Yarn Along in pajamas

It has been a looong time since I did the knit along. Mostly because I haven't been able to sit (curse you back troubles) so my knitting has been on GOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOWWWW.  Now I'm way more mobile its going faster.

This project is the tail end of something experimental.  I am making sleeve, leg and tummy extensions for E's favorite pajamas.  I am not normally ambitious enough to bother with this sort of thing because E.'s clothes go right to J. as hand me downs and everyone is happy. 

 However....  

These particular pajamas are for E. the best-est pajamas ever created on the face of the planet. They are boy's pajamas (eg nice and comfortably baggy) we bought in the UK before we moved and they have guitars and other rock/music equipment on the shirt.  I am lengthening them only because when I told E. they were getting too short and she had to hand them on her eyes teared up and J. started jumping around crowing because E.'s precious "Coolest PJs on the Planet" would soon be hers!  

So here I find myself... doing the thing that seems totally futile for the sake of a pajama obsession that is probably quite unhealthy... 

I will post pics next week with a how-I-did-it-and-if-you-are-a-masochist-or-cheapskate-so-can-you!!

I'm reading Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.  It is a fantasy novel which has two others in a sort of paralell series. I've found it  interesting and I love the world the author created but the book is slow and pushes hard against some moral issues that I feel quite strongly about so I have found it occasionally uncomfortable enough to skip some reading. I would read it again if it weren't for a lot of (gentle) references to said moral/sexual issues which this is not the forum for discussion.  It has a villain I find very very repulsive and A LOT of victims. So I dunno. Thumbs sideways I guess.

You can see E is re-reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Excitement for the The Desolation of Smaug is reaching fever pitch in our house as the girls all know it opens the day after M.'s birthday and I've already bought us tickets at our local cinema (surprisingly good for a small town) as a surprise for him (he LOVES The Hobbit).

Happy kitting!

xx Jo

California's Pilgrims

E. and J. have just finished their fall homeschool history project. JUST in time.

The girls tend to work from books for all their main classwork but for history we always make it a little more exciting with a topic project three or four times a year. We have made a medieval newspaper, had Roman feast for M.'s birthday and traveled the world with craft paper passports which get a "stamp" once a culture has been "visited".   Having just moved back to the states from a town on the south coast of England (only a little way away from Plymouth)  we have been studying the pilgrims and the Mayflower. To most Americans the idea of being completely ignorant of Pilgrim history probably seems incomprehensible but my kids were. 

Completely. Ignorant.

They have had such a great time researching and writing these diary. For example their characters existed and survived the first year in the New World when most of the immigrants died in the terrible conditions. Also E. and J. know where their characters settled married and how many children they had.  I had nothing to do with the research and writing (other than book buying/spotting and insisting on a minimum of ten diary entries) just the physical leather manufacture of their amazing Pilgrim Diaries.

We used regular printer paper aged and stained with coffee but not crumpled up a la fake treasure maps.  They wrote their diary entries leaving a good size margin on each page so that there was space to trim the paper down to fit leather sheet covers.  Which we punched with a bradawl tool and they stitched their diary up using leather thong.  They then wanted to mark the initials of the character on the cover. E. was Remember Allerton, and J. Mary Allerton. I didn't have the right tools but my girls really didn't care. A screwdriver did the job nicely.

 

The leather is rather expensive for a faux diary cover and only comes in one size from Michael's or Beverly's by us but a bigger one might have more options.  Having said that the work the girls put into writing up each entry, spell checking the lot and then by hand carefully re-writing them onto diary paper deserved a more noble finish than a fake leather or felt cover so I caved and bought the more expensive stuff.  In retrospect it was the very best thing I could have done. Children put value in the things their parents value.  By covering their work in leather I told them (inadvertently) that their work was worth something more than throwing away.  They are so proud and excited.  Just in time to share them with the family at Thanksgiving.

xx  Jo

The hip Victorian silhouette project

I love the trend for Victorian silhouettes that has come up in the last few years but the dull black leaves me a little uninspired and quite frankly makes me think of funerals. 

I also love to make mementos of my children at different stages of their life. Particularly a set of three showing all three girls at the same time. When the girls were little I did a set of their footprints all at once (ages 4 years/2 years/ 3 months) which were the things we most feared getting lost or broken in the move because they are irreplaceable and utterly priceless.

