Bliss Beyond Naptime

Backwoods Mama Series: Karen

Welcome to the final interview of my series profiling some of my favourite Backwoods Mamas from my online sewing ecourse Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp. This is the lovely Karen from the blog Daily Dialect.

After the interview I have a little giveaway announcement to celebrate the fact that the snow is finally gone in these parts and I can see my garden beds and could possibly wear something other than my Sorrels for a few months :)

Hello Karen! It was so much fun to have you join us in the Spring Sew Camp! What inspired  you to learn how to make your own clothes?

Since I was very young, I've loved designing and making clothes. In school I would doodle fashion designs on my papers all the time. Luckily, my mom signed us up for 4H and I learned sewing. I made a lot of my clothes until Jr High, when it became "uncool". By college, I was sewing again. I entered a couple of fashion shows that were sponsored by the school fashion department, even winning one of them! But I was an art major, and the fashion industry was not my style, so to speak, and I let it go.

These days, technology and online selling has allowed for various aesthetics and lifestyles to prevail in the fashion world, so there is hope for my fashion career yet... and Spring Sew Camp helped energize that dream again!

Yay fashion careers! You're so speaking to the Project Runway watcher in me. So tell me, what's your fave from the ecourse: bloomers, tops, smock or ruched dress? 

Hard to decide, but I'll say my favorite project is the top. One, because I wear it all the time and two, because it was very fun to learn to sew with knits, which I had not done much of previously. I was enthralled with the double needle... of course the cute bloomers and smock are great for gardening and the dress is a fabulous basic too.

It's hard to decide sometimes, hey? I like to wear them all at the same time. Luckily layering is huge out here in the deep woods. What does your inner Backwoods Mama look like?

I have a very do-it-yourself mentality. Not that I do everything myself, but I'd like to. I like tradition and old objects. Our home is 130 years old. I don't like to pick between living a country lifestyle and social city living, so we live in the town I grew up in, near the edge but still close enough to walk downtown. We're town dwellers with a permaculture-type garden but the social aspect of town makes up for the lack of a woodlot, and my dad brings us freshly chopped wood from their woods for our fireplace... 

Awww... Dad! So, how did you find the ecourse itself? Did you find you got enough support and information?

It was very supportive and there are are a variety of ways to interact: the video, the flickr group, the written instructions, so whatever your preferred method of learning, you can tap into it. The ecourse was my first one ever and it is the only way I can take a class these days with the full time nature of parenting. I could go at my own pace, and the videos made it feel personal. The class kept me moving forward even after it was over; I made up my own projects and continued the fun!

 Yay, continued fun! Speaking of fun, share with us your perfect day.

 Wake up, make a hot breakfast for everyone in the family and while it cooks, I read blogs. Then we eat and start the day together. Scott goes to his office in the backyard to work and Lukas draws while I get ready for the day. Around 10, L and I  go on a walk downtown for coffee (real backwoods of us!) and play with whomever we see downtown.  Then home to make lunch, eat together as a family again, then more drawing time and mama has a nap or reading time for 20 minutes. Then some afternoon gardening or a creative indoor activity (or a babysitter arrives and I can do a more intense creative activity, like adult clothing sewing...) Then, make dinner, eat together, bath, bed for the little guy and a long bath for mama once he's asleep, then one or two of the following: blogging, writing, reading, movies, creative time time with Scott and another day is over!

*********************************************************************

And with that another interview with a past participant is over and to celebrate the end of this series I want to give away a spot in my Backwoods Mama Sew Camp Ecourse to one lucky commenter. If you've Sew Camped it up already I can either give you a spot in the Indian Summer Camp, or if you've been there, done that, I can pass your winnings to a friend of your choosing.

Please leave a comment before on which prize you'd like, if it's for yourself or a friend and if you'd like to double your chances, leave a second comment letting me know if you've either tweeted, facebooked or blogged about this giveway. Comments will be closed on Saturday at noon PST and I'll announce the winner shortly thereafter. Good luck!!!

