Playing Catch Up/Going a little nutso

LOVING my colorful chicken!

Sheesh.

Life has been totally crazy lately. How has it been in your neck of the woods?

It seems that every time I think it m ught be okay to take a breath, I remember 40 gagillion things that I should be doing.

The story of most women's lives, I expect.

A few updates...

Etsy shop doing pretty good! I should be proud of myself, I guess. I've been open for about 2 and a half months, I think and have made about 45 sales! (My shop says "38" sales, but there have been a few reserved orders for people that included multiple items.)

It's been crazy trying to fill orders while maintaining the fulltime job and honestly, I am more behind in sending out orders than I am comfortable with.

If your someone that's waiting for you item, rest assured that it WILL arrive, and soon!

I am 99-percent sure that I will be leaving my fulltime job at the Maui News to craft and write 24-7. That will free up a lot of time to sew. It's going to be awesome!

Excited, but also a little (lot) nervous. There's going to be a few months at least where I don't know how I'm going to make up the money lost, but I know that this is the best move in the long run for the family.

As a working mom, I've ripped my kids off of a lot of time. Not only with me, but just being able to kick it at home instead of pack up every morning and leave for the sitter.

Not that I don't support fellow working moms. I do! But for me, deep in my heart, I know that I should be spending more time with them.

The financial sacrifice has the potential to be huge, though. Hopefully we'll be able to make it through the storm.

I had this weird thought last night as I was sitting watching a video with the hubby... I was stitching away on a sashiko project and realized that so many of the crafts that I do are strictly for beauty.

While that's not a bad thing, I'm thinking that it would be way more awesome if my handcrafts became a lot more functional.

I don't know. It's like part of me crafts to be in touch with the "old days" when my grandma and great-grandma's would sit around mending things, making clothes for the kids or quilting blankets that are still around today.

I feel totally ripped off that although I try to make something every day, so much of it is luxury. It's not needed. It's extra. I want to make stuff that I need. I want to replace having to go to Walmart.

It's just so damn easy to hop in the car, fill up a wagon, swipe the debit card and come home with a bunch of household items like scrubbies, cleaners, tin foil, paper towels, bedding etc.

But how much more satisfying would it be to create things to use every day?

It would take forever, but it's something that I slowly want to commit to.

Really, there's not much that we couldn't make. Somebody made all the stuff that we buy...

And if there really was something that was totally ludicrous to make from home, I bet there's an alternative that CAN be made.

I know. Crazy talk, yeah?

But then again. It would be cool.

One idea that I had is to NOT buy ANY clothing for myself (underwear included) for a whole year and see where that takes me.

The thing I will miss the most is jeans. I love new jeans. Then again, I know how to make them. They are a pain in the butt, though.

Anywho, what do you think? Doable? Maybe I can buy stuff that other people make by hand? That may be an idea.

I'll have to think about it.

Okay, enough rambling. I have a sand princess skirt to finish!

Sassy Little Mynah Bird

There's this children's song here in Hawaii about mynah birds. It goes something like, "Sassy little mynah bird, with you funny walk. Boy you are a noisy bird! All you do is talk, talk, talk!"

Man, they aren't kidding.

My dog tried to consume a young mynah a few days ago. Dear Lord. Has it only been a few days? And in the process, I scored myself a new bird friend.

I haven't named him yet, but I've been nursing him back to health after his close encounter with death and a one-way ticket through my canine's intestinal track.

His leg is broken and I'm pretty sure that it's going to stay that way. I can't figure out where the break is to splint it. I think maybe it's dislocated or some possible nerve damage.

Poor little guy.

Anywho, he doesn't seem to care and is learning to hop around on one foot and to use his wing as a crutch for balance. He's super adorable and friendly. The only problem is that... HE SCREAMS!

Very loud.

He's fine as long as he's with me, but if I'm out of his sight, he starts panicking. I'd love to be with him 24 hours a day. Really, I would.

Okay, I'm lying.

I'm not into keeping birds locked in captivity, but am afraid that because he's crippled, the Mynah Bird Mafia will take a hit out on him. Everyone in Hawaii has seen it happen. A flock of birds surround the weak one and peck it to death.

So, for now, I have a new pet. One that's driving the house insane, but is somehow incredibly sweet.

And annoying.

The other night, my hubby looked at me with this "Aha!" gleam in his eyes. He had an epiphany. If our kids were an animal they would be...

You guessed it.

Surprise from our garden

Surprise! I couldn't believe it when I found a handful of strawberries growing in our little patch in the yard. They've been growing for over a year and while they often fruit, the birds an bugs usually get to them before we do.

It was a nice late-morning treat.

Okay, now I'll get back to my quilting although the clouds have blown over and the air is cool.

