kit and caboodle

The Pink Post

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope your day is filled with love (and chocolate!).

Art Dolls

Some new faces for upcoming art doll kits. Made from air hardening modeling clay and nearly ready for acrylic paint.

Listening to A Prayer for Owen Meany from Audible which is ranking among my favorite audiobooks - highly recommended. 

Headed here this weekend for our annual visit:

The kids look forward to making little wooden boats, fishing for trout and eating salmon. It's always a fun event.

And about to subscribe to this season of plays. A great package this year - we're blessed with a range of fine theater for every taste here in Seattle.

And it's still sunny, sunny, sunny.

Fabric of Life Foundation

Please consider supporting the inspiring Carol Schillios as she camps on the roof of her shop, Fabric of Life, in Edmonds WA.  From her blog:

Eleanore Roosevelt said “Do one thing every day that scares you.” I believe in what can happen when we step out of the shadow of our fears. I’m 57 years old. That in itself is scary.  I’ve never blogged before. Even scarier.  I thought blogs only existed on the moors of Scotland.  It’s scary to “reveal” your inner self in public. Yet here I am. I’ve decided to follow Eleanore Roosevelt’s advice.

The idea to live on the roof of my Foundation’s fair trade store literally popped into my head one day last May. I’m often described as “crazy” when I’m introduced. Personally, I think of myself as “bold” or “gutsy”, both of which require a bit of crazy, don’t you agree?

So this is my chronicle of being UP ON THE ROOF. I have no idea how long I will live in this tent. I’m not coming down until I come down. If that statement makes sense to you then you probably understand me a little bit. I hope you’ll learn as much about yourself from this journey as I am about to learn about myself.

 Carol is now UP ON THE ROOF!

FOLLOW HER BLOG:www.upontheroofwithcarol.org

 

She's indeed living in a tent until

 

1 million people tell her what they're doing to change their world and send $1.00 to

Fabric of Life Foundation

a 501(c)3 nonprofit

Hello dear friends!

 

 Yes, you read that right....I'm now living in a tent on the roof of our Foundation's non-profit fair trade boutique in downtown Edmonds, WA untilONE MILLION PEOPLE each send me $1.00

 

 AND EQUALLY IMPORTANT....when you send a dollar, tell me what you're doing to make your world a better place.  "YOUR WORLD" might be within yourself, your family, your neighborhood, your community, your state, another country -- whatever "world" you choose.

 

 It's easy to be overwhelmed by the enormity of issues we face. We find ourselves thinking "what impact can one person possibly have?"

 

 So I've decided to "shout from the roof top" how people are making a world of difference.  One person.  One action.  One dollar at a time.   

 

I've choosen to live in a tent to bring attention to the issues and celebrate the good being done in our own communities and around the world.  Send your dollar and I'll "shout from the roof" what you're doing to make this world a better place.

 

And EVERY DOLLAR goes to the 501(c)3 Fabric of Life Foundation for programs that support women, children and their communities both in developing countries and right here in the U.S.

 

Please contribute ~ just click on the "GIVE NOW" button right on this page.  (Pls note a 7% admin fee applies to donations on this page) OR you can mail me a check to Fabric of Life Foundation P.O. Box 547  Edmonds WA 98020 with no admin fee.

 

 WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Follow me UP ON THE ROOF on our blog www.upontheroofwithcarol.org 

THANK YOU!

 

Carol Schillios  

 

(Questions?  Email me at c.schillios@verizon.net or feel free to call me at 425-478-6711

Sewing for Sleepovers

I spent a few hours each week in April and May preparing for and teaching a 'sewing for sleepovers' class for second through fifth graders.  It was fun!  The group sewed and stuffed pillow liners and then made knotted covers from fleece or wool melton. They   added little pockets to the front of their pillows to carry stuffies which they also designed and made. 

A few examples of their creative work!

   

The group especially enjoyed digging through my scrap box of fabrics, felt, sequins, buttons, beads and cut shapes and I was very impressed with the variety of ideas they came up with.

