a meal. Now everything is organized and brings a better rhythm to our nights.


Preparing for Candlemas

Sorry, that was a lot of writing this time around! I hope that helped to explain our grocery rhythm a little better and answered any questions you had.

Wishing you all a joyful Candlemas tomorrow!!

The Monthly Rhythm Question