A slower schedule

Well, sometimes life throws a wrench in your plans. I was hoping to have a card week tutorial up in June, and here it is July 10, and no tutorial. It's in the works, but recent events have definitely caused some schedule changes this summer. The kids, however, have been hard at work in their art journals. At least someone's producing art this summer!

Ink is Good

It has been awhile since I've had ink stains on my hands. First, I was consumed with fabric. Recently, I've been consumed with researching Celiac and various disorders, eliminating gluten from our world and taking a crash course in gluten free baking. But I have a deadline. I am participating in an Alice In Wonderland art journal exchange, and I need to get my pages done. So today, I inked, and painted, and stamped, and sanded 14 background pages. It felt welcoming. Paper always feels like home. Ink is good.

The Pleasures of Real Food

I cannot believe it has taken me five years to buy most of my produce from the farms that circle our town, but sadly, I confess it is true. In my defense, when we moved here I had a two year old and a one month old, so quick dashes to the grocery store were about all I could manage. But how did I let four more years go buy with primarily shopping for produce from a grocery store instead of a local stand, where the corn was picked that morning? Oh, the years I have wasted, the berries I have missed. I will miss them no more. These are just a sample of the amazing produce found at the Smith Family Farm stand. The blackberries are sinful. Plump, sweet and tart, and so full of juice! The juice absolutely fills your mouth, and finishes almost like a good Syrah. The kids ate bowls full. I popped some in Matt's mouth as soon as he walked through the door. Eating in season is so worth it. I will eat these until my finger are permanently purple, and wait for the heirloom tomatoes to arrive, their specialty. Oh, don't get me started on tomatoes...

A little scrappin'

This little guy arrived a couple of weeks ago from Down Under. He is the fabulous creation from Blinking Flights that Madeline took from my hands the minute I opened the package. He, after having been in California for only a few minutes, was redubbed a "she" although the name has stayed the same. Gordon has visited the many wonders of our town, such as Target, the post office and the dentist. I'm sure he, no she's mighty impressed with California. Please visit Rebecca's fabulous blog, and her delightful Etsy shop (so sad to see the bugs going, sniff!) and wallow in her wonderful fabric creations!



Allison and I were able to steal away to our local LSS, Scrap Diva, to do a little scrappin' a few weeks ago. I had brought several kits, but I couldn't resist the lure of some new lines, especially the Penny Lane series from My Mind's Eye. I could have bought it all!

Moss Beach

Tide pools + kids = good weekend

I heart smocking

Okay, this is the cheaters version, I admit, but I am in love with elastic smocking! Another great pattern from Weekend Sewing, and oh, so easy! The smocking is done with elastic thread in the bobbin, which must be hand wound. The hardest part was actually getting the bobbin thread up, since the elastic is heavier than regular thread (if anyone has a trick for this, I'd love to hear it!). You mark the right side of your fabric with half inch lines using a water soluble fabric pen, and then topstitch. It gathers a bit as you sew, but the magic happens when you steam it. You first spray the right side of the fabric with water to remove the pen and help with steaming, and then you iron. When you iron, the elastic shrinks and you get smocking! How cool is that? It's a simple seam down the back and ties. Finished. I've made one for Madeline and a matching dress for my goddaughter, and more are on the way. I'm thinking a smocked coffee cup sleeve, maybe a smocked dog sweater, toaster cozy.... you get the idea;)

A life changing week

So, it has been a whirlwind for the last five days. Last Thursday Max had yet more appointments, first with the nutritionist, then with the allergist. The allergist ran about an hour behind, so by the time we got in there, it was almost four. Max didn't take it well. He screamed for at least ten minutes straight during the scratch test, and proclaimed at the top of his lungs that these "doctors were all trying to kill him!" Yah, it was fun.

However, he tested positive for wheat. Starting with that night's dinner, we went gluten free. He had tested negative for Celiac through a blood test, but it wasn't the full three part panel and they are notorious for false negatives. We were scheduled for an endoscopy to test for Celiac, but I canceled it. Max declared at the allergist that this was it, he was done with appointments, and I promised this would be the last. The therapy for the allergy and Celiac are he same, so I figured we would just go with the diet and see what happened. Well, this is what happened - I went through gluten withdrawal!

I have been reading a lot about Celiac, since that's where the best diet information is found, and not only did I find many of symptoms that matched Max's, but me as well (it is an inherited disease). The first full day of the diet, the gluten withdrawal symptoms began, too. Basically, all of the nausea, GI problems and gas that I've had for years suddenly got much worse! That pretty much confirmed for me that we were dealing with Celiac. I actually got excited when I read that tooth discoloration and loss of enamal were symptoms. Max's front teeth have always been discolored, and neither his dentist nor his doctor could tell me why. I always suspected that it had something to do with his weight, and some deficiency!

There is much, much more to going gluten free than giving up bread. It is an ingredient in just about any processed food you can think of, because it is in malt flavoring, caramel coloring and many other common additives. Cross contamination is another huge issue. I had to get a new toaster, cutting board, and replace many pans and utensils (any finish that is porous or has a scratch where gluten can get in has to be replaced). Not cheap, but it actually felt good to streamline my kitchen.

So it's day 5 and I felt better today. I hope this means my symptoms will continue to get better. Max was really cranky for the first three days, but now seems pretty much back to normal. Max has taken the diet to heart, and can actually sight read the words "gluten free" on food packaging! Before our crazy week, we all started nature journals for the summer. To end this all on a lighter note, here are some of our pages:

From Madeline and Max:


and my pages: