Remains of the holidays

[the drawing is still open until tomorrow]

Here are a few moments from the end of the holiday season.



Alder's remains and our new side board


Curtains that Grandma and I made for Alder, the beginnings of revamping his room.


The quilt Kevin made for Alder [click on the picture if you want the full story]

Gift Making

We tried to make all our gifts by hand this year. We almost did it, due to time there are two people getting bought gifts but I still think we did pretty well. Here is a few of the gifts I made this year.


Dragon Hat for my nephew, knitted and needle felted.


Loop Bag, this is a pattern I have been working on for about a year and I finally like how it is turning out. It leaves a lot of room for creativity.


WIP this will be sewn on to a t-shirt, a present for one of the designers in the family.


Needle Felted hat for my niece.

Law Indangers Artisans Business through Cost

As most of you know, not only do I make things by hand but I also work at a shop that sells handmade toys and clothing. Much of the products we have in the store will be effected by the Consumer Protection Safety Act. In an effort to help countless of artisans across the country I ask that you take the time to copy the following letter, fill it in and send it to your congressmen. I understand many people's fears about tainted toys but this law requires testing for every toy (at the price of a few thousand dollars a toy) many of these small time producers never make that much on any single item. So please help! Thank you Uncommon Grace for the link.

From: [your name and address]

To: [your congress person or senator]

Re: Changes needed to the Consumer Product Improvement Act (CPSIA) to Save Handmade Toys in the USA

Dear [your congress person or senator],

Like many people, I was deeply concerned by the dangerous and poisonous toys that large Chinese toy manufacturers have been selling to our nations families. And, I was very pleased that Congress acted quickly to protect America's children by enacting the CPSIA.

However, I am very concerned that the CPSIA's mandates for third party testing and labeling will have a dramatic and negative effect on small toymakers in the USA, Canada, and Europe, whose toy safety record has always been exemplary.

Because of the fees charged by Third Party testing companies, many toymakers, especially makers of unique and beautiful wooden toys from Maine to Oregon will be driven out of business. Their cottage workshops simply do not make enough money to afford the $4,000 price tag per toy that Third Party testers are charging.

I urge you to quickly rewrite the CPSIA so that toys made in batches of less than 5,000 units per year or manufactured within the USA and trusted countries with established toy safety regimes such as Canada and the European Union be held exempt from third party testing requirements. Such toys could still be subject to random auditing by the CPSC.

If you feel that testing should still be required, then the CPSC should be made to offer free testing services for USA toymakers and importers from Europe or Canada with revenues less than one million dollars.

These toy makers have earned and kept the public's trust. They provide jobs for hundreds and quality playthings for thousands. Their unique businesses should be protected. Please visit www.handmadetoyalliance.org to learn more about this issue.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,


[your name]

Catch up on an icy day

Wow I can't believe it's been almost a week since I got back from Boston. It's been a mad rush of making and cleaning around here. The weather has been up and down freezing on Monday warm on Tuesday and today it is an icy mess. Still we slid down the hill to town and spent time at our favorite yarn store and then off to the library for books puzzles and a little chess (Alder's invented version). We snuck a bite to eat at the Co-op before we struggled up the hill. I am really glad Alder still likes the stroller some days we would still be out there otherwise.

Catchup 19-24

Day 19
One Good Thing: Left at 6 am to get to Boston for Bizarre Bazaar. Spent the day around lots of very cool creators and creations. Also spent a lot of time dancing to stay warm, we were close to the door.


One Creative Thing: I will leave it at getting out of Boston and back to rte 2 without going too far out of our way.

Day 20
One Good Thing: Alder and I going on a little adventure for fabric and NOODLES.

One Creative Thing: More like a bunch, I started made one hat, started one bag and chose the design for one shirt. I can't really put pictures up since the recipients read this sometimes.

Day 21
One Good Thing: Got to read my book.

One Creative Thing: Finished bag, weaved in ends on hat.

Day 22
One Good Thing: Spent most of the day cleaning, Kevin even built us an island for the kitchen. We put the TV in the basement, we never use it anyhow, watched this on the computer together and laughed our butts off.

One Creative Thing: Ironed houses, started new hat.

One Good thing One Creative Thing Day 16, 17, 18

Day 16

One Good Thing: The joy of going to the library with Alder, as I am getting better at choosing books that he'll like. Realizing how to use these same skills to avoid conflict situations and find more activities that we can both enjoy (more on this later).

One Creative Thing: Stayed up way too late making paper houses to hang in Alder's room.

Day 17

One Good Thing: As someone who usually tries to get out of the house as fast as possible (I have always had a hard time staying home when it's light out) but we stayed home until late afternoon, cooking and doing various projects together and separate.

