Stitching my way back

I've missed creating so incredibly much!!!!
One of the downfalls of having four surgeries and two emergency room visits in six and a half weeks is that my arms took a beating with all of the IVs and blood drawls.  So, for the moment I'm not crocheting because my left forearm aches something terrible after a short amount of time.

I've been dreaming up different ways that I can use my stash of cashmere and merino wool - I still have much that hasn't been felted.  My imagination has been working overtime with designs and I just can't work fast enough!

Tuesday night I snipped the feathers, petals, leaves -let your imagination tell you what they are- to create this headband.  It went yesterday with a friend's daughter as a gift for a birthday party.

purple elastic with cashmere adornment

I have three more that I have cut and are waiting to be stitched ... fanciful and fun for little girls.  Each piece of cashmere or merino wool is securely handstitched to the elastic headband.  There are no small buttons beads to worry about, everything's soft and easily handwashed - messes happen afterall!

left to right:

espresso elastic with cashmere and merino wool adornment

red elastic with cashmere and merino wool adornment

white elastic with cashmere adornment

I am looking forward to reopening my shop and listing these new creations ... and hopefully more... during the first week of July.

I hope that you enjoy these new delights and I look forward to creating some for babies and for us grown-ups!

Thanks for stopping in and have a blessed week!
Nicole

On Loving Them

I've been enjoying so much looking through the past year of memories...

Ean and Jonathan, my brother, making gnocchi...

Nathanael, Jason, Stacy, Vanessa, Jonathan and Ean - enjoying the celebration of my brother and his family visiting...

My dad reading to Nathanael...

Jason, Nathanael, and Ean enjoying an exhibit at a museum...

Jason holding Nathanael with Ean - looking at a diesel train in the misty rain...

Jason teaching Ean to ride his bicycle with Nathanael in tow... 

Jason's dad reading to Nathanael at Easter...

Jason and Ean watching for whales and dolphins...

Jason and Ean looking at the wildlife...

Jason flying a kite on the beach with the boys...

Jason with the boys on a train ride...

I'm so blessed to have so many caring men here with my boys as they grow.  So blessed by their kindness, love, curiosity, humor, strength, willingness to give of themselves - of their time.  Time together is so very important, time with these men - to help my little ones grow into loving, faithful, God-loving, God-fearing, kind, funny, caring, strong, and honorable men.

Loving every moment, relishing every memory.

Thank you for stopping by to read.  I hope that you have a blessed week!
Nicole

Tastes like summer!

I have this problem - I don't like to sit still when I'm told to do so.  I'm having a difficult time just resting, especially when I get a day when I feel okay for several hours.  But then I tend to over do it when I feel well.  So right now I'm exhausted and have been resting for most of the day.  The products of yesterday afternoon and this morning are so delicious and were so fun to make, it's been worth it!  I have six days until surgery and after that I will rest for a good long while until I don't hurt.  I've resolved that for now when the discomfort's not too bad and I have a bit of energy, I'm letting myself escape this torture called homeboundness with a little domestic pleasure of canning sunshine!

I love to open a can and taste the summer - especially on a cold, cloudy winter day.  Even if I can't get into the garden, take the kids picking, or go to the market, I'm glad that I'm able to can a little of what I'm missing.

My very generous mom came over yesterday afternoon with loads of beautiful local produce.  I called her on Wednesday evening during a spark of inspiration - Pinterest and blog reading can do that.  I asked if she could get her hands on some sweet cherries, sour cherries, and strawberries - only if she could find good ones that weren't water logged - we had our fair share of rain during May in New Jersey this year.  Similar weather last year and the strawberries tasted like water.  Blah.

Well, sour cherries weren't ready, but sweet were and she picked me four pounds - I'll be making preserves on Monday with those, once I've regained some of my energy that my spark of inspiration zapped from me.

The strawberries she brought to me, oh divinity!  I wish I'd photographed them before we started sorting them.  They weren't perfect, but just a day from being - well great for the composter!  They were sweet and sticky and my fingertips were red with their juice as I sorted them.

First I made strawberry lemonade concentrate that I saw on Freida Loves Bread a couple of weeks ago.  I made a bit more than half a batch, didn't have enough lemons to make a full batch.  It is the best pink lemonade I've ever had!  Well, of course, because it was homemade!  For the recipe, I used 2.25c each of the puree (with seeds removed), lemon juice, and sugar.  Enough for three jars and one glass of sunshine!  They're already downstairs in the canning closet, I didn't feel like fetching them to photograph - but you can get the idea if you look at Freida's blog.

I had made enough puree to do a full batch of the strawberry lemonade concentrate - before I realized I was lacking in the lemon department.  With the extra, my mom made strawberry water ice for my boys.  I have two shirts with strawberry stains to tackle sometime before they get forgotten, but it's so worth it with as much fun as they had making and eating that summertime treat!

