Tying the Knot

As the title suggets, yes I am engaged. Delightfully engaged. I have met my soulmate, my best friend and confident and I couldn't be happier. The story of our meeting came flooding back when my wonderful Michael drove me over to the airport parking lot we so fatefully parked in 3+ years prior and on bended knee asked me the question that I so wanted to hear. I have to say even though we have talked and talked about marriage until that moment happened, that one question came out of his mouth I hadn't thought about how it will feel. And wow did I feel...everything. Crying I said yes yes yes and then we took our favorite hike, up a sea and windshaped rock overlooking the Pacific. It was quiet and beautiful. (Photo to left taken the day of and edited by my wonderful sister Amiee)

I always wanted to capture my wedding adventures in a blog so I beleive I will try whole heartily to do so. It will be a long engagement filled with lots of handmade crafts of which I can't wait to get started. But first my ring, I need to introduce my ring. My brothers girlfriend, Brady Hardy, a truly excellent photographer took these shots for us to capture the ring that was crafted by Steven Victor and designed by my sweetie *with hints from me...keywords: oval-sideways..white gold..bezel (no prongs)...simple. And did he deliver, my dream ring

Spring's Renewal

Another Spring and I am excited to renew this blog. Stepping away from this forum has enlightened me on many things...one in particular is the very act of writing here inspires me to continue on to the next craft, the next outing, the next new experience. How interesting that if you give yourself some time for inner reflection motivation is just there.. Well it is for me so here I go on my journey to re-enliven myself :)

As a field botanist, I get to experience amazing adventures, beautiful sites, and many many interesting circumstances...some of which have me guessing on what it is I really do for plants...

What do I do? Hmm how about sinking in a mud pit, queue two years ago in a bog in Oregon. Yep that is me with very fashionable waders, notice the mud level on my legs this is after crawling out with my crew's help and crying for my mom..literally :)...

Planting eelgrass in an intertidal mud flat...a very clean job let me tell you.. (same waders only this time the mud was expected)
Having very easily manageable transects...through a thicket of strangling branches and hidden stinging nettleAnd oh if i could explain in words the complete terror this lichenologist put me through when he had me follow him scaling shear hillsides for the rare nephroma occultum, if only...

And the infamous Brent, worst driver of Stillwater, that slammed our rental into a treachous ditch on an unmanaged forest road, this was my first field effort at Stillwater..

And yet, every single experience I shared above and all the many I haven't just plain makes me happy that I chose this line of work. Through wasp attacks, dashing wildfires, losing too many sunglasses to count, and prickles from every known plant, I have these sights and very good people to look forward to. This is what i do and why i do it.

Signing off for now..

Emmy B

A productive weekend..

A petal hat, a vegan cake. That was my progression of the productive weekend. A close friend of mine had here baby's first birthday this weekend and we wanted to join in the celebration. Thinking this the perfect occasion to pull out the baby hat pattern I purchased a while back and use up some of my Alexander Henry fabric stock, I got started on a quick sewing project Saturday morning. Choosing the Henry apple and pear fabric in the bold prime colors of red and yellow, on a background of chocolate brown I decided to line the inside with a Kona yellow solid for a nice contrast. Last minute I added some red piping for a tye to hold the hat from figidity childrens fingers. It turned out precious on Deja and I could kick myself for not bringing my camera to the party. I did take some shots prior to the gifting and the best model I could find was Michael's gift to me, a beautiful buddha statue. When he saw what I was doing I heard some murmured something about sacrilegious...not okay... and a chuckle, which made me laugh and fall in love with him all over again.