We made small bags to hold toiletries - here's my (rather wrinkly) class sample:

We finished it all up by decorating canvas tote bags with fabric paint, felt shapes and buttons and packed them full of our handmade goodies.

boys with painted nails

I'll allow myself one more post with some final favorite pictures from Rwanda, then resume normal service, such that it is.  Staring out at the bleary gray sky of a February Friday in Seattle, the country of Rwanda seems a very long way away.  But one of the many things my visit taught me was that the world is now a very small place and we, in the comfort of our homes in the West, have few excuses for not making an effort to bring change and hope to the lives of those less fortunate than we are. And a small commitment goes a very long way - words and thoughts are as valuable as all the material paraphernalia we drown in.  I've just finished stuffing all my excess yarn into a USPS box to send to the girls in Rwanda to feed their passion for knitting (which I fully understand!).  I hope that it will reach them in a month or so - Priority Mail is meaningless on the African continent. I added in a note from all of us here to let the kids know that they are loved and in our thoughts daily.  I feel as if my family has grown.

power's out again

the chicken house - 100 eggs a week is a good source of income

some of the villagers near Urukundo Home

1. impala, 2. african plains, 3. safari, 4. zebra, 5. water buffalo, 6. john paul, 7. tortoise, 8. baby giraffe

The mosaic shows a few shots from our big day out to Akagera National Park; we had a Toyota Landcruiser and driver (apparently the vehicle of choice for any sort of serious driving in Africa).  There were 10 of us all squished in the back of the car - a group of 5 misungu (white folk), one interpreter and then four kids from the Home.  Mama Arlene always tries to send some of the children on trips like this one since most of them have never had the opportunity to travel any sort of distance within their own country.  We took two girls and two boys and set off at 4am, arriving at the park around 7.30am.  Dawn and dusk are the best times to see wildlife but we didn't do badly at all as we wove our way northwards through the park over the course of the next 12 hours.  The road was a bumpy dirt track which really took its toll on the old bones by the end of the day. Our guide, James, was incredibly knowledgeable and spoke perfect English for us and Kinyarwandan for the kids so we were all able to learn a lot about what we were seeing. We had our lunch sitting on a high plateau which gave us a panoramic view of the grassy plains and savannah of Rwanda and across the lakes into Tanzania. Amazing. We wound up our adventure by taking the kids out for dinner in a hotel on the way back, which happened to coincide with the Obama's inauguration which was being show on satellite tv - so they got to see that too. It felt like a perfect ending to the day....

mamas and their babies, Kigali market

leaving Kigali - mud brick homes

Sing them Home

  Wednesday 10th December, 7.30pm 

Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., Lake Forest Park

We're all excited to go and support our friend Stevie as she discusses her new book tomorrow night! The event is open to all, so try and work it in to your schedule if you're in the Seattle area! 

ArtFiberFest

 

My ArtFiberFest 2008 confirmation arrived! I'm VERY excited to go, not least because I'll get to spend time with an inspirational group of women doing crafty things! It will take place the end of October at Fort Worden on the Olympic Peninsula, and we'll be staying in the dorms onsite. The theme is 'animal parade' - I love the painted rhino attached to the invite.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, little brother! 

words of wisdom

' I think most of our problem is essentially man made problem. I think man here, I think really means man. Women may be less trouble maker. I think except in the family, in the home, sometimes women are really trouble makers, but I think on global level I think man, truly, I think, trouble maker. So in anyway, many problem essentially our own creation. Therefore, logically, we must have the ability to eliminate these problem or at least to reduce these problem. '

the Dalai Lama, Seattle, April 2008

This weekend

Spring trunk show

I did my first trunk show yesterday evening - and although it was pretty quiet and steady, I sold a number of kits and learned a few things along the way.

My bunnies sold well - they're a good addition to the Easter basket phenomenon. We don't really do that in the UK, so I'm not going to buy into it now we live in the US. It feels like added commercial pressure, when all the kids really want is an Easter egg hunt and a meal with the family. Of course, in my book, some of this is pretty essential, actually quite a lot of it, especially the maya gold which is to die for.

Next tasks are to get my little etsy shop up and running and to make my website functional - a daunting task but one which is in the capable hands of a very nice internet wizard lady. I bow before her. Wrestling with typepad is my limit.