fruits of my week off

I took a few weeks off to gather myself and find direction for this blog (amongst other things), which I'll write more about later. I played mom-nurse to two sick kids for a week, too. But most importantly, I was learning to sew! 

Many months back, I stayed up until 3 am reading the entire Ermie blog from it's beginning post. When I got to the part where Jennifer launched her own line, I actually cried. The next morning, with only a few broken hours of sleep fueling my inspiration, I pulled out the broken sewing machine I'd owned for years and decided to finally learn the basics. Chris fixed it up for me and I learned well enough how to wind the bobbin and thread the upper thread, but life took some crazy turns, and I didn't touch the machine again until last week (the lower thread proves trickier, right!) 

I've had Jenny's enticing Wiksten tank pattern waiting in my dresser for several months with the promise that I would learn to do something with it. Seeing her creations in pattern form years back was a hefty influence in my wanting to make my own clothes. After reading Jenny's pattern, it was so very clear that I decided to just dive in, to use the pattern to help me learn my machine, learn sewing, all of it, even though I'd never sewn so much as a napkin.  

I headed to JoAnn's 50% off rack for some cotton fabric and found several cottons that were reminiscent of the garments in my Japanese craft books.  

After encountering a little snafu with my machine while sewing on the pocket, I sulked around for hours, cut a larger pocket to cover the mishap, and finally bought a seam ripper before it hit me: I will not replace this pocket! This imperfect pocket is the mark of my learning. This pocket says, "Someone made me. with her hands (and machine). while materializing a life long aspiration!"  Well, it says that to me.  And this mindset is just as much a feat for me as the sewing itself, I tell you; I'll likely wince at the pocket a few more times before completely believing my pep talk. 

I must say, it feels great to learn something new and love it, to overcome the challenges and feel as pleased with the outcome as the process. I fell in love with sewing from the second I began to cut the pattern, and my love only grew with each stitch and every "aha! that's what those lines on the needle plate are for!" type moment. 

I've wanted to sew for an incredibly long time and now that I know how much I love doing it, I'm certain it will stay a special part of my life. 

I can't recommend Jenny's pattern enough. It's easy to follow (it taught me to sew, after all!), the tank is such a flattering fit, and the pattern also provides a longer dress version. I expect I'll return to this pattern over and over again. My 2012 summer will be draped in it, for sure! 

Now, this new, hard-earned tank of mine needs a name, I think.  The first person to comment with a name shall name it (but we'd all love to hear additional suggestions.) 

What are your experiences with sewing? What's the last thing you made? Is there anything holding you back from trying?

Up next: more Finnish blogs and names, and a very exciting Ask segment with one of my favorite people.  




(p.s. I'm not drinking liquor while breast feeding; The beverage pictured is a club soda with olives! )

bird name for baby

Who could forget the iconic Swan dress that Bjork (mom to Sindri and Isadora) wore? I also love this quote of her's on being with children. Swan, Bjork, Sindri and Isadora is a pretty awesome set of names, too! Back to the dresss-- it sure ruffled a lot of feathers, but it's no wonder we want to emulate birds, they're beautiful! And who hasn't dreamed of flying?

For more mixing of the avian and the human, check out these prints by Australian, Catherine Campbell of the shop My Folk Lover. (below)

I love this feather print by Danna Ray of Grounwork:

And I'm absolutely crazy about Leah Duncan's creations.  I have her pillows and tea towels on my wish list for the holidays.  I would be sad to see her 2011 calendar leave my wall if 2012 versions weren't already available here and here. Plus, the prints at the top of each calendar page can easily become 4 x 6 prints for framing, so you don't have to part with them at the end of the year. Leah also makes these terrific bird prints!

I love Canadian, Kate's, blog.  She recently had a baby girl, Alice Mae (such a pretty name!) Alice's nursery might just be one of my favorites ever.  Kate also makes beautiful, soft animals. Her Etsy shop, Tiny Warbler (love this bird name name, too!) is such a jewel.  Here are a couple of her soft birds:

Speaking of fantastic bird softies, Tel Avivian, Timor Cohen, makes the loveliest, eco-friendly birds and fills shop TIMO Handmade with so many other  lovelies, as well.  Recycled materials can yield such pretty things. I'm also so, so fond of the mice in the shop!

I'm loving these hand-painted, porcelain feather plates and small cups that Tuscon ceramic artist, Vanessa Villarreal has in her shop right now. 

And these mugs by Ricki Oltean can add such a pretty splash of bold color to your kitchen shelf. This design also comes on a portable, glass coffee cup with lid! There was never a better time or reason to replace that plastic one! 

