"You've got to be shitting me!!!?"

I don't often like to curse on my blog but this one was filled with surprise and delight.

A friend of my Mrs. Jody Hagedorn contacted me one day asking if I could fix a jacket for her. At this point I had just graduated from school and was a little overwhelmed but thought "yeah I guess I can do that." I was transitioning a bit coming off the insanely busy beheaded chicken phase moving into enjoying space in my schedule phase.

I met up with her and she began to tell me the jacket belonged to her grandfather and was about the only thing that they had of his after he passed. Not only was it a jacket it was an antique trout fishing jacket, with a special removable pocket that houses trout! I did a little research on these jackets and couldn't find anything similar. A very unique jacket!

We blasted around to a few fabric stores and thrift stores looking for something that might be waterproof as the old fabric that looked to be somewhat of an oilcloth had deteriorated. We settled on some camouflage (Bob's favorite kind) some lining fabric and new snaps. I felt inspired having all the materials, then overwhelmed again for it was a bit of an undertaking. Not to mention this was somewhat of a secret project. Jody didn't know if he realized the jacket was gone or not....

It had a big old zipper and seven snaps that needed replacing. I held it in my hands gazing at it, taking it apart in my head and putting it back together with new pieces trying to figure how I was going to maneuver that front pocket opening pictured above. 

I didn't get to it for a day or two as it sat on my sewing table. Those two days felt like I had maybe gotten in over my head. I hadn't really done anything like this before

I started.

....Drawing, measuring, making pattern pieces, cutting and sewing.... unsewing and sewing, ironing and serging.....

 I even got to use a hammer to get the snaps in!! Everything just came together so well. It was beautiful. (and manly)

 I had my trepidations, maybe Jody's husband wouldn't really think much of it? ...you know how guys can be "oh neat." Jody was beside herself with excitement she knew he would love it. But I still wondered.

I was so surprised when received this message at almost midnight after delivering the jacket. (and also after checking a few times to see if she left me any messages...)

"You gotta be shittin me!!! He loves it and thinks you're awesome!"

 Jody went on to say that Bob was just beside himself. He was thinking of new projects that I could do to improve his nephew and brother's ponchos!
I think he had written it off as a lost cause and had kind of forgotten about it thinking it would just need to be replaced, meanwhile Jody was just sweating bullets that he might ask where the jacket had gone!

Then to get this note to top it all off. I'm not sure who is more pleased myself or Bob! I just want to squeal and cry out of sheer happiness! This one just hit me square in the heart!

Thank you so much Jody for thinking of me! XOXO 

Bob I'm so glad that this jacket made you 'reel' happy! (sorry I had to! in the year of my absence from blogging my humor may have gotten really, REALLY lame! ;))

in pictures

Well hello again! Its been a spell. Far too long...Grandmother Spider was reminding me many weeks ago when she crawled on my face one night, then the next night brought a light colored friend to visit as well, they hung out on the window sill above my bed. One dark one light. So for Spider I write!

Creating....

I'm not sure if you remember this blue bag, I made it for a beautiful wonderful friend in North Carolina, it was for her daughter for her birthday. She contacted me a while ago and exclaimed she wanted one too just like Natalie's but a little bigger. I was excited, I knew instantly what fabric I would use, one that reminded me of Paige. She loved it!! <3

Hand drawn and embroidered

 Worms...

 Did I ever tell you I have worms?? I do! And they make magical poo! These bins started with a hand full of soil and a mound of newspaper, and I slowly added chopped up food that I didn't want to eat, and the worms made it into yummy nutrient filled soil! However I need to rework my design, some escape to their demise on the cement floor... :(

The snow is gone! And the grass is GREEN!

My little altar that sits atop my window sill above my head as I sleep

Ferns sprouting in the Wisconsin woods

I went for a nice hike in the woods with a great friend and we spotted these ferns sprouting up everywhere! It was wonderful to be out in the woods, and it was such a beautiful day. I need to remember to make sure I get lots of outside time!

I have also recently started school again. I didn't think I would ever go back to school after college. But this is different, I am studying to be a massage therapist. It's so wonderful, I absolutely love being able to be so close with people gently communicating with their bodies to help them heal. Touch is so amazing, giving and receiving massages is a meditative practice for me as well. When receiving a massage I have to focus repeatedly reminding myself to relax, let go. I am always holding some muscle in tension. I feel love flowing when I give massages, warm and golden.

