Just Us

I accepted an invitation several weeks ago to join the Flickr group 52 weeks, my kid(s) and me, and have never posted to it. (I have a gnawing feeling that there are a lot of things that I said that I would do or joined -- or something -- that I haven't done. Only I can't think of what they are.)

Anyway, I finally decided that I would start it this week, especially with today being February 1, and the time for me to decompress after the holidays has probably passed. So new projects it is. 52 weeks of self-portraits of me and my wee ones (I think Fridays sound pretty good), and the Virtual Quilting Bee begins this month, too. (And I'd just like to say that I am so flattered to have been asked to join this group. The other ladies in this group are so very talented. It's going to be fantastic.) And "birthday season" at our house is now rolling into gear (mine at the end of this month, James's in March, and Elisabeth's in April), so there will be work on projects for those, and Easter falls into that mix, as well. And, I have another very special something in the works, so stay tuned...

Anyway, Hello, February! Hello New Projects! Goodbye Christmas of 2007! (You were great, and I learned a lot from you, and now you are passed. Thank goodness.)

Some Etsy love

{First, I wanted to thank all of your for your amazing and thoughtful responses to my request on Tuesday. This community just blows me away all the time! I will certainly give you all an update about how my talk goes -- it's actually in May, but I'm trying to get a head start on preparing for it.}

I am quite remiss in sharing some Etsy goodies that have made their way into our house over the past several months.

A lot of them have come our way from Erin's lovely shop. Erin and I have become such good friends over the last 6 months or so, and I find that she has the exact same taste as me in so many things (except the color pink, which I love and she doesn't). Her style is so simple, classic, and, well, exactly what I love, too. So, I've been buying pants from her for my wee ones at every turn.

These two great pairs of cords were for James, with adorable pockets.

I don't find photographing pants on moving toddlers to be all that easy.

And then, Elisabeth requested a pair of jeans with matching pockets, and Erin obliged with beautiful results.

Both children also have some Christmas tree appliqued turtlenecks from Erin, but they are constantly in some state of laundry, so I wasn't able to get photos for this post. :(

This fantastic "Super Organized Wallet" came my way from Dogwood Lane about 6 months ago, and I rotate it with the lovely one from Erin. They are both perfect for different circumstances, so I love having both. Sally was so sweet to do business with, and I was her 100th customer, so she sent me an adorable "extra", as well. So sweet.

And there's this Artist Tote from Alicia's shop. Alicia has also come to be a very dear friend, almost since the beginning of my blog. She was the first person to link to my site. :) I simply cannot say enough about the quality of Alicia's work. The tote is really amazing. And it's lined with a batting of some sort, so I've found it really handy to use for a simple camera carry when I don't need more than one lens. The notebook that she included (covered with matching fabric!?!) is never far away from me ... I'm constantly jotting something or other down. Thank you, sweet Alicia.

I've also been picking up vintage buttons on Etsy here and there when I see some that I just need -- here are a few I've found around (there are always different ones popping up in all sorts of different Etsy shops -- they're so much fun to look for!):

Finally, this print made its way to me (way back in September) all the way from France -- via the lovely Julia of lineanongrata. It's just waiting to be framed ... still ... and this photo does not do it justice in any way. It is simply exquisite.

I also have to mention that my dear friend Rebecca has started her own Etsy shop full of her original handmade cards. Her work is beautiful and full of care, if I do say so myself.

So, get yourself over to Etsy and have some fun perusing some of the just incredible things that artists and craftspeople are creating. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Today's lunch -- and a question for YOU

A favorite lunch around here -- avocadoes with grape tomatoes, some olive oil and cider vinegar, with a touch of fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper.

My parents and in-laws always express a teensy bit of surprise and admiration about how "well" my children eat. I'm not all that surprised ... children always seem to like what's familiar to them, and we've always fed them lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. They are both little veggie eaters now. (Especially Elisabeth -- James likes meat, a thing she'd never had at his age. How the standards have eased with that second child. Hee hee.) Oh, my little gourmands.

I also have a request of you all. It's pretty important, so pay attention and do leave a comment!

I have been asked to speak/lead a session/whatever it's called on creative outlets for mothers at an upcoming parenting conference. I'm going to talk about carving out time for creating, blogging, and different forms of creative expression. Clearly my strengths (if you call them that ... I struggle a bit with being too modest sometimes practically all the time) lie in the "fiber arts" (sewing, knitting, dollmaking, etc.), but I'd really like to talk about other creative outlets, too. From writing to photography, from dance to gardening, from music making to cooking ... what are some of the ways all of you mothers express your creativity in your daily life? What I'm looking for are just examples of things to do (not specifically how you fit them in, though that would also be lovely!) that I can weave into my talk, and I know you all are the perfect people to ask. So fire away! Think about it, and let me know!