So here is my work in progress and a little (very very little and simple) how to:

You need:

1:  a digital camera and computer.

2:  tracing paper.

3:  a large enough piece of fabric to fit comfortably in an embroidery hoop of your chosen size. I used a 10 inch diameter hoop which is what I will display the portrait in long term as well, but you can mount it in a frame if that’s more your style.

4:  Your hoop

5: two coordinating pieces of felt- I used the acrylic kind that’s really cheap.

6: needle and thread in coordinating colours.

7: a stencil if you wish.

Seat your subject in a chair in front of a white, smooth  background (I hung a piece of paper on the wall) and shine as much light from every direction as possible. Take your photo and upload it to the computer. Size the photo on your screen to as big/ small as you fancy and trace your subjects profile onto tracing paper directly from the screen- carefully don’t press hard!!

Carefully cut out the profile- that’s your silhouette template. Cut out one exact copy from your top piece of felt and an enlarged (by only a ¼ to ½ an inch) copy from the bottom felt colour. It’s okay to be less precise on the bottom copy but try to keep the enlargement even all around the silhouette.

With your fabric in the hoop and your two felt silhouettes placed on top stitch in small even stitches all around the edge of the top silhouette.

If you are going to skip the stenciling- you are done.  Either cut away the excess fabric from your hoop or stitch it back behind and hang your portrait. Alternatively frame your beauty and make it look as proper as you choose!

For the stencilers… I am ashamed to show you the messy back of my work but I feel it is only fair to show you how I am adding pattern to my piece…  My stitching looks great at the front but is a 

PAR-TAY 

at the back….

***BLUSH***

I used a stencil which came as a set of three for free with a magazine and I traced my basic design onto the back of the outline of my stitching and added embellishment where it looked too bare.  

Voilà! Hip Victorian Silhouette! 

 Use your template for other projects too. 

I used mine to make porcelain silhouettes which I hang in a group. They took (surprisingly) less time to make than the stitched versions. But you could use the template to cut sheet icing for a special birthday cake or to paint a drawer in a shared room  rather than putting names on the drawers.

Have fun!

xx Jo

The place I'm at when I should be doing something else...

Soooooo....  You know I've been busy. With lots of things.

I have the ABC's of busy...

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A is for Apples

 in the orchard- more than I can keep up with cooking, canning, feeding to my children, our neighbor's cows or the deer.

B is for Bird-sitting

 our chickens when they are out of their pen in order that the nasty bobcat that ate one doesn't get anymore!

C is for Canning

because I planted too much veg, inherited too many fruit trees and generally got too ambitious when ordering peaches via our friends at Live Power Community Farm with our CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture... its a mouthful to say and eat) box.

--------------------------------

The alphabet goes on and on and on (like Gone With the Wind but with no war, elegant dresses or Rhet Butler ... just lots of me looking flustered and throwing tantrums about someone messing up the quilt draped artistically over the back of the couch AGAIN!!!!!) finally ending in:

------------------------------

Z is for Zombie*

...sometimes... sort of... not really...

but M. sometimes acts like one.  He has been really really busy too and starts talking about going to bed the moment the children are up the stairs to go to sleep at 9 p.m. Naturally my instinct is to rebel and go to bed at 3 a.m. so I'm kinda a zombie too some mornings. 

*no photos of "Z" for the protection of the innocent

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  but the letter that has been consuming my time and mental space is S.

-----------------------

S is for Sweet Little Wood

and Shop!  I am officially set up in a beautiful shop called Gin'Gillie's Vintage Home Collective in Gyserville California!

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When we left England we had some idea of opening a vintage/handmade sales space of some kind but we were uncertain of what exactly we wanted to do and more importantly where! I have a space on Etsy but in order to make it work you need a large-ish shop and really you have to push yourself to be proactive in order to keep your listings popping up because there are so (I cannot stress this enough) SOOOOOOOOO many sellers on Etsy. 

So the reasons Etsy is not really for me are that I am: 

1: too lazy. 

2: too annoyed/terrified by the postal system in the USA. 

