like it or lump it

Handmade Arcade

2011-04-14T13:05:00.004-04:00

Come out this weekend and see me and my Lumpkins at the

HANDMADE ARCADE!!!
DL Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.

This Saturday April 16th, 2011

11am-7pm

I'll be at booth #98.
Hope to see you there!

SHOP UPDATE

2010-10-12T09:44:00.005-04:00

SHOP EARLY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!

I was hoping to be done with this update last night but it's taking forever! I still have a few more dolls to list, lots of Lumpys and tons of knit produce! Check back in the shop soon. It's been so long since I've blogged- I actually forgot how to post a picture for a second- that's bad.

Creative Ventures

2010-06-25T13:50:00.010-04:00

Summer cooking has been a challenge. I hate cooking in the heat. But my new favorite thing to do for a quick easy meal is the giant family sandwich. It's basically a whole foods focaccia bread cut in half and filled with whatever I have on hand. Avocados, hummus, greens, tomatoes, broiled tofu. I just like to make sure the bread gets toasted first and there needs to be some kind or dressing- either hummus or Goddess dressing (our favorite) because I really pile on the greens.
In unrelated cooking news- the pink batter was yet another failed attempt to make a pink strawberry cake. An entire cup of fresh beet juice didn't do the trick. I'm at a loss. But the cake tasted great anyway.

M2's Summer sweater is finished. Its made with Lorna's Laces sock yarn. I did a little wave pattern on the bottom and a little ruffly hem and short sleeves. I happened to find a matching cotton ribbon in my vintage stash so I forwent any buttons. I love the way it turned out. I'm not very experienced with skinny yarns so it's always fun to get some practice.

New curtains for the front window. I actually went out and bought new fabric for this project. It was really nice to go out and buy some brand new fabric for once. Not something that someone else discarded in a salvation army pile. Not having to choose from the relatively limited selection of sustainable fabrics available. Just perusing the endless bolts at a huge fabric store is very therapeutic. I miss that sometimes. And I guess it's ok to indulge every once in a while. Like Icelandic dark chocolate- maybe it's not organic or fairly-traded but it's so pretty and it tastes so good!

It's been a little while since I have spun anything so I decided to spin some yarn up for C3's Summer sweater. I haven't chosen a spinning wheel yet (still welcome any advice on that matter) so I broke out the ole' kick spindle for the occasion.

I got 10 oz. of fiber (also Lorna's) on sale at my local yarn shop. I'm trying to spin it pretty thin so it creates a sweater suitable for Summer.

And last but not least- I've cut out my fabric (also bought for this specific purpose) for another Frock by Friday. It's a really cheap homespun cotton. It's very light and almost gauzy but not sheer. I think it's will be great for the dress which calls for flowy materials. I can't bring myself to buy synthetic fibers ( I don't know- they feel so weird on my finger tips). I was so happy to find this airy cotton in such a nice woven color combination. This is what I'll be working on over the weekend.
I'll post recap from our first official week of Summer this weekend too.
See you then!

Summer Parenting

2010-06-15T15:43:00.006-04:00

We are officially on Summer vacation here people! I am equal parts relieved and terrified. We spent this morning (the girls and I) vegging out for a bit and then we buckled down and planned our Summer routine. (I think I just felt me readership drop off slightly- wait it gets worse- there's a schedule).

Most Summers I would just go with the flow and take it easy but since my two oldest daughters are having some minor difficulties getting along with one another, I think it best to keep them as busy as possible- for as long as possible. Otherwise the Summer 2010 was slated to be remembered as the one when M1 annihilated M2 (or visa versa).

Don't let the smiles fool you

Hey! Don't look at me- Grandma is the one dressing them like triplets!

I had each girl make a list of things they wanted to do this Summer. Luckily there were a lot of overlapping activities on their lists despite their apparent hatred for each other. We decided on a loose routine for our semi-structured Summer days.

