And Then There Were Five

These pictures give me hope for the world.
They are the best of us.
The next generation.
Part of a strong thread of family.
Lovingly taking the best of us and building on it.
Respectfully rejecting that which does not make the world a better place.
Being shown by their parents the power of love. The responsibility and strength of family.
I can see the love here shining from their faces. That is always the start of something great, right?
I am proud to be the mother of six children and now five grandchildren.
I like being part of this. Very grounding. Joyously uplifting.
Because despite squabbles (rare), busy, busy schedules (constant), the minutia of day to day life (never ending) we find time to gather, we stay connected, we will drop everything to help each other.
I consciously think about each of these folks every day. Usually during a dawn  walk down the country road out here or while stitching.It takes a while. Down the list I go.Five daughters. A lovely adopted son via marriage to his equally nice Dad.Five grandchildren.
Sending them good thoughts. Wondering what they are doing. Staying connected.

Apples and Such

We are very pleased to have apples for the second time ever!
Patience rewarded as the tree we planted is now six years old now and thwarted by a draughty summer and possibly neglectful watering on my part.

However, persist it did. Plants must display some degree of toughness to bear fruit in south central Texas. Lovely.

The newish hens are getting to peck the windfall apples.
I am tossing them into the coop, trying not to hit anyone.
Not my fault that the hens move so quickly!
Our annoyed looking Golden Laced Wyandotte does not approve.

I love this view of the garden fence near the chicken coop, prayer flags fluttering in the breeze.
It looks like a massive amount of weeding is in order. The frothy mass is a stand of 20+ year old asparagus

 Sam the chocolate lab (outside the garden yard) likes to look at the chickens while I garden. She does not mind the weeds. Good dog. So pretty.

Sew, Mama, Sew Challenge

Forest Cats

I just had a chance to browse through my ( signed!) copy of Reinvention ,sewing with rescued materials by Maya Donenfeld and  am inspired to get busy sewing some of the projects in the book.

 Her reuse aesthetic is inventive and practical. Why buy new if you can make something with materials on hand?

So, here is my contribution to the Sew, Mama,Sew challenge  to make something out of thrifted or repurposed fabric.

Above are 5 inch tall Forest Cats made from wool/silk thrift store suit jackets with all of the ugly bits removed and cat worthy remnants sew up with contrasting embroidered wool faces.  Vast improvement!

Add caption

GingerKats

GingerKats made from thrifted wool skirts and stuffed with wool roving.

They have movable arms attached to the body with wooden buttons saved from a different thrift store sweater

 Check out Maya's blog here 

   .http://mayamade.blogspot.com/

And for great tutorials, fabric and inspiration go here 

http://sewmamasew.com/

Happy Sewing!

Fairytale Stitching

So interesting the way creative making and stitching takes me on a path that I did not see coming.
My sewing lately has turned to dollmaking of a unique kind.

 I wanted to create a group of fairytale like creatures who might just live deep inside  a magical woodland. I am always peering under leaves, between bushes and behind meadow grasses to spot treasures for my nature table. Why not sew up some sweet little fairytale folks and woodsy friends to complete my mental picture?

The ideas flowed and the stitching followed. Really very little trial and error here. I had a clear vision of how they should look. Love when that happens.

Elf Forest Folk

First the Forest Folk- all woodsy colored felt and wool.
Lichen, moss, goldenrod, thistle, the spring green of new leaves and the deep plum of autumn .
 Stitches visible to celebrate the handmade.
Filled with warm wool roving.
Thoughtful expressions. Quiet demeaner.
 Little bear ears, deer ears and antlers, pointed green elf ears, soft rabbit ears.
Shy faces partially hidden behind hooded cloaks.

 It ideas came quickly and there are many, many steps but I must say that they are such a joy to make. Very tactile. warm and soft.

Hooded Elf Doll

Then there is the embroidery. Wool and silk, linen and cotton threads. My heart sings to use such beautiful threads.I freehand stitch without a pattern, like sketching with thread, sometimes lightly penciling an outline to keep my bearings.