3: to lazy

So this is what I enjoy doing. I find stuff. Old busted (sometimes) not really loved stuff. I take it home buff it up and show it I love it and then put it where someone else might pick it up and decide they love it too. Then I spend time with my family and make stuff I love with my hands... while the kids do homeschool... while I wait for the twelve jars in my canning pot to get to the right temperature... while I sit and wait for yet another interminable visit to the orthodontist to end...  while I inwardly gripe that M. has gone to bed at 9:01 and I'm not anything like tired yet.  Then I put that handmade stuff where someone else might pick it up and decide they love it too.

The long and short of it all is that when I should be watering watermelons that are taking over the back acre, keeping my little chickies from going stir-crazy in their pen, or sleeping with my husband at 11 o'clock.:  I can often be seen thinking about, designing, creating, washing, dusting, stitching, drawing or daydreaming about  Sweet Little Wood, my sweet little space that I can play with and make my own.

x(yz)  Jo

P.S. if you have never seen a tiny little baby watermelon...

 they are the cutest darn things ever!!

P.P.S. Does anyone know if apples are bad for cows?!?!

A peaceful new year to you

 

Quiet peaceful times spent together with my children are among my greatest joys.

In a suddenly and suprisingly quiet house we spent the dawning of a new year feeding our beings with comfort, creativity and faith together.



Morning- headed home from the airport

Noon- warming our tired bodies and minds

Night- exercising creativity
 



Art night.

Tuesday night is my art night. I pack up my easel and canvas, grab my paints and brushes and head out to a nearby secondary school where I sit and chat and laugh and paint and get tips on how to use acrylics. In this case (like last year) this particular course was a gift from M. for my birthday. I like experiencing learning and is some ways it is a bit of an addiction. I pick up new hobbies quite frequently, get passably proficient then move on... its probably not a great thing to admit but I can do a lot of things only a little well. Occasionally some craft or art will meet all my needs for creativity and functionality and then I feel the need to do it all the time (knitting... my fingers itch for needles when idle). 

 

I paint in watercolour intermittently- usually to make gift pictures for family and friends ( a painting for M. of London South Bank can be seen on the wall here) and I love colour pencil painting (here) but I have been actively terrified of acrylics and oils. The solidity of the paint as you put on the canvas gives me a quaking of anxiety, feeling that whatever I'm seeing is going to look like a toddler sploshed it on. M. ever the pragmatist thought I really aught to learn to use acrylics so I can paint his mum a birthday present that is not in watercolour (they already have a watercolour of mine on the wall from a birthday gift in 2011for his dad).

The point of this post is not however the painting, or the picture, but the BOX. Ohhhhh yes the scrumptious little wooden beauty that houses my paints and brushes.
Also a gift from M. procured at our local car-boot sale for an astonishingly tiny price. Though I didn't know it was for me I was there and listened in awe when the vendor quoted such a ridiculously low price M. didn't have the heart to haggle with the poor man. It is old- no telling how old however- and it has a gorgeous patina of age which fortunately didn't wipe away entirely while M. was cleaning it up.
 My favorite bit?

The name and address of a previous owner written in an old fashioned scrawling hand on a stained, battered, peeling piece of paper stuck to the inside lid.

 

x Jo

 

The patients recovering.

Thank you to everyone who kindly enquired and sent cards and flowers. We are really happy to report that Mrs. Moo is physically recovering very well from her emergency operation!

 

She is currently recovering in the very best toy hospital in the south of England. As you can see her bed has been made up with one of my best PIP Studio tea towels, Jessica assured me this was vital to Mrs. Moo's mental health.

 

Sadly Mrs. Moo's mental states is still very vulnerable. As she was being rushed to the surgeon after her pelvic floor collapsed the emergency crews neglected to cover her and unfortunately Mrs. Moo heared the surgeon's cries of "Mr. Moo" as her bean bag dangled out her bottom.

 

We are still in discussion with our solicitors as to whether or not to take the case to court.

 

x Jo

 

September means birthdays.