6-8:00 am. wake up (kids first, parents last)
8:00 am. eat, brush, dress

9:30 am. leave the house for one of the
following activities:

- museums (mostly the ones we are members of)
- library (once a week)
- exploring Pittsburgh (I want to see all the different neighborhoods!)
- parks
- or stay in for crafts on some rainy days
12:00 pm. swim team practice? (we're going to try it out- not sure they'll be into it?)
1-3:00 pm. lunch, nap, rest, MAMA TIME
3:00 pm. back outside- walk, bike, farmer's market, park
5:00 pm. start dinner
6:30 pm. dinner
7:00 pm. pawn kids off on the other parent until bedtime.

You know, the baby years were great- having all the kids so spread out in age was easy- I laughed at people who had their kids one year apart- thinking they were insane. But now as I'm trying to think of ways to simultaneously occupy a 10, 6 and 2 year old I'm not so sure I had it right after all.

So basically my plan is to exhaust these kids so they don't have enough energy left to drive me crazy. The only flaw I see in the schedule is the "rest" period for M1,the oldest, while the other two are napping. Hopefully a couple hours of quiet reading time will be welcomed by her after a morning of activities. But if she's bored I might have to incorporate some larger ongoing projects/crafts for her.

Of course, if you know me at all, then you know that this entire schedule will actually be pushed back by about one hour due to my "having no concept of time".

And I reserve the right to cancel any or all plans based on observances of the
following:
-tantrums thrown by children at any point in the day,
- inclement weather, acts of god,
- traffic jams, inconvenient construction zones, making wrong turns,

and of course cancellations may be made as a result of my
-headaches
-caffeine depravity
-or general shift of mood (hormonal or otherwise).

I'd say theses kids are all set to have a great Summer-
at least 75% of the time.

And here's to us surviving the other 25%!
Cheers!
glug glug glug...

Good luck to you on your Summer parenting adventures too.

New Old Pittsburgh No.2

2010-06-03T15:50:00.009-04:00

Here's another installment of my new favorite hobby.
This view shows a corner just a few blocks down from my house. I love the old photo so much. Look at all that open space back in Friendship. I love the dapper looking gentleman walking in front of the long since vanished row homes on the left. And of course the tiny sliver on the right showing a woman holding a basket dressed head to toe in dark folds of fabric in August of course! But my very favorite part are the two little girls captured in time right in the middle of it all.

I really want to recreate this photo with my little lumpkins someday soon.

Old photo: Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection,
1901-2002, AIS.1971.05, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
New photo: Google Maps Street View 2010

Wait a minute! There are new apartments on that corner now!
That Google view must be from 2008? Whoa. I definitely need to take a current shot of that corner.
To Be Continued...

New Work

2010-06-02T14:22:00.004-04:00

I've been working on a couple things lately. I decided to make the girls each a Summer/Spring sweater. Here is M2's...

It's Malabrigo Organic Cotton. I was going to follow a pattern for the sweater but that ended up being too much of a pain. I'm still not sure I like the collar. I might have to redo that one.

Also I shipped my Monster#2 sweater off to it's new home in Australia. I made a cute little storage bag for it with my serger. I've been wanting to make these little bags for quite awhile. My sweaters are such an investment/ heirloom I want to make them even more special.

More soon I hope...

A little Quiet time

2010-05-30T15:28:00.010-04:00

Is the weekend over yet? I'm dealing with some very irritable little people here lately. I'm not sure if it's the weather changing or the end-of-school-year-restlessness, or maybe I just miss having a babysitter for these little monsters once in awhile. Whatever it is- I am going insane.

My favorite time of day is bedtime lately- unfortunately now one of my kids (ahem, M2) is an insomniac? So, she's sleeping upstairs in our room with us and the other kid who is literally draining the life out of me one swig of milk at a time.

The later the kids get to bed- and believe me it's impossible to get them to bed lately between the insomnia and that pesky sunset- the later I have to push MY bedtime back. That makes for a cranky mama.

So in the late night hours I sewed my frock. That was fun. I took the opportunity to try out ways to use my serger in the construction of a garment. Very professional looking, I must say. I tried and failed once again to use my buttonhole foot- unsuccessfully as ever. So I opted for some temporary sew-on snaps until I figure that out. I also decided to just gather the entire front of the bodice at the yoke instead of the pleats the pattern called for- since I chose a plaid with such obvious lines. The gathers also do a better job of disguising what I like to call my "modern mama one-sided nursing"- meaning the fact that I only nurse from the left side anymore because I need my right hand to do other things- so yeah, that's a little odd looking. Anyway, here it is- oh yeah I went with a shorter tunic length too.

