July 7

Lauren's old enough now to occasionally have her own money and gift cards, and she's always misplacing them. None of the various wallets, purses, piggy banks, or toy ATM machines she owns are really working for her, so she asked me to make her a wallet to her specifications.

This is it: a place for notes, a couple of gift cards, and a zippered pocket for coins. I also made a matching shoulder bag to keep it in. Let's see if this helps her keep better track of her money!

July 6

Lauren's been complaining that she has no summer pyjama pants, so last night I whipped her up a pair after dinner. She chose some fleece from my stash, which rather defeated the purpose I thought, but she was totally delighted with the result. To see her prancing around in a garment that took all of half an hour from go to whoa was pretty gratifying. She's already picked out fabric for a couple more pair.

LATER (before breakfast!): Another pair done, these ones in soft flannel.

July 5

More shopping totes. I'm thinking of writing a tutorial for this bag. Any interest?

Josh may use a couple of these as props on his show this week. Fun! Maybe they will appear on national television.

July 4

It is Independence Day in this country -- a land I have inhabited for 11 years but still do not think of as my own. I left Australia without saying good-bye to anyone, not children, not parents, not siblings, not friends. I came here with only a computer and a few changes of clothes, leaving behind bewildered and hurting loved ones, who still after all this time do not really understand why I left, though they mostly have forgiven me.

It was the toughest thing I have ever done, but it was absolutely essential for my survival. This morning I read these words of Mary Oliver's, and gasped, tears springing to my eyes. She understands.

The Journey, by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –-
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –-
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Happy Independence Day, wherever you may be.

June 28

I've graduated from making "plastic"-sized shopping bags to "paper"-sized ones. The smaller ones are great for keeping in one's handbag; these are for throwing in the car. I fill 10-12 shopping bags on my weekly supermarket trips, and I only have six cloth bags so far, so I'm making these for myself, and extras for gifts. I'm having fun putting together fabrics from my stash, and dyeing cotton webbing to match.

June 26

I admit it. That's a pile of Christmas card makings. Some may think I am warped and twisted for working so far ahead. But what can I tell you? I take after my mother, who in my youth always boasted that she had all the Christmas shopping done by the August school holidays. There's nothing wrong with that, is there? Especially if it's accompanied by a nice Chilean red??

June 22

I cut out this little sundress before bed last night, and at 5am this morning I was at the sewing machine. Another one for the Christmas boutique! Come September, there will be two little girls in the family to sew for. Sweet!

June 21

This is the other apron I mentioned yesterday. The fabric used in the front of the pocket is hand-dyed. It was originally white-on-white, and the pattern acted as a resist, giving a really cool result.

June 20

I've been making aprons! These two patterns are from A Is For Apron. I love the second one -- the Deep Pocket design. It would work as a peg bag (not that any of the Americans I know peg their clothes on a clothesline, but my Aussie compatriots do) or even when tidying the house, to transport headbands, playing cards, odd socks, etc back to where they belong. I made a second version of this apron in lighter weight fabric but my model (Lauren's friend) has gone home so I haven't photographed it yet.

June 18

I am sitting here, awed, amazed, blown away, touched to the core, by what arrived in the mail today.

This:

Yes, I have here a Misty Mawn original, gifted to me, along with two CDs of her favourite music, which I am listening to and loving.

This art is SO much more gorgeous, delicate, and, well, just astounding, in the flesh, so textural (I touch it gently, as if it were a butterfly wing). I am bursting with the blessing of it.

::: deep sigh of joy :::

June 17

Morning in my garden.

June 15

I think I'm done making these bags now. I'm ready to move on to aprons and totes, with a wee little sundress thrown in there too. But one thing I'll probably keep doing for the rest of the year (or until I get sick of it) is using the little scraps of fabric from each sewing project to make a matching card.

June 13

Today is (was) my mother's birthay, so I have been thinking of her more than usual. I especially felt close to her when Lauren brought this home from school today and proudly read it to me:
My Mama was a loving, caring, mother, wife, and friend. That's how I learned how to do it. Thank you, Mum. I miss you.

June 10

More of my commute. How can I complain? NPR on the radio, except for in the canyon (no reception) when I put on a CD. Though I have to tell you, I need some more CDs. Tell me what music you love, and I'll sample it.

June 9

I have a long commute to work (75 to 90 minutes) but it's very pretty. I've been meaning to take my camera with me for ages, and at last today I did.
Ever since meeting Misty, I have wanted to show her how the colors I see at the beach each morning remind me of her. Don't you agree?

