house wren studio

a herd of turtles

Crafts bag, book bag, beach bag, boat bag. All packed. So off we go like a herd of turtles, as my mother would say, to a seashore shellshack. To barefoot days in the sand, under an umbrella watching the surf swing by, with my own sweet gang right beside me. To barefoot nights watching the sunset on the bay, playing scrabble, painting rocks, grilling outside, dodging mosquitoes. Just the way I like it (well, not the last part)!

I'll try to stay in touch a little bit if I can- some important events coming up while I am away that I want you to know about. In case it's impossible to post from the island, I set up some auto-publish posts. But you never know what you'll find in the sand- like the $100 bill we found one year!  Maybe this time more driftwood, shell shards and a wireless connnection. Okay, another C-note, as my dad would say, wouldn't be so bad either. Happy summer reading and relaxing everyone- wherever you are. xoC

did you wonder?

She makes me laugh...that happy babe there! She's here to tell you that the bookmarks are going to Deb (the pink felty one with my doll illustration on it), Sarah (yesterday), and Kelley(wonder). The comments were so generously considered and some quite long so I decided to print them, cut them all to the same size with names at the bottom and picked from the basket. Thanks again for all the suggestions, I so appreciate the many good books mentioned. Some I read and adored -Kite Runner was my last beach read a few years ago. Old favorites- Austen, Christie, Steinbeck, Elizabeth Goudge, Stegner....and Kaye Gibbons. If you haven't read any of hers, Charms for the Easy Life, is a good place to start and a perfect summer read in a porch rocker. And don't forget Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, my favorite book ever I think. Thanks so much, I got a big, tall stack at the library today.  Hoping you found something here too! xoC 

book love

Thanks for all the book love! That incredible list will keep me busy for months or years, perhaps...so many great suggestions. And I was o-so happy to glimpse a bit more of you too, dear readers (and lurkers). Your book suggestions tell wonderful stories about you too.

The bookmarks are going off tonight to 3 names randomly picked from that list. I'll let you know right away so I can get some addresses back for sending. The fun of collecting these titles and making those bookmarks made me think it would be a great swap project to make a crafty bookmark and tuck it into a favorite book to trade with someone. I've never done one of those formal blog-swaps (although I seem to have inspired one!), but it's always a good idea to share books. Even with a friend down the street.

So, now I'm off to the library!  xoC

read anything good lately?

Still here- just busy getting ready for our family vacation. But I realized that I need a good book and wondered if you could recommend one. So if you will leave a comment here with a suggestion for a good beach read- classic, vintage or recent- silly, serious or mysterious-, I'll draw a name at random and give someone my new cutie-pie bookmark hot off the worktable. Gosh, she's sweet! And she's all ready to go. Friday night, she's packing up and moving in with one of you.

And because I couldn't stop playing - and am so delighted with your thoughtful suggestions, there will be these going off as well to 2 more names. Those little bits of paper! Still so much fun!   ...xoC

we're doin' fine

Beauteous summer day here! Kids playing ball in the street, cardinals singing in the trees, porch-sitting, newspapers fluttering in the breeze, coffee on ice and scissors snipping bits of wool and yarn. Collages are posted on etsy. xoC

summer candlelight

There shall be / Eternal summer in the grateful heart.                    - Celia Thaxter

Recently we visited the old neighborhood and our friends across the way to celebrate a birthday. I don't miss my house as much as theirs. Probably because it's still the same in many ways, memories waiting there on tabletops and walls as if I just ran home for a cup of sugar. Handmade gifts, photos and favorite toys long outgrown are now cherished relics of what's past. This time of year is especially rich with that nostalgia- the greenest days in the back yard when our children were toddlers pretending in the playhouses (theirs and ours), the evenings on the back porch while they ran around in the darkness and then made pillow beds on the floor. Candlelight. Music. Laughter and friends.

 

After dinner and a few glasses of wine, I wandered around the house with my camera and took snapshots of those favorite vignettes- in the candlelight. No wonder that the combination effect made them look all blurry. A little disappointed when I uploaded them. But, aha, the magic of photo-editing. I used an edit effects command which tweaked the color and pumped the image with contrast. And suddenly they looked so beautiful. Soft and dreamy like those sleepy babies- now grown, briefly joining us on the porch.

A lot to admire in these images, and it's their house after all, so I assembled this accordion thank you card to send. A sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock cut into 3 strips, accordion folded to four 3" panels and those attached at the ends with zigzag stitching.

