Let the madness begin!

Today was my second day back at work full time. So far so good, except reading policy and bioethics papers for 4 hours in a row starts to make your eyes go blurry. The biggest bonus was finding out that the center closes for two weeks over the holidays. Enforced vacation time and no more worries about juggling the kids being out of school, priceless. Crazy evenings trying to catch up with kids, make dinner or walk the dog (Juan and I switch off), supervise homework, then violin practice , make the next days lunches etc. etc. not so much. A balance will be found!

I can finally post a picture of my latest finished object, the last swap in an almost year long swap with the members of my former knit and spin group in Illinois. This hat has Sarah written all over it!

Sofia looks pretty cute in it too, although the light could be better. I spun the yarn and then knit the hat and felted it. The red flower is from a sweater Sarah gave me long ago and the black velvet button was taken from a 1940's coat dress I no longer wear.

I've been sewing quite a bit and have everything to make this (I was the happy recipient of the one pictured, my last swap gift from Dorie. Ironically I bought Lotta Jansdotter's book the day before I got the bag, I now plan to make one for my mom.) and this. Both of them holiday gifts. Sofia made a place mat for herself from the Lotta Jansdotter book and I made this backpack.


My plan was to show it on my back, but it makes me look like a linebacker. Note to self: much longer straps next time. This backpack will go to some lucky kid.

A change is coming...

Since arriving in Texas I have been applying for jobs; many, many jobs. My criteria was that they had to be jobs I was interested in (lucky me to have the luxury to choose and to wait) and that they would challenge me. It has been a long and often depressing wait as I didn't even get interview requests for any of the full time jobs I applied for. The wait is over. I was offered a job last week helping to coordinate research in a center that investigates ethics and health policy and I accepted. The work will be intellectually stimulating, and will give me a chance to learn a lot about genetics and ethics as well as to do a wide variety of tasks, including a lot of writing, over the period of the three year grant. The fact that the information we gather will be used to make policy recommendations, and that I will be a part of making those recommendations in the third year, is especially exciting. I now have 4 weeks to get my house in order.

In the meantime I've been working helping international nurses get settled here and doing a minimal amount of sewing and knitting. Here's some proof:

I don't know if I have plans to be a better blog poster. I have been trying to do more living and less looking. I wish I was the kind of person who didn't get sucked into the whole blogosphere in an obsessive way, but I am. It gets especially bad for me when I'm down, which I have been since we returned from France, and I find that looking at the beauty (granted that little slice we're willing to put out there) and productivity of other people's lives just mires me more. Hence I try to stay away from the computer and I usually feel much better that way. Hopefully my horizons will broaden with a new job and some mental stimulation and I will be back here in the way I was meant to be.

Twins

These are thank you gifts for two little girls who kept Sofia company in California. As always my sewing method is slapdash and less than perfect, but they work and it seems they coveted Sofia's pencil case while she was there. I don't think they'll critique my craftsmanship!

Quick and dirty

Sofia and Micaela took off yesterday for San Francisco to spend time with their grandmother and uncle. I whipped this up for Sofia in 1 1/2 hours just before they left.


The craftsmanship leaves something to be desired (the lines are not even I didn't even bother to measure), but it works and her colored pencils won't be swimming around at the bottom of her backpack. And of course she was happy and thought it was perfect!

Spring has sprung

While it never really felt like winter here in Houston I am discovering the changing of the seasons all the same. I hadn't really realized how dormant everything had gone and how much green was missing from the landscape. We had biblical rains last week; flooding the end of our street, bringing the bayou up over its banks and popping all the plants in the sunny days that followed.

With warmer weather a girl's thoughts turn to shoes. I really should return these, but they are SO cute and in keeping with the flower theme! Plus I have always wanted a red pair of shoes...

And of course Spring wouldn't be complete without bunnies. I made this one thanks to a great tutorial from Betz White.
This is a bunny for a one year old birthday girl. Micaela and Sofia fell in love so I made two more with appliqued polka dots of fabric on their fronts.

And Spring also brings babies, my little brother and his wife had twin baby boys Friday afternoon. I'm in the midst of finishing up a project (ok make that plural) for them.

In the moment

I recently celebrated another year on this planet; my last year of being in my 30s. Birthdays do not freak me out, but this last move and my desire to figure out what fulfills me has led to lots of soul searching and unfortunately a lot of down time (emotionally). I prefer to think of the year beginning with my birthday and in that vein I am committing to the 28 day Meditation Challenge sponsored by Tricycle. I have been sitting off and on since Sofia was born (some 7 years ago), but would really like to place it firmly in my life in the same way I brush my teeth twice a day, without really thinking about it. I kicked it off by going to sit with a group of people that meets once a month. It was really wonderful to sit in a group and I look forward to returning.

