Recouperating

That was a bumpy 6 months! I'm finally starting to recuperate, by which I mean that I have some free time and am using it. Mostly to craft....

To that end, I welcome you to look me up on Ravelry (Flaming Maiden). See you there!

Back to the Bonfire

A lot has gone on since I abandoned this space. The most important being that my depression finally became so deep, so dark, so desperate that even I finally recognized what was happening to myself and my family. So, I found a decent doctor and got on medicine that works well to overcome the genetic infinite sadness that I inherited from my Grandmother. So, I'm a lot better, nearly whole. And my family unit is much better, and feels very whole, which is vital as the years of expensive infertility treatments added quite a lot to my depression and my family didn't feel whole and I didn't feel whole and the whole thing was really falling to pieces around me as I struggled to keep them glued back together.

Now Chris, and E, and I are the glue that holds everything else around us together. In a very good, very happy way.

See? Glue.

Along with becoming happy and whole, I started my own company! A little copy writing business that I love very much, and that is growing all the time. For the many friends who have been wondering where I am and why I never answer the phone and rarely return calls, here is the answer:

Chris made the logo; I love it! I have intentions of having that little inkwell tattooed above my elbow.

Which proves that I did NOT turn into a medicated zombie, and that I am indeed still my regular, fiery, The Flaming Maiden: Nicole! self. I turned 30, and my Mom gave me this for my birthday present:

That, my lovelies, is a tattoo on my right shoulder. It is a large (to me) fiery lion. As a matter of fact, it is THE fiery lion that pulls a fiery chariot that carries a fiery Prince, WHO, it turns out, is in fact my very fiery son.

He has learned how to ride a bike this Spring.

Though I don't have as much time as of late, we do still craft. I am currently working on lots of socks, and an afghan for Chris that is a tiny bit like one his mother made him when he was a boy. It rained Sunday, so E and I had time to hole up in the art studio.

I tried to make a pincushion from scrap fabric. I need to reopen it and add some stuffing-- the bottom is rather poky.

Chris's Granny has recently been in the hospital, and very on our minds and in our prayers (she is recovering). A combination of that, and a giant pickle jar induced me to come up with this:

I used a piece of a quilt top that I inherited from Granny's old sewing stash, then I sewed it- wait for it--- using zigzag stitch all around the edges to a piece of-wait for it--- that sort of grippy shelf paper! Do you know what I'm talking about? The shelf liner that keeps the rims of glasses from chipping? Only I have very pretty grippy shelf liner! So now we have a very pretty kitchen grippy for opening jars! And it pretties up the giant pickle jar too!
As an added bonus, Chris informed me that his Mama used to have a quilted jar lid cover that she used on giant pickle jars. Mine is grippy to make it easier to open jars, but it's the same concept. Folks, that's like two sweet things for Chris in one!

Also, he gets to eat the pickles. Unfortunately, we are crazy for giant pickle jars and Ezra and I need Chris to eat two of these jars of pickles as quickly as possible. I hope he's up to the challenge. To be fair, Chris started it. He uses a giant pickle jar to store corks for the miniatures that he carves. I have one giant pickle jar that I store ribbons in (it's so pretty!), and recently had a reason why I need another, though I can't remember just at this moment what it is. Yarn, maybe? Ezra wants one to fill with "pricklies" that he collects on his bike rides around the neighborhood. They are some sort of large, prickly seed pod that falls off, I think it's a ginko tree, maybe. Anyway, he collects them and wants a jar to store them in. He also has plans to grow one of these trees in our yard so that we will have a never ending supply of pricklies. I think we should start it growing in a pot so that it can grow into a sapling before we plant it in the yard so that it doesn't get cut down by the lawnmower.

See? Whole.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Naked Words show was amazing! We had approximately 138 guests, and are told that it is the largest turn-out for an event like this that the Carnegie Center has ever had! People were standing everywhere, sitting everywhere, the crowd bled out the door. We made them laugh, we made them cry. They gave us a standing ovation, and lovely, touching words of gratitude. We reached out to 138 people, and made a difference. A difference in peoples' perspectives, a difference in how people feel about themselves and their body issues. We made a difference in ourselves and how we feel.

The strange thing is- none of us seems to feel done with this project. We are all wondering, where do we go from here? We are thinking that it may be time to start packing our bags and taking it on the road. So, if anybody has ideas for good venues, please leave comments or email me.

We are sisters in Naked Words, and we might not be ready to let go. We are certainly not letting go of each other. These amazing women who sat behind me while I told my story, who I could feel rooting for me, supporting me, sending me strength and good thoughts the entire time I spoke. I hope they could feel me doing the same for them.

Thanks to all who came, who listened, who sat in that hot room and forgot that they were hot. Thanks to all who cried, and who laughed, and who stood up and applauded. Thanks to all who could not be there, but sent us sweet words of encouragement and thought of us the whole time. We felt your thoughts, your strength, your love too. Thanks to those who partied with us afterword, and repeatedly told us how great it was. How we moved you, changed you, fed your souls. Thanks to Donna Ison for putting this together, getting the grant, telling us a billion times that our words are wonderful and that we wouldn't fall on the waxed floor and embarrass ourselves. Thanks to Theo Edmonds for coming from NYC to decorate our after-party with amazing artwork, and allowing us to use Pork Chops and Applesauce (is that the real name of the painting? What is the actual title?) as our poster art.

Thank you Naked Sisters for having my back.

It is done! Sort of.

Yesterday we cleaned up the paint supplies, though we still need to paint the trim a fresh white. We can do that when we paint the kitchen cabinets and trim-- I couldn't wait any longer to get our art studio up and running!


The furniture is currently mismatched. That sewing table is a treasure given to me by my dear friend Regan. Appearantly her family has several of them just collecting dust, so they were kind enough to send me this one. I love it! It's my first real sewing table! A place for my machine to live, without ever having to be packed away!

This is Ezra's work station for now. He and I each have old card tables. I covered them with old table cloths because the card tables are in terrible condition. Plus, the purple cloths are kind of fun.

You can see Chris's work station to the right. He has the sturdiest table for now, because he carves miniatures and needs a sturdy table to work on. You can also see his new DayLight lamp that I got him for Christmas. It has a great magnifying glass on it too. Last night was the first time he was able to set it up. It's a winner :)

We are planning on figuring out just exactly what we need over the next few months, then doing an Ikea run. We are thinking maybe mounted cabinets above, with lights coming down, then something this like for work stations:
That's the Ikea Vika Amon/ Vika Annefors combination. We're giving ourselves a few months to use the space before we make any final decisions. When we do, Ezra will get his own new workstation too.

So, the furniture is mismatched, but even so, I really love it. It is great to have my sewing maching off my computer desk, and just to have a designated space for each of us to craft. We had to pry Ezra away last night to put him to bed, and this morning he took advantage of a few extra minutes before school to sneak in there again. Of all the ideas we've tossed around for the tiny bedroom next to ours, this is absolutely the best.