It's been a bag kind of week

We've been into making tote bags around here this week.

I had some moms over from our school for a morning lesson one day - It had actually been an auction item that I had put up for bid ... "come have snacks and a sewing lesson!" - so we made some gorgeous totes for them - but I forgot to take pics of theirs. Here's mine.

Then Mimi got really inspired and wanted to make some, so she and her little buddy made matching ones at a playdate.

I also finally got around to finishing up some library bags for the kids made out of Dr. Suess fabric that my generous friend Ramona passed off to me after she was done with her project. I'm not really one for buying character fabric, but since this came into my possession - it seemed perfectly appropriate for some bags to take to the library. The kids love them.

Collage class update

So another Tuesday night spent in my collage studio class yielded more work to share this week. The top picture is a "fragment" - not a finished piece, but one that might either become a finished piece or might be torn up and cannibalized for other pieces.

I had a long talk with my teacher about how we have ebbs and flows in art-making. There have been years of art-making where I wouldn't dare post what I was making... I hated the work. Much of it is stacked up and piled in back corners of my garage... But this series... This is a sweet spot. It's happening so fast and heartily. It's very vulnerable. I'm putting in pages of questioning and tears from my journals these past few years... Lots of hidden images of important moments and references to very painful memories are mixed into these. (Why does it seem that the best art often comes from the worst pain?) Anyhow, I don't expect this tide to remain the same forever, but I am for sure riding this wave out... It's also so very cathartic for me. I am healing as I make this work.

The second piece shown is a tribute to my friendship with Yolanda. I think I'll probably call it, "goodnight, my friend".

Family portraits with Mimi Haddon

I recently asked a bunch of local moms if they knew of a great photographer. I got a recommendation from a neighbor to look up Mimi Haddon. I was completely blown away by her work. It was so untraditional and fun and wild that I couldn't imagine what she would come up with for family photos.

She and I had the best time planning the shoot over the phone and email. It was idea after idea after idea. We settled on taking pics in her studio with a backdrop that we would draw ourselves (based on the sketches from my sketchbooks that my kids often have me draw for them to color in). These images may look like they are very "libby" - but the kids and Jay for sure feel like they belong to them as well.

You know that we are big on non-traditional photo shoots - this one is our wildest yet. I am dying to get the rest of the pics back from Mimi later this week - but here is a sneak peek into the fun that was our Saturday....

coloring in enormous red polka dots the night before

jay snapped this pic while we were setting up

Mimi sent me these two that she took as a sneak preview. I nearly died with excitement to see the rest of the pics.

Mimi's tea party

I was beside myself happy when Mimi decided she wanted a fancy tea party for her 8th birthday this year. It seemed so fun and "simple" to do - okay, it was NOT simple, even a little bit, but it was a lot of fun. The eight year old loved it and so did all of her friends. (She's had tea every day since)

Here are some pics.

Goodbye Yolanda

For months now, you've heard me posting about all the quilts that the bees from Bee Happy (and some other special friends, too) have been helping to assemble for Yolanda's family as she battled her cancer.

At the beginning of the year, Yolanda wasn't feeling very well. Come March and she KNEW something was wrong - there were tons of tests and then it was learned that Yolanda had advanced bile duct cancer.

One day when I was visiting her, she told me that she had a lot of nieces and nephews that she wanted to make quilts for. It was ALWAYS Yolanda's intention to get better and to be able to give back to the people who assembled all these for her while she was sick, but she also quietly admitted that she needed to have her family covered in quilts if she wasn't going to make it. So the bees and I stepped up. We made 14 quilts for her family in about 6 months. (2 are still almost finished, but they're well on their way) We also made an amazing "healing quilt" that she took with her to the hospital for her many stays.  It was like a security blanket to her and the entire quilt was centered on a graphic that I made for her earlier in the year.

Yolanda lost her battle with cancer this weekend. I will miss her greatly. She was a good friend. She was generous and inspiring. For years, she has led and organized groups of people in swaps where she did all the work of cutting and mailing hundreds of pieces of fabrics - just because she loved to give and connect with people. She and I had a practice of randomly sending gifts in the mail. Yolanda was strong. I kept telling her that if there was anyone who could battle the prognosis that she had, it was her.  She never ran out of ideas for new projects and even when she struggled walking up and down the stairs in her home, or could only direct me as I sewed and cut her final projects, she kept talking about the matching Christmas quilts we were going to make when she licked this thing. Or wait, what about that over there?....

When she got sick, so many people contacted us to see how they could help. These quilts have been in 3 countries, numerous states, they've been in the mail, handed off in weird parking lots in Hollywood, they've been shuttled from Orange County to Los Angeles and back again. The batting was flown in from Colorado and Florida. They had their own box when I moved houses this year, they were pieced in the sewing rooms and dining rooms of many generous and loving women. I'll name them here as a tribute and if I've forgotten anyone, please tell me in the comments and I will correct it (don't be bashful, this is a thank you on Yolanda's behalf). The Bee Happy ladies: Lori, Alison, Janice, Natalie, Ramona, Nicole, Katie, Rosanna, Blossom, Liberty, Melissa, Kelly. Then we also got help in various measures from: Linnaea, Liz, Jennifer, Maria, Alissa, Jenn, Pam, Mary, Megan, Susan and Jeanette.  There may be a few more who sent in squares for the red and blue quilt that I don't know about... let me thank you from Yolanda!

I don't really know what else to say except to show you photos of our sweet friend, Yolanda, and the quilts that we made for her and her family, which she loved so much.

Goodnight, Yolanda. I will miss you, friend.

Endeavour

I spent most of the last few days planning for today's birthday tea party for Mimi, (posts to come), but everything stops when the space shuttle Endeavour is roaming the streets of your neighborhood....
We took a jaunt this morning with the kids to try and spot the shuttle while it was making its very slow path through the streets of LA from the airport to the sciencenter (our favorite museum - I bet it won't be as empty as we are used to it being after today!). With the kids in the car, we were able to see it across the street as it was at the Forum, but we didn't get very close. It was supposed to turn the corner at Crenshaw blvd, just over 2.5 miles from our house right during Mimi's party, so we were sure we would miss it.
But late at night, after all our other plans were taken care of -party was over, dinner date over, and the kids were off at a sleepover, we learned that the space shuttle was STILL at that corner of Crenshaw and MLK Blvds. Jay and I hopped in the car and drove the 5 minutes to the shuttle.
We were tired, but we said to each other, "this is why we live in LA!" --and it is. Cool stuff happens often and we love being a part of the city.
Still- there's something so surreal about seeing a space shuttle in your backyard... On the street you drive every day. It's amazing.

Weekend away

Just a few pretty images from a weekend away that we had last weekend. We attended a camp with our church that was not near as silent and peaceful as these images suggest... There were tons of other families there and our kids got to hike, play games with friends, stay up late, climb rock walls and challenge courses and generally exhaust their parents. But these are how good memories are made, right?
For my part, I've gone three years now - with one year off last year when I stayed home with our two littlest ones (we were a full house, with our two kids and the two little foster babes last fall) - so I remember that it feels so much better to bring sheets and handmade quilts to sleep under than sleeping bags.
Every one of our beds was outfitted this year, and that made our cabin all the cozier.