More stitching, to settle the mind

So, when the kids both woke up at what I thought was 5:30 am on Sunday (bad enough) and then I realized it was really 4:30 am because of the time change, I muttered some choice cuss words under my breath and crawled out of bed. As you know, Lee's dad passed last week,  and Lee has been under so much stress he needs to sleep in every chance he can get. So I was glad to let him sleep, but very grumpy at the prospect of entertaining a 3 year old and a 7 year old in a quiet manner (small house, as you know) for how many ever hours.

TV, a relatively quiet and easy fall back, was not an option that early. We don't have cable, and PBS here does not start showing kid programming until 6 or 7 am. Our "AirPort" is also on the fritz, which means no purchased TV or rerouted stuff from the computer. Did I mention there's no DVD player hooked up, either? It's practically medieval in this house (ha ha).  I got everyone settled with some cereal and warm tea (extra strength coffee for me) and sat down at the table with my go-to project these days: the Winterwoods Sampler from Posie: Rosy Little Things . My hope was that I would be inspired (and settled) by stitching for a few minutes so I could engage the kids in a non-disruptive, creative way.

Have you seen this sweet sampler? It's cross-stitch, and manages to feel antique and modern all at once, thanks to the sophisticated materials that come with the kit and the fresh motifs. Gorgeous linen, hand dyed cotton thread and very clear, concise instructions are all included, and the fact that cross stitch is so incredibly easy to put down and pick up really appeals to me. 

I think I got about twenty stitches in before Silas started begging me to try it, and Ian started asking when he could learn how to sew. A month ago, or even a few weeks ago, I might have gotten really overwhelmed (and irritated, if I'm honest) at the thought of starting this process at 5 am. But instead, I took a deep breath and snuck back into the bedroom to find a small hoop and some open weave burlap fabric just perfect for a 3 year old.

This is what Silas ended up with! A few things I do to help along the process: use thick, sturdy yarn with a large eyed, blunt tipped metal needle (tapestry needles work great). I use a relatively open weave burlap type fabric with kids as small as Silas, and I put it into a wooden hoop very tightly so that there is no "give" to make it feel wobbly. Last, I tie the yarn to the needle at the very top to keep it from slipping off, and I make sure the yarn is no longer than about 18 inches to 24 inches. It means more yarn changes, but anything longer is super hard to pull through each time.

Ian was intrigued by the individual motifs of the sampler, and decided to draw his own "autumn" sampler on paper. He told me, "No guys with guns mom, or ninjas like normal. Just stuff like pumpkins and guys with hats." When I saw how cool his drawings were, I grabbed a bag of cross stitch fabric scraps and saw a long, slender strip. I taped it down to the kid table and had him sketch a few of the images big enough to fill the space.

We used fabric markers to trace over the pencil sketch, he needed a tiny bit of help tracing a few of the finer details but overall he did it by himself! I love these so much, he is constantly drawing and it is so great to see him branching out a bit in the subject matter. He is quite the artist these days!

I started working on a project with his drawings today, I hope to have it ready to show you next week! Just in time for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Stay tuned. I am looking forward to spending lots of time with my family (both immediate and extended) this holiday season, how about you?

Readers, thank you so much for your kind words from my last post. Lee's father passed away peacefully at home last week, he will be missed terribly by all of us.

Halloween Costume: Peregrine Falcon

Hi Angel!

I hope you're enjoying the weekend. The Daylight Savings time switch is once again kicking our butts over here, with Henry up at 4 a.m. instead of his usual 5 a.m. Yawn... It is also gross and rainy outside, so we're looking at a Sunday at home, and I need to fish something out of my bag of crafty tricks. Maybe we'll do some collage or painting, or maybe bake some cookies! That actually sounds pretty good! How about you?

I wanted to show you Ben's finished Halloween costume. I got it done on Tuesday evening, and while it was slightly last minute, it came together pretty well. Ben wore it to school on Wednesday morning for the school Halloween party and was so proud of himself!

Here's my Peregrine Falcon and his little bro Dinosaur (an old costume, made by my mom) on Halloween morning:




I changed my plans a bit after my original sketches. I ended up creating more of a poncho for the wings and body of the falcon, rather than a shell and separate wings attached to the arms. We also skipped painting spots on the front of the body.







With the thick layers of felt feathers, the poncho at first made Ben look like a big fluffy chicken. So I sewed the wing layers together with horizontal lines under the feathers, from the tip/edge to where the torso would be. This made the wings flat aside from a "tunnel" for each arm to slide through. That fixed the issue!






For the "helmet", I copied the shape and size of a winter hat, then added a few pin-tucks (is that the correct term?) until the fit was as good as it was going to get. The beak is filled with a little polyfill and painted with grey and white fabric paint. There's elastic under the chin to keep it in place. Next time, I would line the inside with a soft cotton -- Ben was a trooper and kept his helmet on the entire day but complained of itchiness.