Swappy

Since I posted Elisabeth's new hat yesterday, I thought it might be nice if I shared a couple of other hats I knitted in the last year. One was for Alicia's sweet N, and I posted about it here. Alicia posted about it here. Here's one more photo of my wee one wearing it, which I'm posting just to remember the amazing greenness of only a few months ago. (The hat and other items were swapped for this amazing painting for Elisabeth.)

And Erin and I did a swap in November. She has posted about our swap here and here, and I've been feeling terrible about not sharing about it from my end yet.

She sent two adorable Market Totes for my children. A cherry-appliqued one for Elisabeth, and a tomato-appliqued one for James. They hang on hooks by our front door, always at the ready to come out with us on an adventure, or for some important "toting" around the house.

And she didn't leave the mama out, either! I have really loved the clutch that she designed especially for me.

It's really one of my favorite accessories, with all that pink and brown and Joel Dewberry fabric and the fairy flying the kite on the back. Wow. (You can see more of that in Erin's post.) Right now it's where I'm stashing my Tilted Duster money. (Ssssh!)

For Erin's sweet little one, I knitted this hat, which I must say is one of my favorite handknits to date. I always get a broad smile when I see it in one of Erin's photos.

Here it is on my little model, back in late November. I remember this day so well -- he was so unhappy, and such an unwilling model that afternoon. It was really tough to convince him to let me get just a few pictures. He managed to smile a few times for me, for which I was so grateful and I remember just thinking how blessed I am to have such a sweet wee one in my life; so willing to try something to help his mama, and so generally cheerful.

The hat is knitted using some handspun, hand-dyed yarn from cassiemarie. I was so happy with this yarn, and Cassie was so sweet to do business with. I will definitely buy yarn from her again!

The pattern is The Little Flap Cap #109 by Cabin Fever, another super quick, easy, and fun pattern. I modified it slightly (to give it that elfin point) by only working the decreases at the crown until I had about eight stitches or so left, and then knit about five rows plain (I think -- don't quote me on that). I also omitted the colorwork that was in the original pattern since I was using that beautiful variegated/self-striping yarn.

Then I lined the hat using a buttery-hued, lightweight, soft cotton knit. (The fabric was actually a crib sheet that we'd had for 5 1/2 years and never used since our children don't know what cribs are.) You can see the lining in this picture of the hat on the head of the doll Sally, who had no body at that time. ;)

I love how this particular hat goes down so far on the neck -- I thought it looked a teensy bit odd as I knitted it, but once it was on an actual child, I realized how fantastic it would be to keep a little neck warm!

OK, I know it's been about a million photos (and links! the links!) in this post, so I'll just top with this last one:

But I won't end this post without first wishing a happy fifth and seventh birthday to the children of two sweet bloggy friends! Happy day, little ones! (And to you mamas, too.)

Meet Hanna!

So here she is, the doll I'm calling Hanna. (Yes, without an "h" at the end. Because I'm a Scandinavia-ophile.) I made her to resemble -- who else? -- me. So I thought some reverse naming was in order. The name Ann means "grace," so it had to be an Ann-derivative. But for an orange-haired doll, Ann felt a bit too much like Raggedy Ann. Or Anne of Green Gables. Or Little Orphan Annie. So, she's Hanna, for now. Until she reaches her new family, which is ...

Molly's!

I also have two runner up gifts. They are some duplicate back-issues I have of Martha Stewart Kids. They go to Lori and Dawn. (One is Spring 2004 and the other is Winter 2004. Let me know if you have a preference, ladies.)

Hanna still needs some finishing touches, but I plan to ship her no later than Dec. 10. The magazines will go out this week.

Thank you all so very much, once again, for making my blogaversary so much fun!

xo, Grace

Just a quick post to say...

Hello, and wow. I am so overwhelmed and grateful for the response to last week's blogaversary post. I hope those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving last week had a lovely day. Ours was snowy and cozy. Lots of baking. Super fun. More photos will be up on flickr today or tomorrow. Until then, here's one of my wee one in the snow.

