Happy Zombie

I recently posted this story on my instagram for a #YoungatArt event ModCloth was doing.  Thought I’d share it here, too (and show my mom that I’m not always so bad when I “do the internet”).

When I was in Brownies we all made felt ornaments at one of our after-school meetings. We had some hands-on embroidery instruction and could make anything we want. I chose to make a gingerbread man. Or what I thought was a gingerbread man. We had no patterns, and we all made things from our imagination. No patterns, no inspirations… just our creative minds. I was not happy at all with my results. I brought it home in tears, and my mom assured me she loved it.

Every year my mom put that fugly damn gingerbread man on our Christmas tree, and every year I quietly snuck that damn gingerbread man to the back of the Christmas tree out of sight, and every year my mom told me how much she loved it and that one day I would love it too. She assured me - year after year.

And now gizillion and twenty-something years later I love that damn gingerbread man! My life is now filled with sewing, stitching, fabric and quilting, and that damn gingerbread man is my link to the moment when someone gifted me with the challenge to create and to make. And most of all - that making things makes happiness not just for myself but for others too.

A few years ago my mom gave me that damn gingerbread man, and he now graces my design-wall with my creative and treasured joys. The damn gingerbread man is my daily reminder that nothing creative is ugly. Though some things take time before they show their beauty. I’ve also added a mouth on him (no wonder all these years he’s been so quiet). And one day I may even stitch up his bum so his bits don’t fall out. If there’s a contest for the longest time it took to complete a project - I’m throwing my hat into the race.
[Damn Gingerbread Man, circa late 60’s/early 70’s, Orinda, Calif.]

My youngest son asked if he can use my sewing machine. Whhhhhaaaaaaa? I heard what he said, but what *really* I heard was, “Mom, I think it’s so awesome that you sew, and like you I think it’s so empowering to make something instead of buying it, and I want to be just like you because you are so damn cool with your sewing ways“. Well. Something like that.

So naturally I asked him what he wanted to make (a pouch for his rappelling harness belt-thing), and off to JoAnn’s we went. When one of your kids wants to go to the craft store - you STOP EVERYTHING AND GO AND LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT AND PINCH YOURSELF REPEATEDLY AND THEN GO HOME AND WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT IT IN ALL CAPS. Dear sweet child-o-mine knew just what he wanted and how much of it. Fabric. Trim. Buckle. Plastic. No shopping list, no notes. I told him I find it helpful to have notes and some sketches. He then pointed to his noggin and said his notes and sketches where in there. When we got home and set up my travel-machine, all I showed him was needle up - needle down button and the back stitch button. And to town he went.

My son was a total improv sewer (OMG!), and has a knack for 3D sewing just like his super talented grandfather (my dad, my sewing mentor). He just kept sewing, and building, and cutting, and sewing. And like me, he also had a knack for unsewing.

HOLY COW, THIS BAG IS GOING TO MAKE ME GO ALL CAP AGAIN. Yeah, I had to beg him to blog about it. I pretty much keep my family’s lives private and respect their wishes for privacy. But NOT TODAY.
And now to talk him into making a quilt. An improv one of course.

Because I’m on a giveaway roll, I have another one. At Quilt Market, Mo and I were in line at the United Notions/Moda Home booth for Amanda Jean’s and Cheryl’s  Sunday Morning Quilts book signing (OMG, I love their book so much - and love them, too!), we met the fun ladies from Marmalade Fabrics who made the wait in line so much fun.  When someone from United Notions was handing out these darling Kansas City souvenir hankies to all of us in line, I squealed so loud that my new pals at Marmalade said they’d give me one of theirs to give to one of my blog readers.  How sweet is that. I know, crazy sweet!   Leave a comment by this Tuesday night ish, May 29th, and I’ll draw a name by Wednesday morning (which is noon-ish my time, PST).

Edited in #1: Occasionally my website goes on the fritz (it’s old, really really old) and my blog doesn’t send comments to my inbox. I wanted to answer everyone’s kind comments, especially to you everyone one who said I didn’t look old enough to have a son that age (and he’s my baby, I have an even old son!). Seriously, it was so heartwarming to read everyone’s kind comments. It was a pretty big deal for me to discover my little sewing savant, and just as big a deal to me to get all these lovin’s from this awesome quilty-sewie-crafty community of ours. A huge big thank you. Major huge thank you.

Edited in #2: The giveaway has now ended, and I wish I had a Moda Kansas City hankie for everyone (that’d be a squeal en masse!). Using random.org for comments 1-156, the winner is #49 by Florence!

We’ve been having a jam packed summer so far - so jammed that my desktop holds over half a dozen folders of “blog food” ready to be blogged. Waiting to be uploaded and chatted up.
So many words.
So many photos.
So many friend adventures.
So much to say.
So much to document before my fleeting memory *fleets up*.

The beginning of June ushered in DS2’s graduation from Astoria High School. First came Awards Night at the Liberty Theater in Astoria. A whopping 1.67 million dollars was awarded in scholarships. About 120 graduates ÷ by 1.67 mil = an S-load of scholarship money per student!

DS2 receives his generous scholarship check from Astoria High School Scholarships Inc. Thank you AHSS, Inc.!

Graduation took place in The Brick House - the Astoria High School gym… and only a few hours after the AHS boys baseball team took the 4A state championship title. Great speeches and presentations, and not a dry eye in the house.

After much waiting, it must have seemed like 4 years for the balloons to finally drop.

La Familia. Left to right> Me, DS2, T-man and DS1 (who came all the way from Australia). Just YESTERDAY (10 years ago) we were standing in this same position as DS1 graduated from Moanalua High School. T-man and I appeared to be much taller back then - I’m having a hard time accepting that my 6′+ babies are grown up now.

And this is Stomp (the Fighting Fishermen)… the Astoria High School mascot. I think he looks like a Scooby-Doo villain, myself.  And he’s saying…
“You damn meddling kids… who said you could grow up so fast… and make your mommas cry with pride.”

Yes. I think that’s exactly what he’s saying.