.the current scoop.

i've received emails and comments asking me a few questions about my shop and updates and all that stuff, so i thought i would write a post to answer them.

when are you updating the shop?
i am currently getting ready for artfiberfest, where i will have a vendor table with aprons, scarves, pillows, pincushions, and a few other fun things (i am putting together some vintage sewing packets too). i am also getting together a couple of orders for some shops that will be carrying my creations. (i. am. so. excited. about. this!) because i am in full assembly-line creating mode (as these pictures indicate), i won't be updating the shop until after artfiberfest.

so, look for a shop update (aprons and scarves) the week of october 27. i will post an announcement here when i have things in the shop. my plan will then be to update the shop with a few items every 10 days or so.

are you taking custom orders?
after squam, i received several custom orders. and, as those of you who placed an order know, they are taking me quite a long time. because i am getting ready for a huge show in early december in seattle (urban craft uprising!!!! can't wait to be part of this incredible event.), i won't be taking custom orders for fabric items (meaning bags, scarves, aprons, and pillows) until after the holidays. thanks for understanding. i am always accepting custom soul mantra necklace orders and will continue to do so.

are you ever going to add any of those natasha slingbags you sold at squam? what about those big bags?
thanks to all the squamlettes who have asked about the natasha slingbags (they look like my everyday bag seen here). yes! i will be adding bags to the shop, probably the second week of november (or so). i have a nice stack of gorgeous fabric that will soon be cut into natasha bags. some of you also noticed my huge bag that i often carry (seen here). i am calling that the natasha big bag. i have several cut out, ready to be sewn together. look for those in november. additionally, i will be adding some selma totes to the shop in time for the holidays.

will you be adding long aprons soon?
some of you might have spotted me wearing a long apron at squam and art and soul. it is about mid-calf length and goes around the waist almost like a skirt. i will be making a few of these, in various waist/hip sizes, probably in mid-to-late november.

any other new items to share? what about that baby quilt you made?
new items for the holidays will include a few mom and child apron sets. possibly a few new pillow designs. and maybe a few sterling silver soul mantra pendant designs. i am also working on a smaller natasha "big" bag. same shape, smaller size.
and, i am having fun with that baby quilt (putting minky on the back...so soft and luxurious). might add some to the shop after the holidays, but probably not before. might even think about making a couple of lap quilt-sized minky-backed quilts. (i don't usually say yummy...but that would be pretty yummy i think!)

are there other questions out there? just let me know.

and now a question (a bit off topic) for you: know of any good arm warmers - mid-forearm to elbow length - that are knit or crocheted (and not itchy wool)? i would like to buy a pair or two. sewing late into the night in our home has made me realize i need to buy another pair or seven. i seem to easily misplace them in coat pockets and bags and on and on. and i just don't want to have to search for them late into the night. (if this is something you make for fun or sell, i would be interested in trading for some if that interests you as well.) thanks!

two girls, two clicks {week four}

1. happy orange, 2. spoils of fall

photo collaboration with miss geek inc, week 4

one little (huge. power-full. sacred.) word

(new soul mantra pendant in the shop)

it is a powerful exercise, thinking about what you might want to say yes to in your life.

many years ago, sark introduced me to the juicy-ness of the word yes.

in my college apartment, i had big sheets of white paper on the wall behind my bed. i remember deciding to put that paper up after reading one of sark's earlier books.* and inspired by her, i wrote yes in crayon on that wall and looked at it every day. i remember feeling like if i just said yes to one thing just for me each day, life was going to be okay.

i hadn't thought about that in a long time...about that wall i would write on and how i would hold onto that word. and then sometime this year, i started noticing maddie's sunday posts were all about how she was saying yes in her life.

and i remembered the wide, real power of this simple, petite word.

inspired by maddie and sark, i am bringing this word back into my life.

and tonight, i am
saying
yes
to

living this life with a wide heart
inviting in peace
letting go just a bit more
orange polka-dotted knee socks
cooking dinner
staying out way past my bedtime
naps
being an informed voter
a gigantic slightly off-kilter pumpkin
a poetry reading in the bathtub
taking a chance
a little johnny cash and friends
laughing until tears spring into my eyes
speaking the truth of my experience
holding onto love
drinking mugs of hot fruity tea
believing in all that might be

is there something you might want to say yes to today?

*i tried to find the page in sark's book (creative companion, inspiration sandwich, or living juicy) that inspired me to write yes on my bedroom wall so many years ago. i couldn't find the page, but i found all these little pieces of paper stuck throughout the pages of living juicy. notes on an index card from a psychology class, on the back of a note from my dad, on the back of a winnie the pooh day-by-day calendar page, on spiral notebook paper. the notes were all taken while listening to sark's inspiration line. tonight, i close my eyes and i can see that lonely, hungry-for-understanding, sad college girl in her little apartment with her roommate, daniel the cat, curled up beside her. she is sitting on her bed with the antique wrought-iron bed frame. she is wearing a flannel shirt and overalls. and she is wishing someone would see her. and she dials the phone and hears that magic laughter and kind voice** of a person who seems to see her. and this voice shares wisdom with words like, "take giant leaps of faith even when it is dark out" and "drench yourself in self-kindness." and she talks about "radical self-acceptance" and shares quotes and books suggestions...and the girl writes it all down, as much as she can. and when the message ends and she hears the beep, the girls sometimes just says, "thank you" through tears. other times she is too embarrassed and doesn't know what to say, so she just gently hangs up. and some nights she goes to barnes and noble with the notes from inspiration line and book list from one of the pages of living juicy and she starts collecting wisdom and truth and invitations to live in the form of books to place on her white bookshelves in her apartment. some nights, as she reads the pages of these books, she begins to say yes to the hope that maybe she isn't as alone as she thinks she is.