Perfect atmosphere to get back into bed with a book - reading Killer Cruise by Laura Levine - but I'll be strong. I'll be productive. Really. I will.

And no, I'm not putting on my comfy pants again. Why would you ever think that?

Hmm? No... That wasn't the covers being pulled back. Really! It wasn't...

Japanese Quilt for Dad

My father fancies himself a samurai. Yeah, we're half Japanese and we did, once upon a time, have our own kingdom in Japan. We are the Tendo's (translated: Heavenly Palace) but we were over run by the Yama-somethings a really long time ago.

Anyhow, I digress.

I had been planning on making Dad a quilt for Father's Day, but never found the time to work on it in between starting up my Etsy shop and working RIDICULOUS hours at the "real job".

I've been on medical leave for about a week and a half now and am due back on Tuesday, so I figured that I should get my but in gear and make the quilt while I still have a few days to myself.

I chose some really awesome fabric from my local quilt shop "Sew Special". Patty, the owner's daughter, helped me out (she has an amazing eye for fabric).

I had pulled down the geisha print (Alexander Henry) and the green (Robert Kauffman) and red (Kimono material) and some sort of crain fabric. She tossed the crains aside and pulled down the maple, which I would have never chosen myself, and ta-da! A quilt was conceived.

Planning on doing large strips with some big squares to keep it simple and back it with some comfy flannel.

I want it to be nice an comfy for my dad. He doesn't get to lounge around often, so when he does I want it to be awesome.

Aside from my husband, he's my biggest sewing fan. It's so funny how he never sees the flaws in anything that I make. I guess that's the perk and beauty of being the only daughter.

I love my dad. He's been a tough act to follow, but I somehow landed a hubby that's pretty close in terms of endearment.

I got lucky with both of them.

The way of the OBI

Yeah. So this is what I SHOULD be doing... Working on my obi belts. Instead I'm puttering around tripping out that the King of Pop died.

Anyway, I'm not going to start a tirade about Jackson and tell you all about my silver mesh glove fetish and how it has led to a fingerless glove craze, or how I was really stoked on my Micheal Jackson-wearing-a-yellow-sweater spiral bound notebook when I was six...

Instead, how about these Obi Belts? So what do you think? This one here has hand-dyed pink lambskin leather (Sorry, little lambie), a gorgeous unfinished cotton and vintage mod daisy fabric from the 60's that hailed from Australia.

They can be worn low on the hips too. Which is probably the way I shold wear it seeing as I have no waist or boobs.

Sigh.

But, the Japanese in me is forcing me into the traditional placement. I'm crazy like that.

I'll be listing them on Etsy soon. As soon as I get my butt in gear and finish the other seven that are half done.

And yes, I'm working on many, many animal friendly ones out of acrylic, wool, cotton, linen an silk.

Have a happy day!

I HEART SPACE STICH

I am SO excited. Here I was, moping about the house because I haven't gotten a dang thing done all day besides eat and low and behold look what came in the mail!

Somehow, I discovered Space Stitch - a really cool shop on Etsy that sells all kinds of neat things like kids clothes, red dirt bracelets, table runners, reusable pads...

I absolutely LOVE everything in her shop. I shop way too much on Etsy. Love it. But I have to say that my favorite right now is her stuff.

I mean, how cool is it that I have a hat, a super cool kid shirt with fish flying a space ship appliqued onto it and reusable pads all in the same order! Yeah, I know. Way cool.

A while ago we ordered a brown shirt with a really cool whale appliqued onto it in vintage fabric.

It's a favorite and fought over in the household.

Check her out! You will be thrilled. Super fast shipping, awesome prices, great quality and just simply really cool stuff. You'll be hooked. Plus, she packages stuff really cute.

SPACE STITCH ... don't you just love that name?

Mermaid Skirt and Cream of Wheat

Summer is here!

Before it slips away, I'm trying to maximize the rest of the world's ability to wear the light and breezy skirts that we get to here in Hawaii year-round.

Don't hate me because it's sunny. We make up for that by not having a Target. Or Red Lobster. Mmm Hmm. Life in isolation can get trying.

So... Here is one of my new skirts that I am selling on in my shop. It's such a simple design - elastic waist, crisp white trim on Heather Ross' "Underwater Sisters" fabric from her lovely Mendocino line.

Cute with or without a belt. Fun to wear. I LOVE the idea of a Mermaid pulling around a little girl through the sea by a piece of limu.

Great print to look down at and daydream while out enjoying the summer sun!

Find it here.

Thanks for looking! Okay, I'm going to wolf down the last bite of my cream of wheat (with tons of butter, half & half, and guava jelly... YUM) and head to the sewing room.

What's that? You want my top secret sinful cream of wheat recipe? I'll think about it.