Sunday was my friend's first year wedding anniversary so being that I was their cake baker and someone accidently served their top tier at their wedding, I was requested to recreate their top tier. Did I not mention it was vegan, yep. I recreated the four-layered vanilla cake with strawberry spread and mousse filling with a vanilla vegan buttercream frosting. I used a different vegan butter than last and it didn't set very easy so the frosting job is far from perfect and a little annoying for me as I love a smooth surface. She was placing a cake topper on the cake so I frosted so that it would sit within the frosting fringe and had fun with the cake since it wasn't an actual wedding cake. My only thing with baking vegan is I still don't have a lot of recipes for making tasty fillings that aren't based around soy products with high sugar content. I hope to glean more from the internet and friends before venturing too far into vegan baking but for now am happy with my last feat (and apparently by the scraps being eaten up my Michael so was he :)

Time for an update..

In the flurry that is summertime I have been busy a crafting but not so good at blogging. I would like to begin to start anew and retry posting my daily efforts or at least weekly ones.

I am going to jump back into sharing some crafts and here is one of them. Silkscreening! I am in love with creating textiles, the process of silkscreening is amazing. Creating your own whimsical or elegant fabric in just a few steps really opens the doors to more creative sewing adventures. This weekend I started on a wallet project. I wanted to make a prototype of a modern yet unique wallet taken from mixing wallets I purchased and a pattern I learned a while back. The result is really cute and I know how to make things even tighter the next time.

I might make a tutorial here soon but for know I will just post my pictures of my efforts..Alas, I forgot to take pictures of the end result. So those will be coming soon!

So here it is :)... With the screen prints of the Dogwood flower

Two of Everything!

My sweet nephews, who are the most adorable little boys there are, just turned two. Incredible, as it seems just yesterday when I caused a near panic attack in my sis with my surprised blooper when she told me..."That means you need two of everything!"

Although, I am so darn far away from those wonderful lil ones I think about them daily. I can't believe their growth while I have been away and I tear up when I hear their little voices in the background of phone conversations.

Knowing I wasn't going to be there for Mason and Owen's birthday was a hard pill to swallow so instead I focused on what project I was going to make for them. I had been wanting to make these little cars from the book Fun Dolls, for a while and thought it would be a good time to do it. Once, I finished I knew it would be perfect for them. Constructed in felt and kapok filling I knew they would be close to indestructable for four little hands.

I remember my little brothers had this road mat that they loved so much and would play on it endlessy with their hot wheels. I knew I had to create something similar for their new cars and decided to create a little landscape town with lots of big roads for their big cars to roam.

To be honest I did have a few AHHH! moments that come with freestyle projects, but after breathing through it and getting the scale I began to have so much fun. The little mailbox, the tire swing, the school fountain, they all started to take life with the more time spent on the little stitches. I thought of how much Mace and Owie would want to probably touch the different colors and little bits and I got so very happy knowing they would soon be playing on top of it.

Hearing about their glee upon opening their presents made my heart just want to burst out. I was on cloud nine knowing they knew that even though their Tanta Mems wasn't around she was in spirit and she loves them very very much!

To their wonderful mom, you are amazing and I cannot wait to see you and make dinner and drink wine and talk talk talk. Love you lady.

Gifts for Kayda

Kayda Rose, a beautiful little girl, just finished her first trip around the sun and is just about the most adorable little one there is. To celebrate Kayda's first birthday I found the perfect pattern to create a little spring/summer dress. The Petal Dress by Ann Brodsky of the Sew Baby Line is a great pattern that is simple to understand and quick to make. After sewing furiously earlier last week I was stopped by the missing buttonhole guide for my machine. After doing a little Expert Village video watching I decided to just do it by hand and hope that the finishing touch wouldn't be too messy, it turned out okay butI know that I will need to get that guide for my next buttonhole experience :) Completing the little petal dress was my highlight of yesterday and so, so rewarding as I haven't done garments since I was in highschool and those are just laughable, think two square pieces sewed together with uneven straps. So this little number is a feat for me. The thing I learned with garments is it is best to take your time. I seem to be one of those ladies that likes a finished product right away and gets pushing on her petal the closer it is to being done. That is really not the way to make a little bitty dress though. The greatest thing about this dress is that each petal is only joined at the top and so they just lay so nicely and probably can have easy access for diaper patrol. I went with a bright pea green floral print with some shocking turquoise fabric on the opposing side to add a little flash. I used a soft cotton jersey for the bodice top so it would be stretchy for getting over the head and fit snugly. The buttons I found last minute and really pull it all together, ahh buttons how I love thee:)