One Creative Thing: Lots of creating going on this year, except for one hand me down gift we are making every gift this year. Cut out one pair of pajamas with Alder's help. Went to Thursday knitting and started one hat, stayed up way too late (yeah the sun was coming up) finishing one hat and getting most of the way through the next one.

Day 18

One Good Thing: Reading American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever, lots of pausing around town to read between dropping Alder off and going to work, ah bliss.

One Creative Thing: Umm seeing how I stayed up to daylight I'm going to carry over last nights knitting, needless to say reading and working are all I'm doing today.

One Good Thing One Creative Thing Day 14 & 15

Day 14

One Good Thing: Went sledding at kindercircle this morning, despite feeling awkward while I was there Alder and I had fun sledding down the hill.

One Creative Thing: I got back from errands and decided I should definitely start making this apartment a home, actually I was spurred into this idea the day before during the scary drive home past all the accidents. I am not a winter driver which means that we will be spending a lot more time in our house for the next few months.

I showed Alder all the fabrics that we had enough to make his curtains out of and let him choose. While he played 'boat' I ironed and pinned one curtain (they are ridiculously long).

Day 15

One Good Thing: The library had a copy of American Bloomsbury, a book I have wanted to read for a long time, since I heard and interview with the author when the book came out.

One Creative Thing: Kevin and I hardly ever get any time alone together so we have started a journal in which we respond to essays and poems together. One of us will read one and react and then the other will read the same article and write our own thoughts. We are starting with some Wendell Berry essays from The Way of Ignorance and What are People For? This morning I began my first response, unfortunately my writing was cut short by the people at the table behind me talking very loudly and distracting me from my writing.

One Good Thing One Creative Thing Day 3 and 4

Day 3
One Good Thing: After Kevin and Alder went to sleep I stayed up listening to this and knitting by the fire.
One Creative Thing: I spent three hours knitting on a simple scarf, a longways knit alpaca in purple with a diamond pattern (pictures to come when it is finished right now it looks like a caterpillar).

Day 4
One Good Thing: Well really lots of good things. I got to sleep almost to nine. We went out for breakfast to here, and got there just before the crowds. Came home and Alder and I did projects in the wood shop for hours. Made a yummy dinner form things found around the house and ended up with gnocchi with sauce and steamed broccoli. Another night of knitting by the fire until I ran out of yarn.
One Creative Thing: While in the wood shop I started working on Alder's holiday gift. So far there has been a lot of sanding and cutting. Alder hammered nails into a board and drew pictures.


I remember spending hours down in the shop building things. Whether it was the tug boat that my father and I made that still stands on my dresser wit the film canister as a smoke stack or the pencil box that I build and stained myself when I was eleven it was always an amazing space to be in. Even yesterday as I worked on my project I found myself remembering exactly where certain nails were by feel rather than reading the labels on the jars.

There was a special joy involved in handing Alder the child's hammer for the first time, it is an identical one to the one adult one just a little smaller and lighter. Then handing him the cup that says "kid nails" on the outside on tape that has been there since I was a child, so old that it fell off and the glue holding it on became a gold dust on the table. Just like my father I set the nails in just deep enough that they would hold and let him hammer away at the board.



Hammering is difficult for little hands and he soon switched to drawing at the card table as I sawed and sanded, public radio in the background. Here I was an adult showing my own child the same things my father did, handing him the same tools and telling him some of the same stories. Next week when we are all at the cabin I hope there might be a few moments that all three of us are down there working on something, three generations touching the same tools bringing all of us joy in the making.

One Good thing One Creative Thing Day 2

One Good Thing:

This morning I woke up to the sounds of Alder and Kevin in A's room playing. I joined them for a complex game that Alder had created where his blocks were everything from the kitchen and he would pour us cups of juice milk and tea as well as cook us eggs. I was on his bed and he decided that the bed must be the shower so he would get under the covers with me and tell me that we were showering. This went on for almost an hour with Alder leading us through many different complicated meals where he would cook clean and then fix the house (there we things that needed hammering).

It excites me to see how he interprets our lives through play. At his age fantasy still does not include activities beyond his experience but he synthesizes what he has done into new stories (a new development). Watching him play gives me a good idea as to what activities that we during the day that he really likes. Similarly, I also can see through what he is drawing what interests him (this is great for choosing books from the library). Before I had Alder someone told me that small children are all little scientists, I totally agree but I would go further and say that all parents become (or should be) researchers in their own right as they learn to interpret their children when they are in these pre and early speakers.

One Creative Thing (two for today):

I ironed the fabric for the new member of the Armendariz de Klaasmeyer clan's quilt. As well as finishing one of the sleeves of Alder's sweater (I even remembered to bind off in ribbing!).

Well we're all going out to the cabin for the night to sit by the fire and play in the woodshop (we have so kitchen making to get started on) [Hey Sarah we want to borrow your router during Thanksgiving].