As you can see I chose to do a contrasting yoke too. I like the little sleeve flap folded rather than not. All the fabrics were vintage scores from the Salvation Army Sale last month. I like the was it turned out. And most of all it way really fun following a pattern again and stretching my brain a little to figure out what was going on with the instructions. I will definitely do it again in the future and YOU should too!

Well, someone is yelling at me about flip-flops right now so I guess my quiet time has expired. I'll just leave you with this happy shot of the birthday boy from yesterday. If you ever tell him you saw this picture here, there or anywhere for that matter- it will surely mean the end of both YOU and I- so bite you're tongue!

I sometimes wish I hadn't grown up thinking he was sooo cool. But alas, I did. Even in a pink birthday crown.
Aw man, cracks me up!

A Frock By Friday

2010-05-26T16:27:00.003-04:00

Tonight I'm going to play catchup on this...

A Frock By Friday

sewing something for myself- won't that be nice for a change?

Art Star Recap

2010-05-20T13:19:00.010-04:00

Well we are just about recovered from the events of the past few weeks (the prepartions, the traveling, the show). Aside from the insane wind on the first day, the weather was amazing last weekend. I was really happy with my booth by about 4:30 on Sunday when I finally had everything set up the way I wanted it. You'd have to ask my SIL to be sure but I think I was asleep for the entire first day. I sort of let her communicate with the customers as well as recieve any complements that rolled in. Sometimes it's hard for me to do that stuff especially if I haven't slept well in a week. Mostly a lot of sloppy silly sentences would have spewed out of me if I had opened my mouth on that first day.

After the show was over we had tons of great food on both days. Saturday we stopped for chinese food- which is something we have given up on lately because Lancaster/Pittsburgh have really bad vegetarian options. But China town is awesome. We ate at Singapore Vegetarian and I can't wait to go back there again when we are in Philly this July. Yum! I got the Pepper "Steak" and it was so good. On Sunday we stopped at Govinda's on our way out of town for the "Chicken Cheese Steak". Also very tasty, although I probably could have eaten five of them-
I was hungry Ok? Long weekend.

The biggest let down of the weekend was not being able to put up the whole display the way I had imagined it. It was just too windy to have the wall of my tent up, so i couldn't put up my cute little sweater gallery display that I was planning. Someday

I'll have that all up and running to show you.
The best part of the weekend was meandering around the bazaar with my little M2. She was having a meltdown extraordinaire so I took her for a little walk. We got to see all the other vendors and pick out all of our favorite treasures. She was so nice to spend time with once she calmed down a little from all the excitement of the trip.

For most of the time Whatshisface took the kids around to see all the sights of the city like the Liberty Bell, Old City, Museums. He even got C3 a little Betsy Ross hat so she wouldn't burn in the bright sunlight.

C3 Snuggling with her new Tigerflight squirrel "Sophie"

We made some purchases. M1 and C3 got some sweet new plushies from Tigerflight.
M1 with her new owl.

M2 got a little Timmy the tadpole from So Softies complete with his own sweater. Of course M2 then proceeded to ransack my inventory and dress Timmy up in one of my Dolly Seamonster Hoods. Evidently I now make Timmy the Tadpole gear knockoffs?

Timmy the Tadpole in his octopus costume.
And of course the weekend wouldn't be complete without a surprise visit from my parents. M2 was especially happy for some quality Popop time.

M2 with Popop behind the booth overlooking the Delaware River

Many thanks to all our friends and family who came to support us this weekend. And of course thanks to all the wonderful Philly customers. We had a really great time.

ART STAR

2010-05-14T23:42:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow morning I will awake at 3am and depart on a 5 hour drive to Philadelphia with three little girls, my SIL and WhatsHisFace. Not to mention a Caravan loaded with Lumpkins!

If you're in Philly this weekend come see Lumpkin at the

ART STAR Craft Bazaar

Saturday and Sunday from 11am-6pm

at Penn's Landing Great Plaza

ASCB 2008 from the Art Star flickr page
There will be 100+ of the best artists and crafters around,
tons of live music,
and best of all- BEAUTIFUL weather all weekend!