I also started on this little guy a while back and will be putting the finishing touches to him tonight. I am thinking a ladder type stich at all his joints and a little embroidered heart, for lots of love for Kayda. Everything about this guy is great, he is filled with wool and beans so he flops around with his big head and gives the best hugs, I swear he hugs back! This pattern came from the funnest sewing book ever. I have created many things from this book and just absolutely adore it. I will post more details on my next post because that will have more involvement with my crafts for my little nephews who are growing so fast and also are just about the most adorable little fellows you will ever meet. Muah to their wonderful mama!

Happy Crafting!!

Spring's Arrival

With spring comes more rain for us up in Northern Cali. Fortunately we get submerged in wonderful golden light every other day. Today seems very promising with the sun shining and the blue sky above, I hope the weekend maintains this gorgeous feeling. Specially for the lil ones on Sunday. Tomorrow is the first of many Farmer's Markets on our Plaza and I cannot wait to see the emerging green starts and colorful flowers of the season.

Michael wanted to have a lunch date today and lucky me, we went to my favorite French cafe, Cafe Brio. The cakes and pastry are always gorgeous, always tasty, the coffee hand-dripped and strong, and the meals decadent. Their soup is my favorite splurge, I opted for a delicious cream of mushroom leek with turmeric while Michael always goes with sandwiche au fromage et jambon avec dijon! These are some great shots of Michael in action...notice the weather and eating on the patio! Very exciting stuff! ;)

I have been a busy bee myself and began the season with a fresh start to our bedroom. Then moved to projects for my neice and nephews, as all their birthdays are in April. What a wonderful month to get things started. I have also worked on my website, therefore the noticeable absence from the wonderful blogging world which you can check out if you would like http://www.naturalobjects.net/. It is still a work in progress but oh so much fun to fiddle around with. After my acceptance into Benbow Arts and Music Festival I have to change gears and get more inventory started. Like many crafters I seem to dump my money into my hobbies and this is a way for me to recharge the bank and start us on our way to Bali! A much needed getaway for us.

A tribute to Michael's heritage(Indo-Trinidadian -Indo for Indian) I decided to make him a Trinidadian Feast. From Top to Left; Roti or bust up shut (flat bread named after it's torn shirt appearance after tearing it to eat), Accras (delicious fried shrimp and pepper croquettes), my take on tandoori fish (I actually used an Ethiopian spice mix I made last week and lime juice), and of course the Sweet yam fries with the green Callaloo (shout out to Dead Prez!). There are two different versions of callaloo, this one is the coconut-taro leaf version with spinach replacement for the taro leaf as we don't live on the islands...just yet;)
I left out the very strong pina colada but believe me it looked and was delicious :)

Well, I hope to be posting photos of my crafting soon, I need to invest in a better camera this weekend!
Good Friday to yah!

Embroidery I'm bored already

Just joking there, I don't think I could ever be bored by this lovely form of decoration. My goal this weekend is to finish the dinner sets I have prepped and ready for completion. I decided to add this to the inventory of sewn items I will be selling as I get really excited about them, who doesn't love a little decor at the dinner table? :)

So here is a sample of the product, I finished two sets but I hope to have a huge amount of them by Sunday eve. Each set consists of four reversible, embroidered placemats and four organic cotton napkins (which I will add matching binding to). Lately each evening I have been drawing cute little flower pods and such for embroidery design, so I am excited to see how they turn out once i start the stitching.

My wonderful girlfriend, an amazing crafter, gave me the greatest book before she left to meet her man, who's pursuing his MD on the caribbean island of Dominica (yes i am incredibly jealous :), named The New Crewel by Katherine Shaughnassy. It is a book about crewel embroidery (e.g., wool thread on linen) and it has an entire breakdown of embroidery stitches, tips, and projects. It has the cutest designs that are very contemp and hip which I have been so inspired by. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes hand-embroidery. Thanks Jess!

