haircut retrospective

When Milo was just over 2 years old, his Dad gave his bangs a "trim." I remember the day pointedly. Watching those two walk off into the bathroom, sure I said to Chris, cut his hair. I almost went in, but stayed put. He came out with this cut. Chris said he "sneezed" Now which one sneezed I don't know.

Milo 2 years, Before

Milo 2 years, After (the sneeze)

Nate also recently had a similar haircut. Which prompted me to post this. I was looking at how similar they look and also how funny it is that this happened right around the same time for them. (I was not there for Nate's cut and don't really 'know' what happened. I only know he was 'hot')

Nate, 21 months, Before (he got really hot)

Nate, 22 months After (he got Hot)

I feel relatively guiltless in both these cutting incidents (I wasn't even in the state for Nate's cut). They both look so darn cute. But where the blame really lies is in my choice to leave them like this. I still can't bare to cut their hair.

park life

images from our most recent adventures.....seems as if September has brought us out into the parks again. the weather is loverly & the company is fine.

A puppet museum, oh my!

This summer Juno and I went photo adventuring around the city. Taking photos of murals and whatever interesting view we stumbled upon. While in West Philly we discovered the legendary Spiral Q Puppet Theater Museum. They are known in these parts for their amazing giant puppets and parades. What a feast for the eyes....

a little trip

watermelon and champagne
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

This is my favorite shot from the goddess gathering this year. I didn't take many photos, sadly. But I did dance with fire....I think that may win out.

A Tale of Mimi

Love her work!


She is truly inspiring!

Bedroom Shelf

Bedroom Shelf
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

the littlest lion

Lady, Pony, Thimble

Swedish Owl

The Vltava Harmonica

Lambkin

Featured

Vintage Pink Sheer Hostess Apron
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

I was very pleased and excited to discover that one of my etsy items was featured on the blog
Happy Day Vintage. This was the little number that caught the authors eye.

Mermetta

Mermetta
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

Meet Mermetta. She was gifted to Milo's friend Georgetta this past June. When Milo and I brainstormed a gift, he said that he wanted to make a mermaid doll. This is what we came up with. I think she turned out pretty cute. Her body and head designs where from The Black Apple doll, we designed the tail and arms....I completely winged the face and shirt at about 1am the morning before the party. The fabric came from an old appliance cover that I found at the Good Will in Augusta Maine. We were happy with her and I think Georgetta was too. There may be new Mermetta's in the future, I am tweeking with the design. Stay tuned. Also I added a few cards at Bohema, so if your living local, there are some original handmade cards for sale.  I know for a fact that the door with the key is still available!

June on the Move

June on the Move
Originally uploaded by zavodk

In April I escaped the fray here and went to sojourn with my Aunts for a girl's weekend in Brigantine, NJ. Twas a great night filled with wine, pasta, dancing. As is with us, we ended up at the Borgata in Atlantic City. This is a little video clip of my Aunt June up to her shenanigans with one of those scooters. Enjoy!

Did I mention the Shoppe is open????

Originally uploaded by zavodk.

Hey there all. Been much to busy lately but wanted to update saying that there are new goodies in the etsy shoppe, Santa Lucia's Eyes and Ends. Stop by for a gander. I also have some new lovely handmades that I will share here this week.
Supposing I get to it of course.
Its been a crazy spring.

old post, hiding in the drafts

I found this old post in my drafts box and thought I would throw it up there....its from mid-winter, I do believe. I am looking at these photos of Nate and thinking, oh my....he's really grown. He looks like the two-toof wonder above.

a few good things....

Originally uploaded by zavodk.

Yesterday a few good things happened...

1-I opened my Etsy Shop, Santa Lucia's Eyes & Ends and stocked up with some recent vintage finds.



2-The new Hausfrau came in the mail! YAY! I am happy to report that it features all writing and cartoons by the Hausfrau....not that I don't enjoy the other writers that are featured, but she sure is the star. I also had a call the other day from a friend in Portland who went to see the Hausfrau! One woman show at the Portland Stage Company . Another reason to wish I was in Maine. So any folks up yonder reading this, the Hausfrau show runs until April 11.

3. The weather was mild yesterday and Milo and I worked in the yard together, cleaning brush, hacking away some branches and enjoying our stolen time together while Nate napped. He sure has been sassy lately, that little Nate and it was nice to get some much needed time in with my bigger little.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day....tis rainy here and I have noses to wipe...

