SouleMama

getting my fix, in small doses

When there are days at a time that I know I won't be getting to my sewing machine, or have much of a chance on the needles, or in a sketchbook, or *some* kind of creative outlet, I start to get a little twitchy. These are the days when I'll grab at any little thing to get my fix on. Such was the case with this tea tray. It starts innocent enough...I was drawing with Ezra, and spotting Adelaide out of the corner of my eye as she unloaded dishes from 'her' kitchen dishwasher to 'my' dishwasher. I saw her pick up this thrifted wooden tray and was reminded of the ugly cornucopia painted on it - and just like that, the creative synapses started jumping at the bit. I looked at Ezra drawing his animals. I looked back at the ugly tray. Starting to get a bit excited, I survey the scene. Can I do it? is there time? Calvin's in the other room with what appears to be several more stacks of construction paper to go before his canon is complete. Sweet. And Adelaide has a basket full of dishes to go. "So Ezra....," I say, sidling up with probably crazy eyes, "wanna draw me some animals and I'll make them into a new tea tray for you? huh? huh? wanna?". Thankfully, the answer is an enthusiastic yes, and it's less than a minute before the mod podge is out, brush and scissors in hand, and I'm moving with a mission. Ezra and I chat about his animals (the horse in a cradle being my favorite) as I slap the glue on and paste them into the tray, layered on top of one another rather hastily. Moving with speed and fervor, the tray is complete, the brush makes it's way into the sink, the paper scraps into the trash, and the Mod Podge back in the cabinet just as the entertainment value of the dishwasher has run it's course, and a marble comes shooting out of the canon towards my head. 

Granted, it's not the slow, thoughtful and detailed creative work that is so enjoyable. But sometimes, the rushed little fixes are all I can get. And I'll gladly take them.

And Ezra loves his tea tray just the same.

sewing paper

Thanks for all your kindness about our matchyness! You asked about patterns - my skirt was not from a pattern, but Adelaide's dress was. It's an older pattern - McCall's 3417.

I've been making gobs (yes, gobs) of these cards this month to include as sets for stocking stuffers and extras with packages. Nina sent me some adorable cards like these a few months back, and I've been gathering vintage children's books and cookbooks since then. They're quite fun - I just cut the pages as I want, and literally sew them directly onto the cardstock. (Just remember to change your needle when you're done - going through paper will make it quite dull). I was thinking these would work well for kids, too. Ezra's itching to use the sewing machine, and I thought paper might be a way to get the feel of the machine without needing to worry about fabric too.

Posting around here will be continue to be spotty for a few days. We're in a bit of a whirlwind of family activity - ranging the life cycle from a funeral, to a birthday, and holiday parties. It's a week when we're feeling rich with family, and at the same time, ready for a week of calm and intimate mellow before the holidays. Which is just what next week has in store for us, just in time for Solstice. Ah...

shirts and skirts

So, imagine 12 incredibly creative and lovely women and girls in one shop basement together, playing with freezer paper stencils together for three hours. Yup, you got it. It was fun. I was so in love with all the stencils that were made and how creatively they were used. I did manage to get one stencil of my own done (on Ez, above). I love that photo of him wearing it, caught mid-laugh by the camera. So fun. Thanks to all who came, and especially to Brandie at Edith & Edna for hosting. And no worries for those who couldn't make it this weekend, I think we'll be doing it again this fall, and I'll be sure to post about it when it happens.

At about midnight on Friday night I decided I needed a new skirt to wear to the class (naturally) and a shower I attended on Sunday (shhh....I wore it two days in a row!), and so this half-circle skirt was made. And no, I didn't wear my green shoes. I wore orange. And at exactly 12:35, sounding slightly like a junkie needing one last fix, I promised myself that this really would be the last time I used bias binding instead of hemming. Next time, I'm moving on to hem tape, baby.

still stenciling

I haven't shown much lately, but the stenciling around here hasn't stopped. Each time I see a new photo up on the Flickr group, I get inspired to do another round. I've found a few new stencil sites online, but have been drawing a few myself (the three above). Quite fun.

(Blatant self-advertising ahead. Sorry!)
If you're local (Portland, Maine, that is), I'll be hosting a Freezer Paper Stencil Workshop with Brandie at Edith & Edna this Saturday, June 24th from 10-1 pm. We'll have all the supplies set up, as well as many stencils for you to choose from if you don't have your own. Come on by to stencil some things for yourself, a friend, or for gifts. It will be good fun, I'm sure. To register, call (207.761.2800) or email Edith & Edna for more details and to reserve your spot.

Painting, and more Painting

Hooray, hooray! The painting is complete, for now. We had grand plans to do the entire house, but I'm more than happy to stop at two rooms. More than happy. I can't tell you the joy I had in getting all that painting gear out of our living space, and moving things back into place. The late nights of painting after the kids went to bed were seriously cutting into my sleep time, let alone my sewing and crafting time. Gosh. Priorities, please! I'll share a final picture next week (I do like the colors!), once we've put some new art on the walls and moved everything back in. Ah....

And speaking of painting. I moved my old drawing table into my studio room last week, as I've been itching to play with my guache paint again (not touched much since Calvin was born). On the day I got set up for painting, I stumbled upon Every Day in May by French Toast Girl. And being one that believes in 'signs' of this sort, I knew I'd need to jump in and give it a go. I have such intimidation about painting when I think about it, but when I just do it, I love it, irregardless of the 'results'.  I love that EDIM was created with the same intention - simply painting to paint--something every day, with no worries of it being 'good' or not. This is a big personal creative challenge that I'm thrilled about. I had thought about keeping this a secret, but I'm not all that great at keeping secrets (scratch that. I'm great at keeping other people's secrets, just not my own.) So anyway...here are the first five days. I'll either post the rest on Flickr, or share them weekly here, or just hoard them up to myself. we'll see. There is a Flickr group here too.

Happy weekend, everyone!