I'm a bit behind on the blog here -- I had one more gushy post about blogging I wanted to share, and I probably will on Wednesday. We've had a dog emergency which requires surgery immediately, so we're off in a few minutes to take our pup in for her surgery. (Torn tendon in her knee. Yikes.) Anyway, I'm not sure how behind this will make me today, but we still plan to do the drawing for the doll tomorrow morning, unless something else unplanned presents itself.

xo, Grace

Thoughtful

I've been thinking a lot about this community of mamas that we have here. No, not all the blogs I read are written by mamas, or necessarily even women. But most are. And I am so very amazed each and every day by the posts of all you mamas. This is a community of people, who, by the very nature of the medium, are working to be thoughtful.

My shadow is really tall and skinny.

You -- we -- are all so thoughtful. Here is a community of people who are working hard to create beautiful homes for their families, regardless of their circumstances. To be mindful of the small moments that could so easily slip past and be forgotten in the daily work of keeping a home and raising a family. To provide their children with healthful foods. To honor their family history. To bring a spirit of creativity, of making something with one's own hands, into the every day. This is the real work of life, in my opinion. This is work that enriches our lives in countless ways. No, you don't need a blog to live your life this way. But in the process of blogging, so many of us have connected with one another, and have received so much inspiration, motivation, support, and validation from this community in return.

Sometimes, I'll admit, I waste a bit too much time on the computer. Reading blogs, following links, getting tangled up in the eye candy of flickr. I sometimes need to remind myself to get off. (There really is an endless supply of beauty out there, though.) But despite that, I think that my life and my parenting are better for having made my way into this community. And it's because of you. Because each of you takes a little time out of your day to share something from your own corner of the world. And I am so very, very grateful.

**PS: Please feel free to continue to leave comments on yesterday's post. As I said before, I'm waiting until the beginning of next week to do the drawing for the doll. Of course I'd like to hear from you on this post, too ... and any other you'd like to comment on, as well!!**

One Year!

In the midst of all my advent posting last week, I forgot about a very important date. This little blog passed its first year over the weekend. Happy blogaversary to us!

In light of this special date, I am doing a givaway, of course. Since it's Thanksgiving week in the US, I'm going to give you a bit of extra time to sign up for this very special givaway. It's a handmade doll, if you want to know. Leave a comment on this post by Monday, November 26, and on Tuesday, Elisabeth will draw one name out of a hat. (This is also partly to give me time to finish the doll before announcing the winner!)

This week I'm going to post about blogging and creativity and probably get all sentimental on you all. But that's come to be expected, I think. How I'd love to have you all over for a cup of tea and some creating together. But since that is probably impossible (especially in my wee little abode), just drink a cup of tea and think of me this week, won't you? I'll be thinking of this crazy, amazing, thoughtful community and smiling all week long.

A Special Day

Today is a very special anniversary for me. One year ago today, my camera came to me! Wow! I feel like I've learned so much as a photographer since then ... and have only scratched the surface of what I want to learn about making beautiful photos.

Here's the very first photo taken with my Canon:

And a favorite from the same day:

And the very first photo I ever uploaded to flickr:

Without flickr, I would not have met many of you. Or learned a lot of things about the kind of pictures I want to take. Or the craft projects I want to try. And without the bloggy world, I would not have been inspired to save and save for my camera. What a lot of growth in my real life has come from this amazing community of all of you!

Sharing the Love

OK, I'll admit, I almost forgot: I am doing that pay-it-forward exchange thingie. I was the fourth to comment on Sarah's post, but since one of the people before me didn't have a blog, I was the "alternate," if you will.

So the deal is, I will send a handmade something to the first three of you to comment on this post and who commit to do the same from your own site. Here's the explanation, which I'm quoting from Sarah, who is quoting it from Anne-Marie, who might also be quoting it from someone... "I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog." So, be quick! And you'll get a little something from me. Sometime. ;)

Suddenly it seems like I have a lot of creating on my horizon ... goodies for three of you, a swap with a certain friend, dolls that some of you have commissioned from me (really? I'm still pinching myself), Halloween costumes, a sweater for Elisabeth, a hat for my husband, and various and sundry holiday gifts. Oh, and in between all of that, a bit of this:

Wow! How does a person fill up her plate so quickly? Not that I'm complaining. These are the things that feed me. And a lot of it is made possible by all of you. Thank you, thank you. For your support and great kindness. I'm getting all sappy about blogging now, so I better stop.

You'll have to excuse these photos. I was spending way too much time messing around with action shots for this post.

PS: If you haven't yet, check out Alicia's shop which opened today. Beautiful, beautiful things!

You are all so sweet!!