Leaping Rabbit

Well, then there followed rather quickly the mice, swans, owls, foxes, forest cats, woodland ponies. Lest the Forest Folk become lonely.

Some made from luscious wool felt, others from thrifted wool or silk suits and jackets.

Mrs Mouse Dressed for Visiting



Woodland Owl  (Previously Rather Ugly Jacket)

I love to cut into a fresh piece of richly colored wool, apply thread and make it come alive as a small animal. More transforming is taking a quite ugly suit, salvaging the best bits, and refashioning it into a thing of beauty. A woodland animal who lives in the magic woods!

Happiness is a stack of prepped wool waiting upstairs in my workroom. Then the sewing hours will fly by as I get lost in the woods with my woolly family!

May Gathering

Gatherings are very special in our family.

Family is me (the matriarch, a title I proudly accept), my husband , five daughters, one son, their partners, and five grandchildren. Various and sundry animals always, beloved friends occasionaly and gladly. 

Always lots of laughter, catching up, play, silliness, possibly tears ( scraped knees, cousin disputes, crazy laughing, and after any card given to me by my children)

This Sunday was about the mothers, 2 birthdays and a new family member.

I felt in touch with my beautiful mother, my daughters and grandchildren. I am reminded of the stretch of time and  the strong connections between these generations . How each of us, during our time and with as much grace as we can muster, create a life, make a home, and pass on the best of ourselves to the next generation. How we  consciously make the effort to stay connected to each other despite busy schedules. How we all truly believe that our strong family uplifts and enriches our lives every day.

We are a family of lots of mommas and daughters, so, for today I want to celebrate four generations  to include the birthday girl Chia and our newest family member Desi (son of Chia )

My mother Grace, 1957

Me....Kathryn

My daughter Chia

Our newest member Desi

 Beautiful family. Strong women. Gentle men. Good life.

A Perfect Day

Gentle rain the whole day. The kind that soaks in and gives the trees and plants time to soak it up before it sinks through the dry cracks .
Just perfect.

Those of us in central Texas are still reeling (literally) from last summer's historic drought and 90+ days with temps over 100 degrees.
If that sounds like hell, well, it kind of was.
Please let there be enough to fill the lakes and aquifers and keep us green a bit longer.

But today we have rain and cool temps and happiness.

Sam the Lab

Sam the lab and I walk across a green meadow in the rain to feed and water the flock of hens that live in the garden enclosure. Dampish, fluffy, rapidly growing 5 month olds and two stately 6 year olds  flap their  wings and crowd round to vie for first choice of brown rice , strawberry tops and lettuce bits. Somewhat spoiled, those girls.

Fern the Barred Rock Plymouth impatient for snacks

I pick some cherry tomatoes that have sprung up by the coop gate, no doubt seeds from last year's chicken snacks, washed out from the hen house to grow along the perimeter. They are thriving in the rich runoff from the coop.

I love the smell of the  coop's deep hay litter in the rain. Love of farm smells runs in this family. Not everyone-there are camps for and against but count me happy to stand in the rain and breathe it all in.

Sam is waiting outside of the gate to practice walking at my side back to the house.
She knows that there is a dog treat nubbin in my pocket, like there is everyday.
Sweet dog.

And because this is a perfect day, I turn away from the scheduled chores, grab a basket of baby gnome parts, a latte, listen to the rain and stitch away while watching episode one of Downton Abbey ( I know, the last person in America to see it!)

Gnome Bits

A really good day.

Quietly

So hard to know what my writing voice will be because,

I am a quiet person who spends most days quietly stitching, gardening, caring for animals, and the rest of the puttering and erranding that are needed to make a home, family, and business continue to move forward.

Ok, I do talk to my plants, rabbits, chickens, chocolate lab, and possibly the small sewn creatures that I make.

But they are all silly creatures who invite a bit of chatter now and then.

I do wisecrack with my five daughters and one son and husband but they are also silly and sweet ...

and they think I am funny and wise and possibly interesting so there is encouragement from that quarter.

I am reckoning that the blog will evolve a bit and become after a bit a reflection of who I am, how I live, and what I make.

Well, we will see where this goes.

Thanks for looking.