Started:

• Quilt!
• Indelible studios embroidered blog header
• barrettes with yo-yos
• gray knitted scarf with black details
• cotton washcloths
• coffee sweaters

Want to start:

• another gray/brown knitted scarf or shrug?
• cross-stitch sampler
• embroidery for friends
• sewn pencil cases
• refashioned shirt projects

Need to get additional supplies for:

• More vintage button barrettes
• Vintage button brooches
• baby blanket for H’s baby – knit? crochet?

A stone building at Old World Wisconsin

woven blankets hanging from the rafters in the General Store

bolts of fabric at the General Store (plus my nephew)

an earthenware pitcher and mini rag-rug / coaster thingy - I love that idea and the colors.

(also, trying to figure out photo uploading and captioning in this new WordPress installation)

xo

Yesterday M and I went with my mom, sister, nephew, aunt, and cousin to Old World Wisconsin, a living history museum that shows how people lived in our state in the 19th century. “Interpreters” in each building show you how things were done — blacksmithing, baking cornbread in a woodstove, tending cattle and bees, running a stagecoach inn, teaching at a one-room schoolhouse, playing games and with toys. We loved it, the grownups maybe even more than the kids, although the kids had fun too. Many of the materials they use are from the time period, although some are reproductions, and it was fascinating to see how spare and beautiful everything was. It amazes me that people would put time and effort into embroidering or decorating things, because they worked so hard and needed things to be very utilitarian, and when did they have time to do it? But beauty was important to them, and I’m sure that handwork was something both useful — skill-building, even if it was just decorative — and relaxing. I loved looking at all the fiber tools and fabric, especially in the general store.  I got lots of ideas for things to make and ways to decorate — and I’ll post pictures once we get our camera-cord situation figured out (in the meantime, you can do a flickr search for “old world wisconsin” and get a pretty good idea of what things look like). Another thing that amazed me was how closely the homes there resembled the aesthetic of high-design, eco-friendly homes I see on the internet. And we were all astounded at the size of the place; the landscape seems pretty authentic with its untouched pasture land and woods, and there are several little villages, each comprised of one nationality of people and their traditional architecture and ways of doing things (German, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, etc), although there was a bigger “crossroads village” and one that was an integrated community that included African Americans, even during the Civil War era. We didn’t get to stop there because the kids were about to melt down from hunger, but I’d like to learn more about it. M loved the schoolhouse since we actually got to “play school” and write on the slates and answer questions.  She also loved the baby animals, and a hoop game called the game of Graces (a game women could play, unlike baseball and other outdoor games). My nephew loved the hoop-and-stick game — of which you’ve surely seen pictures: a boy runs along, hitting a hoop with a stick, very simple!  Now we’re on the lookout for a way to make our own Graces set to decorate with ribbons, and maybe a hoop and stick set too.

I am always reminding my daughter, who’s 4, to focus.  Focus on the task at hand, remember the steps to get ready for bed or to get ready in the morning, just get this done and then you can play.  Of course, one of the major problems with this  (and maybe why I have to constantly remind her) is that I, myself, seem to have no focus whatsoever.

I have 20 projects going at once, all the time.  I love to think about getting organized – I’m particularly fond of the FlyLady and GTD systems, and the Zen Habits blog – but once I set up a system, I never keep up with it for very long.  The soft boundaries for my tasks make it harder – at the moment I’m in grad school, and I’m freelancing from home, and my craft projects are all half-done, and my writing projects are not even half-baked.  There are conditions in my life, like fibromyalgia and its associated fatigue, that make focusing difficult too.  But I need to find something that I can stick to – it’s so discouraging to keep thinking about it and never be able to do it.

Here’s my plan: clear a space (my desk), set things up so that it’s easier to stick to a system (a place for everything, and everything in its place), and just do a couple of things each day.  I’ve found recently that it is satisfying to cross items off a list, so I’m making short, do-able lists (3 items) and only adding things to them if I finish what I’ve already got on there.  I am also going to limit the time I spend on the computer / internet, which feeds my feelings of wishing my life were other than what is it or envying the lives of others as they’re represented online (even on the most superficial level, like: I wish I was more crafty, I wish my apartment looked different, I wish I were a real writer, I wish I could take beautiful photographs).