The claws were quite tricky to make. I copied some firefighter boots from an old homemade costume, enlarged them and cut out claws that I top-stitched down the middle and at the end to give them a 3-dimensional quality. I painted the "nails" with black fabric paint. From far away, I think they actually looked like claws, but from up close, eek.










Overall I am pretty pleased with how it turned out! I have definitely learned some aspects of apparel and costume construction since last year, and am proud of how this costume turned out. It is always such fun to deliver a successful execution of your kid's vision. Ben was thrilled!

* * *
For those of you interested in the construction of this costume (I hear there's a lot of kiddos obsessed with peregrine falcons thanks to Wild Kratts!), you can see my process and progress in these two previous posts:

Part 1 - Halloween Prep: Peregrine Falcon
Part 2 - Who's Ready for Halloween?

I hope that helps! Don't hesitate to leave me a comment with questions.

Who's Ready For Halloween?

Not me!

I am knee deep in falcon feathers as we speak. Here's a little update on the progress of Ben's costume before I get back to it.

To facilitate a correct sizing and tailoring of the costume, I traced the outline of Ben's body on kraft paper, then drew out my idea of the costume over it. This gave me a great idea of what size each part of the costume should be. It's also a great reference for measurements -- from neck to finger tips, shoulder to waist, etc.






I cut a muslin in the shape of a half moon poncho and will be sewing my feather layers onto it. I cut all the "feathers" from eco-felt yesterday and I'm ready to roll with stitching the layers today. I told Ben at school drop-off this morning I was hoping to have his costume finished by the time I picked him up. Challenge on!








Wish me luck! Ben has a Halloween party at school on Wednesday so the costume needs to be completely finished by end of day tomorrow. I will post about the finished costume later this week. I can't wait to see it myself! How are your kiddos' costumes coming along?

Meanwhile, we've been keeping busy with various Halloween fun and prep -- carving pumpkins, eating jack-o-lantern cookies, decorating the house with fake spiders, etc. Fun stuff.














While the excitement of Halloween is certainly front and center at the moment, my thoughts are with Lee and your family, Angel. I wish we were closer so I could give you guys a big hug in person. My thoughts are with our friends on the East Coast as well. May Hurricane Sandy be gentler than expected and may you all stay safe!

Tiny Stitches Can Turn Into So Much More...

Oh, how I have dreaded writing this post. I've known since March I would share what has been going on behind the scenes at my home at some point, but with an intensely private husband and uncertainty about the course things would take, it just hasn't seemed like the right time -- until now. So many months of missed posts, half-finished projects and lapsed connections while I have been focusing on my family and immediate sphere.

This last March, my father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. I won't get into too many details, besides to say that treatment has allowed him to have many more months doing the things he enjoys than we originally thought he'd have. That time included a lot of fishing with his friends and family, hunting and camping with long time companions, and family gatherings. My husband's family (my family!) is so close, everyone has come together and pitched in every ounce of extra time and energy they could. The love and support and the meaningful conversations that have come out of this experience has been overwhelming and wonderful all at once. To watch someone I love face their own mortality with such honesty and authenticity has been humbling to say the least.

Sadly, the time for treatment has come to an end and we are all trying to figure out how to say goodbye to this person we love so much, that we will miss so much. The last few weeks I have found myself "holding down the fort" at home while Lee is helping care for his mom and dad, with lots of nervous energy I could not channel.

This morning was no different, and as I gathered things for us to decorate the hospice room with, I had a rare moment of creative clarity and quickly grabbed some very special supplies and my sewing machine.




All summer long I picked the blossoms of the lavender, chamomile and calendula from the garden. It was a meditative task for me each morning, the garden has helped all of us stay grounded during the ups and downs of the last year. It never seemed like it would add up to much, it was literally a tiny handful each morning. I bagged up the dried herbs as they collected and set them aside for "later". I wanted to send some of these flowers to the hospital because of their special energy and incredible scent, but wasn't sure how to present them.




Another great love of my FIL's is Lee's Volkswagen Bus, he drove it for quite a few years for hunting and fishing trips until finally we got it back and parked it in our backyard. I walked past my scrap bin this morning and my last tiny little scrap of Heather Ross's VW bus fabric was peeking out of the mess. Right next to it was a Tula Pink print with jumping fish. I had cut that fabric out for a never-started advent calendar last holiday season, and the shape was very close to an eye pillow shape. I had the idea to make a quick (and I mean QUICK) eye pillow/scented pillow in these meaningful fabrics for him to have close by. I mixed the herbs with some organic rice, said a little blessing over the bowl and filled up the fabric form.