The Chris Doll gets a new Quilt

The Chris doll and a cozy quilt
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

Making a doll quilt has been on my crafting agenda for quite some time now....but I never seemed to get around to it. Nathaniel has been really into babies lately and playing with The Daddy Doll, as pictured. So, I decided it was high time I got that quilt made. It took about an hour for the construction and than I hand sewed the binding, cause I hear that works best. My hand stitching is so sloppy though, but I do love the result. I believed Nate does as well. The quilt even prompted my Mom to bring over my wooden doll cradle....very sweet indeed.
I also made another one for a dear Miss B. who is currently very into dolls right now & has a new living little doll at home. That quilt was in pink and green hues. It left the house before I had a chance to photograph it....ah, well.

In a funny crafting side note...
My studio is located on the third floor of our home. My sister-in-law kindly offered to watch the boys this past Saturday for a few hours so Chris and I could get sometime together. Well, we both were really itching to go about our projects and I promptly headed up to the studio. Before Chris went down the street to work on his new car, he came to visit me on the third floor. We chatted for a few minutes and than left. About 20 minutes later I tried to go downstairs and realized that he locked the door to the third floor from the outside and that I was trapped! I pounded on the door, called out the window....to no avail. A part of me was excited to be locked up there, I don't often get time to myself to sew....I was really enjoying it....but another part wanted OUT! I did see my neighbor in her yard reading a book, but didn't want to disturb....I could hang in there, I knew he would be back....finally 2 hours later, I decided to go out onto the roof and throw stones at the garage roof, thinking perhaps he was in there tinkering....than I heard him coming down the driveway....we had a good laugh, many jokes about Mr. Rochester and his wife Bertha in the attic. I couldn't complain terribly...last year I locked Chris out of the house in his socks with no coat in March....he had been helping us out to the car and I shut the door behind me....oops!

cabinet creakies and the show down kid

Originally uploaded by zavodk.

the littliest key
is a hot ball of sass,
we are waiting for a third cold
to quickly pass

a new car has come
1968 VW fastback

Spring teases.

Gram marches on.

Milo step forward and back doing a dance of rounds and rights.

I tread water, look onward to Spring.

The Button Hoard

buttons
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

For years it felt like I searched for the right stash. Combing steamy summer time yards, porches and garages, dusky flea markets, church sales, searching and searching. I elbowed my way around the Portland Fabric Faire hoping upon hope that I was the lucky one who found that giant box under the table filled with a lifetime worth of buttons. I scanned the sales in the local paper every Wednesday my keen eye looking for that one sale where a sweet old lady just passed leaving behind her substantial button hoard as well as some key vintage kitchen items and if I am lucky some great old cotton fabrics. I searched those places in vain. I would come by buttons at sales, occassionally. Pretty blue ones, dainty pearls, all priced to break my yard sale bank. They were truly reasonable.... $1 button cards and the like, but I knew the deal was out there and I was on a hunt to find it.

I should have looked no further than my nearest and dearest neighbor.

Back in November, family friend and adopted grandmother Tiny, bestowed upon me a button hoard of great magnitude.

This hoard contains buttons from not only her private collection but those of my next door neighbor Judy's mother and another neighbor's Mother, a dear sweet lass from Ireland, and Tiny's sister-in-law Claire who passed last year. This is a collection of 4 different elderly ladies buttons. I almost wet my pants, really.



I haven't gone through them all yet. Its like a treasure sitting up in the studio waiting for me. There are some real beautys. Glass, wood, plastic, pearl, buttons dappled with patina, jeweled buttons, bone buttons....its a regular button galore!

I dipped into the button hoard for a friend last month. Searching for the perfect button to accompany a raw silk cuff that I made. I struck pay dirt finding one that complemented the shininess of the silk, but was worn enough with just a smidge of patina to give it a glamourous yet, bad ass kinda look....& it even went well with the recipients outfit! I am blessed.

My many thanks go out to Tiny for such a treasure. My hunger has been filled. Buttons Abound.

Titus

As a bit of a diversion I thought I would post about a recurrent and very rare on screen love.  I have been really enjoying watching HBO's series on John Adams.  But everytime I slip in a disc, I am transported back to watching Rome and immediately get a little flutter for Titus Pullo.

Oh yes, the dreamy, hunky Ray Stevenson as Rome's Titus Pullo.  I can hear a gaggle of my aunt's talking about, how unbelievably hot this man is & I must concur.  I don't often fall for the glamour of big screen or television men, but I must give it up for him. He is a work of art indeed.  