<3<3

-L

Northern Wisconsin Retreat

I was proud of my emptied spool of thread!

I spent the past weekend with my cousin, Aunt and Grandma. I happened to be home this year for one of my favorite events, the Quilting Retreat to Camp Luther in Three Lakes Wisconsin! I love it for so many reasons. We get to run away for the weekend and sew up a storm 3 hours away from our homes! You bring with you what fabric you have and make use of it! I love how much I feel I get accomplished. It's almost as if we get trapped on Sewing Island with nothing to do but sew ALL weekend! And bombard the one local fabric store!

I decided that I wouldn't do as I wanted (which would be to bring my entire fabric stash!) and that I would make use of all of the scraps from previous projects as well as a few forgotten projects. I'm glad I narrowed it down! I may have spent the whole weekend deciding what to do instead of doing!

Grandma and Aunt Jane working away in the
background!

I learned so many things this weekend including some tips about how I can teach myself a more efficient way of working called I need fewer decisions! I will be the first to tell you I am the captain of the ship "Indecisive" adrift in the waters of indecision.... yep its that bad!

 I also learned physical space can be a good tool. It felt wonderful to 'escape' for a weekend. I feel centered again. I had a rough cycle this past week, there were a lot of transitions happening and I was fighting with myself about a lot of things. The time and space away helped me to regain composure and see life as simple and wonderful, a gift to be cherished. I also had the blessing of Eagle on the way home, perched in a tree reminding me that nature is always speaking and that a silent mind aids in hearing her words.



We had devotional time where we sang songs and shared in readings from the Bible. I haven't spent any time studying the religion in which I was raised (catholocism). It was beautiful to hear the words and feel the oneness of the teachings of the religions I know. From Buddhism to Christianity they seem

to be teaching the same thing.

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Love yourself to love others, as we are all one.

Transitioning and Painting

It seems life is almost always transitioning, at least in my experience. Well, yet another transition is happening. I am moving to Virginia for a spell to help a wonderful woman whom I met at my Vipassana Meditation course named Neville. She and her husband Michael own  Wood's Hole Hostel which is located 1/2 mile off the Appalachian Trail. So they host lots of those thru hikers! For those of you who don't know, a thru hiker hikes from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail (AT) which usually takes around 6 months! Pretty amazing! One friend I met while working at Emandal, Dave, completed a thru hike a few years ago doing it entirely (as far as I know) in Chacos (hiking SANDALS!?). Also very relevant Dave may be nearly done with his first Vipassana Meditation course! I hope he is learning much and working very diligently. Not only do Neville and Michael host hikers but they also feed them, grow a garden, keep bees, teach yoga, and perform massage! I know right!! I am excited to help them with whatever they need and hopefully I get to play in the garden a bit. I hope they are prepared for me! I come bearing plants and an arsenal of seeds! This looks to be a wonderful next step.

With this transition my path leads away from Dorian's. It has been a bit tearful but very important for both of us. I can't speak for him but for me it equates to an excellent opportunity to practice presence and non attachment. Within relationships I tend to become dependent, which suppresses my intuition. I just end up wanting to please the other person and lose track of my path. With that said I can feel the excitement of opportunity and the thrill of not knowing what the universe holds for me in its hands. Taking each step as it comes. Just like flowers, as one fades another rises and blooms, but not after dropping a few seeds ;)

Shifting gears a little, you haven't seen much of my work lately huh!? Well, my favorite neighborhood family was over working out the other day and we decided to see if 5 year old Gage wanted to do some painting. (Dorian and I ended up taking about a million canvasses from his parents over the holidays, and it was a good time to put them to use...so we didn't have to pack them in our cars!)  While Gage was experimenting with color mixing on his canvas (his paintings were awesome by the way...) I was thinking about two furry roommates....one fat and white and the other thin and orange.  I entitled this diptych "Fat White and The Orange One" The cats real names are Sugar and Ginger but ever since Dorian and I moved in Sugar has been Fat White Cat.  And for a while I couldn't remember Ginger's name so I called her The Orange One, currently she is walking across some bare shelves then onto the bed and crashing her head into my arm, licking and biting me. I'm not sure what it is but cats tend to bite me...usually not in a mean way...except for one.... Though she bites me I can't help but feel very relaxed and calm when she walks past and grazes me with her tail and kneads me with her paws though the drooling and sandpaper tongue is less effective at this....