If nothing else, surely the scent and the whimsical and meaningful fabric print will be a comfort to everyone visiting. Or at least that's what I hope.

I will be eternally grateful to my father-in-law for taking me on this end of life journey. There has been surprising beauty and deep connections forged, and I am so grateful for that as well. If you look in the side bar you can see a book called Last Rights and I have found it to be incredibly helpful along the way.


Do any of you have family members or a friend in hospice care right now? I have enough materials to make five more of these little pillows, and if you email me at the Stumbles and Stitches address to connect I will send one out to your loved one right away. Please do send some positive energy our way, and thank you for letting me share this very personal part of my family's life with you.

Make It Up: Penpal Comic Book

We are on Buzzmills today with a guest post for the Make It Up series!

Make It Up is all about the stories our kids tell -- and that we tell with them -- along with the crafts and projects we create to accompany the stories. We thought the penpal project Angel and I have been working on with our boys would be the perfect thing to share!

Ben and Ian are now penpals, sending each other mail from Seattle to Nashville and back. Along with letters, they are working on a comic book. Go read our post HERE, and come back next week to see the following installment in The Adventures of Ben and Ian!



While you're on Buzzmills, make sure to check out all the other super posts in the Make It Up series, along with Jane's never ending fabulous and inspiring projects.

Thanks for having us, Jane!

Bok, bok!

(Bok, bok is chicken-speak for "hello", did you know that?)



Greetings! I feel the creative energy flowing again now that the garden is on a gentle decline and I find myself inside more often (with idle hands). I wanted to make something last week but felt overwhelmed. A very, very hastily made curtain for the kitchen window in a quarter yard of an old Robert Kaufman print was the perfect instant gratification project.



The hems? Uneven. The channel at the top that the curtain rod goes through? It is also uneven so getting that curtain rod in was a real pain in the a$$. But it felt great to start and finish something, perfect or not.

My Grandfather's Trunk

Hi Angel!

I hope you're well and enjoying October. After a record dry spell over late summer, Seattle is once again rainy as of this week. Rainy, gloomy, dark and depressing -- blah! We've been lucky to get a few rays of sunlight peeking through the clouds, during which I rushed and took TONS of photos of new items for my shop. (More on that soon!)

Before the weather turned to wet, I took advantage of a nice weekend to work on a project I've had on my to-do list for ages: revamping my grandfather's trunk.




This wicker trunk used to belong to my grandfather, and according to my mom's recollections, it was given to him for his military service in the late 1940's in France. I remember this trunk well, it lived in our pantry room when we were kids. It was a yucky brown and had some black numbers and letters printed on it (my mom thinks it was for identification purposes in the military).




When Ben was born, my mom designed his nursery (see above, and more here) and made this trunk part of the toy storage. She cleaned it up by painting it white, and made a soft blue lining for it.

We took the trunk with us when we moved to Seattle a few years ago, and it has since lived in our entry staircase where it has housed grocery bags and outdoor toys.




How's that for a back story?

I've been wanting to revamp this trunk since we moved. I knew I wanted to make it much darker and veer far away from the shabby chic look. I also wanted to include something symbolic that would tie it to my grandfather somehow.

First step: I bought a couple of cans of a dark grey spray paint (with a tinge of green) and got to work outside on a sunny day. The name of the paint is Cobalt in glossy by Valspar, great quality!

Though I should make a disclaimer here: I hate spray paint. It is terrible for the environment and stinks. Can you tell from my wrinkly nose how much I hate the smell of it? Yuck! But, I don't know how the heck to paint wicker other than spraying it. It took only a couple of coats to get into all the nooks and crannies, and the trunk was fresh and new!






Second step: I decided to stencil my grandfather's birth year (1929) and his initials (JPL) on the trunk. It would be a little cryptic for anyone else, but for our family, it would hold meaning when we saw it.

For this part of the revamp, I picked a modern font (Candara) and printed each letter and number as large as it would go on a 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of cardstock. I then cut out the black to create a stencil. I taped all the letters / numbers together and surrounded the large stencil with scrap paper to keep the paint off the trunk.








Back outside, I used an old can of white spray paint to stencil the letters on the trunk. It was a little tricky to center the letters on the sides of the trunk, I couldn't quite see what I was doing, but it turned out okay.




At first, I was really bummed out about the fuzzy edges of the stenciled letters -- though that is the inevitable result of painting wicker since there are no flat edges. But then Kevin told me that military crates are usually spray painted so this tied in to the symbolism. Okay then.




I am so much happier with this trunk now. I think it makes a much bolder statement as you come up the stairs into our apartment! I can't believe it took me so long to get rolling with this project. It ended up taking just a couple of hours total (with some extra time in between coats to let the paint dry). Super easy!






What do you think of this little revamp project? How do you feel about using spray paint? I sure love a satisfying make-over project. How about you?