Oh yeah...

This is belated, but....yahoo! I won.
I can't figure out what to do with my 5 free yards. The options are staggering...

New Trick

I'm trying to learn CSS since my web design skills are still in the dark ages. Lovely and functional, mind you, but up to this point I've still been laying web pages out in -gasp!- tables. After reading an article that said people like me were the scum at the bottom of the web-design pond, I decided to re-educate myself.

Some day I will wow the world with my fluid, accessible dynamic CSS layouts.

Leaf Birds - light version

I didn't like this last night but today I do.

Leafbirds

I'll show you mine if you show me yours...

This post is dedicated to all of the friends whom I've ever told "You're house is always so clean!" and they've sighed and shook their heads disagreeingly. It's also dedicated to every friend who's ever said that to me about my house and I've done the same. It is certainly not true.

I've been reading a book that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas, "Breathe: Creating Space for God in a Hectic Life". It's been very helpful to me so far, and made me think alot about the pace of my life. Today it was discussing how we sometimes commit ourselves to things for the wrong reasons, and I started to reflect on what, if anything, I do for the wrong reasons.

The first thing that immediately popped into my mind is cleaning my house. I'm not a super neat freak or anything, but there is something in me that just feels better when the house is clean and orderly. Being a mother of two very small children, my house is now rarely clean and orderly at the standard it once was. I try to keep things as unsticky as possible, and the dishes get done every night, but I'm always feeling badly about the state of the house in general. A little guilt, a little shame. Especially when somebody comes over unexpectedly.

Oh, if I know you're coming, I will clean and put everything in it's place. The floors will be swept. The bathroom sink will be shiny. I will not let you see our "real house".

Herein lies the problem. Our houses need to be cleaned at times, and I think it's appropriate to try to take good care if what you have. But why the pride and shame connected with it? With me it is an act that is done "to be seen by men", and I don't like that. I know that I'm not the only one who worries about the way their house looks to other people.

So I felt the need today to take pictures of all my rooms, in the state they were in at 3:30 this afternoon, and put them here. I unashamedly (sort of) give you...my messy house. Not the worst it's ever been, not the best, just a typical day. Feel free to show me yours. Maybe it will make us feel better.

My psalm

Lord I want to say something to you
From my very deepest heart
What? What is in there that I want to express?

I'm so thankful you've saved me
I'm so happy you've given me true life
I know I'm not living in it the way I could
But I get stuck in places and I need your help
I get worried, I get stressed
I get in a hurry, I get annoyed, frustrated, despairing

But you are the confidence
and hope of nations
You are my confidence and my hope

I want to do what I'm made to do
I want to feel what I'm made to feel
And I pray tonight that You would work out
Your life in me, make me of strong character
Make the fruits of the spirit ripen in me
And move me into my place

I want to be in a place where you can flow through me
Where I can truly be
poured out like an offering
But I'm so tired of trying to pour out what I don't have
I want to be me
The me You've made me to be
I want the gifts You've placed in me
to function well and be utilized
In the way You made me to work

What is it that you want to do with me?
I want to be not unwise, but wise,
knowing what the will of the Lord is

I long to just be, to just be me
Not to just be me but to really be me
I want to be all that I can be in You
I want to stretch out and expand
and fill up the space
I want to be just the right color,
the right sound, the right pattern

Lord, what do I do with all this longing?
This longing to be a totally free person
To be functional, alive, fully alive, fully awake,
a living, breathing, walking, talking person
and no longer a fake

I want Your life to pour through me
and out of me
and bless everything
and everyone around me.

Moose

I'm working on an image that will be incorporated into a dress by Rachel for a little girl who loves a moose.

Here it is.

Mr. Sandyknickers and Much Candy

Once I had a dream that I owned a vending machine, and in it I sold something called "Crab-cake Crab-cake Cakes". No, that is not a typo.
And with that, I will leave you and Mr. Sandy-knickers in a very happy predicament.

Tummy ache

Here is the evolution of Mr. Sandy-knickers into a fabric design. My husband and I both independently felt it might need a snail. It does seem a little sparse. I think liked it better as a single design, rather than a fabric. I'm not crazy about any of the background colors, except the purple would be kind of fun as a tablecloth. My three-year-old would like to add that she likes M&M's. Brown M&M's.

Happy Place

Mr. Sandy-knickers has found himself in an unlikely but happy place.

Mr. Sandyknickers

I did find out the history behind Mr. Splashy Pants. Cute as he is, I didn't want to rip him off, so I created a friend for him to serve as a launching pad for my design.



I call him Mr. Sandy-knickers.

Inspiration is indeed Everywhere

Rachel from Mamma Made is well...read the post.

I really like this little whale guy. I'm not sure what the history is behind him. I randomly found him on the internet by accident. I like his flat top.

Out, Foul Layer

Part 1 of Song


A sourness, a foul layer
Sneaky crept in
I didn’t know till Dense

Once was light and blue air
Sun and easy peace
I didn’t care I miss It, I miss it

I am not horse to work I am not no mind robot
I am baby I am kid

You no monster, you no cop
You no wicked old man
Meany old man
You, friend, you partner

Melt crusty heart again
Real me in here, your friend
Oozy soft and Yours

Hush (Isaiah 30:15)

Song Particle


Isaiah 30:15

For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." But you were not willing...

I will not give up! Sewing Foibles Part II

I'm on the quest to make the perfect fitting pair of pants. I tore apart the ones I already had, my favorite green pants, and made a pattern from them. I was so enthusiastic.

It did not go so well. As usual, when I sew, I tend to always do something backwards or inside out. The first 50 times I did this, I chalked it up to beginner's ignorance, but now that I've been sewing for 20 years, I think it is just something that happens when I sew. I always do it, I always get frustrated and think that I was just not meant to sew, but I never quit. Oh well.

Take my new pants for instance.


First of all, the entire pants were made inside out, as I early on discovered I was using the wrong side of the fabric but did not have the patience to start over. The pattern pieces I had created did not magically come together, so there was many a turmoilious moment as I had to figure out what was wrong. I never did. I just kept sewing. And lo and behold, as I tried the lovely things on, I discovered that the waistband was sewn upside down, so that the waist flares out at the top. Arrrgh! Oh well.

The only sewing project I have ever done that went 100% smoothly the pillowcases I gave to my family as gifts this Christmas. I guess it's pretty hard to screw up a rectangle.