"The Orange One"

"Fat White"

You can see an orangish splotch on "Fat White" I decided not to paint over it because we were all joking that it was a scale representation of the two cats! haha! These masterpieces are going to stay up in the cat's room :) cats should have art too I guess!

This is a shot of one of my fabric cuffs that has a happy new home with one of my favorite farmer's market friend Katy, she also owns the wonderful bag I made for her which I decided to entitle "The Katy bag"

Be Happy & Much Love :)

xo

What do you think?

Welcome to my brain! You are about to take a trip through an artists creative process and endless stream of questioning, Buckle up!

I have had some new ideas for products....eh something about the word product just seems so manufactured and cold... anyway, lets call it new art. Yes, I have had some ideas for new purchasable art. I wanted to run them by you and see what you thought, sometimes I like making things because I like how they work, which is great because then others might have the same feelings, but I would love to know what you think of these?

I feel myself leaning more toward love and life, and less wallet and money...? Does that make sense? What I mean is I want to move toward more soulful items, or things that you see that make you smile and remind you of what life is really about, the present moment, love, compassion and happiness. Though I do really appreciate the handiness of the wallets and have no fear wallet lovers they won't disappear!

Lets just get to it, I made a few little things and would love some feedback!

First is this which I love! Inspirational words/sayings inspired by my Vipassana adventures, as well as Eckhart Tolle and his brilliant books. This one is a reminder to observe. Observe nature, life, and especially your mind and its processes. I think the cuffs are fun and I have totally fallen in love with embroidery thanks to Natalie's birthday bag! I was also thinking maybe a fabric necklace? Bookmarks? or little flags kind of like prayer flags? Any critique is welcome! I think I need to make the word a bit smaller so one can read it on the top of the wrist (tho I have rather small wrists).

 Welcome little Mini Wallet version Denna! You may have noticed in this post (the tiny pink thing in the top photo) a little mini wallet which was the Stacey version! Dorian's mom noticed that one and thought she might like one for an upcoming trip. Of course being an artist I have a compulsion to always make improvements. So the first one is the one showing the velcro right on the credit card part, I didn't like how it closed and the quilting/batting didn't feel as strong as I wanted it to.  I made another one with a tab closure that I liked much better and interfaced the lining and exterior. I liked it better because it felt a little stronger and the tab made it feel more secure.

 It can fit a ton of cards and you can even stick some folded cash behind the card pockets! I really like this design...here come the critiques....

One awesome thing about this is I have a stash of fabric cut to the width of the big wallets I make, and I am able to use those pieces to make these little guys which = less wasted fabric! (wasted fabric makes me cringe!) The drawback is I really want to topstitch around the outside edge like I do with the big wallets, I think it would give it such a nice finishing touch and that little bit of strength I think it still needs,  but then I wouldn't be able to use my pre-cut fabrics (sad face!) well I could but there would be a lot of waste...which i could develop into something new...!

Help!? haha

Oh, and Denna if you are reading this...do you like that blue? Do you need more blue?? Don't be shy now! Do you want something brighter!!? I want you to love your new wallet (I am not offended in the least if you hate this color hah! so please let me know!)

What do you think? I need some direction on my ship floating thru the sea of ideas! And I think I just wanted to talk to you all!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

Lots of love!!

xoxo

Natalie's custom birthday bag!

 This turned out soo cute! Even after my three attempts at embroidering her name! My beautiful friend Paige requested that I make her daughter a bag for her birthday. She also mentioned that Natalie loved things with her name on it so I had to brush up on my embroidery skills. I made her this little messenger bag! Now I want one! I really love the size its a little shallower than mine which makes it easier to find things, and perfect for a little girl, well not so little I believe she is 10 now!

 Yes! I'm so glad I watched the padded satin stitch videos! This is much more of what I had in mind! The previous two attempts were directly on the blue fabric and it was really hard to see her name, as well as not very cute! This little blanket stitched patch did the trick! All done by hand, which was a really relaxing process.
I saw Natalie after she had received her gift and asked her if she had filled it up with things yet, she responded with "yep, bubble gum!" I love it! Happy Birthday Natalie!!

New Roommates, New Garden Structures, someone is getting FAT, and I have to Pea!

