Just call me Grasshopper: Lessons from a 7 year old Master

About a week ago I posted this to The Twitter:

“Today I am in breathless awe of my child. I learned some really big, truly amazing, & very important things about life thanks to her.”

So true was this thought, so intense was this feeling; that I felt a visceral imperative to write it down and send it ‘out there’.

One of the really big lessons was about trusting myself as a mama, trusting that I know my kid and that we are "in tune" with one another much of the time. The second part of this lesson is trusting her and knowing that when she is allowed to be truly herself, she feels safe and happy and can accomplish great things.

Another very important lesson is this: Yes I Can!

Last week we were a couple of hours away from heading to a play date and Pony Girl turned to me and said, "I want to sew a dress Mama."
"Ok," says I, "Maybe tomorrow we can try."
"No, now! I want to make a dress for my play date."
"Honey, we don't have time, we can't make a dress right now." I reply.
"Yes I can!" She says with absolute certainty.
"I'm sorry honey, we can't."
So she walks up to me, cups my face in her hands and says, "It's o.k. mom, trust me. Yes I can."

And she did!
We made a sketch, chose the fabric, had a plan and just started. She has used my sewing machine only once before to sew a simple square of fabric, but this was a whole dress! I did the ironing parts and she, this amazing kid, sewed every seam, hem, and detail on her dress! Going slow, "It is important to be careful and slow so I make less mistakes." she says. Her concentration is total. I tell her to keep the fabric straight and...and...hover. She tells me, "Mom, I got it, don't worry, relax!"

Why am I so surprised? She told me she could do it, she knew she could do it, and she did. Not only is my crafty mama's heart bursting with pride that my 7 year old made her very first dress, but my lion mama heart wants to show and tell the world what this awesome kid has done! More specifically, I want to show her 1st grade teacher. The one who said she couldn't focus, the one who wanted to wash her hands of her when she couldn't force the results she wanted out of Pony Girl, the one who said she belonged in an alternative placement classroom (I visited 2 of those classrooms) where she so very obviously did not fit the criteria, and the one who made her feel less than.

As I watch her play with her friends, overhear her say, "Sure, I can make you a dress too!" as she walks up to kids on the playground and introduces herself and asks if they want to play...I want to tell that teacher that her tremendous concern over Pony Girl's lack of social skills is entirely unfounded.

See, if you listen to them, if you trust them, if you encourage them, if you let them be themselves, if you can shift your perspective and really see them, if you believe in them - they might just believe in themselves.

Yes, I learned that from her. I keep learning how truly amazing life is, how good it can be despite all of the challenges; how sometimes when we learn how to navigate through some of those challenges, we find out we are the heroes of our own lives.

She is my hero!

Sewing for Love

It starts with a little thought, or a wish, or a desire, or perhaps even a need to make a dress. It is almost always a dress. A cotton print dress. The kind of dress forms in my mind, a loose idea. Fabric selection then, holding prints up to the light, running my hands over the weft and warp, and making decisions.

Looking through patterns to find a basic bodice that is suitable for what I have in mind, followed by pattern paper and colored pencils. Deepen the armscye, alter the neckline, lengthen the bodice, add ease to the side seams. I scrap the inset cap sleeve idea and instead create a gathered shoulder three quarter length with a princess cuff, oh yes much better.

As I cut out the pieces, my girl is home sick and she watches. She gets up close next to me and asks questions. "How do you know to cut like that and not make a mistake?" "Why do you pin the pieces together here, but not there?" "Can I do the marking with the wheelie thinger?" "Is it time to sew the ribbon on yet?" I answer her questions and tell her it takes practice and patience and love. I give her some tracing paper and the 'wheelie thinger' and show her how to use it, where to make the marks.

As I sew, there is focus and intent along with assuredness; this is what I know. It is in my hands, my head, my muscle memory, my heart and soul. This is how Lola Nova was born, making nice things for my girl; this is how I grew my skills, found my passion, and it is love.

It is a little like therapy; it quiets the chaos and brings me back to myself, it restores confidence and brings joy.

And then there's this...

Thank you for all of the lovely comments and well wishes this week, I truly appreciate them. I am on the mend now and looking forward to the days ahead.

xo

Animal House

A tale of the little green cottage, a wounded sasquatch, butterflies, a broody hen, a leaping stag, and a wild pony.

Life has been a little wild around here lately. The Engineer had his first surgery late last week, all went well and he is beginning to have less pain and hopefully beginning the healing. He's already talking about bowling again, "Sasquatch" is his bowling name and no, he wont be bowling with his injured hand, his bowling arm is just fine. It may still be some time before he's 'pickin' the banjo again though.

