{Steve thanks you for your kind birthday wishes yesterday! And me too! Reading them last night was such a lovely bonus on a really sweet day. Thank you so much!!}
And since we're in a celebratory mood around here, why don't we launch right on into the next big celebration around these parts - the release of Handmade Home!! For the next week or so, I'll be sharing here some pictures and words (fewer words than today, I promise!) from this book that is so close to my heart and has been such a part of my (our) life for the past two years now. Handmade Home will soon be in stock - if it isn't already - at your favorite chosen book-buying spot by August 11th.
And if you're local, mark these dates on your calendar - I would love to see you there!
Friday, August 14th -
at Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine
5-7pm
Book release party & Signing
Sunday, August 23rd -
at Borders Books in South Portland, Maine
1pm
Reading & Signing
Also...I'm super honored by the recent words I've seen about Handmade Home at Simple Kids, Simple Mom, and Sew Liberated (thank you, ladies!).
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{all photos are my outtakes from Handmade Home}
This is the first sewing machine I used. It was my mother's - a gift upon her college graduation. She never sewed, but this machine was around, in our house, and called to me every so often to tinker with.
I learned to sew - as you've likely heard me say before -from my grandmother. My frequent weekends away from home were divided equally between my Meme - who took me yard sailing, thrift shopping, and antiquing....and my Nana - who spent our time together teaching me how to sew, and knit, and preserve.
Both of their influences upon my life are so many and so great, particularly as I became a parent myself, and even more so as I've embraced a home life quite similar to each of theirs - and their mothers before them...and yet, with the sacrifices and strides that my own mother and her generation made as well. I remember their words, I look upon them for inspiration, and I draw from them great strength.
It was in the writing of Handmade Home that I felt closer to all of those women before me than I ever have before. Because there is no greater joy for me than creating for the people I love. Crafting for my family and for our family home not only provides me with an essential creative outlet, but it also connects me to my past, allows me to live a 'simpler' life in many, many ways, and is just one little way I tell my family that I love them.
Using repurposed materials in what I do has always been an important part of the process. Taking great cues from those grandparents before me - the very ones who taught me - with their chants of "waste not, want not." I remember their words.
Creating with vintage and repurposed materials not only eliminates waste - both environmental and financial, but it also fits an aesthetic that I love, and draws upon the quality that is so often found in older materials....when things were made, well, to last. And thrifting? Well, it's fun. It's a grown-up treasure hunt, really. (And Handmade Home has lots of ideas on how to make the most of your treasure hunting!)
The projects I make for my home, and for our family are born out of a need of some kind - a purpose or a function that will bring comfort or ease to our family days. Functional, utilitarian things like Cloth Diapers, Baby Slings, Women's Cloth, Broadturn Bags to carry our produce home in...and more.
Other projects are born quite by accident - as our family spends time together creating and dreaming and new projects just...emerge. A Fiber Garland, a collaboratively made Baby's Fringed Playmat, Portrait Bookmarks, Calvin's Papier Mache Bowls...and more.
Other projects are created as a way to celebrate the little everyday, beautiful moments and milestones in a family life. The Family Heart for a first sleepaway, Ezra's Letter Satchel, Brandie's Books...and more.
These are just a very few of the projects and a few of reasons why the projects in Handmade Home were created.
Making things - making these things - and enjoying the 'making' and the 'using' with my family has been some of the most wonderful of moments that our family spends together.
It was a pleasure to gather and collect these projects to share in HANDMADE HOME. I am thrilled to now send it on out into the hands and homes of families, and hope that in some small ways, it may bring a bit of handmade comfort, and family connection your way, too.