I also love how his character is described, 

"A ferocious lover of life, possessing the courage and loyalty of a warrior, but the morality of a pirate.  A man of huge appetites and wild passions.  Impulsive, unreflective, optimistic, generous and brutal."

Geez,

its like he inhabits the most steamy-est of novels.  

Its nice to be able to wallow in this frivolity! 

long, long, long time

Originally uploaded by zavodk.

& in the evening-the moon would
hang over Casco Bay like a lemon pie
sliced with cream & slit & more
& our feet would meld in the sand
fingers clinking bottles and naught
& in the evening the cormorants call
& their feet lift off perches that ache
for them to leave - but call out
STAY in a long creaking groan
& we were in want of sun
truly in the cast off daze
in want of a meal-
in search of mussels cast on the rocks
in the bay the ferries cross quickly
& the tankers glide softly through the ink-like waters
we keep seeing the changes & the call
deep on our rocky borders-knocking-clanking
searching for cavernous openings
in which to penetrate with folly
we are the denizens-
who nightly roam the shores
washing away our evidential steps-
but keeping in constant pace with the night-
it is we
who hear the sirens call
we
who line the blackness with light

Inauguration Day

Inauguration Day
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

For so long
I held bitterness in my heart
let myself be a dissident
to my own country
my anger burned like a fiery river
fueled by lies, greed and hipocrisy
now,
waves of relief
pound upon my welcome shores
loathing rolling away with the shifting sands
each spoken word, deed
I believe,
I believe,
I believe
now,
that a change (a chance) has come
& all I have
all that I have held back
comes forth in great tidal floods
my tears
a sign that I too want to be that changed
today,
I want to be an American again
I want to be a part of something good

a leader has emerged
with a voice that I can perhaps follow,
a voice that I want to sing with
free of pride, lies and obvious corruption
and I want to believe
this inherent honesty

Christmas Handmade Lineup

Hat for Brad
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

I truly am a tardy blogger! Finally getting around to posting the Christmas handmade goodness. This here's hat was a special one for my brother Brad. I had promised him a hat, gee, like 2 years ago, and I finally got it done! I had originally started him a crocheted hat, but this is what I ended up giving to him. Definitely hipper than I ever expected.

This is Brad sporting his new "lid" on Christmas Eve. The brim was a little flippy-er than I had anticipated. But I think I used elastic successfully for the first time!

New Wallet for my other brother Rich.


Crayon roll for Harry.


One for Talia too!



& some pencil rolls too! They were really straight forward to make & I believe the recipients liked them as well. I made one each for Milo and Nate. I also made a mail bag and mail box for Milo. It was nice to make some gifts and not be stressed out either. Christmas Eve I actually enjoyed my time with the boys rather than rushing around. Even made some Almond Bark for the family.

what I have been up to...?!?

what-a-mess coal mine
Originally uploaded by zavodk.

I've had this idea for a project since last year about this time. With all the lead toy scares, I wanted to contribute handmade toys into our Christmas and also to those locally. My goal was to get some local crafters together and start a collective which would showcase the artisans work, support local artists and also a portion of the proceeds would go toward lead education.
It didn't get off the ground last year, with Nate being so young & I came upon the idea pretty late in the season. Than this summer my friend Juno and I chatted about it, and decided to give it a go...but we were waylaid by life...
So while chatting recently with a local store owner, Ali, I told her my idea & thankfully she was all for it! So I bustled up some enthusiasm and tried to contact local crafters of handmade toys to sell at her shop over the holiday season. Happily Juno turned up with some goods, and I managed to get some bean bag sets there as well as, (although not for kids) some bird hat pins. I still have some more things I need to finish for the store and also for my etsy shoppe, Santa Lucia's Eyes & Ends....So if you live locally, come check out some of handmade goodies at Bohema located at 6152 Ridge Avenue...
A word on Ali and Bohema, she is wonderfully supportive of the local arts & artists and also fundraising, please check out her store...and remember this season to buy local, buy safe!
I am still searching for a local lead education organization to donate the money too....if anyone has a suggestions, pls. leave a comment...I became interested in lead safety when I was pregnant with Milo and living in Portland with all its old apartments shellaced with years worth of lead paint. I became involved with Lead Safe Kids in Maine and worked on passing a law the obligates landlords to give sufficient notice to tenants when a repair or renovation is going to take place in their building. (We had issues with that while living in Portland).....
....I will post soon some new handmade goodness and am looking forward to opening the etsy store this week...so do check back, ya hear!