This last week the cottage has been taken over by animals. We had some caterpillars, we watched them turn into chrysalids and then watched them turn into painted lady butterflies. What an amazing process to see up close! I highly recommend doing this if you have some small ones at your house. Pony girl loves bugs and she completely loved watching them change and then letting them go. I did too! We ordered our caterpillars online from here.


That sweet girl there is Tweet Tweet, she is the most docile of our ladies and tolerates Pony Girl's shenanigans with great aplomb. This week I noticed some changes in her and it finally became clear that we have a 'broody hen' in our midst. A 'broody hen' is a hen that wants to set on the eggs until they hatch. The hen's body temperature rises and she will stay on the nest constantly. If she has no eggs of her own, she will often set on other hen's eggs. Now, we have no rooster in the hen house so...Tweet Tweet is setting on the ever unhatchable clutch, even when no eggs are present, she will not leave the nesting box poor dear. This can be a dangerous situation, even fatal, for sometimes a hen will not even leave the nest for food or water or to relieve herself. So, out I go 5-6 times a day to get her out of the nest, put her on cool ground to hopefully lower her body temp, make sure she is eating and drinking. This has not yet broken her broody and we may have to resort to moving her to a well ventilated cage away from the nest and her two gal pals.

Ah, the majesty of the leaping stag with the cuteness of a sweet fawn! I thought I would also share this wee dress that started the whole blue and orange business. This little number has been waiting around and chastising me all week for not finishing it. As I was making it up, I fell for the orange and blue combo big time! I'm hoping that the Fraulein and I will be spending some quality stitching time together this weekend and this dress will be leaping into my little shop.

No menagerie would be complete without a wild pony. Spring has her sprung with a herds worth of energy. Her enthusiasm unbridled, she jumps for joy and I can hardly keep up.

May you jump for joy this weekend and go wild!

First

Yesterday was a day of "Firsts" 'round here. Very exciting stuff I tell you.
After waiting, and waiting, the ladies finally delivered. We found our first egg in the hen house!!!

This made for quite a lot of excitement, more than may seem reasonable to some still, we hopped around and exclaimed joyfully, even did a little jig.

It was also the night little Miss Ringlet had her very first sleepover! Oh my she is getting so very grown up.


...and if that wasn't enough...
I got to play music and sing on stage for the first time in almost a year. My dear friend Little Sue, invited me to sing at a benefit with a whole mess of incredibly talented musicians.

Photo of Little Sue

I had such a good time! Made even better by being able to sing along with The Engineer on banjo and his cousin on cello. We enjoyed so much wonderful music and company, it was a hoot!

Quite a day to be sure...and a very late night for me. I stayed up way past my bedtime and woke before the morning light so, tired I am. I am off to make that 2nd cup of coffee now. I shall return on Monday much rested and with a tale of a lark.

Wonderful weekend sweets!

Something Fishy

I had not intended to take a short break but, sometimes life gets busy with livin' and you just gotta roll. So, while I was busy with the livin', days flew by and it's already Monday for goodness sakes!

We reached a milestone in our family this weekend. A while ago the wee one pleaded, begged, wailed, cajoled, promised and pleased herself into a regular frenzy. She was on a mission, she had a fish wish of a most desperate kind. After striking a clever bargain, we agreed that she may have a fish of her very own. Her first, "just all mine" pet.

While I had visions of a sweet little bowl with colored marbles and one wee fish swimming lazily in circles, not taking up but a speck of space, we instead ended up with a full blown aquarium set up and two extra fish (one for each of us you know). The Bearded One made a good call on this; I can see that now, the fish will be much happier and healthier.


Let me introduce you to Goldie, Igor, and Django

Happy Monday to you all and I will be back tomorrow with some crafty business.

Oh My Darlin'

Oh my darlin'

Oh My Darlin' Clementine Skirt from Lola Nova.

As the last of the light begins to seep from the sky, a barefoot girl in braids runs pell-mell through the woods. She 'whoops' and 'hollers'; she leaps after dragon flies, and sings a song her mama taught her (she changes the words). She hops and twirls in her skirt of many colors. She spies a spider and and exclaims, "Oh, he's so beautiful, he's my best friend!" Just then, her mama shouts from the garden yonder, "Clementine, come here a minute and try this on for me, I want to take some pictures!" Suddenly, the brown eyed girl bursts out from the leaves - scattering the chickens with a squawk and a huff. "No thank you," she says sweetly, then turns on her heels singing back into the trees.


Original design and pattern from Lola Nova. Girls size 6. This makes item #3 completed for the 'Etsy Experiment'.
...and oh, on that topic, I have a wee bit of gossip for you! I'm afraid it's going to have to wait 'till next time though, I'm a woman pressed for time.