Yep, I've been thinking about all of you and how much you have been on the edge of your seats just waiting for me to post again. WAIT NO LONGER!


I have been so busy this past week or so. Three markets last week, a custom bag order, tons of garden work....... My sentence length to busyness ratio seems a bit off..... Well I know if you are like me you just mostly want to see pictures anyway so take a look! I may have had my sentence/busyness ratio off but I believe my words to pictures ratio is much better.

A little peek of the Farmer's Market table. Ogle away.

 

On a Farmer's Market related note, I was requested to make this little number. It turned out awesome! And for size reference, I believe a mini schnauzer would fit inside....Thank you Katy & Justin!

I told you someone was getting FAT! haha YAY fat little blueberries!!

We built this awesome little hoop shade structure! We are so excited. We look like garden pros now! Hopefully the lettuce, brassicas, and spinach will like it! There were a few scary parts when we were setting it up and we definately would make some adjustments upon building another one but its not too shabby for a first attempt!

Dorian attaching the shade cloth.

BAM! Super cool! We might even be able to turn it into a greenhouse so this stuff can be grown during the winter. All we need is a thick clear plastic tarp to cover it, and maybe a little heater.

We totally pea-d! Dorian was telling me all about sugar snaps and how fast they grow. He said I should take a picture everyday to see how much they are growing. Well this was the best I could do.

The first clinger!!! Go pea go!!!

The peas are now 6-7" tall and haven't quite gotten the hang of our hillbilly fence yet.

 

Above and below are our new roommates! I had a Farmers Market event at the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens' Plant sale! Of course we needed and aloe.....we are going to be in the sun all summer, and have already had one little sunburn incident...

And the ORCHID! So beautiful! I wanted one that was a little different then most you see. This one reminds me of some of the ones I saw at the Berkeley Botanical gardens! It smells wonderful too! Yay Plants!

Clap your hands for orchids!!

a mini messenger and some other creations

 I have had the idea for this simple Mini Messenger bag in my head for a while. It came to me during a meditation and I had to scribble it down quickly after I was done meditating. But I finally got it together and it went very smoothly. I love making things in a modular way. Making each section then putting those sections together. Simple, no fancy flips and turns really. I love the nautical theme print too! There are tiny little anchors on the red section.

I decided that I should take it for a test drive to see how it felt and if I liked all the decisions I made. The only critiques I had were to make the strap a bit longer or make it adjustable, and divide the inner pocket. I kept getting my wallet stuck on the inner pocket because it likes to hang out in the middle of the bag instead of staying close to the side. Its a gaper... like a whale swallowing krill, only it's a pocket trying to consume my wallet, which doesn't fit well in the pocket and makes you stay awkwardly long at the checkout counter....

I plan to have a few of these on my Etsy page soon! And maybe some mini wallets too! Comment if you like em and it might inspire me to whip a few together! I would love to hear your ideas as well! I'm incubating some more apron ideas too....I HAVE to use the nice ruffling foot aunty Jane got for me :)

In that picture at the top you will also see a little Mini Card Wallet. The lovely Stacey had a dream that I should make her a little wallet that would hold her credit cards, because her super cool metal one can't quite fit them all. So I made her one with some stiff material in the middle and it didn't quite turn out how I wanted but Stacey seemed to like it. So me being me I had to make one more to get it right. So there it is!!

This is the cutest thing EVAR! And SUPER EASY! I got a job baby sitting for a wonderful family and mom Kelly asked me if I would make a book sling for Lindsey's room and I got really excited and I had the PERFECT fabric in my own stash so she didn't even have to go shopping! I LOVE IT, I'm totally making one for Dorian and I. We have lots of books and if you end up in the corner spot on the bed you have to play steam roller or tractor to crawl to the end of the bed or roll over the other person. I think I will add a pocket for highlighters....we are compulsive book doodlers. 

(if you want to know how to make one let me know!)

This is my rendition of the full moon a few nights ago. We were working out and I HAADD to go grab my camera. The clouds were dancing around the moon it was so beautiful, but my cameral is incapable of capturing as I saw it. I had to combine two pictures to get both the clouds and the moon to be properly exposed. ...and I may have fiddled with the clouds a bit :) I like it. The clouds seem to be cradling the moon in its hands, feeling the light through their wispy palms.

Just a few things I've been up to besides baby sitting and gardening!

Lots of love! ❤

L