Kael Mark

Born March 8th, 7 pounds and 7 ounces, 20.5 inches long to Margaret Louise Wilmot-Collins and Aaron Solenberg. I am soooooooooooooo happy!

Wellness Wednesday

It's already Wednesday. This has me smiling, a slowly dawning awareness that I really did it - for an entire week I held to my one small thing. Now, what's a little more interesting is that my one small thing bore fruit. I ate lunch everyday which I brought to work. (I told you it was a small thing!) This means, I cut out one soda every day since I didn't go "out" and it also means I saved a bit of money and that I ate fresh, raw vegetables every day. That has some consequences you don't want to know about - but good ones, trust me.

I'm still tired, I'm not doing enough of the things I want to do, but I've turned my face to the direction, of that I am sure.

Lee

Postcard Swap

I finished these over the weekend. I had to have a bit of help since my sewing machine gave up the ghost. Thanks to Amy and Michele for stitching up the sides for me.

I was really very sick all last week - this strange sort of monster flu that didn't really SEEM like the flu, or like being sick at all - until you attempted to do something strenuous like oh say, look upwards or stand. It was pretty terrible. But! I'm over it now I think and should be more productive soon.

On another note, my baby is maybe having a baby. Folks don't mix her up much with her twin these days. Yes, she's really, really having a baby! Like umm today! She won't look like this much longer and we'll really be able to see Kael in the next photos! I'm trying to focus and be very Zen about this.....Soon...hurry up! Soon, be patient, quiet....soon...NOW...hurry!! This is one of those cool self battles because I can't really affect the outcome anyways so I can stomp my feet as much as feels good and then just have to wait anyway. Hurry! Soon!!

Wellness Wednesday -

"If you change one thing, you change everything." That's the thought that's rumbling round my mind this wellness wednesday. Aha...okay, so if this is so (and I believe it is) that means I don't have to change everything. What a relief! Lynn Andrews called it, all those years ago when I was reading that sort of thing, an act of power. So....one thing. One thing. My brain shifts to the 10,000 things and I cannot think of one thing. I do battle with myself until I observe myself battling and realize that staying in the battle is my way of opting out and not changing even the one thing. And so....with no ado, without fanfare; today, I will choose the one thing. Just one thing; I will be disciplined in this one small thing (someday I may tell you) for one week and next wellness wednesday we shall reconvene (who is "we" I wonder?) and assess the one thing, the small act of power and its potential change.

For now, it is enough to know that I don't have to fix the whole of me. I do not have to be perfect tomorrow - that's not going to be on my list. What a relief! For today, I am going to focus on the simple and effortless change of one thing.

First Attempts

I thought long and hard about posting these photos. I'll confess it right now, I'm a little bit ashamed of these postcards. The colors in some don't quite work, the quilting for sure is not at all nice and man oh man did I struggle with doing the edges! Not only did I pause long and hard about posting the pictures, I almost did not send these cards to my girls! I had to stop and examine myself, and I learned some fine lessons that I'd like to share.

First, it's not very wise of me to compare my beginning work with those of you who have been working on these crafts much longer than I. I have to remind myself that initially, one of the goals was simply to learn how to do this. And, I learned a great deal about how fabrics work together, about how colors change when placed together. I learned how to manage my old and grumpy sewing machine a bit better. And, hopefully, future cards will get better and better. And, I had some fun...which brings me to the next lesson.

I realized at some point, that I was NOT having fun.this refers back to a post I wrote ages ago about being afraid to call myself a knitter because I am such a novice and that I was learning to relax into it. The lesson went a bit deeper this time as I realized this about myself: I am terribly focused on the end product. I think this prevents me from having fun and learning to have a sense of play. Very often, I want someone to show me the exact steps in a process thinking that then, I will follow the recipe and end up with a perfect product. I am afraid to experiment. Somehow, I have this suspicion that this is not what art is about. Art must be playful and fearless - or at least, not fearful.

So, I showed these cards to Daughter #6 and she thought they were adorable. She's very quick to criticise me (there will someday be posts of the trials of living with a teenage daughter, I've got plenty to say about that!), so I don't think she was just being "nice." She thought they were child-like and joyful (Did I mention that she is attending art school?). And, she was shocked that I'd consider not sending them. Uumm.

I followed these postcards with some domino necklaces. I caught myself doing it AGAIN - speed through the process, follow the directions and GET IT DONE. Not too far into it, I just stopped. Instead of rushing to a set of directions, I just tried something. It worked out all right, and I'll post some photos of those too sometime soon. But, I didn't quite like some smudgy parts and then I realized, "OH! I know how I made that smudge, now, I can either not do it again, or, I know how to do it should I sometime in the future wish to create a little bit of a foggy appearance. Cool!" Once I let myself feel some sense of happiness about this, I found it much easier to play a bit - splash some color here, some blending solution there, change colors. I suspect this is a much more, for me, fulfilling way of growing. Following directions is good, of course it is! But, being afraid to try things is surely not.

Maybe my willingness to share my early and inept attempts will also encourage others. How often do we hear folks say, "Oh, I'm just not creative at all; I could never do THAT!" Well of course you can. We are creative essence. And we grow. Maybe someday in the future my postcards will reflect my growth. In the meantime, I'm going to have fun!

Lee

In the Mail

This lovely card arrived in the mail last week. Kate, of Kate's Quilting so very generously sent this card. I had asked Kate if she might sent a postcard so that our textiles students could see a a REAL card instead of my own beginner attempts. Kate very kindly obliged and sent two, the second below.

I am so continuously amazed at the generation of bloggers - especially quilters and others of the crafting community that I've met. Never, no, never not once has anyone failed to respond with the most helpful suggestions, contributions of materials and sometimes finished pieces. How delightful you all are!

I am hopeful sometime later this week to be able to post photos of my own fledgling postcards, my first pincushion and photos of the finished quilts mentioned last week. In the meantime, our fiber students were really inspired by Kate's cards and are busy working on their own class projects. Thank you, Kate - and thank you to all the inspiring bloggers out there who urge me on not only in my craft learning, but in my remembering to practice kindness, generosity and loving support.

Cheers!

I found it!

Yup, yup! I found it, here! at Curious Bird! Hooray! I'll be tracking that cookbook down Pronto! Oh I'm so glad!