Last night I prepped a double batch strawberry vanilla jam featured on Food in Jars a couple weeks ago.  This morning I cooked the strawberries down with sugar and a split and scraped vanilla bean and the zest and juice of two lemons at the very end.  Oh the delicious smell that filled our home!  It made more than I anticipated - nearly eight jam jars.  The one that's not quite full is going into the fridge to enjoy with the family this week.  My boys love the taste of the jam bits that I was able to scrape from the pot after I'd canned all that I could get into the jars.  It tastes like summer.

I think that I'll be making strawberry ice cream with one of those jars this summer.  I have a double tub ice cream maker that I haven't used since before my seven-year-old was born.  I know where it is.  It needs dusting off.  They would have such a spectacular time making ice cream!

This is what was left of the one quart of strawberries in the fridge waiting to be eaten - before dinner.  My boys had at least half with dinner.  They won't last long, the season is short but, oh, so sweet!

I've rested most of today and definitely will be resting tomorrow.  I'm feeling the pain of not subscribing to the regimen of rest.  I'll get another spark of inspiration and make the sweet cherry preserves early next week, before I'm to rest and heal for a while - without complaint.

Thanks for stopping by, have a blessed weekend!
Nicole

The something unexpected...

So a while back, before all of this craziness with the kidney stone getting in the way of life happening, I promised to reveal photos of the something unexpected that I was using for crochet.

So here's the story...

In mid-April I visited a shop in Philadelphia with my mother, I always find great things there - never anything I'm actually looking for, but beautiful and inspiring things nonetheless.  We stopped there on our way to the Van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (that was incredibly inspiring, too!).

There I found fabric for my husband's train table skirt project (to hide all of the junk that has accumulated underneath).  I found beautiful Queen Anne's Lace upholstery fabric for less than a song and a dance that I'll have my husband's grandmother's chair reupholstered in once I can actually move it.  While that was being cut my mother called to me that there was clearance on spools of stuff.  And what glorious stuff it was!  I had such a difficult time figuring out what I should buy and what I should leave there - even though I could have purchased it all ... sometimes regret that I didn't ... but it wouldn't have all fit into the car!

I bought spools of cotton twill tape, polyester drawstring material (you know that you find in the waistband of sweat shorts), ribbons and trims that I'll use for card making and the such.

The drawstring material was quickly worked into five sun hats - two midnight blue, one espresso, two dark slate blue, the espresso and one slate blue are gone already.  I didn't even photograph them, but I know the owners and can always ask for a photo!

the three remaining sun hats

dark slate blue, midnight blue with French knot band, midnight blue with flower band

I have just begun to use the cotton twill tape.  One spool of charcoal twill tape has partially dried out and isn't good for crochet, but it's fantastic for using as ribbons for the handstamped favor/gift bags that I offer in WoodstreamPapery.

the aviary No.2 white kraft bag with charcoal twill tape ribbon

The dark olive twill tape I'm crocheting into a vest for myself.  I had a customer last December ask me about making a vest.  I thought about it and I've finally come up with a pattern that I like.  I'm making this for myself so that I know how much I would charge for one, but it's a huge time investment... not to mention material - gosh the cost if I hadn't gotten this on clearance!

the dark olive twill tape vest in progress



I have other colors of twill tape - a bit of red, some natural, a little bit of ice blue, and others I can't remember right now...  I have a huge rubbermaid container filled plus a big bag sitting on top of that filled with these supplies.  I have plans and patterns floating in my head.  I will be creating for some time - I'm excited, it's so interesting to work in a medium other than yarn.  

I also have gold cording that I may be using to make some holiday garb ... funky belts or maybe a really open stitched dress or vest to wear over tights and a stretchy top.  Something different.  Something unexpected.

All of this may not be reality this year, I have so many supplies I could literally work for a couple of years and still have surplus.  But it's something to look forward to.

I also have all of that cashmere and merino wool.  Only a few pieces have been felted.  I have a huge stash that still needs felting - then cutting and stitching.  It's a huge undertaking, but it's going to yield so many awesome items!

I plan to have both of my shops back up and running by the end of June, but that will depend on my recovery after next week's surgery.  I will keep you updated.

Thanks so much for stopping by to read and have a blessed week!

Thank you

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial - December 27, 2009

Thank you to all of those who have served and are serving to keep us safe and free

so that we may live without being on guard... because they are.

Thank you to the families who have lost loved ones and who are missing their dear ones today.

Thank you to my grandfathers who served long ago.

Thank you to my brother who serves now.

God Bless America.

Lost Spring

Well, my recovery from gall bladder surgery went pretty well.  On Monday, May 14th I reopened my shops, shifted around inventory and started adding items to WoodstreamPapery.