Comments closed for sure now! (I don't know if you caught this yesterday but I thought it was today and so we have two winners!). The second winner is Whitney from Lucky Beads Me! Yay! I'll be contacting you soon lucky lady ;)

 

Backwoods Mama Sew Grad Profile

 

Meet Amylynn! One of the first participants of my online sewing class, Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp and is now a sweet online buddy of mine. Amylynn lives just outside of Washington DC with her husband and small son, Jack. She blogs over at Farm Girl Studio.

 

Hi Amy. Tell me what inspires you to make your own clothes?

I got so tired last year of clothing that I was purchasing fall apart after only a few wears. This inspired me to make clothing that lasted, and I knew that was made from quality craftmanship. Also knowing that my clothing was unique and that I wasn't going to run into someone that had the same shirt design as me was a plus. 

  I come from a long line of artisans on my paternal side. They made clothing, furniture, quilts, utensils, baskets out of necessity, and grew their own food, raised and butchered their own animals. I think their spirits are guiding my way through this new way of life. I especially think my great-grandmother is smiling up in heaven knowing that I am passing along their sewing/quilting craftmanship.

 Ooooo... I love that image; heavenly, smiling, great-grandma :) What Backwoods Mama philosphies do you like to embrace?

   The importance of good quality food is very important to us. Knowing where our food comes from, which can be a little difficult city living. We just put in our first garden in our new home. I want to my son Jack to know where our vegtables come from, and they are not grown in the grocery store! We also joined a CSA and can visit the farm and take farms tours and visit the animals!

    My Mother has just built a chicken coop. On our last visit we helped her get her new baby chicks in order and explained to Jack that our hard boiled eggs come from  chickens.    This summer we also to plan to can again. This time I plan to can with my brother who lives closer to us. Knowing what is in our foods is a good feeling!

       I also want my son to know that clothing can be made and not bought and plan to teach him to sew when he is old enough. Right now he currently sits on my lap when he is super still and I show him how his pants are made.

 

So, how did you find the ecourse? Be honest ~ I promise I won't cry even though I'm super sleep deprived from house training a super cute puppy these days!

The course was amazing! Since I am a stay at home Momma and my husband travels alot I cannot get out as much and take classes. This class was like I was right there attending the class in person. I couldn't wait for my son to take his nap so I could get to work on the next project and check out the instructional video.

I considered myself a beginner with sewing machines, and didn't know too much on certain skills such as hems,and ruffels. Heck, I never made a pocket before or even sewed with knits! This class really made me more confident in sewing and made me want to sew more clothing!  

 

Tell me Amy, what does your perfect Backwoods Mama day look like?  

Being a stay at home Momma, I don't get too much time to myself. So this would be my day to reconnect with my spirit!

   I would bring out my trusty sewing machine. I would relocate it to my kitchen table. I love my downstairs studio area but I miss being able to open up windows and listen to the birds outside and feel the soft spring breezes filter through our house. I would sew some sort of clothing for myself, not a difficult pattern so I can let in some creative energy. 

  Then I would go out to my garden in our backyard, and do what needs to be done for the day. Did I mention I love to garden in my pajamas? I love wearing my flannel pajama pants with little birds on it. They are one of my favorite PJ bottom's from an Amy Butler pattern. One of my New Year's resolutions was to wear my Pajama's more!

    After my gardening duties I would take a nice hot bath with lavendar oil and bath salts. I would bring with me some nice reading material. Like the new Taproot Magazine, Dwell magazine or the Simplicity Parenting book.

      A nice nap would be in order with no distractions. Just a nice restful nap! Aahhh, that sounds so good.

      Then I would go downstairs and watch a movie that I have been wanting to see on Netflix or go downtairs to my basement studio and paint. I love painting on wood and mixing papers, and pencils to my work. 

       For dinner I would light up some bee's wax candles and eat a fresh garden salad before the boys come home from their adventurous day!

********************************************************************

Thank you Amylynn! You can have a cozy pajama pants wearing good time too by signing up for my Backwoods Mama Spring Ecourse here . And until end of day April 2nd I'll mail new sign ups the bonus of a hard copy of all the pattern pieces! Wohoo ~ paper!