I am so grateful -- and humbled, once again -- for the many of you who left comments and emailed me about my "surgery" yesterday. (There were no incisions, but the hospital people kept referrring to it as surgery, so we sort of started to do the same.)

Everything went really well. They did an x-ray afterwards (while I was still out) and told my husband and my mom that it looked like they had completely "powdered" the stone. So probably no fragments that I'll even notice passing. Yay!

I'm still in a bit of pain and pretty groggy, but everything should be back to normal by the end of the weekend.

It wasn't so bad. ;)

Bloggy Stuff

I finally decided to add a blogroll. (Down there in the right sidebar ... with squillions of blogs, see it? Could you really miss it?) This is something I have really struggled with since beginning the blog because, at first, I didn't know many of you and only read the "usual" blogs. Then I started getting a complex about if I added a blogroll, who would be left out? Certainly someone. Then I thought I'd try doing a rotating short list. But, seriously, I doubt I'd ever rotate it. So, I finally decided to throw one together today. This certainly does not comprise every blog I've ever read or ever hope to read, or even everyone I subscribe to over on Bloglines. But it's a start. And it's awfully long. Yikes.

Now on to a more complainy bloggy thing. When I first named this blog, I checked a number of avenues to make sure it wasn't in use. I have always had the intention of setting up the domain (i.e. uncommongrace(dot)com), and made sure it wasn't already in use at the time that I started the blog. I had never gotten around to buying my domain name because it was just another expense, la-di-da, until last night, that is. So, now someone has gone out and purchased this domain name (since I originally checked its availability) and is using it to advertise a certain domain hosting company. There is no content on it besides these advertisements. Not to be too conspiracy-theory-ish, but I think it was purchased by one of those entities that buys up domain names so that when the actual person comes along who wants to use it, they'll have to buy it back for a large (to me, at least) sum of money. The owner of this domain name is private ... protected by one of those "proxy" companies. When I found this out last night, I was so disappointed and upset.

Edited to add: My husband later did a little search and it appears that the domain is actually owned by GoDaddy. My guess is that when I originally checked with them for the domain availability but then didn't buy it, it tipped them off that someone was interested in purchasing this domain, and they snatched it up. They offer a "service" that will allow me to "bargain with the owner" of the domain name. It would cost me a few hundred dollars to go about it this way. Sneaky, right?

We are going through a rough week here, anyway. Daddy is back to work this week. (New job! Scary!) James is teething and seems to have roseola. I have a knitting deadline to fulfill for tomorrow. And now my domain is stolen from me! There are a lot of tears in our house right now.

A Week of Treasures: Kindness

I met a woman through Craigslist a couple months ago who was cleaning out her craft/sewing area and had some fabric and notions that she was parting with. She very kindly invited me and my two wee ones to her home to look through her things, and was so very generous with her time and her beautiful treasures.

We spent a lovely afternoon with her, talking about everything from crafting techniques to home remedies to modern attitudes toward consumption. She shared the origin and tales behind many of the items that I came away with, like the fabric she used to make her children pajamas in the 70's and the teeny, tiny buttons that were taken from baby clothes her own mother had worn. I was happy to pay her for the things I took, but I hope she knows how priceless a gift she shared with me and my children that afternoon.

Lots more photos in the flickr photoset.

A Week of Treasures: Mail

Today's post almost didn't happen ... we spent the whole day out and about, and I didn't plan ahead on my photography! Thank goodness for early evening sunlight!

These treasures came in the mail a couple of months ago, from lovely Eren, who generously sent along these two sweet vintage patterns after I had openly coveted them in her flickr comments ... even though I would never have dreamed of actually asking asking for them. I was really surprised and so delighted when she offered them.

And then, to top it off, she sent this totally awesome 1970's quilting book, as a surprise goodie. Thank you, thank you, Eren!

Check out this great photography!

And, just because I'm sharing some great mail, Amy's book (which I preordered months ago) finally arrived today! I am so, so excited about it! Congratulations, Amy, on the book, and on baby Lydia!

There are so many fabulous projects that I want to experiment with in this book. I was also really surprised and happy to see that the scale/format of the book was pretty large.

And I just have to show one of the cute ideas (so perfect for a ribbon fanatic like me), this "Heidi headband" ~ it's too cute!