Bath, Sommerset 

 

At last I am in the digital world again properly. After I sent our computer off for a repair in May (ages ago!!!!) It came back months later- broken. Seriously. I had a little tantrum and threw my toys out of the pram. There was much argy-bargy and pointing blame between the store which handled the repair and the company who manufactured and repaired the computer; eventually (another month later) one of them took responsibility and gave us a credit note for a new computer. So here I sit typing at our new shiny laptop.    I t   h a s    v e r y    w i d e    s p a c e d    k e y s     s o     I     m a k e    m a n y     t y p i n g     e r r o r s ! ! !

 

The long and short of it is I have a computer so I also now have photos!! Taken on my lovely new Canon EOS 600D (thank you to my sweetheart for that BIG treat after I... ahem... never mind what happened to my old camera).

 

It has been such a crazy busy summer. We've been all over and done so much I would have liked to share our adventures with you but I don't have the energy to make it interesting. So instead I will bore you with just whats been going on here in the last week... or so.
 

 J. and I both have our birthdays in September. One of us has turned 9, the other of us has kindly asked that her age not be published to the world. I will leave the guessing up to you.  Birthday cakes in the last year (due to popular demand) have almost exclusively come in adorable cup cake holders which look like tea-cups. Our cakes are always served on my great grandmother's glass cake stand which was a gift from my mother when I got married.

J wanted to have her birthday at Alice's Adventure Wonderland which is not so local now we have moved but lots of fun. K is too grown up for it all (though she spent many hours trying and retrying to work her way to the middle of the maze) and E is pushing the boundaries of finding it fun. The benefit of AAW (Alice's Adventure Wonderland) is that its never full and there are no queues so the girls run from one ride to another with a look of maniacal pleasure in making the most of every second. The most important thing was that we all enjoyed it and we enjoyed being together.
 

 

Other than that there has been a lot of quilting and sewing and untill this morning and very little homeschool. We are back to it today and it feels great to have a morning at home just focoused on home and learning.

 

Matt has had an interview for a job in CA and has just this afternoon had an invitation for another interview soooooo.... things are moving and in the right direction. His visa is approved, the qualification reciprosity is done and is better than we expected. All we are really waiting on is a job and to run down our tennancy agreement on this house before we move. We have to remind ourselves daily of the principles of  Matthew 6:24 and not to try to map out the uncertainties.

 

x Jo 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Monday To-Do List and BIG Plans

tea, iron, sew, tea, chocolate, knit, tea, cook, draw and did I mention tea?

That's it pretty much. Its been fairly manic around here so I'm looking forward to a day of pleasure; except for that big iron in the top-left which is not my favorite chore but when your husband decides the wardrobe and drawers must be malfunctioning... needs must.

The knitting is a jumper I'm making for E. The pattern is from the March 2011 copy of Lets Knit (not a magazine I usually buy but the pattern is sooooo delicious!).  It has lovely little knots (the photo isn't as clear as I would have liked) which give the fabric a beautiful texture and grain. And the yarn really is quite special. It is Sirdar Crofter DK in Granary 57. It knits up with a beautiful fair-isle style finish which looks more clear on smaller items than this. I've had so many people comment on it as I knit! I'm thrilled with the finish- a light summer weight with a lovely stitch definition. I will try to remember to post a final picture when I finish.

 I've let the cat out of the bag properly on Facebook now so I guess I can safely say that our plans are to move to the USA.  M has a greencard application pending which we have to wait for the next step. Our house is under offer and on the verge of exchange of contracts. So we are going to move a lot closer to M's work until we are within a couple months of emigrating, then we will (thanks to the very generous and gracious kindness of my in laws) live with M's parents until we have a set moving date.  At present it looks to be early 2013 God willing.

I can't wait. Literally cannot wait. I want to be able to go down the road and knock on a door and find myself a home where I know I will be welcome and loved. Where there is no tension or fear of judgement. I want to be able to talk about my family and loved ones with other people who know and love them too. I've missed so many years of being with them all I know going home now will be very different and nothing will bring my Mom or brother back but I can make the most of those moments I have left with the rest of the people I hold dear. This year can't go quickly enough for me.

X Jo

Sunshine, Friendship and Cake

There are some weeks when all the most wonderful things come together. They are unusual in their beauty and pleasure. Time passes slowly as every minute is filled with fellowship and the bliss of being with great friends. This last week has been so brilliantly memorable I expect it will take us a while to wear out the warm glow left behind.