 

Backwoods Mama Sew Grads

I'm excited to do a little series here profiling some of the sweet mamas that I've had the pleasure to meet through my sewing ecourse Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp. The best part of putting together this ecourse was establishing some special friendships with so many like-minded mamas.

The first profile we have here is of Nikki who happens to be one of those sweet bonus buddies. And speaking of bonus, hang on to the end of the interview to catch in on special offer to those who sign up for Spring Sew Camp before end of day April 2nd!

Nikki is a stay at home mama to two (Kelwyn 4 and Adeline 2) little ones, and wife to a loving and supportive husband.  She blogs over at Wild Violets. She loves to bake, make herbal potions, knit, sew, quilt and do as much fiber spinning as she can. She also just welcomed a beautiful angora bunny, Violet Star, to her home for a sweet pet and, of course, fiber!

Hey there, lovely Nikki. What was your favourite project from Spring Sew Camp?

My favorite project from the Spring Sew Camp was the smock.  I used a robin's egg blue linen fabric, lovely for the all the life returning around us this time of year.  It is so comfy, functional and cute.  I spend most of my days with my little ones outside playing, gardening, exploring and getting dirty.  The big pockets are always handy as there seems to always be something my 2 need or want me to hold one of their treasures.

Cute! What can we find in your smock pockets these days?

Flowers, leaves, rocks, sticks, seed packets, tissues and angora rabbit treats.

Those sound like some happy pockets! Tell me about your world. Like, how handmade are your surroundings?

I have bits of handmade all over my home.  It fills me with love and joy to be surrounded by items others have made with their hands and hearts.  Our couch has handmade pillows, quilts and crocheted afghans to bring comfort and warmth.  My daughter's bed has a quilt made by her great Grandmother and a pink crocheted afghan given to me as a little girl from my Grandmother.  My walls have beautiful prints from a dear friends art work.  Handmade table linens and tea towels from my grandmothers, pottery in the kitchen, needle felted and knitted toy animals for my little ones, and more quilts than I could ever dream of to keep me warm as I knit through the winter.

Quilts! That is the new frontier I want to start dabbling in next. Would you mind telling our beautiful readers out there about your experience with Sew Camp itself?

The format of the sewing course was perfect for me.  I was able to sew at night when the lilttle ones were asleep, from my computer and in my pajamas (hot chocolate or a glass of wine in hand too:)).  I could watch your video tutorials as much as I needed, stop if something came up and take a day off if something came up.  If I had a question about fabric or my sewing project you quickly responded to get me back on path.  The patterns were easy to follow, fit nicely and turned out great!

Thank you Nikki! If that doesn't get sewing mamas to sign up then I don't know what will! Wait a minute, I think I just thought of something...

With purchase of Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp before I put Daisy to bed on April 2nd, participants will recieve, in the mail, a hardcopy of all the pattern pieces for all the Spring projects (hand drawn by moi) so you can bypass the whole printing out and taping together of patterns step and a love note scrawled onto a spring flavoured watercolor (hand or foot painted then handwritten by moi as well)! Lucky ladies!

Please ensure that your paypal address is the one you want the goods sent to, and if you want to be sure please email me your current mailing address.

Happy smock, bloomers, top and dress making!

Love,

Kathy

*********************************************************************

Be sure to sign up for the weekly Mama Bliss E-zine to stay on top of all the news, specials and ways to nab more bits of bliss througout your busy mama-ing day. With sign up you also get my ebook Handmade Time: How to Squeeze in a Little More Crafting Everyday. Yay, more lucky ladies!

 

SS Wednesday: Sew, Love, and Relax

 

Last year I interviewed my mama while she was here for her annual spring visit. I condensed it down to the sew love highlights but if you want to see the full, unedited version you can kick back for the full duration of a cup of tea and witness the look of  my mama's motherly concern around my mental health when I unveil to her the secret of my inner French child named Madeline.