Well it is my rule to stay away from computers all weekend so come Monday we will see how productive I can be :)

Wish me luck!

Emmy B

For the love of the craft.

I love to create things, beautiful, natural things.

I was thinking of how I functioned with the stress and competition in persuing a degree in college and realized that I always had an artistic outlet there to help me through it. I think about my college life and realize that ceramics was a huge part of me accomplishing two degrees in science. If I didn't have that outlet I wouldn't have been able to keep up with the schedule and pace. It was a time where I simply didn't have to think so hard but rather just let go and flow with my emotions.

When I think about my past with ceramics, I go all soft. I didn't just dabble with this artform, I actually minored in it. For four almost five years I dedicated all my free time to this art, I was accepted into the honors ceramic program, i.e., the "back room", where I had my own studio space with key and all hour access for the last two years of my college life. I had my work in mutiple shows and even a solo show at the school.

Seeing photos had me thinking of all this and how much it was a part of me and how much I really miss it. Of course i will go back to it when the space and materials are right but thinking back and looking at photos got me thinking. It is weird how I duplicate that same need now. Working in an environmental firm during the day and crafting at night has become a daily ritual that I come to love. Unable to get my hands on the pottery wheel or a space to get messy in, I replaced ceramics with jewelry making and sewing.

Well, intermixed in this are photos of my work, as I was a botany/biology major you will see what inspired me then :) And the last one is of me cracking up at that show I mentioned.

Wishing you a great Wednesday

Emmy B

Fun with Paper

So I am determined to diversify a bit for this summer faire and was inspired by some simple journals I saw. Thinking that it would be a great to have a little section of handmade cards and stationary I decided to give up my weekend to this task. I had a some frustrations (the how-to guide on the coptic stitch was a bit cryptic) but in the end I had some good results and had a good time.The journal making process is pretty simple it just about having the tools in hand and getting a rythym going. All you really need is compressed cardboard (or book board really cheap and pre-cut) nice decorative paper for the cover, embellishments (optional), linen thread (french linen embroidery thread can be found in most craft shops), and paper.

For my embellishments I found a rub-on transfer paper that i just love...you can print or stamp on it and then transfer to your project. It comes in 4 sheets of 8.5X11 for about $8-10 but depending on your designs you can make them stretch out (I used photoshop to compile as many images as possible on a page). It is a nice alternative to printing on paper, it's transparent in the white areas and it has a nice sheen that gives a silkscreen-like effect. For the covers I used handmade block-print or hand-painted paper from a local import store, although pricey I think it gives the journals a nice depth and feel. Then there is the most time-consuming part of the process, making the signatures (pages in the book). I used high-quality recycled paper and folded, then nested them in stacks of 10. After that it was just a matter of punching holes with an awl (I used a ceramic pin tool) and sewing it all together with the coptic stitch. The coptic stitch is a great stitch because it makes the pages lie flat no matter what page you turn to, which is great for writing in the margins with ease! Majority of the larger journals have 60 pages and the smaller journals have about 40 pages. So Fun! I recommend doing this if you have extra paper and some time on your hands!

Here is a close up of the coptic stitch it seemed to get much better by the end of the process. The bottom journal had the most signatures and shows off the chain stitch that the coptic stiching results in.

Happy Crafting!

Ringing in another Year

Wowza has it been a while! So after a little prodding by my wonderful sister I realized I better hop back on the horse and get some photos of the work i have been doing lately. It wasn't too hard just had to find a workable camera and shoot all night! Entry into my favorite, and only craft show I participate in (so far), is around the corner and I have been crazily adding to my inventory of handmades. Although i have had a long long break from posting to my blog i have been ever productive, or atleast i'd like to think so!

