Happy Earth Day, Biology and Why Play Dates Rock

Happy Earth Day to all. I am still trying to figure out what that specifically means to me and my family. When I get it all figured out, I'll get back to you...

In honor of the Earth, here are some shots of the flowers that keep coming back from year to year. I guess they reseed themselves, as we only planted them once!




On another note, isn't this interesting? Here are shots of all three of my children's eyes. (That is one eye from each of my three children, not three eyes on on each child.)


They are nothing alike..neither in shape nor in color.

I guess one never knows what one is going to get. I was SO certain that my green eyed child was going to be dark in both hair and eye color and he is the exact opposite!

Last thought for today: Why have I been so resistant to spur of the moment play dates? We don't have a lot of kids in our neighborhood, so having friends over has always involved me cleaning up the house and a bunch of other jumping through hoops, most of which I created for myself. Today, I had a call from one of my youngest child's buddy's mother asking for a bit of help. Rather than fret about the house, food, and (fill in your own blank here), I just said "yes". I mean really....she is a mom, so she has to understand the mild mess that spontaneously happens when kids pass through a room, right? (I no longer clean the house until the end of the day. Otherwise, I find myself cleaning up the same messes over and over. NOT a great way to spend my time!) And kids don't notice if you have dusted or not, am I right?

Totally liberating! My youngest had a blast and I had MASSIVE amounts of time to get things done! You see, I had forgotten that if my child has a buddy, I am free to do chores while I am supervising! He isn't a baby anymore, so nobody is putting blocks in their mouths or up their noses. They aren't eating the cat food. They are playing. Really playing. Legos, superheroes, spies. Bliss! I got so much done! It was a lovely day all around.

Thanks for popping by! Hope it wasn't too random today.

Theresa

New Softies, Commissions, and Dentistry

It has been a super busy couple of weeks.

Here are the new softies I posted to my etsy site this morning.

http://sycamoremoonstudios.etsy.com/

The faux fur on the monkey was brutal with which to work! It reminded me a lot of working with mohair, since I had to use a blade to cut the backing without cutting the fur. It also was slippery as all get out. AND it didn't want to go through the machine, even with the walking foot on it! I did a LOT of the monkey by hand. She came out sweetly, though, in my opinion!

The bulldog was a bit easier. He has such a funny face!

And here are the twins, back for more.

To all of my friends who have been wondering, my youngest came through his dental procedure with flying colors, thank God. He was fine. I was the one who was nervous! Now he is showing off his "pirate" tooth to everyone. Ah, the joy of youth. He can find fun in just about anything. It just goes to show that attitude is everything.

I still don't understand how his teeth can be so different from the other two. Neither of his siblings has ever had any issues with their teeth. No cavities ever. Weird.

I have quite a few commissions coming up this month and two contest entries to finish up, so I hope to be posting some new eye candy on this blog very soon. Hope all is well!

Happy Spring! Happy crafting!

Thanks for stopping in!

Theresa

Sneak Peak of the Felted Opposum

I just love this little guy. I didn't get a chance to work on him today as I had my youngest home with me, but I wanted to let you see him. What do you think?

I think he needs a bit more "body". The wool I am using on the gray portion of the body had lots of REALLY long fiber in it. Very different.

Hopefully he (and his environment) will be finished tomorrow. I don't know where to post him for sale. Nothing seems to be moving for me again. I like to think it is because I will be asked to do a show soon and will need the stock in order to do so. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Happy everything!

Theresa

Happy Easter To All!

Good Day and Happy Easter!

Here in Southern CA, the weather is gorgeous. It should be about 70 degrees or so today and nice and clear. I hear, though, that where my brother lives in CO, it is snowing again this morning. His little town gets LOTS of snow! He loves it, however, so it all works out! More ice climbing and skiing for him before the season is over for good.

I hope this lovely day finds everyone well, happy and doing something that creates joy.

As for me, I have been working on the tiniest and most quirky little needlefelted opposum. I hope to have it finished for posting by tomorrow. Ah, I love it! (I usually can't say that about items until I am done, but once in a while the character in a piece comes out early and I fall in love before it is completed. I am definitely in love. It will be a hard one to let go.)

We are off to many a family gathering today, so I need to go and put the finishing touches on ye olde potato salad. I put eggs in mine. How about you?

Happy Easter and Happy Crafting!

Theresa

Sixteen Things About Me

This was a "challenge" submitted to me via Flickr by a very talented artist named Cytel. She does amazing things with felt, but is multifaceted and can do many different kinds of things very well. Check out her blog at Wandering the Oak Forest sometime to learn more about her. Or pop in to her etsy shop at http://www.Cytel.etsy.com to see what she has for sale.