This was filmed last spring whilst I was in the midst of launching my Spring Sewing Course which you can sign up for here. And once again it's the season to get our smocks and bloomers on! So tell a friend, or don't tell her and then make a whack of these sweet spring flavoured frocks and then sell them them to her from your Etsy shop! :)

SS Wednesday: The Turbanator

image from Karen Walker

This Sustainable Style Wednesday post comes dangerously close to being an SS Thursday one due to me being so silly busy! The last full moon was a doozy for me resulting in this post being short and sweet. Being so busy to tend to many of the things that usually make feel in balanced I did what any card carrying creative would do in times of such stress.

I created.

I needed a project that was super quick and practical. And seeing as how I've been too busy to even get a shower in these days, coverage of greasy hair was as practical as creative goals gets. I got pretty darn inspired when I saw the above image from pinterest and quickly searched for a tuban making tutorial and found a nice one here.

Et Voila. Took me ten minutes and just seeing Edie's face as she saw me slip it on was worth every precious second.

K-Wow: So.... what do you think?

Edie: It's weird.

K-Wow: Like cute-weird?

Edie: Freaky-weird.

K-Wow: I'll be back (talking like the Turbanator)

Edie: (Stares blankly. Clearly the pop culture reference flew straight over her little Waldorfy educated head.)

 

Imperfectly Backwoods

 I grew up with a master seamstress of a mother (ooooo, that sounds so straight from the hood!) who in my youth has sweetly and in the most motherly lovingly way imaginable attempted to teach me many times over this amazingly cool life skill of making your own clothes. But funny enough, I never really go into it until I had kids of my own. I often wonder if that was just due to maturity (stifle of snicker here) or, not be rude, because my mom's not around.

To put it gently my mom and I have different sewing/living styles. Maybe it's a personality thing or because of the way she was taught (by a hoity-toity haute couture type) but she is impecable with her mad skillz! I remember working alongside her feeling my energy drain quickly after the giddy initial planning of the project stage as I had to rip out seams and start things over and over again because it wasn't. just. so. I eventually felt I didn't have, or ever will have, the eye for detail or the patience required to be a proper, card carrying seamstress.

This week in my creative coaching training we were asked to think back to a moment when we were able to overcome this very common roadblock to creativity; perfectionism. For me it was the discovery of the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi; the beauty in imperfection.

Craig and I were introduced to this worldview together. I can't remember how exactly but he wrote me a poem around that time, when we were still fresh, called Wabi Kathy (gush) and this was how I started falling in love with sewing and seeing more beauty in the world in general.

My Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp is a testament of the not taking it too serious bit. The important part is having fun with the process, taking shortcuts when the opportunity presents itself and then daring to wear your beautifully imperfect creation out. Or at least in the garden. Or on the couch. Either way what happens in the Backwoods, stays in the Backwoods.

For today's vlog entry, I cracked this video out of my Top Secret Backwoods Mama Access Only Vlog Vault to show you a sample of what one of the classes is like to see if you'd like to take my hand and go into the deep not-so-scary Backwoods with me. Just don't forget your bread crumbs!

 

 

And you might be interested to know that Campers are eligible to take part in an affiliate program. If a camp purchase is traced back to you you get 50% of the sale! Get two of your buddies to join and voila; free spring wardrobe! Kinda.

X-treme Sewing

It was four o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon. If you've read The Bliss Filled Mama you know that's typically the time I get my supper making on. While I was chopping away I started daydreaming about my blog and what I should post for SS Wednesday due the next day.

A little background to my state of mind at the moment: I have been alone on the farm all week with two small children, a slowly diminishing chicken population (had to chase a coyote off one of them last week - I'll share that full story for a vlog episode to gift you  the full on experience complete with the audio of my mama bear yodelling), cows and (ahem) my moon (there's a rich story on that one too. Sorry to any men in the audience).

And then a thought hit my iron depleted brain at 4:15 exactly. I wondered if I could whip up quickly one of those bat wing tops (Burda 7866) while spaghetti sauce simmers. Please note that we eat promptly at 5:00. Especially when Craig's out of town because if we don't stay on schedule our whole strawbale house of cards may collapse. But man I guess I must love a challenge!

I ran upstairs and then couldn't decided to make a blue one or a yellow one so I decided to really give myself some extra heart palpitations for good measure and piled the two fabrics one top of the other, placed the two pattern pieces on top (that's all) and went for it with Mama's special scissors and her super speedy serger.