Printed the 12 images, trimmed and attached one to each panel. The toile envelope came about as a way to manage the thick accordion fold.

It is just a length of fabric, torn to size, folded back onto itself and stitched along the 2 sides. Then add a button and string to wrap the fold shut onto the button like a document case.

Someday I'll go back for a visit and it will be sitting there, on a tabletop, waiting for me to pick it up again. Which I will- with a happy sigh and a grateful heart.  xoC

twining away

Well, I was driving by the bakery. Sort of.

And it was a very good day for cupcakes. O, and those eclairs. O, well, nevermind. The counter girl listened to my request for the black and white twine way at the end of the other counter, rolled her eyes....seriously, and I can't blame her. The other counter girl way across the bakery shouted...It's not black and white. It's just plain old dark green! Three different counter girls cut, considered and confirmed...definitely not black and white.

My girl....way at the end of the counter with me, the most annoying customer of the week...says with a sweet smile, okay, how about I just cut some off and give it to you? Um, thanks, that would be so nice. I would love that. Really. (wow, Lauren, you were right!)

And because he finally got the boat back in the water and named it after 9 years of suggestions (Erin came up with Betta...which is Better the way he says it with his Brooklyn accent), they are for him.

Collages go to etsy tomorrow- after a ridiculous build-up. Thanks for all the blog-love and interest. Sheesh, they're just bits and pieces of stuff, but they'll be wrapped to go with baker's twine- the nearly black, but actually dark green and white.  xoC

out of the rut, back in the groove

After a long few days, I think I'm back in my groove. It seemed like I had to touch every single piece of textile, button, paper and thread in the millions of studio baskets and drawers, but I'm finally enjoying the process and the finished work. Whew!

At the bakery the other day I picked up a cake to take to a last minute dinner party (I know- how wonderful!)....the counter girl started to wrap the cake box. She reached left for a spool of green and white twine. To her right was the new, never-seen-before black and white spool. Wait, wait! Um, excuse me, but can you use that one, please? Um, what? Can you use the black and white one, please? Whatever. Okay. And can you wrap it a few more times, in both directions? O thanks, thanks so much!

At the party, I ask the hostess if I can take the cake out of the box. She watches me unwrap the gorgeous baker's twine like it was my grandmother's gold bracelet. I coil it up and put it in my pocket. I feel pretty silly, but I'm so happy to have that pocket full of twine. All mine. I should go back for cupcakes today. Celebrate my groove. xoC

blog stroll

 

I intend to get some work done today and post those collages I promised way back when. In the meantime, maybe head over to visit these blogs for light and inspiration.

• rebecca sower
• molly chicken
• 3191

One of my favorite places to visit is SouleMama- please send good thoughts to help Amanda and her family find their dear Luka.          xoC

never forget

You don't have to reach too far back in the archives here to see how remarkable I think our daughters are. Each of them in her own way. Amazing young women- all three. And if you follow this blog, you know how much I write about and how proud I am of our firefighter- perhaps to a fault. I planned to put this up today because yesterday, for the first time, I saw her on a call. We were on our way for our morning walk at the park when the fire horn went off. Her pager barking out the code for the call, she pulled over in front of the firehouse and handed me her keys. It was a little crazy, cars and trucks arriving from all over the village, volunteers pouring out onto the street, running, darting into the house. The engines on, lights awhirl, commands and adrenalin in the air. One man sprinted up the hill in his necktie, pulling it off as he ran. In a few moments, I saw her in the window of the first truck, pulling on the last of her gear, hanging on as the truck bolted out and up the hill. She didn't look at me- probably wished her mom wasn't there watching. And in an hour or so, she called me to come back and pick her up. We had lunch, let another summer day drift by.

It was yesterday that I chose this image from the Memorial Day parade for this post because it captured the irony of our girl in this role. But today, after the stunning tragedy and loss of nine firefighters in Charleston, I see it differently. It strikes me as a very sobering remembrance of those cherished and precious lives- men and women outside their uniforms and their duty. Loved ones, with families at home, Father's Day cards still on the kitchen table, everyday lives in everyday clothes. In a heartbeat, they set it aside, change into their gear, trading their safety for ours. Every day.

I look at the AP photo of the firefighters in the same gear she wears. Today my motherly pride shudders. And I keep rewriting this, hoping to express our true condolences for the terrible loss of their heroes. Thoughts from so far away, but I can't get hold of the words for such heartbreak. We feel it deeply, and we are so sorry.