David Allen, the GTD guy, said that a goal is not the desired end result, but that it helps shift your attention, so that when you have a goal in mind, you’re noticing and thinking about whatever is related to your goal.  Andrea Scher said that we aren’t used to thinking about what might be enough.  In this world, in this culture, it seems like nothing is enough – but we each need to decide for ourselves what is enough for us and for our loved ones and for our own personal worlds.

The goal, then, is not to fight routine and commitment as a creativity-killer, but to embrace it as something that brings clarity and ease.  And then, also, to know that I have done what I can in any given day, I have done enough, and to let it really be enough.

So I was excited to try out this Zucchini Muffin recipe from Coconut & Lime; Rachel is having a “blogiversary contest” and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try one of her recipes, especially because one of the prizes is a Vita-Mix, which I completely covet.  (Imagine being able to make your own nut butters at home!  Grind grains into flour!  Puree anything!  Awesome!)  I have a zucchini bread recipe that was my aunt’s or someone’s, and although it could be used for muffins, it has SO much oil and makes a very cake-y kind of bread, and I wanted something with less fat and more texture.  

I did make a couple of changes to Rachel’s recipe; I used white whole wheat flour instead of plain all-purpose flour, and I added a few tablespoons each of flax meal and wheat germ for fiber, and a tiny bit of water so those extra dry ingredients wouldn’t make the batter too stiff.  

They turned out great – we’ve eaten them for breakfast and snacks.  The recipe makes a ton, too – probably 24 regular-sized muffins, although we used 12 regular-sized ones and 18 tiny ones and 2 kid-sized bread pans.

*I have some pictures, but cannot upload them for some crazy reason (perhaps because I have yet to install the latest version of WordPress?) – you can see them here and here.*

So now I have the next few weeks to rest, renew, clear things out, and be creative!  This week is, of course, Hanukkah and Christmas, so we have lots of celebrating to do.  I am hoping to make a few small gifts on the sewing machine and also finish up a larger gift that requires handwork in the next couple of days (as I always say, one of the great things about Hanukkah is that there’s no hard deadline for presents).  I have journaling and writing plans, photography plans, and I’m also going to do some (semi-academic) writing for a book project I have in mind.  I am also going to: eat lots of clementines, exercise a lot, go sledding, drink tea, watch Project Runway episodes, and visit with friends.

And to anyone out there still reading after my months of absence – happy holidays!  Enjoy yourselves.

But the big news that’s got me checking in with the blog is that I’ve got a new camera!  A good little fancy schmancy digital point and shoot that has all sorts of nifty features and best of all, a really good macro feature!  Seriously!  For real!  (That’s M’s new expression, “for real!” all the time.)  I am very excited about this.  In addition to keeping some record of my child’s life, I might also be able to take pictures of things I make (even if they’re tiny scraps of projects) and post them.  Or, I might actually be able to take nice enough pictures that they might be worth sharing in and of themselves.  Wow.  I’m getting all geeked out about it like I did when I got my first real camera, a Pentax 35mm, in 8th grade.  I love that camera, still do.  Maybe I ought to get that out one of these days too.

Here is one of the very very first pictures I took with this new little camera:

I mean, natural light, closeup capabilites, actually clicks when you want it to instead of 2 seconds after.  For real.

OH!  I actually did make something, though – something very simple – a tweed wrap skirt using the pattern from Sew What Skirts.  It turned out great.  I actually didn’t sew on the closures yet, I just pinned it shut in 2 places and wore it today and you know what, it looked great!  I actually might not sew on the snaps because then it’d be more flexible and forgiving.  It’s just got a fringed waist and hemline, it was super easy to make, and it’s a great color, a tweed inbetween gray and taupe.  I wore it with black tights and my new black merino turtleneck, and felt pretty dang pulled together.

Ok.  So.  See you soon, little blog.  With more pictures!  Really!