Creative Streak

There is a creative streak going on in this house lately. It took a while to come to me but I've finally gotten back into the swing of it. Here are some of the projects I've been working on.











1) Watercolor 2)Watercolor 3)Holiday card design 4) Holiday card design 5) Elephant pants 6) Elephant skirt.

Making

There has been a lot of making going on around here lately. Alder has been drawing a lot and I've been knitting. Kevin even made a new comforter cover.


Chicken


Sweater


A favorite place to draw

I can't wait to start to start this hat and this one as well.

But now we're off on an sewing adventure, heading down to get fabric for curtains and well a little bit of temptations.

Settling Back In- Just one day

Oh did I have a blog. Actually I have been wanting to blog but our internet was a headache for a week and with everything else going on I just couldn't bring myself to sit down. The move has been really stressful for all of us but we are starting to get into a rhythm that works. Today was as close to normal as I've had in what seems like a year. We started with stopping by all three of us stopping by a bakery. Then Kevin headed off to work and Alder and I headed for a wander.



First to the bead store for supplies for a birthday gift. Which turned into a bit of a toddler time at the bead bath.



Then to the art store to visit the fish and all the colors. We spent ten minutes pointing to colors in the pastels and Alder started to understand that there are lots of different sorts of blues and greens.

After that it was off to the library for puzzles and choosing books for the week.

Then we were going to head home but it was getting close to one and I had to head off a mini meltdown by eating at the food co-op, Alder's favorite because he can have a plate of Peas, Olives and Tomatoes. It actually is the best lunch in town, both of us ate for seven dollars.



Then it was outside to the midweek farmers market for peaches and apple. Then we started for home... except we met another mama and kids and started talking so we went for a long walk with them. Until we passed by a playground and Alder was set on going (did I mention we didn't have the stroller) so they went home and we played for an hour or so. Then I carried him the mile home (have I mentioned just how hilly Brattleboro is?).

Once home we played with the beads on his table and made cookies to freeze. There was an almost meltdown when the cookie was too hot but we made it all the way until without any tears from either of us. I can hear the buzzer for what ever Kevin's cooking so I should end now.

Studio Inspiration

Spaces click here for flickr credits




Moods click here for flickr credits

Gift Making

We had a birthday party for a friend turning 4 today and I decided to make him a little something to inspire his creativity. So last night I put together this little drawing case for him.


(excuse the blur..thank you blogger)







The green fabric was from a shirt that used to be my dad's. I was originally going to make one of the pencil rolls that are in Creative Family but I thought my design looked like a book so I went with it.

Studio Work

I've been remiss in showing what I've been up to in the last few weeks, partially because I haven't done a lot. So here are a few of the projects that I have been working on.

These are the first set of silk screening images. At first they were just going to be t-shirts but I think I'm going to print some on wood as well.


Cattails


Father and Son


Abstract


A Knitter Among the Crowd


I've also been trying to use up a lot of the scrap material I have around and these homes started to appear in my mind, I'd like to make enough to put on a banner.


This is kept me up late last night, it's my first big piece of work with linen and I really like the color combination, I'd keep it myself except our dinning room is full of red tones and it looks out of place. The Runner is up for sale in my etsy shop

A New Project and Why my husband is so cool

So I've decided that I need a project to work on while I'm at work, something creative but not too messy or consuming. So I picked up a bunch of mirrors and frames to paint. Below is the beginning of my first one. Right now it has a black frame to it but that will change soon. I've never painted with enamel before and it's sort of fun. I was inspired by Graça.

And now for a little story about Kevin and the very nasty weather we have been having this week. It was cold and icy for much of the last week, then this weekend it kept vascilating between warm (above freezing) and raining and cold. So this side of New England became an ice skating rink.

The thing is that it had been fine going over to my cousin's house for dinner. But when we went to leave getting to the car was all icy. But that area is notorious for not being in the best shape. Which is why anyone without four wheel drive parks at the bottom of the hill (like say my cousin Dan). So we happily get in the car and start to go down the driveway. The thing is we're going down the driveway but we aren't driving. No in fact we are sliding and then it happens BUMP we tap Dan's car and we come to a slippery halt.

This means we ended up spending the night at their house. But how is Kevin so cool you ask? Well after we get the three of us back to the house he practically crawls back to the car to make sure it's not in the road and to get anything we might need from it. The next morning he makes his way back to the car and goes over to the cabin (except he has to park a half a mile away and walk on the icy roads) to get our bag and stuff. He did all of that with out me asking, he even changed some rather nasty diapers in the mix.

Did I mention he looked good the whole time, smiling and laughing about things, not getting grumpy or pissed off.

Now if we could only figure out what to do with the piece of the bumper that's dangling a little.