Sixteen things about me:

1. Mean people make me sad. Mostly for them, but sad just the same.

2. I crave solitude, but rarely find it. Quiet is my friend.

3. I love cereal. Hot/cold/you name it. When the kids move out,I will live on cereal, canned soups, salad, and fruit. Oh, and coffee...lots of it.

4. I adore the smell of oranges and will spend more to buy cleaning products that smell good and are "natural". Yep, I'm a sucker!

5. Bath over shower. Nuff said.

6. I love to make fancy desserts, but rarely have a reason to do so. (I don't
always want to EAT them, though. Smelling them is usually enough.)

7. I would love love love to make things full time and make a decent living at it.

8. I can't grow fingernails. They just want to be stubbies, I guess.

9. I love to read and will read just about anything.

10. The smell of mint gum in a patent leather purse reminds me of my great-
grandmother and always makes me smile. And cry.

11. Windy days make me want to run wild. Can't help but grin in the wind.

12. I have 4 boxes of clothes that I have stored with the sole purpose of using the
fabric to "make things". I will not allow myself to buy any new fabric until I
make a dent in it. I really mean it this time.

13. I wish I could breathe under water.

14. I love dainty, little things and am enamored with kitschy 1930-1960's figurines.

15. I just bought a yudu. I think I am going to try it out this Saturday!

16. I am probably happier now than I have ever been at any other time in my life.

What are YOUR sixteen?

Thanks for stopping in! Happy crafting!

Theresa

The Twins Have Arrived!

Here they are. Usually twins come earlier, but time was an issue this last week with all of the weird medical stuff going on over here!

Right from the start they seemed to know one another.
They sleep. A LOT! All that wiggling and wrestling must tire them out.

See the resemblance?
They don't look exactly alike, but these two know what it means to be family.

Until next time, happy crafting!

My Favorite Thing About Spring..

Happy Tuesday, all!

When you look at this, what do you see?

This is what I see....pure potential. This, my friends, is about 25 canning jars full of plum jam. I LOVE plum jam, both the making of it and the consumption of it. The perfect blend of tart and sweet and the color is amazing. Summer on a spoon.
Yes, the plums are still green now, but soon they will be the perfect purple red. Bliss!


This, of course, is the sister to the plum jam. Strawberry. Yummmmmmmm.

I think I'll leave on a high note.

Enjoy your day! I'm off to finish Little Red Riding Hood. Thanks for popping in!

Theresa

New Softies, Realizations and A-ha-s!

I FINALLY posted two new softies on my etsy site.




The pink one, Mort, found a home right away.

Twilla, however, is still searching. (I think people may be afraid. She doesn't look like the sharpest crayon in the box, but she is very sweet.)

I have my tiny woolen twins, who will be finished tonight and a fun little Red Riding Hood. Hopefully they will make their debut tomorrow. I am planning to do a bit of hand sewing between kids' events; play rehearsal and Boy Scouts. Wish me luck!

To go completely off tangent, I had a realization today. What I mentally tell myself colors my life in so many ways.

Let me give an example; I had a hard time falling asleep last night, so when ye olde alarm went off at 5:13 this morning, my first thought was,"I am going to be so tired today."

Scrreeeech! Hold on just a minute! Sure as shootin' I am going to be tired if I go around saying,"I am going to be tired. I am tired" all day long. So, just to prove a point, I heard that stinky inner dialogue, decided to let that whole line of thought go, and replaced it with,"It is SUCH a lovely day." Needless to say, it has been just peachy. It really is lovely. :)

I think we all suffer from negative inner dialogue in some way or another, but usually don't pay attention to what it does to us. When I wake up and say, "I am getting fat. I have too many wrinkles. I am not as good as ___", I am impacting my life! And that, in turn, impacts the lives of my kids and all the people around me. Getting trapped in a negativity cycle makes it difficult to enjoy life, that's for sure.

So, I am on to a new positivity. When I catch myself being overly critical, covetous, or just downright grumpy, I am going to acknowledge what is going on and let it go. (In theory, anyway. Hmmm. Are my blog entries starting to sound like a self help book? Yikes!)

When I compare my work to the work of others and start to mentally feel a sense of competition, I will stop. And be grateful. And breathe.

The boys are teasing each other. Gotta run. Did I mention how I was letting go of negativity? LOL

Thanks for stopping in! Happy everything!

Theresa

Sew Quiet

Things here are quiet. Very, very quiet. The only sounds are of the cat breathing and the whirr of the sewing machine.

I felt compelled to capture this moment here before it fled, evaporating and gone, to wherever moments like this hibernate. If I didn't document it, I might have forgotten its existence when my daily life begins the crescendo again.

Peace.

Theresa