greenclogs

lemon winner, some sewing and some sadness

Sorry for the slight delay in winner announcement, but I've been glued to the Interwebs regarding this tragedy. My heart breaks for the families of those who were killed, for our elected officials who will live in fear of the same happening to them and for the loss of civility in our society as a whole and this state in particular. I am more sad than I can possibly express. 

Part of who we are is carrying on in the face of sadness and tragedy and bringing light where we can. I'm sending a little bit of light (with the help of the Random Number Generator) in the form of lemons to Jen. While I wish I could afford to send lemons to all of you, I'm happy to see them go to someone who has brought plenty of light into the world through her beautiful art. If you're not familiar with her work, you should really click over and see what she does. Jen - I hope the lemons give you a great boost in those dark January days in Maine. 

Lastly, my girl has started on her first real sewing machine project. She's making the Evelyn Apron Skirt by our friend Jona. Check out her fabulous fabric choices and beautiful work. 

She needs to add the apron tonight and gather the skirt to attach to the waistband. We'll do elastic and hem in the morning and she's going to try it out at a birthday party tomorrow. I am so proud of her for setting aside her usual resistance to failure and learning through mistakes and really embracing the process. That girl of mine. I love her. 

I've also been playing with the fashion cams on my Rocketeer and am all giddy over the fancy stitches. 

I need to tighten up my stitch length a bit and we're golden. Grace kindly pointed out that berninagarcia has all those stitches and many many more, and I appreciate her wisdom. However, there's something fabulous about these stitches coming from plain old mechanical engineering and not from a computer. Plus, these just flat out look better. Maybe berninagarcia needs to be tuned up, but regardless, I'm over the moon with what that Rocketeer can do. I even started a little skirt for Kit that is intended to feature some fancy stitchin'. 

Happy weekend friends. Take the time to hug the ones you love. Say a prayer or send good thoughts into the universe for understanding and kindness and dialogue in the world. Reach out and be a positive force in the world. 

hello winners!

Pam, Greta and Melissa - you're all winners! You'll receive an email from Boomerang to download your episode. Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone. 

I'm going to follow the kids to the playground. They left me at the bakery and rode away. We have blue skies now afer a misty cold morning (and a walk at low tide in said rain) so we're soaking up the sun like true Oregonians. The sea anemones were worth it though. Tomorrow and Wednesday are really low tides (-3.0!) so expect lots more sealife shots. 

Happy Monday!

boomerang!

We're going to take a brief break from vacation gloating and host a giveaway! Because who doesn't love a giveaway?http://www.boomkids.com/index.html

A couple of months ago, Blair offered me a free episode of Boomerang Kids, which is an audio program best described as "NPR for kids." I loaded onto my laptop, tried to talk it up a couple of times, and met resistance. So, I shelved it until we were on vacation because I knew it would be perfect rainy day material. Thursday, that rainy day came our way. The kids were busy with embroidery while it blustered outside. I quietly started playing it without saying anything. The kids listened, they pulled closer. There was talk of Michaelangelo and dinosaurs. Silly jokes, fun facts. All delivered by kids. My phone rang and I paused it. I was met with "hey! you turned it off!" and pleas to turn it back on. Despite their initial resistance, the kids were sold. Now we've signed up for the monthly new episodes. It's really that great. And I wouldn't say that if it weren't. My kids give Boomerang a double thumbs-up. 

Here's where it gets even better. Three of you get to win a free episode too. Here's how to win. Go to the BoomKids site. Poke around and see what you think. I'll wait. Then come back here and leave some feedback about the site. Is it informative? Easy to navigate? What could be improved? Three commenters will be drawn for a free episode. 

And here's the best part. Since I don't have to mail anything, you will get your prize promptly. It just doesn't get any better than that. So go take a look. Leave a comment. Win!

btw, I have actually mailed things out this week. Twelve Square and Busy Little Quilting Bee packages are out the door. Whee! It's amazing what can be accomplished without regular internet service. 

We have actual blue sky, so it's time to head to the beach and jump some waves and find a bench. Happy Monday, friends.