I'm happy to report these two got done by 5:15. This of course caused a domino effect of the collapse of our previously laid out schedule (I allowed the kids to sleep in an extra 15 minutes in the morning to get over the trauma) but it was so worth it!

I admit I haven't finished the sleeve or bottom hems yet but those can wait a few days with these non-fraying knits I used. While I was making these I was just on the cusp on doing something kind of wild and crazy but Edie stopped me right in the nick of time. I was considering switching up the two hip yokes so I can have license to call this post "Colour Block Party" but Edie yelled at the top of her little lungs "Don't do it!". So X-treme Sewing it is instead.

The kids were having lunch as I was playing with the self timer of the camera to get living proof of the speedy crafty Mommy feat I just pulled off. Mama was hamming it up some, still riding that high from whipping up two tops in just under and hour while Edie was expressing a sweetly concerned empathetic embarassment for me by gently saying "don't do that" over and over again. Little love.

And what you see in that last photo is my sharing what's lurking behind the curtain. I shared the nightmare of the front entrance closest in this video house tour  last year. Just wanted to let you know I decided to not embrace the sty of an eye sore but instead, I admitted to myself, I have something to hide, it's called a mess, and utilized this magical tool instead called a curtain.

And speaking of the opposite of eye sore - the next two stops of the blog tour are exactly not that (how's that for a segue?) Please visit the mind blowingly beautiful bloggy digs of Maya at Maya Made and the too funny for words Dana of Zonapelucida for more inspiring bliss bits and a chance to win one a copy of The Bliss Filled Mama ebook. Thank you so much for hosting today Maya and Dana!

SS Wednesday: Backwoods to School

Since we last left off, Edie has started to attend this Waldorf homeschool enrichment program on Mondays and Tuesdays. It's going along really sweet though the drive is pretty epic (thank goodness for podcasts!) and Kale sure misses his 'Didi Bird' on those days (they sure make up for it with the deep imaginative play when she is at home - usually involving Kale going to school and Edie being the teacher. Love it all until it comes to the recorder lessons part.)

The decision for us to homeschool, as is the case for a lot of families, is a multi-layered one. Many factors come in to play in ours; the temperment of our eldest, my leanings toward Steiner philosophy that make it hard for me to expose Edie, who's still such a dreamy child, quite yet to the somewhat more head-centred cirriculum at the public school, and loving the simplicity of the flow of our days.

But there is the other side of the coin as you can probably imagine.

Edie's now at an age where she is curious to be around kids her age more and is hungry to learn in a really structured setting. For now, this arrangement is fitting our needs and I have to say that this teacher is probably the best first grade teacher on the planet so, really, it was almost an impossible opportunity to pass up.

And let's be honost; there are two other, perhaps more Kwow-centred reasons I'm all over this new arrangement. First of all, I have such stellar plans for Bliss Beyond Naptime that involve me diving deeper and dirtier into its tagline: dreaming up soulful strategies for creative families.  With me having all of Monday (well, from 8:30 to 2:30 while she's at school anyway)  to myself, you can find me in the library in town working on this mission. Can you say bliss?

 

And second of all, I get to sew up some 'first day of school' type of dresses. I had her pick out a couple of patterns from my favourite Japanese pattern books. She chose two dresses from Carefree Clothes for Girls so far (the pink one's the Cinderella Dress and the blue one the Lace Doily one). She also picked out a skirt from Girly Style Wardrobe  that I haven't started yet due to another, more subtle leftover bug that renedered me energy depeleted this weekend.

Yes! To tired to even sew! Scary, no? I'm much better now, though, thanks.

 

I love these books. The attention to detail is so inspiring. For instance in the Lace Doily dress they suggest to sew the collar with gold thread afterwards for embelishment and so I did because i wanted to be just as cute as the picture. But then that detail was so subtle that even when I was pointing it out to Edie, two inches from her nose, she was like, "where?"

 

And then the patchworkings on the pink dress? Edie was a little opposed to the idea. I did it anyway and told her I could rip it out if she still 'doesn't care for it' (the h-word has cropped up here lately and that's our newest distaste filler). Turns out I don't think she minds them so much. But of course she doesn't ~ they're cute!