**hear this voice by visiting sark's online journal

seven things just because

1. blossoming pink, 2. holding on
photo collaboration (two girls, two clicks) with miss geek inc, week 3

1. if you are in the puget sound area, want to join me to hear and see jonatha brooke sing this weekend? the show is saturday night. (here's the info.) it is going to be great. jonny and i will be there and would love to see you. if you haven't seen jonatha in concert yet (or you haven't done something just for you lately), give yourself this gift.

2. today i have finally admitted this to myself: i am simply exhausted. i went to portland last weekend to art and soul and was too tired and busy with my two jobs to take my two classes. crazy. however, it was such a gift to spend time with friends...but not getting enough sleep has me feeling behind and overwhelmed and a bit under the weather.

3. yep. i have two jobs. i have realized that a lot of peeps who read my blog don't know this. i am actually a full-time editor who works from home. i don't talk about it much on my blog because...well, i don't really believe in blogging about my editing work. (i also don't talk about it much because when i have mentioned it in the past, i usually get several emails from people asking me to help them get a job where they can work from home. my story is an unusual one and i probably can't help you. i am sorry about that. i don't mean to seem crappy about it, but it just is what it is.) my other job is making things in the little room.

produce section, whole foods (portland, OR), 10.4.08

4. trying to balance the day job with the blossoming business of the little room (and the business that is just living my life) has me teetering a bit. some exciting things have been happening, and i am so grateful...and i am in the midst of figuring out how to balance and how to say no and who to rely on for support and all that good stuff. and it is good stuff. but it is difficult at times. not complaining. nope. just wanting to explain why i might not seem as available to answer emails or pick up the phone. i am realizing i cannot be everything to everyone while also trying to be me...while also needing to be my own best support person.

5. lately i have learned that i yell at the television during political debates. i thought i just yelled during notre dame football and basketball games (just like my dad). nope. i have now hit a point in my life where i yell at politicians. good times. i kind of like the very funny idea of turning the next debate watching evening into a drinking game. which phrase? can't be "my friends" or i will be drunk as a skunk. i think jonny would want to play one where we drink when they don't lie...not mentioning who "they" might be, ahem, as this is not a political blog,* so i'll move on. (and no, we won't be drinking heavily during the next debate. but i do find the saturday night live skits so darn funny. love that tina fey.)

6. i bought the most wondrous fabric this weekend. can't wait to show you. i found the softest flannel that looks just like wool that i will be using on the back of scarves. i just want to drape myself in it. and i bought some huge purple pom pom trim. huge. pictures soon (if the sun ever comes out in this corner of the world).

produce section, zupan's market (portland, OR), 10.4.08

7. did you venture out into the produce section and take some photos? i took a few more in portland. would love to hear about it if you did. (and stay tuned for a new "i dare you" post next week...)

*an aside to my fellow Americans: please VOTE. i am going to say this more than a few times in fine print over the next few weeks. VOTE. please. just .VOTE. (thanks)

want to join me?

washington apples, seattle, 9.27.08

saturday evening, jon and i were up in seattle having dinner with friends and afterward we did our usual "we are in fremont so we might as well go to PCC before we head home" ritual...

while there, i suddenly had an urge to take photos of snippets of the produce section.

when i stood up after bending over to capture as many colors of apples as possible, i caught the eye of a man who had been watching me with quite the bemused look on his face.

if someone created a comic strip of that moment, this man and me looking at one another, the caption above my head might have said, "you mean you don't take photos in the produce section?"

i found it so amusing to think about what he must be thinking. as i walked across the store to join jon and our friend christine, i imagined explaining the life of a blogger to this man...explaining how blogging has caused me to notice my life, my life experiences, in a richer way. how blogging for three years has invited me to document my life now...how i pay more attention.

and this made me think about you...
you out there reading these words...
you trying to do this same thing: pay more attention in your life.

and as i walked up to jon in the cheese section (because where else would he be?), i explained that my mind had connected all these dots from bending over apples to thinking about you out there who visit my corner of the world...how my mind had connected these dots to an idea of a series of posts...a series of "i dare you" kind of posts that i might toss out into the world every now and then...a series of posts where i see if you, you out there reading this, might want to join me in a few things...like taking photos in the produce section...

still rolling the idea around in my brain...

but today,
today i wonder if you just might want to grab your camera the next time you go to your favorite grocery store.
i wonder if you might want to capture something bright and cheery in the produce section.

just for fun.

just because you want to look at your world in a different way...because you want to pay attention in even the simplest moments.

just because you can.

yep.

i dare you.
you reading these words.
i dare you to take a photo in the produce section.