So monday through friday went like this:

cooking, sunshine, cooking, cooking, sunshine, sleep

sunshine, reading, friends, sunshine, walk, play, icecream, sunshine, games, sleep.

sunshine, beach, picnic, sunshine, beach, rollerblades, sushine, park, ribs, games, sleep.

 

 sunshine, pancakes, gifts, Longleat, picnic, sunshine, play, fun, animals, Alice's tea, games, sleep.

sunshine, park, sunshine, goodbye, misssing, sleep.

X Jo

Follow the White Rabbit

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser around here.

  

Kitty turns 13 years old very shortly and we are expecting her cousin and best friend (Ruth) down for a few days with her mother (the loveliest most gentle person I know) and we are so excited. Kitty didn't want a party as such she just wanted to spend some time with Ruth and when her mum suggested they both come down for a few days visit it was the perfect opportunity to get together.

I've been secretly planning an Alice in Wonderland party for some time since we took out the stunning book Paper Cuts by Taylor Haggerty from the library. So while the girls were recently with their grandparents for a little break I cracked out the pva glue and string and started to create a little bit of wonderland for our home.

The White Rabbit:

This scrumptious little man is a Lindt chocolate rabbit. A middle size one (500g) which this time of year are fairly easy to come by in a large supermarket. I wrapped him well in cling film so that there was no chance for the PVA glue and acrylic paint to taint the chocolate. I then paper mache'd him up with a layer of white tissue using Decopatch glossy glue; a little slightly thinned PVA glue would have been cheaper and just as good but I had the decopatch to hand and I didn't have the PVA. Because white tissue is so transparent when used like this I then covered him with a layer of white acrylic paint followed with a final layer of white tissue and glue once the paint had dried.

His snappy little suit I painted on using acrylics in two shades of green, blue, brown and a tiny bit of yellow for his buttons. I based it on John Tenniel's original illustrations of the white rabbit.

The straws and gift bags:

Sourced from the lovely products at Project Pretty She will personalize flags and stickers for the bags and straws but I chose to make my own eat me/ drink me tags from Cath Kidston stickers I had hanging around.

  

This adorable fellow is a friend of the Mad Hatter and likes to sleep in tea pots. He came from the wonderfully creative Etsy shop Quernus Crafts and has been resident with us for only a few weeks.

X Jo

Any Day But Valintines Day

We just don't do it. We used to when we were young, impressionable and stupid. The card, the chocolate, the wine, dinner, a gift.

We grew up a bit and realised that when we planned a 'romantic' night it usually ended in a lethargic yawn or argument.

So now we just love each other without setting up expectations of perfection- every day.

364 days a year.

Remembering

Paul Ray Downs- 1981

I have with a heavy heart been in America to say farewell to my loving, kind and generous brother Paul.

 Though we have lived 5000 miles apart for 15 years I knew when we spoke (or on the rare occasions when I got out to the states to visit) it would be like we never had been away.

It was astonishing to see the number of people who came to his funeral. He had a knack of making everyone he met feel at ease, listened to and accepted. He talked to complete strangers and never judged them by the way they looked, lived or spoke.

Matt the girls and I had the great pleasure of spending time with our family and Paul's for almost a month.  It was so wonderful to be together.  My sister-in-law and niece and nephew are stunningly special. And the truth about funerals is that the time you spend mourning with other people who knew your loved one is sweet despite the sorrow: reliving memories, listening to other's memories and celebrating a life lost.

In our time there we finally found a moment to sort though boxes of my Mom's things which were stored in Paul's basement since she died in '06. In them we found so many wonderful memories and treasures! Including over 300 photographic slides dating from the 60's to the 80's. I was determined to get these photos to a usable condition and after much trawling and searching I narrowed down my choices to a small (1/2 lb loaf size) digital camera box which allows you to make digital copies of negatives and slides. There were many many options but based on my research and customer reviews we chose this one.

The results have exceeded my wildest expectations! The photos capture all the charm of the slides with a clarity that blows my mind away. The greatest pleasure comes from seeing the faces I've loved and lost suddenly showing new expressions.  It is the the most precious gift I could have recieved.

X