So, I can cross off another of fantasy of mine materialized. Primarly the one of my daugther going to school and having her teacher say "isn't your mother clever." Oi! I just realized, after the realization my ego was talking there quite loudly for a second, that Edie's first grade teacher has an English accent just like mine did (we don't live in the UK to first time readers by the way)! Ah, the sewing circle of life.

SS Wednesday ~ Happy New Pants!

Look up my nose. You know you love it. And you also may know, perhaps love too, that I’ve challenged myself way back in '06 when I started this blog to make everything I adorn or at least buy it buy second hand or have gifted to me. Unfortunately, making myself a decent fitting pair of jeans has been tricky and despite some heavy hinting to the Universe that I needed me some fancy pants I finally scored a pair from my friend Gemma Luna who handmade these. You know when you try something on and you hear angels? Well, I tried them on and then Gemma said something and she happens to sound like an angel because she's a songstress as well as a seamstress. And then she's angel like because when I told her about my jean making grief she floated up to my Loft Nest, looked over my slacks patterns and gave some pointers on how to whip up a pair that stay up without aid of staying up devices (ooooo... but I never thought of rainbow suspenders until now! That could be interesting.).

And the funnel necked top is the one Craig's been teasing me about and is another one I made from the Manhatten pattern again from Wenlan Chia’s Twinkle Sews. I’m making one for a friend as part of a trade and I wanted to take another practice run to be sure I got the assembly down pat. Plus you can't have too many of these awesome tunic tops!

And I wanted to share my magical night last night. I told Craig  to go ahead and watch that political thriller without me because the genre doesn't particularly politically thrill me much, and instead I ran a hot bath, threw in a couple of drops of this fancy essential oil blend I splurged in and hopped into a freshly sheeted bed and whipped out my Big Idea Book outlined with the prompts from the 2012 Goddess Workbook I gushed about last post. Some of the epiphanies from the scribbles from last night:

• 2011 proud highlights include the successful launches of both Backwoods Mama Sew Camps
• Teaching Edie to write and read has been pretty tender and magical
• I pulled through the scary bits of 2011 stronger, more courageous and full of deeper gratitude for the blessings in my life
• The yoga retreat I went on by myself was a dream come true
• So was Edie and I knitting side by side
• I turned forty and it didn’t smart as much as I thought it would
• I’m going to implement Early Bath and Bed Tuesdays and Stay Unplugged Sundays this year
• I’m excited about my financial goals (Craig's going to be so pleased)
• More massages will happen this year as will water consumption
• A couple of ebooks are coming down my creativity birthing canal along with a fabulous ecourse this spring. Stay tuned!

Phew! And this is only being only halfway through the workbook. Can you imagine the fabulousness of 2012 once I'm done? Hang on to your happy pants! 

One Yard Wonder After Another

I'm excited to share that I contributed a project to the next One Yard Wonder Book - Fabric by Fabric One Yard Wonders. My design's the obi belt you see up there which could be a reversible gadget if you wish so really it's a half yard wonder. The book is filled with tonnes of other projects designed for gorgeously crafty ways to use up those smaller bits of fabric lurking in your stash piles.

And I'm also happy to announce that Storey Publishing is generously offering a copy of Fabric by Fabric to one lucky reader. Leave a comment sharing something you wonder about and I will draw a winner on the morning of January 1 and notify you by email. Sorry, fellow Canadians and other exotics but the publishers are limiting the contest to US mailing addresses.

Good luck my dear American readers and if you want to follow the blog tour along here are the next stops:

12/30/2011 Studio Cherie  

January ‘12 Lu Lu Carter

January ’12 Fiberosity

January ’12 Zuhause

January ’12 Obsessively Stiching

January ’12 No Bad Days

January ’12 Craft & Cackle

January ’12 AfricanKelli

(Photos excerpted from Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders © by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins, photography © Tara Donne, used with permission from Storey Publishing)

Winner has been drawn and it's Sophie from The Joy of Farming. Congratulations Sophie and beautiful wonder sharing everyone :)