Then on Wednesday night I woke with such horrible pain.  I eventually drove myself to the emergency room at 1am on Thursday morning.  I was diagnosed with a 1.8cm kidney stone, not passable - it's only 4mm smaller than an inch.  I had a procedure done that drains the kidney to reduce inflammation and allows it to heal before surgery, yes, more surgery.  I was supposed to go home on Friday.  Then the fevers started.  At the worst on Friday, in the wee hours, it got to 105.1 degrees.  I was started on antibiotics on Friday morning and continued to improve.  I came home on Tuesday afternoon after a six-day hospitalization.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted and still healing.  I am on antibiotics and trying to care the best I can for myself and my family.  My shops are closed, again.  I want to garden, but I can't.  I want to cook, but I am thoroughly drained and can't.  I want to crochet and sit to make cards and felt cashmere and wool to cut apart and create new things... but I am not able to muster the energy.

I am grateful for my husband who has not lost it after a spring full of unexpected health issues... having to take over all of my duties so many times -  and still go to work everyday.  I am grateful for travelling nurses.  I am grateful for friends and family who are able to pick up my children from school, bring meals, and clean my home - eventhough it humbles me so very much.  I am grateful that my husband can slip out of work to attend the milestones that I'm missing... things that I planned to attend, but am saddened to miss.  I am grateful for modern medicine and hospitals and doctors and nurses and techs and the housekeeping people at the hospital.  I am grateful that there is air conditioning in my home... the plastic dressings make me so uncomfortable in this heat, but fortunately I can stay inside and remain more comfortable.

This is my lost spring.  I've had lost summers and lost winters, but I think that I am really missing spring so much more.  It is a time of new life, new growth, newness everywhere.

peonies among the mint at my in-law's home, May 12

So in order for me to get through the next two weeks until surgery on June 8, and then the recovery afterward, I am focusing on renewal.  I am focusing on how God is speaking to me in this time that I am unable to be the person I thought I was and who He is directing me to be during this time of healing and afterward.

I appreciate those of you who will pray for me and my family during this time, keeping us in your thoughts, it really does mean a lot and I believe in the healing power of prayer.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day!  Please go out and enjoy the world around you!

Almost there

Hello, how have you been?  I've missed sitting here and writing.  I've been sitting in my family room with my notebook, crochet hooks, and spools of the unexpected - creating and healing.

Like most other modern moms, I have a hard time not doing, even when I'm not supposed to be doing.  So on a few occassions since my gall bladder surgery two weeks ago, I've over done it.  No surprise.  I praise the Lord for the invention of Advil.  I thank Him for my wonderful friends and family who have helped in ways big and small over the past two weeks.  We really could not have gotten through without the phone calls, help pick up children from school, meals delivered by our church family, and friends coming over to chat while the children play.  It really is so lovely to have such a community of givers.  We are so blessed!

I am almost there, almost ready to reopen my shops.  They need some sprucing up.  Don't be surprised to see certain items dissapear or relocate to a different shop.  Unfortunately while on "Vacation Mode" I am unable to alter inventory in my shops.  So, I'll be working on that over the next several weeks.

On April 30th I finally felt well enough to pick up the hook and start crocheting again.  In the past twelve days I've made six items.

The first thing I crochet was a pair of apple green bamboo blend fingerless gloves.  I've seen them around and I thought, I can make those.  So I tried.  And I did.  And they're simple and warm and soft.  Two days later I was talking to my mother-in-law.  She mentioned the doctor told her to wear gloves around the house to ease the coldness in her hands from her osteo-arthritis.  I told her that I'd made a pair of fingerless gloves and that I would gladly make her a pair.  I altered the pattern to a small hand, since I wear a medium and the green gloves fit me nicely.  I am unsure if I'm going to add fingerless gloves to my line of items.  They're quite time consuming to make, but they're very nice.  I will have to pray about it.

I also crochet a newborn baby hat from a bamboo blend and two short-brimmed sun hats out of a spool of the unexpected.  The cotton fingerless gloves for my mother-in-law and a merino wool blend hat for a friend.

The spool of the unexpected... I look forward to sharing this with you.  It's so incredibly fun!!!!  Something for you to look forward to seeing!

I have not gotten into paper arts too much, only for lack of wanting to shift too much stuff around because I fatigue easier than I think I should (getting well takes so much longer than I think it should!).  I do have some cotton twill tape that's gotten brittle.  It makes for a beautifully shabby-chic ribbon for my handstamped bird favor/gift bags - quite the beautiful look!  A bit of frayed edge with the crisp white bag - fill it with whatever you like - perfect for baby or bridal shower or baby's first birthday.  Whimsy and beauty all in one!  They'll be added to WoodstreamPapery in the coming week.

I have yet to pick up a needle and thread...  I have plans in my head and have begun to felt the cashmere and merino wool - oh the colors for Fall 2012 are stunning!  I cannot wait to reveal all that I have stored up in my brain!

I'm easing back into life.  I am enjoying doing things as I can.  I am reminded that I am not fully healed and cannot do everything just yet.  But I look forward to reopening WoodstreamDream and WoodstreamPapery next week.

Until then, Happy Mother's Day to all of you mommies out there!
Thank you for reading and have a blessed weekend!
Nicole