This weeks intentions...

My goals this week are the same as last week... and that's OK.

-Keep the flylady routines going.

-Make at least two sweaters by Saturday for my etsy shop. I fixed my serger... had to call in re-enforcements though. My mom came and saved the day, AGAIN! Oh right, and again and again! It's been a week of learning for me. Breath in... breath out... relax. That was my mantra last week. I think I could probably build my own serger if I needed to now. Probably even out of tooth picks! AND IT WOULD ROCK, I TELL YOU! Oh wait, sorry, breath in... breath out... relax. Ahhhhhhh, sorry about that. Must still have some residual frustration ;-P

-Surround myself with inspiring words. To help keep the flow going.

-My treat to myself (after I have finished the 2 sweaters) is continue painting my dream board.

-And most of all I need to remember... I am exactly where I'm suppose to be, in a place of "concentrated effort".
My newest creation:-D I'm surprised it finally came together after the Great Serger War;-P

Here is a started collection for my next baby. The picture doesn't do it justice. That variegated purple has some yummy silver-ish yarn in it I can't wait to use it.

And yes that is a Storm Trooper laser gun. It's on lone to me by my 4 year old. Because I have heard from very reliable resources that the rebel alliance is gathering troops and could attack at any moment. It pays to be prepared people, safety first.

And here it is the beginning of my dream board painting. See I wasn't fibbing. I started and everything. This is also a small peek into my art room. Yes, I know it's a mess but I prefer to call it creative genius at work ;-)

This week

I'm taking an e-course with Lisa at visionary moms and one of the things we are to do was to post what we were doing this week to work towards our dream because as she said A little public accountability goes a long way... Hmmm, so here I am throwing this out there. I know I already kind of wrote this but this is my ACTUAL "to do" list. And I know this doesn't sound like much but trust me when you have 7 children at home with you (summer holidays) "me" time is limited.

This week...



-Keep the flylady routines going. Doing so makes room for so much more in my life. Not just physically but mentally to.

-Make at least two sweaters by Saturday for my etsy shop. This maybe a bigger challenge than first thought as my serger is attempting to commit mutiny... this could get ugly folks. You may want to shield your eyes for this one.

-Surround myself with inspiring words. To help keep the flow going. (In case you didn't know this, Jen Lemen is blogging again! Yes, all is right in the world again!!!!!!!)

-My treat to myself (after I have finished the 2 sweaters) is start painting my dream board. I've already sketched it out and I love it. I hope I can paint what my heart is whispering in my ear. I'm thinking of that TED talk that Elizabeth Gilbert. You know... showing up for the moment anyways. What comes through, comes through... but at least I present and prepared to give it my best.


Remember...
“Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.” Henry David Thoreau

Being in to moment

See this picture? This is my 4 year old making a dirt angel. This is what the moment called him to do and it was perfect. I laughed at the silliness of it at first but now that I've had some time to reflect upon it it brings up some surprising things for me.

Why don't I do more of that? No not dirt angels;-P but allowing myself to be swept away in the moment. This next week I am opening myself up to esty and seeing what comes of it, take some time to think on the many insightful this from Jen Lemen, focus on my visionary mom list, do my flylady missions , but most importantly... be in the moment! Let the creative energy flow through me and enjoy where it leads me.

I've stated my intentions, I'm committing to them, now lets see what the universe has in store for me:-D

Todays Inspiration

What do you do when you find beautiful art? What do you do when your house is full of it and yet you can't stop creating it or collecting it? There is so much out there it's crazy. This afternoon over a cup of tea I found some more I love it and had to share some. I'm new to Monica's blog but I can already tell I'll be there more often. I like finding new pieces (new to me anyways) to look at. It helps to inspire me. What things are inspiring you today?

The story

Now here's the story that goes with this painting.

The picture is like most pictures from that time, not much expression from the subjects. The small canvas represents looking closer at it as does the writing. You have to look closer to read it. Many things upon closer inspection aren't what the seem. As with this.

These are my great grand parents. My ggma had a rough time before she met my ggpa. She was shuffled around between foster homes. Foster homes at that time weren't what they are today. They were basically work houses for children. The kind of life were my ggma used to wrap her feet in newspaper to work in the fields because she didn't have shoes. (until the day she died if she wasn't in bed she had her shoes on, and NEVER took them off). She didn't see any of her siblings once in those many years. It was a very lonely 9 years. But then she met my ggpa and life got better in so many ways. Even though they were raising their children through the depression, any given night of the week they had 11 or more extra people at there dinner table. They may not have been rich but they were more than willing to share what they had.

They were completely and totally in love and others were drawn to them. But then my ggpa died and without going into specifics life got incredibly difficult again without him. A beautiful story with heartache, bliss and heartbreak.

When I was little I couldn't say great grandma, so I called her "Grandma the Great" And it suck. Everyone called her that, even the ones she wasn't related to. She was such a sweet lady. I miss her a lot. It was nice to do this painting of them and revisit these feelings.

Visionary Mom Habit

(Jacob making a dirt angel. Sometimes life inspires you to do crazy things. Do it anyways you'll be happier for it:)

My visionarymom habit... to stick to my flylady daily flylist. I don't know why I ever stopped doing it. Life was so much simpler. It didn't just leave me with a cleaner house through out the day (instead of just after 8pm). It left me with more tangible blocks of time. Not just a few minutes here and there riddled with guilt that I should be doing something else. But one of the things I cherished that it offered me was more pondering time. I'm a thinker and LOVE uninterrupted "pondering" time.I don't have to repeatedly think about what's coming next. In turn that makes more room for creative thinking, my most sot after thing. There seemed to be so much more room in my life for fun things. I like fun who doesn't want more of that:-)

My new baby

Here is my newest piece. It's on a 6x6 canvas, very small. I think that's why I found this picture tricky to take. It say

Too bad
I didn't
know you sooner
Too bad
we weren't there
for each other later.

This post is for alice930

I know the pictures are a little mickey mouse-ish but bare with me;-) I think this is what you where asking. I hope it helps.


Measure where you want to add material to. Say it was 30 inches around. Now divide that by 2 because that's what you're going to use at the top of the vertical stripes. 30/2=15 Now you know how many stripes you will have, 15.

So with sweater you will have 15 vertical stripes on the skirt, right?
I use 2 inches at the top of the stripe , 5 at the bottom
Remember to add seem allowances so it will be 2 1/2inches at the top and 5 1/2 at the bottom when you cut it out. And maybe 15 inches long.
So the waist will be 30 inches but the flare at the bottom will be 75 inches. Don't be afraid to play with the numbers at the bottom. the higher the number the bigger the flare.
I like the look of the horizontal stripe at the bottom of that. It's also a nice way to add extra length.
Note: - heavier materials can be MUCH harder to work with if you're using a serger.

- make sure you double check your measurements.

I hope that helps :-)

Squish him or bite him?

Sometimes our children's cuteness sneaks up on us. There I am minding my own business (probably pondering my next attack on the laundry monster or my fear of being one day washed away in our endless sea of shoes) when, bam! Jacob eyes me from down the beach taking pictures and pointedly wanders over and says all shy, "Mama, can I have a kiss?"

Are you kidding me? I wasn't sure weather to squish him or bite him. So I took a picture of us together. Looking at this I think I must have been leaning more towards squish in that moment.

I love how my children can pull me away from a far away brooding place and pull me into a very precious moment. Yesterday was a beautiful day. Thank you Jacob.