New Article Published

See New York, Make Art

A Visit to Etsy Open Lab Night

By Stacey Bloomfield

It is a Monday evening in New York and I find myself on the subway heading to Brooklyn. The car is filled with young people with laptops and messenger bags heading home from work. They don’t look like they work in offices but the occasional building pass gives them away. At DeKalb Avenue I get off the train and walk over to Gold Street to the Clock Tower Building.

To read more go to here

Back from the City (lots of links no photos)

So here is a teaser post about the trip. It's only a teaser since I have to wait until the wonderful people at the Etsy Labs mail me back my camera and journal that I left at their open craft night.

General Outline of trip:

Miss intended train because we miscalculated how far the station was.

Take train an hour later.

Great trip, lots of journaling and thinking about life from a larger perspective.

Sleep at parents house in warm room in a bed by myself (these are treats).

Lazy breakfast with parents by window.

Disappointing visit to the New Museum, their exhibit Unmonumental was exactly that not worth seeing. Too much I am an artist so what ever statement I make is profound, it doesn't actually need to be, .

Great lunch at little restaurant in Lower East Side. However the lower East side is something different than I remember. Growing up it was the place to go on Sundays to get your clothing, sheets, or towels. Now Orchard street is blocked off for a few shops but none of the necessities were there.

Wander around Soho and Greenwich Village, stopping at Cafe Angelique for cappuccino and chocolate ganache cheese cake (yum!).

Spending an uninterrupted hour choosing a book at the Biography Bookstore. Ended up with the Windup Bird Chronicles.

Stay up late reading book.

Wake up early and read some.

Head to the Garment District for supply gathering. While I enjoyed the orgasmic choices at B and J Fabrics (imagine being to able to actually see all that Japanese fabric you swoon for online) some of the most interesting, and best price stuff was at the little side street shops. (separate entry with this story).

Lunch at Ben's Delicatessen, pastrami, new pickles and a black cherry soda of course.

Lug an incredibly heavy amount of fabric home on subway to Da's house.

Nap.

Head to Williamsburg Brooklyn to hang out in coffee shops and wander until my cousin gets off work.

Find myself at a table in the Blackbird Parlour eerily similar to St. Marks in Denver, talking to a guy who homeschools his son with his wife who is studying to be an acupuncturist.

Meet up with cousin and head to the Etsy Labs open craft studio night. Interview staff and get tour for a Travels article. Make something. End up leaving camera and journal on table as we are shooed out at the end of the night.

Yummy Thai food and conversation.

Head to Irish pub with an acoustic band playing, however mainly there for conversation.

Long subway ride home.

Sleep.

8am Train Ride home, beautiful ride along the Hudson river the entire way. I saw 2 bald eagles, tons of ducks, some hawks, and something that looked like a loon although that's probably wrong.

Now I am back and rejuvenated. Back to inventory I'll write about the fabric shop experience later.

What Really Should Be Doing Is....

So my last entry was about doing nothing I figured I'd follow it with an entry about all the things I should be doing, to hold myself to them. Things like inventory, or designing the other three t-shirts to print (we're printing them next week), or making more embroidered Valentine's Day cards, or writing next weeks article. If I was really smart I would bring down my cutting board and fabric and cut out and pin bags and pillows. Okay now that I've made the list I'm going to try to show here a little bit of progress on those things in the next few weeks.

It isn't as if I've been completely useless lately. I did get all the stuff to create Alder's room (bedding, paint, ideas, ...). And I've worked all week on a bag for myself (there were some serious brain farts on my part, like forgetting handles). I'm not totally happy with it, it's big enough but it just looks like a pillow case. I think I'm going to start over and use a wool outside with a layer of flannel inside, but I need to use the same out side pieces because the owl fabric is from one place mat I found at a thrift shop. If you think my plans won't work or have any better ideas tell me.

That Mailing Thing

You'd figure with how much the mail has been running my life lately that I would remember that I have to get things in the mail early to get to our niece and nephew. It dawned on me yesterday. So there was a long night of making and thinking. Oh there was also some emergency knitting, how can someone who knits so many hats not have one for herself? Now I do. I decided to make my nieces bag with one big padded shoulder strap so she can wear it easily and a giant pocket for pencils and such since she loves to do art. Making the bag was a little sentimental, I used the last of the fabric that was part of my first sewing project. I still have some of the birds left but the solid color is gone.

I hate taking pictures of myself but I wanted to record that I am actually able to make a hat that is long enough without having to flip it around at the end and knit it back the wrong way to cover ears. I haven't taken it off since I finished it last night, it's so soft made from Malabrigo hand spun yarn.

W.I.P

With the holidays rushing by (one down two to go) I've spent too much time on the shop and not enough on people I love. So last night I worked on some holiday gifts and other goodies.
Bag on left for a family friend who loves needle point, bag on right for my nephew, to be filled with a fairy tale book and an egg shaker.

Once I got those done I worked on a special order jacket. It started out an 80's fair isle sweater.