Your little one might want to enjoy some pretend coffee or some real fruit tea with you.  Melissa Brown of Etsy shop, Cedar Pocket (how fantastic is this shop name?) had this in mind when she made this wheel-thrown mug for a two year old.  Gotta love pretty, mini cups for mini hands. Nona would drink this up. 

 How great are these  hand thrown mugs and egg cups (egg cups!) by Manchester shop, Fishink, made with Norwegian artist Tone Von Krogh?

And I'm loving this awesome wooden mobile by 

German shop snug studio (not to mention their bear, cloud and bus shaped wooden cutting boards!)

And finally, some jewelry!  Here's a vintage brass bird cuff by A Common Thread- shop:

 feather necklace by shop Dear June (love the name! and the scarves there, too.):

And that wraps up my collection of bird inspired art for Marginamia's official bird week! I hope our readers outside the U.S. enjoyed seeing artists from your necks of the woods. Etsy is a quite a place, yes? You have to love an international community of makers! 

Now lets talk names!

Wednesday I did a guest post over at Nameberry (so much fun!) There is one particular category from my post on bird names that I really want to talk about some more.   I mentioned Meadowlark there among several others that all share a particular element. Meadowlark, like Maryanne, is a smoosh. Maybelle, Annabelle, Marilou, Rosevine (which I suggested recently in a  consultation)-- all smooshes. 

Sometimes smooshing involves pushing two words together to form a completely new word (Greystone and Rosedew, for example), so the practice might not appeal to some for that reason alone. Other smooshes come to us pre-smooshed, like Lovebird and Goldfinch, so they couldn't be considered by anyone to be misspellings. And yes, I think they still qualify as examples of a smoosh if they come prepackaged as such. What do you guys think? 

 I definitely count myself a fan of a good smoosh.  And bird names are a smoosh lover's dream. I won't re-list all of the ones I talked about on nameberry, but here are some extra examples (some pre-packaged smooshes and some smooshed together by me): 

Goldfinch

Snowfinch

Mountainfinch

Rosefinch

Greenfinch

Songlark 

Sandlark

Sunlark

Skylark

Woodlark

Rustylark

Shorebird 

Seabird 

Blackbird

Lovebird

Songbird

Bellbird

Hummingbird 

Baywren

Nightjar

Feildfare 

Monday I interviewed bird house artist Jenn Wong, of Wongers, and I love her idea of taking names from a genus of birds (or the class, itself-- Aves) as well as individual species.  And while I don't really keep up with celebrities too much, my favorite celebrity baby name of the year was definitely Agnes Lark Bettany. Agnes Lark is perfection. It checks every box for me, really. So combining my love of the lark and Jenn's idea, here are some genus names of larks and finches that I think sound lovely:

Lullula

Aleamon

Alauda

Eremalauda 

Calandrella

Galerida

Loxia (finch)

And more names of bird species:

Brambling

Barbet

Crane

Downy

Dipper

Eagle

Falcon

Hawk

Inca

Kinglet

Kokako

Minla

Munia

Myna

Ouzel

Petrel

Plover

Pipit

Sibia

Swiftlet

Tern

Teal

Tawny (Owl)

Vanga

Yuhina

Still longing for more bird names? I mean, who could have enough of them, really? I haven't been the only one talking about bird names, lately:

Brittish Baby Names gives a lovely and in depth look at crows, doves, eagles, falcons, larks, sparrows, swallows, seagulls and all the names they inspire here. Usoa, Akos, and Ezio, for example, are such pleasant finds!

Bewitching Names gives us a detailed look at a word name relating to birds. 

And again, here's Nameberry's original 2008 post on the topic, the 2011 post, and their list of birdies. 

What do you think, readers? Would you use any of these? What would you put with them? Any more bird name posts out there that I'm missing? I'd love to add them! Any favorite birdies flying from the hands of makers? 

This was absolutely one of my funnest blogging weeks ever!

An extra thank you to Jenn Wong of Wongoers. I've been excitedly holding her wonderful interview for weeks so I could group it with the other birdie posts for one happy flock. It wouldn't have been bird week without it!  Thanks, Jenn!

Thank you to Linda and Pam at Nameberry and, of course, all the lovely berries for having me over this week! 

And thanks to all of you readers for sharing in the fun and tolerating my many bird puns! I'm such a geek with this topic, I tell ya.  I'll see you all next week.

 Happy Friday!

And Happy 11/11/11! 

(bjork image)