June 6

Goofy Josh. He loves his job so much. I can't quite figure out whether I like the kids being exposed to this stuff. Does it eliminate any fear of images on the screen, because they know (from hands-on experience) that it's not real? Or does it just desensitize them to the idea of real-life horror? Are they likely to shrug at the thought or sight of a real severed limb, having played with fake ones? I don't know ...

June 2

One of these days I'll get my very own macro lens, and be able to do attractive food photography. But for now, I leave you with this incredibly scrumptious recipe.

EDAMAME SALAD WITH BASIL VINAIGRETTE
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 large tomato, diced
1 celery stalk, sliced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add the edamame and cook 5 minutes; drain, rinse under cold water, and pat dry.

Combine the vinegar, oil, garlic, and salt in a large bowl. Add the edamame, beans, tomato, celery, onion, and basil; mix well. Let stand at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving to allow the flavours to blend.

June 1

I've been making a lot of these singlet-style shopping bags lately. So easy, so handy, so pretty.

Mushroom Villagers asked about the leaf fabric. The selvedge says, "The Lindsay Collection by Karen Montgomery for Timeless Treasures Fabrics, Inc." I just found it here. They have a retail store locater on their site, which might be helpful to some. Though I do recommend making the trip to Michael Levine's, no matter how far away you live.

May 31

Downtown LA's fabric district has some pretty skanky-looking stores.

But today Evie and I were headed here:
I hadn't visited Mr. Levine since last May, when I went with Sister. It was good to be back.
I was very, very restrained. This is all I bought. Aren't they pretty?

I miss blogging ...

I'm still alive. I've been working long hours, of course. I warned you about that. But I have other excuses for not blogging. Like not having Photoshop on my new computer, which makes saving photos for web a real pain. And spending all my free art time making birthday gifts for people who read this blog, thus not wanting to show you what I've been up to. But really, for whatever reason, I was taking a break.

But I miss you, so now I'm back, and ready to share again. Here's some fun things I've been doing in the last month or so:

Playing (very briefly) with a macro lens Josh brought home from work (he is the prop master on Dexter for season three. This photo was taken with Dexter's crime scene camera.)


Visiting Descanso Gardens with Josh. Even though he has lived in L.A. his whole life, he hadn't ever been there. Whenever we spend a half day somewhere like this, he spends about ten percent of the time exclaiming "We have to do stuff like this more often!" Yes, indeed.

Spending a day with Penny and John. We walked through the Hollywood hills, and visited the La Brea Tar Pits and The Getty Museum. They taught me a lot about plants. We ate good food, and laughed a lot. Wonderful.

Planting a veggie/herb garden. I left it pretty late this year, but now it's done, right before a day of unseasonal rain. Perfect!

Being a parent. Ian and his friends went to a murder mystery birthday party. From left to right, they are John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and George Burns. What a fabulous bunch of 17 year old boys. I love 'em.

Meeting Misty and Shari. Well, I had already met Shari once before, but this time I got to share a meal with her and commune for a few hours. Misty was on her way to Australia so that made our meeting even more special.

Cooking, of course. And reading. And sewing. And doing yoga.

So yeah, I'm still alive :-)

April 20

Major brownie points for Josh today. Not only did he clean the bathroom and vacuum the house (without being asked), he showed up with this bookcase in the afternoon (though I admit to some major hint-dropping -- some might say 'nagging' -- on this count). Having bought about 200 second-hand books in the last four months, I am in urgent need of about 20 linear feet of shelving. (Those precarious piles all over the floor in my studio are starting to get to me.) This is a Very Nice start. When we're a little more flush, we'll get two more like this. Doesn't it look right at home already?

April 6

It's a bit of a birthday tradition for me, to go out to the desert to see the wildflowers. When Rhea was here, I'd pull her out of school for the day, and I'd take a sickie from work, and we'd drive out to Lancaster to the Poppy Reserve just to glory in all that neon orange. The last few years have been woeful for wildflowers -- last year the Reserve recorded 58 poppy flowers! -- but this year's a doozy thanks to the winter rains.



I'm a woman of simple desires. All I wanted for my birthday was a bookshelf, and to visit the wildflowers. Today I got half of that :-)

April 3

My new job is kicking my butt (in a good way) so all I have is a restaurant review.