I have worked on some really cool new rings. I wanted to learn to solder sterling silver so thank goodness for the internet! After reading up on the process I now have a ton of hammered sterling silver rings. They were my first project in soldering and i am addicted. I have an order of gold-filled wire coming and just bought some brass so i am hoping to add to my array of stackables. They are perfect for both female and males (my boyfriend is even sporting some!) The hammering which you don't see too well in this picture picks up so much light, although simple they are really classy. (Classy enough for my bf to be mistaken as married, quite a funny story actually ;)

As far as quantity I was able to get over 25 from 1 oz of sterling silver (16gauge), which I think is pretty darn good, of course the supplies to do this can add up!

Before I soldered I was making these wrapped rings with small freshwater pearls and other little precious guys. These are really nice to mix with the above rings and get all kinds of busy!

the baby sheep pattern..

I was thinking, hoping, wishing for something to jump at me to craft for my little niece Kayda and I finally found it from this great blogger harugurumi. It is the cutest crochet pattern for a sleeping sheep and it was so fun to make. She recommended a fuzzy yarn so I found some really great vintage mohair yarn and mixed it with some organic cotton yarn for the head. The second skein of mohair was much thicker so I used that as the body. Instead of grey I found this beautiful lilac peruvian wool and used that for the cutie's appendages. It turned out so cute! I am thinking of repositioning her eyes but haven't had a chance yet.

I lined the body within with some organic cotton fabric stuffed with organic kapok, sewed it all together with matching Valdali embordery thread and voila!

a treat..

I am so loving the cowl look. It is such a classic look for women. I wanted to create one for myself but wanted to make it from fabric as I am not a knitter and I occasionally crochet but am too impatient for that at the moment. Luckily I had purchased a lot of this wonderful fabric that is hand woven in Nepal. It is this wonderful cotton weave that feels as good as it looks. So using some of this I sewed a quick mobius scarf. It turned out better than I thought it would..I might try a few more in different lengths to see which is the best look but I think this one will be going to my beautiful sister who is off to Europe for the holidays. I think it would go great with that nice black coat she just purchased (yes i am very jealous! : )

Ready....Set....Sew!

I was a busy bee this weekend making sure our holiday spirit was as present visually as I felt it was within. The burgeoning spark within me of Christmas time..of warm nights by the fireplace, shimmering lights on rooftops, twinkling stars and yummy treats, was just bursting to get out.

Wooh, and did I have fun. Michael and I hunted for the perfect Christmas tree on Saturday and found just that. After the fruitful hunt we headed back to the homestead where I started my crafting and Michael... like every day went surfing. I love that this is his thing, it doesn't hurt that when I decide to stay home from the beach I get a few hours of "me" time at home. Like most other days I tend to bring my selected supplies from the craft room downstairs where I explode with fabric tidbits, errand strands of thread, the occasional lost embroidery needle (ouch..found it) , and all scraps and wonder of cutting, piecing, threading, looping...while watching my girlie movie drinking my coffee or lambrusca. With a quick clean up and a log in the fireplace I am good to greet him with a smile and satisfaction of a finished product…
So that isn’t always true..the clean up sometimes happens later that evening but the satisfaction is always there!! Since it is our first Christmas together (we met right after the holiday last year) we needed some stockings for our hearth so I set on the idea of quilting us a pair. I went with a colored scheme of blues for him and reds and oranges for me. I pieced and pieced and pieced then quilted and sewed until voila!

Realizing our tree looked a little dormant (I had decided I better not use the pink ornaments of previous “Emmy only” years on the tree), I thought I fill the empty space with a few felted birds. I pieced those together with Vandali pearl cotton and Rainbow “felt” (this stuff is really cool, it is made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles, not wool at all) and voila!

Realizing the need for a wreath (I asked the tree cutter for some greenery and he send us home with a ton of extra branches) I decided to use an old acorn wreath I picked up at a thrift store and added some fresh sprigs and voila!

I was getting tired and hungry so Michael and I cooked up some tasty red beans and rice from the Moose Lodge cookbook and voila… aaah sorry no picture there we ate that with gusto!

Well I hope your weekend was satisfying and productive…onward to work and Monday! Grunt..