In other news I've started seeds for my dye garden and the woad, yellow bedstraw, sacred purple basil and marigolds have sprouted. Not so the indigo which according to the instructions is challenging to get started. The bed is ready to go (I gave away 10 azalea bushes to someone on a plant exchange list). We also planted muscadines, a celestial fig and blackberries last week.

Today I finished this sewing machine cover
Front:

I like the top and side fabric best, I've used every last scrap of it (bought via ebay a few years ago):
I also received my redwork swap package (sponsored by the lovely Dorie!). I figured the bird needed to out of the house.

Many thanks to Faun! New art for my room.

Here's what I sent to her

Illustration copied from old children's book. 'Nuff said.

Here and now...

Things have been a little rough lately. I'm job hunting, again. This time I'm holding out until I can find something that I really want to do. Difficult since I put off my own work experience over myriad moves (5 times in 11 years) and hence my resume doesn't look so consistent. In the meantime I'm keeping busy and working one day a week at my co-op as cashier. There's no glory there, but it is an excellent way to meet like minded people.

The view from here? The Cedar Waxwings came back today. We counted over one hundred. Perfect timing as this weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count.



Micaela had a birthday party to go to this afternoon. I made this messenger bag for the birthday girl. Started it last night and finished it a half an hour before the party started.



We got lucky in a way with this move. Juan's cousin and family moved here the same week we did. Ali and the kids came over this afternoon and I gifted her with this Everest Vest I finished this week (from Interweave Knits). It fit her perfectly.



Tomorrow we're going to see Bridge to Terabithia. I read it to the kids this week and cried just as hard as I did when I first read it in fourth grade. I had the honor of interviewing the author, Katherine Paterson, while in elementary school. Some friends and I started a school paper and she generously agreed to let me interview her by phone so I could print it in our fledgling paper. I still remember how she treated me like a true journalist and not just some kid.

Around the dinner table last night talk turned to death and what happens to people's bodies. Morbid dinner conversation, true, but I am glad to have death out there in the open as it is part of life and too often, in my opinion, glossed over in our society. I think that Paterson's book, published in 1977, helped bring topics previously considered not kid friendly into children's literature and that is a good thing.

Around here

I'm becoming a bagaholic...

Sew what...

I have taken to my sewing machine again. I only learned to sew on the machine 7 years ago. Juan taught me after having taught himself several years before when M's room needed curtains. I have my grandmother's Husqvarna bought in the same year as I was born, 1968. She made everything on it including bras and girdles and quite a few outfits I wore as a child. The thing I love about sewing, especially as compared to knitting, is that it is almost instant satisfaction. I started and finished this bag in one evening thanks to this tutorial at Tiny Happy



I was doing a literal happy dance as I am "construction challenged" and this tutorial managed to make me understand how bags go together. That said I still messed up and did lots of stitch ripping. I feel confident though that my next bag will go more quickly and with less cussing.

On Saturday afternoon I saw a gorgeous log cabin pillow on Dioramarama's blog and thought I can do that (albeit not quite as well)! The last time I quilted was 13 years ago when I hand quilted and appliqued building blocks for Micaela.



And I did! I finished most of it in a few hours. It was the perfect vehicle for the thrifted fabric I've amassed (although it made me want more as I'm not entirely happy with the pallette of colors I've got). Again I'm not so happy with the construction. I know quilting is, for the most part, a perfectionist's sport, but ever since I saw the Gee's Bend exhibit I've given up thinking quilt corners have to be razor sharp.

Meanwhile I am weeks, no months, deep into a knitted vest. I think I need to sew more.

M and I are trying to walk for an hour 3 times a week. We follow the Bayou which isn't far from my house. This Great Blue Heron is there pretty much every morning. These are both the same bird I scared it off when I took the first picture and I love how it looks like it is about to test the waters from the stairs. Wish I had a better telephoto.

Redwork Redux

I've been doing a bit of embroidery lately as I am tired of knitting. I started this last night and finished her this morning. We're calling her Miss Meow. I copied her off of a greeting card with a few modifications. I think I will send her on to my niece.

While stitching away I remembered a gorgeous redwork quilt I received for my 10th birthday. the Kliban Cats were very popular then and I asked for a Kliban quilt. My mother and aunt instead made me a redwork quilt with 16 panels, each depicting a cat in a different position. It had my name as well as theirs embroidered into the curves of different cat's tails. That quilt left home with me and my boyfriend and I slept together under that 10 year old girl quilt for 5 years. I have no idea what happened to it after we split up which makes me sad.

While sewing the front and back piece together I had to look up something in my sewing machine book. The machine belonged to my grandmother, who died when I was 13, and I found some notes she made in her lovely slanted cursive script. I felt at that moment very close to all the women in my family.

Finally, I thought it might be nice to look out from the screen for a change. Note crooked glasses...oh and new expression lines!