(then come back here and tell me all about it please)

a moment today.

last week, i was talking with a friend about the idea of the energy people create when they are alive...and how that energy remains when they die. i said something about how when i think of you or suddenly feel you, it is as though that energy has circled the globe and found its way back to me. it finds its way back to me and replaces the phone call i would rather make...the phone call i cannot make. or the visit that would now include pulling up to an empty house since your husband now lives in an assisted-living nursing home and wants to stay there...and your house sits empty...though what is left of you sits on the mantle.

this week, this energy that circles the globe found its way back to me. you found your way.

yesterday, when i took millie outside in the middle of the day, i heard this most insistent noise. i thought it was a hummingbird, but i couldn't find it in the trees and honestly figured it must be an irritated bird of a much larger size as that chirping was...well...it was kind of rude and annoying and very, very loud.

today, there it was again. even louder. and clearly talking directly to me.

you haven't been feeding us. you promised her you would feed us. yet, nothing. all year. and now that it is fall, the neighbors aren't picking up your slack anymore. and we are hungry. and cold. keep up your end of the deal lady.

i looked up, shading my eyes from the glare of the noon sun through clouds. i looked up and saw it directly above me. sitting in the huge pine tree, like it often has. and it just kept chirping. looking down toward me and then looking away. a bit like millie does when she watches us eat dinner and hopes we will drop something.

so i went inside and dissolved sugar into warm water and then tore up this mess of a house looking for one of the two hummingbird feeders we have.

i couldn't find them. finally found parts of the one that was the last gift you gave me. remember? that february, right after traveler died, i started seeing hummingbirds. you insisted i start feeding them because the weather was still cold. so i found a local wild birds store and bought a feeder. and you sent me $25. remember? i started feeding them every week. and kept feeding them after you died a few weeks later. i would cry as i put the food out, but i would feed them because you asked me to. and then i would sit in the little room and watch them flit around the backyard. i would watch them and think of you and wish with all my being that i could pick up the phone and call you and hear your voice.

today, that energy of you...that focused, insistent energy that was you...found its way to me in the form of a fierce, tiny feathered hungry creature.

thanks for that.

and guess what? i made a quilt top today. can you believe it? my friend had a baby in the wee morning hours today and the baby was very early and i just felt that this new little boy, so eager to meet his parents, needed a quilt. so i started one. my first one ever. i thought of you when i finished sewing the squares for the top today...thought of you as i reminded myself i couldn't call.
oh and never fear, jonny bought me a new feeder on his way home from work so that my insistent backyard visitor can now eat.

it really was a good day.

love you and miss you my dear friend,
liz

life is full. and good. and really, really busy.

during the last few weeks, my life has been full of creating.

lots and lots of creating.

in august, i began listening to my own advice and started creating things that made me happy...not really focusing on "will this sell?" instead focusing on "does creating this make me happy?" i found a rhythm creating aprons and scarves and necklaces and a few bags before heading to squam.

and at squam, it seems that my joy about what i had created was a bit contagious as those lovely squamlettes proceeded to buy me out of almost everything i brought with me.

it was pretty amazing.

you see, this experience at squam was my first time with such a positive response that also involved people buying. (insert silly smiley face here.)

the thing is, i haven't often talked about the downsides of figuring out the etsy world or vending at an event that doesn't go that well. how does one talk about that in such a public forum? so i share this not to say, look at me!! but instead to say: do what you love. listen to yourself...really listen to yourself. do what brings a wide, real smile to your face. create what makes your heart fill with joy.

the momentum to keep creating and sharing the joys of this creating that has been swirling inside me lately has meant that i am updating my shop more often. (a big thank you to those of you who have visited my shop and found something that speaks to you...thank you all so very much.)

and it has meant that i have been attempting to balance my "day" job, life, orders, family and friends, creating items for the little room, and...well...everything else in between. it has been a bit hectic around here...but hectic in a good way.

and some exciting things are happening.

in this moment, my heart is so full of the goodness and the blessings of this life.

this post is peppered with photos from my sunday: creating new pendants, sewing up the little fabric bags my items now come packaged inside, packaging items up to take to the post office, taking photos of items for etsy, getting a wee bit organized...

so life is full and good. and i am riding the wave as it happens...letting myself enjoy the joy while also learning to set some boundaries...figuring out where i should seek advice and support...walking tall in my decisions as i do know what is best for me...embracing community in a new way...living...

this afternoon, i gave myself a treat of a (high-maintenance) pumpkin spice (soy, two-pump, no whip) latte as a little reward for getting six new selma patchwork scarves up in the shop and sending off quite a few packages at the post office (i love the postal workers at my local post office!).

i hope you give yourself permission to reward yourself with a little treat when you need one too.

blessings,
liz

two girls, two clicks {week two}

1. clear, 2. orange
(click the photo to see it bigger)

me (on the left), geek inc (on the right)

see more at two girls, two clicks.