An Explanation

January dawned with such expectation this year.  It always does, but this New Years Day I had an idea of what the coming year might hold for better or worse.  Either way, it was not going to be a mundane year.

How little did I know.  Things have really snowballed around here.  And some of these snowballs came completely out of the blue.  So please understand if I don't post for a bit now and again.  I'll be back.

Growing My Blog

If you're visiting from the Grow Your Blog 2015 blog hop, Welcome!

I'm a mother and a creative, trying to find balance, beauty and joy in the every day.  This blog began as an extension of my Etsy shop, so you'll find the occasional bit of shop-related news here, but I write primarily about my daily life.  

This lovely lady makes regular appearances on the blog.  Here Miss S is demonstrating how she can climb through the famous "green thing" at our local playground.

Miss S and I go on lots of adventures too.  She notices everything.  I take pictures.  This one shows a cloud of translucent mushrooms billowing from a tree trunk.  Little wonders are everywhere.

My garden is only just beginning to wake.  The bluebells aren't quite as tall as this picture (taken last February) shows, but they are up, green and fresh amid last year's soggy leaves.

I also like to craft and sew, sometimes for my shop and sometimes for myself.  These clear blue fabrics are my current antidote against the infinite greyness of a West Coast winter.  I cut these flower shapes out last night and have a project in mind, but you'll have to come back later to see what it is.  

This post is linked to the Grow Your Blog 2015 event, hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full.  

Works in Progress

Sometimes I go about my day and write about it after the fact as a means of reflection.  Sometimes, to be completely honest, I add things to my day specifically so I can write about them. Blogging and living is a two-way street.  And every once in a while, life catches me up and I'm so inspired, so driven that I can't take time out to write for fear of missing something while I do. That's where I've been lately.  In the garden.  At the sewing machine.  Taking long dawdling walks in the sunshine with my Little Miss.

Would you like to see a few of my projects?

This will be a sweater for Miss S.  It's by far the most involved crochet that I've done, but it's turning out well.  I'm using this pattern.  I have the back panel completed.

I'm also sewing a couple of play dresses for Miss S.  Frustrated with the selection of toddler patterns from the usual sources, I'm trying a PDF pattern for the first time.  This is the "Anywhere Dress" available from Go To Patterns.  So far so good.

There are some new items in my Etsy shop too.  For summer I thought I'd branch out a little and make a line of casual table linens.

The Sea Breeze collection is already the shop and I'm itching to get to work with this summery fabric combination.  I need a glass of lemonade just looking at it.

Now it's back to work for me, but I'll try to surface a little more frequently.  Do you have anything interesting on the go?

A Moment in the Life

Dazzled by all the beautiful online glimpses of other people's lives, I set myself a little challenge this afternoon.  While the Little Miss napped, I crept through the house to search out my own bits of macro beauty.  The rules:  no cleaning up before taking the shot, no arranging or turning to catch the light.  In short, no touching.  Just document the moment.  Take a freeze frame of life to see if there is anything lovely -- anything thought-provoking or meaningful or blog-worthy -- in this very ordinary moment of my life.

Would you like to see what I found?

Tea, anyone?  My Little Miss loves setting her tea table on the ottoman.  She stirs and pours and narrates.  Soup.  Tea.  More more.  Salsa.  There's always something new on the menu.

Just a few feet away, my crochet project sits on the couch.  Last night yarn hook came to hand and I didn't know quite what I wanted to make until it was done.  What should I do with it?

Don't trip on the train!

Piled atop the sewing machine, another project.  This one was started with more intention (but I won't tell you how long ago) and is almost done.  It's a shirt for me.

Sitting pretty on the dining room table, a bunch of rosemary.  A little green from the garden goes a long way on a rainy winter day.

And that, friends, is a what I found in this ordinary moment.  

I'm still trying to settle on my reasons for blogging and what I want to write about.  It's a process, a growth curve.  I think this little challenge has helped.  Blogging is quickly becoming, for me, a way to freeze an ordinary moment and examine it for meaning or beauty or even ambiguity.  It plays toward the examined life.  And the shared life, because I'm starting to make friends and look in on their moments.  

What's laying around your house right now?