or is it mother’s day? i never know. may is a busy month for us, with mother’s’ day, both kids’ birthdays, and our wedding anniversary (which is the last day of the month and routinely forgotten after all that precedes it). now that the kids are getting older and i’m not either getting married or having a baby annually during this month, our family is able to embrace it as a time of celebration of spring (or summer, here) with many happy occasions to acknowledge in their own way.
i’m still totally discombobulated from our recent trip to chicago and not remotely back in my normal schedule (just sat at the sewing machine for the first time in almost a week!), but i wanted to pop in and say hello before the whole month whizzes by as may tends to do around here. had this trip not happened, i probably wouldn’t have taken any hiatus from my sewing machine as i was still going strong through the night before we departed, but i spent our whole trip slogging through a nagging knitting project and pouring over every available resource for my big, big, awesome mother’s day gift:
man, i’ve been jonesing for a legit camera for quite some time. i shot on a nice manual nikon in high school and college, but since i went digital, i hadn’t graduated from point and click. after hours of practice, reading manuals and watching videos, i’m still stuck on auto modes, but i’m loving it so far and looking forward to continuing to forge the bond and shooting manually someday.
anyhow, no big projects to show for myself this week, but a few little tidbits here and there that may pique your interest.
he received many wonderful gifts, but you might guess which one came from his mom…
the kids used to beg me to paint, but i’m having so much fun with the watercolors, now they beg me to stop. i don’t, of course. recognizing defeat, they obliged me in this large mother’s day mural:
the aforementioned knitting work in progress that will never end was intended to be a mother’s day gift (and a christmas gift before that, and a birthday gift before that), so instead, i finally got around to stitching up some little coin purses. something about them really gets me, the quaintness and utility, the speed and ease of assembly, small amount of materials needed, versatility, all of the above. anyway, i’ve been wanting to make coin purses for ages and have a more complex pattern in mind that i couldn’t quite work out on this small scale, so i kept it simple for now. but i will be returning to this project, no doubt. many ideas milling about in my brain.
mother’s day weekend was sublime. we spent all of saturday deep in the redwoods, and i challenge you to find me happier anywhere than submerged in nature. on mother’s day proper, i woke up early to make blueberry muffins and almond milk for our breakfast, went for a long run, and rode in the front seat out to a nature museum with the kids. i read magazines the whole ride and nobody bothered me. it was delightful. i know traditionally, mothers are served breakfast on this day and may excuse themselves from exercise, but cooking and running are two great loves, and i rarely if ever get to do both the same day.
it bears mentioning that my mom was in town to watch the kids for our chicago trip and stuck around for this past weekend as well…it’s been a generally relaxing week or two for me as a result, with lots of time to play with my camera, knit a row here and there, and watch the entire first season of this delightful series (i don’t watch really watch any american tv as i find even the news repulsive, so this was a lot of fun for me). if you’d like to watch, just look it up on youtube. highly recommended! anyhow, things should be returning to normalcy, punctuated by a few more celebrations, over the coming weeks. i should have a few birthday gifts to share soon, and my geranium series is still simmering on the back burner…i actually made yet another this week, but upon entering my craft room after a weeklong hiatus, i got ideas for a few more. so, more projects coming soon!