the sound and the fury

still working on the DamestarBaby theme music.

a clean, well-lighted place

it's too bad you can't really see the books in her current collection, which include A Clockwork Orange, and Tantric Quest. We might have to start monitoring a little closer, though, she'll probably be reading by the end of Summer.

Found

I was up last night sewing guitars after all the kiddies were fast asleep. This is when I usually work the best. No interruptions, just me and the iron and the scissors and the sewing machine and the pins. I suppose I didn't realize how dangerous all these can be to an over-tired mom at 2:30 in the morning.

Until I sunk a pin through my thumbnail. Through the nail, under it, about half an inch. It didn't really hurt that bad at first, and I kept on ironing. Then my vision started to tunnel, ears ringing, skin tingling, and I decided to take some Tylenol and call it a night.

It's all worth it, though, when you wake up in the morning to see this.

There are 184,867 sellers on Etsy. They found us. And they said Mazzy's cute.

All that for a little pinprick? I'll take it.

Buildings and Apples and Clouds, Oh My!

Drawing boards and sewing machines are two very different things, but we try to spend time at both.

Maybe someday we'll be to the point where we can release our new seasonal designs before the season's in full swing. But for now, we'll just sneak them in when we can.

If you live near us, you'll be able to see them in person, perhaps even buy a couple at Farmer's Market. We'll let you know when. Otherwise, check the shop.

Art and the Artist

Our girls are at an age now where their artistic ability is really starting to swell into blossom. Scarlett has always been the more focused of the two, and would rather color or paint than do just about anything else. She's the cerebral type, and most of the things she creates are planned and premeditated. Not long ago she was working on a redwood forest in her room. She'd paint some trees, cut some out of construction paper, devote some time every day to add to it. When it was done to her satisfaction, after something like three weeks, she picked a new project. All kids do this, but usually more sporatically, leaving things unfinished and forgetting about them. Not this one.

There's this one hard-bound sketchbook she has. Not her notebook, that's for practicing letters. Not a coloring book, not her checkbook or her ticketbook. Not her tablet, which is for doodling or whatever she feels like. This one is for her paintings. Her serious paintings.

If I sound like I'm amazed, it's because I am. But mostly because my own child is such the opposite. She makes art, she paints and colors and sculpts clay and all that but what Mazlyn makes is much more, oh, what's the euphemism here... ethereal. She excels more at performance art. Bouquets of flowers, marker tattoos, songwriting, little installations in public places, air instrument solos, monologues. She's good at all of this and practices all the time, but if it takes longer than five minutes or requires many instructions, you've lost her.

So we've decided to do a trade, Amy and I. She'll give Mazzy art lessons, and we'll give Skiki piano lessons. If it all goes according to plan, we'll wind up with a little more deliberation and they'll get used to hearing scales and arpeggios. Over and over, with intense focus.

Fortunate

I was too busy languishing in Mother's Day relaxation yesterday to post this, but here's a yummy picture to gobble up and a thought or two to go with it.
From the time we're pregnant all through our kids' childhood, we young parents always get that unsolicited advice from older people. It gets irritating at times, sometimes endearing, but lately it's become more clear to me why they just can't hold back.
My oldest child is turning four and it already seems like her childhood is slipping into memory. Most often what the older people say is something like "cherish every moment," or "enjoy them while they're young" or "don't you wish they could stay that way forever?" And it's hard to really grasp what they mean until your own kid loses their baby fat and pronounces all their words correctly and sleeps in their own bed and looks just a little too cute in that miniskirt.
You begin to see what it looks like from the other side. When your kid is gone at school all day, and then just gone.
We're so lucky, is what I'm saying, that we've been able to stay home with them during these early years. We're so lucky to have husbands that go to work all day, and then come home with the bacon and give horseback rides. With what we lack in income, we make up for in moments. Those moments that those people are talking about, that we never missed.

A Day in the Life

In anticipation of our revamped website, we did our first company photo shoot. Like a press junket, now all we need is the publicity. Thanks, Tegan, for the photos, and for letting us borrow the bean.