Robin made thirteen pillows today. While Robin was sewing, Christina and I went through the girls’ baby boxes. I unexpectedly found a note that Barbara wrote to Robin before she was born and I couldn’t keep back the tears. I’m so grateful to have had that memory with her tonight. I so wish I could see her again, and thank her. I so wish that Christina had any idea who Barbara actually is. I’ve tried to keep these memories alive for the girls, but they’ll never really know the beauty of these very real relationships. That is a whole loss in itself. I’m glad that at least I have those memories. It will have to be enough.
Tag: craft
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June 19
We went to make a new mug for Billy to replace the one Robin broke yesterday. Christina was NOT interested in helping, but she did finally add a few touches to it. Robin went to her first tumbling class at the new gym, taught by her old coach. He was great with her. I’m glad she has this.
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June 8
Today was marginally more exciting than yesterday. I did go pick up the glass pieces from when I went glass blowing a few weeks ago. This is my duck. We also managed to schedule our adventure we had hoped to do yesterday. I’m super excited about it. I knitted a lot and did crossword puzzles (thanks to Sonal!), read a little, played Harry Potter, cooked dinner, did laundry. And another weekend is over.
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May 27
Robin had her last tumbling practice at Brandon today. She was in a foul mood when we left the house, evidenced in part by her crying in the car when she couldn’t get her shoe on. A different person came home. She was drenched in sweat, smiling, and excited about doing layouts and a cartwheel back walkover quadruple back handspring. Or whatever it was. Christina had her tech rehearsal for this weekend’s recital. And I knitted a few rows of this sweater I started a week or so ago.
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April 29
Tonight was my last NAMI class. I’m always glad I have the opportunity to do this. It’s incredibly fulfilling for me. But Tuesdays are my only free night and I have missed having that night off these last two months. After this weekend, in fact, cheer will also be done. I’m going to have so much free time that I’ll be completely lost. Then I’ll just have to keep working on this table runner or find yet another project to keep me busy.
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April 25
We gave this self publishing kit to Christina for her 10th birthday. She loved the idea of it so much that she was afraid to use it in case she messed it up. She wrote a bunch of stories, but none of them seemed good enough to publish. In the end, she decided to use a series of stories she wrote a few years earlier: The Collections of My Friend Zombia. She literally spent more than a year transcribing the stories onto the provided pages and then illustrating them. She finally finished it about a month ago, long after I’d given up hope that it’d ever be finished. Somehow she’d managed to hold on to all the paperwork that went along with the kit and we managed to get it sent off. It arrived today and it is really the work of a true artist. I say that as the artist’s mother, knowing full well that I am biased, but I love it. It’s a story about a girl and her zombie friend, and another friend who can’t handle the idea of being friends with a zombie, so she blows herself up at the mall in front of both of them. And they live happily ever after. Well, some of them do.
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April 17
I finished this sweater a few days ago, which I started sometime in 2023. There are so many things wrong with it, but through some miracle there are enough things right with it that I can wear it and it even looks presentable. And now I’m in the weird, uncomfortable position of having nothing to work on. I do have some machine sewing to do, but I can’t do that on a weeknight after everyone goes to bed. I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
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April 3
It was nice to be home for a family dinner tonight. We got to hear how the girls saw a duck get hit by a car on the way home from school and learned the entire history of pizza, which Christina learned from her writing test today. You can never go wrong with dead ducks and pizza.
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March 30
Talk about a lesson in patience. We finished four bracelets, but actually made 11. There were tears. And somehow we keep going back for more.
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March 25
I co-facilitated another NAMI class tonight. It went pretty well, but I struggle to feel that I am doing good. All I can do is push through. Which is the same message I’m giving myself when it comes to running. I am going backwards in terms of progress, but I will just keep pressing forward. Eventually I have to get un-stuck. For now, though, sleep. I am fucking exhausted.
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March 2
Considering we started the day on the other side of the state, I did a lot today. Not the least of which was finishing another big piece of the advent calendar. I am finishing the day with overwhelming gratitude. For every time Robin smiled over the weekend, for Christina coming food shopping with me today, for Billy pulling together all our National Parks photos into frames to put on the dining room wall… and so many other things too.
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February 22
I went out with some friends and we laughed and ate Mexican food and it was so fun. I don’t have many friends here, and those I do have I don’t see very often, so nights like these mean a lot to me. Also today I made the last ornament for the advent calendar. It will surely be done in time for Christmas this year. Next step is to sew on buttons, then add the back and border, and then add dowels and it’s done! Four years of effort. Worth all the time that’s gone into it.
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February 9
I never bite off more than I can chew. I made 13 of these octopus keychains this weekend for Christina’s class on Valentine’s Day. I still have seven more to make to have enough for everyone in her class. I had the idea to do this months ago. So why did I wait until now to start them? Who doesn’t love a challenge? If there was no last minute, nothing would ever get done.
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January 23
Finished the first sock in Robin’s pair of socks tonight. She picked out the pattern and yarn and it’s really pretty and super comfortable. I was concerned they’d be too big, but this one fits like a glove. I hope Robin likes it. (She went to bed angry because we told her she couldn’t have veggie straws until she finished her vegetables from dinner. She is 13, but apparently still 3 when it comes to vegetables.)
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January 11
We removed all traces of Christmas today, except for the outdoor lights. Usually by the time we put away the Christmas stuff I’m ready, but this year we did it later and I wished it could have lasted a little longer. Christmas just seems to have gone by in a flash. So far January just feels like Not Christmas. But I did finish making this pair of socks for Christina. Now Robin wants a pair.