A Week of Treasures: Birds

This week, I thought I'd do some catching up on a few treasures that have come into our house over the past couple of months. For today, this bird painting from Alicia:

Alicia and I agreed to do a swap, oh, about four months ago. I was going to trade some handknitted goodies for one of her beautiful paintings for Elisabeth's room. The painting arrived right around Elisabeth's birthday, and I (bad swapper!!) still haven't mailed my stuff to Alicia. I do have a good excuse. The beautiful item that I made for Miss N turned out to fit my 26-year-old sister (yes, even after making a gauge swatch), so I finally decided to start over on it. Anyway, hopefully to be in the mail to them *very* soon.

The bird painting is so perfect for Elisabeth's room, which, although it doesn't have a "theme", has several birdie things.

This hand-embroidered dresser linen was my mother-in-law's when she was a little girl; I am pretty sure it was her grandmother who embroidered it, and she was very happy to pass it along to Elisabeth a few years ago.

Elisabeth's lamp is also "bird-y":

Here are a few other pictures from her room, which I love, and kind of wish it were my room (minus the mess of dress up clothes on the floor):

This jewelry box belonged to my great-aunt, and Elisabeth inherited it, along with all of her costume jewelry, when she passed away 2 years ago.

Every child needs a flag banner, right?

This window fairy is a favorite of Elisabeth's. My parents brought it back from a trip to Santa Fe a couple of summers ago.

hello!!

Hee, hee, I told you I'd be back pretty soon! I just can't keep away. ;)

I cannot thank all of you enough for your kindness, generosity, support, and encouragement over the last couple of weeks. It has really helped me. A lot. Words are really failing me to express my gratitude to all of you. Thank you again and again!

Updates, updates ... hmmm. Well, first, my husband took a job. It's nothing great, something he'll probably try to use as a stepping stone to something more desirable within a couple of years, but at least now we are in a position of knowing. We'll be fine, we don't have to move; he'll have a bit more of a commute, but he's OK with it.

Next, I still haven't sent my camera. My warranty expires in October, so I better send it before then! I just can't part with it, you know?

Anyway, I know I promised some time ago to share the last of the April birthday gifts. Please forgive the lighting on these ... it was one of those times where they just had to be photographed -- right before they were gifted, you know?

So, these gifts were for the first birthday of a very special little one. She's sweet C's baby sister, and was born just 5 weeks after James. It has been such fun to have these two babies so close in age and to see them grow.

The smock was made using a half-made dress (I'm thinking from the 1970's or 80's), the source of which I will talk more about soon. I designed the embroidery myself, after baby R's mama raved about the embroidery I did on Elisabeth's birthday pinafore. The doll is a very simple design which I made up myself. It is made using organic colorgrown cotton fleece. Lovely!

I really, really wish I had taken some pictures of beautiful baby R with her gifts. She is really a gorgeous baby. Perhaps her mama (a blog reader!) will indulge me ... ;)

Pants

I am pretty sure that I can't be the first person to have thought of this, but this spring when I received the Mini Boden catalog, with the VW bus t-shirt, I immediately thought of the VW bus fabric by Heather Ross. Anyway, I mentioned that to my mom in passing, and she thought it was so cute that bought the t-shirt for James, and I made him these pants. It is probably a bit over the top to wear a VW bus t-shirt and pants, but, you know, the coincidence was too much fun for me to ignore.

I also just had to add -- look who's walking! He started taking some steps soon after his birthday, but it was really in the last couple of weeks that he really took off. It's so much fun! My baby is a toddler!

I want to thank all of you who left encouraging comments or sent emails over the last, very anxious, week. We won't have any news regarding my husband's job until the end of this week at the earliest, but I will surely be on here right away when we know anything.

I also wanted to add, as many of you have asked and/or guessed, that Elisabeth's beautiful princess gown was indeed made by her friends' mother, my dear friend Laura, who is very clever and crafty, thank you very much. Especially impressive to me is that she adapted/drafted her own pattern for the dress, which is truly more stunning in person than even in the photos!!

A Request

As I alluded in my last post, we have been feeling a lot of stress lately with regard to my husband's job. In addition to all of his performing, he's an assistant high school music teacher. His current position has been eliminated for the fall (budget cuts), but that's OK because he was already applying to replace the music director at his school, who has decided to pursue other things in life. But as the application and interview process is becoming more and more drawn out and convoluted, we're beginning to fear the worst. And I've been experiencing some physical symptoms of stress (stomachaches and so forth), to which I'm particularly prone, being so Type A and all.

So, my request of you is: if you have some positive energy & good karma, will you send some our way? If you pray, will you include our little family in your prayers? I surely would appreciate it.

Thank you, dear friends.