Growing Up Cloud Gazing

It's harder than it looks.

In keeping with my current quilt craze, I bought myself a new gadget to go with my sewing machine. A free motion quilting foot. I have been wanting to give this a try for a while now. I put together a very small whole cloth quilt (think doll sized) to make my practice run. The style I tried first is called stippling. It's kind of like doodling continuous random squiggles, only on your sewing machine with thread. Seriously, how hard could it be?
Well, it's sort of like rubbing your belly and patting your head while running an obstacle course, or not. Anyway, it's harder than it looks. Let's just say that it is a good thing my daughter was not around to hear some of the choice words that escaped my mouth. This is going to take some practice. It's hard to imagine doing this on a full sized quilt. At one point I realized that my jaw was painfully clenched, my shoulders were super glued to my ears, and it was time for a break. So, I went outside to take a deep breath and do some cloud gazing.


This seemed to help. I finished quilting, quickly attached some binding and threw it in the wash to give it the cool wrinkle look. I will practice more later when my shoulders and back recover. Who knew that sitting at the sewing machine could be so physically strenuous?

Now for something completely different...
I took a good long look at my sweet girl the other day, good gravy she's growing up! In an attempt to take the trike for a spin, it was discovered that it is time to move on to bigger bikes (pink please). So, the classic little red tricycle was loaded up and sent on over to her younger cousin's house. Milestones for sure.


I know, I know...they grow up so fast. It is truly amazing to see this beautiful child change and grow. It is also a little bittersweet. Maybe even harder than it looks.


I took my girl outside for a deep breath and some cloud gazing. It seemed to help.

One Begets Another

A little while ago I had a custom order for some baby clothes. The woman who ordered them showed them around to her co-workers. One of her co-workers then commissioned me to make up a similar set.


I have been wanting to try free motion machine embroidery for a while now but, I don't have the proper presser foot for my machine. Well, I decided to wing it and make an attempt with what I had. I drew a picture free hand with a fabric marker then made my practice run. I was a bit unsteady at first, filled with trepidation but, I kept on. The result turned out much better than I expected and that first practice piece ended up as a pocket on the new outfit! Yay, a new skill. Now I am ready to machine embroider anything and everything. Watch out, no clothing item is safe!

If you click on the photo, you can better see the pocket.
Now, I would love to own one of those fancy embroidery machines that they have now but, they are so expensive. It will be years before I invest in one. In the meantime, I can play around with this method and see what other things I can create.

There has been a flurry of activity at the cottage lately and so much I need to catch up on here on the blog. I need to update my lovely readers on the state of our garden, the progress of the chick chicks and their abode, the latest Lola Nova creations and much more. Stay tuned.

One Down

I've been down in the basement working my little fingers into a frenzy. I have completed the first of four custom orders and have just a moment before I am on to the next.
I thought I would share this project since I adore these fabrics. I had just enough to make a sweet baby outfit.



A short dress with ruffle and embroidered flower detail and matching bloomers. It is such a joy to sew for the wee babies.
This outfit is off to New Mexico at the end of the week. I hope it will be enjoyed and worn happily by the little one.

Opera In The Garden

exaltation for a slug


Intense preparation...


Sweet introduction...(notice the Mason jar, within resides the exalted one)


Swelling emotion...(cue violins)


Crescendo...


Melancholic end...


BRAVO!!!

Bloom

This week the Lilacs are in full bloom around here. They don't last too long but boy are they lovely!

This week is also Teacher Appreciation Week and I am just now getting to the making of an appreciation gift for my girl's teacher.


Our gal spends two hours twice a week in a preschool run through our Parks and Rec. It has been fantastic! Teacher Joyce is brilliant, I just can't say enough good things about her. She has shown such a great compassion and willingness to work one on one with our girl while keeping us informed and included.

So, to teacher Joyce and all the wonderful teachers out there, much appreciation and thanks for helping our little ones grow and bloom.

Fairies in the garden

Yesterday we had a beautiful break in the rain, sunshine and warm enough to go sleeveless. So, after our daily ritual of sqwirmy hunting...

we decided to build a fairy house. My girl and I repurposed a birdhouse that she and Mr. Nova built last year. It has never housed any birds and we thought that maybe the fairies would like it.


We both agreed that the best spot in the garden was under a canopy of Bleeding Hearts.
This morning the rain returned - yet, when we checked the little fairy house, there was a tiny thank you note written on a leaf!

Dress Up

Photo by Tricia Butler

My Rock and Roll Lifestyle

Field Trip to fire station with a gaggle of preschoolers.



Crazy play date across town.



Instill valuable life skills.



Cornish Pasty and baby green salad with the new fancy balsamic vinegar dressing.


Design chicken coop.