I'll be at booth #23... See you there!

New Hobby

2010-05-03T21:07:00.007-04:00

I have become obsessed with researching the history of my neighborhood lately. I'm really hoping to find some old pictures of my house somewhere out there but in the meantime I love searching for old pictures of Pittsburgh in general and comparing them to Google street view pictures. I thought I'd post some here on the blog from time to time. I used this website to find the historic photos. It's really addictive.

This first installment shows my neighborhood 82 years ago. Garfield still has lots of wide open space back on that hill today but it's amazing to me how rural the old picture seems. In actuality there is still not much going right there in the present as you can see.

It's funny because I keep wanting to scroll around the old pictures and change my view as if I'm looking at the Google version. If only I could.

Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, 1901-2002,
AIS.1971.05, Archives Service Center,
University of Pittsburgh

Progress

2010-04-24T14:04:00.007-04:00

I'm not usually a Saturday blogger so I'll make this brief.

Here are some shots from the week and my progress so far.

1. Knitting and dying with organic cotton...

2. Made a new paper doll friend...

3. Finally got a serger lesson at the dealer
and got some rolled hems done...

And I managed to do all that while this one was a clingy snotty little mess all week.

She actually chased me down with her little "sack" {sling} and gestured for me to wear her on several occasions. Now that's just pitiful- how could I say no? Especially considering it won't last much longer- I mean look at her she's huge!
But it sure is hard making dinner with a little monkey on your back.
Luckily we have Spak for days like that.

see you soon:)

tiny apple tutorial

2010-04-19T14:09:00.015-04:00

So, I ordered some mini wooden apples (1/2") recently from American Woodcrafters Supply Co. These will be used in my little Lumpkin hobo bags. In the past I've bought them already finished from the craft store and they were rather expensive. I opted to buy the unfinished apples from AWS and saved a whopping $2.55! Amazing. Well just imagine if you were making a million of these!
Then you could save... $25,000!

And when the time comes that you need to finish 1 million tiny apples you know where to turn for a tiny apple finishing tutorial that actually provides very, very little information at all.

{Feel free to send that check for 25K on over to Lumpkin... your welcome.}

the end

I was going to write about something else... I swear

2010-04-16T20:33:00.007-04:00

Since my last post the dog fur has begun to inch up the walls here in LumpkinLand. Clearly I have not stopped Lumpkining just yet. Surely this weekend will be the time for that. {Yeah right, my family is like a tornado on weekends- I spend most Monday's in my PJ's clearing out the aftermath}. I really have no idea when the house will be clean again. And I hold out no hope, for now.

There is just too much excitement around this little factory here. My order from Spoonflower is shipped and will be here in a matter of days. Happy, Happy, Joy Joy!
Here's another little snippet from that order...

That will be used for a lovely little surprise I hope to reveal soon after my fabric arrives on my doorstep. ( I know, I know, my resident etiquette expert already informed me that the silverware is misplaced.
What can I say? Lumpkin's aren't fussy?)

Also on the front burner- I'm hoping to do some fabric dying this weekend for use in some updated Maezy dresses. Remember those?

The new version combines organic cotton knit with my batiked organic cotton. I'm planning on making them in micro batches of around 6 at a time. Hopefully I'll have more on that towards the end of next week {ahem, by year's end}

I really was going to write something different tonight. I was hoping to post a ridiculous tutorial about finishing tiny wooden apples. It's such a ridiculous tutorial, in fact, it almost a tutorial parody. And I wouldn't for the world want you to miss out on that {sarcasm}. So I'll post it on Monday.

In the meantime I'll leave you with this link to a video produced by the local PBS Network (WQED). It's a half hour all about my neighborhood here in the 'Burgh. Just in case you want to move here someday (you know who you are) or maybe you're just curious.

New Old Fabrics

2010-04-12T10:54:00.011-04:00

This weekend was all about the fabric. I spent most of last week designing and tweaking some fabrics to print with Spoonflower. I wanted to design my own hankies to use for these fun Lumpkin hobo sacks I've been selling for awhile.

I designed this hanky in four colors and it is right at this minute being printed on 100% organic cotton sateen over at Spoonflower...

I have a bunch of new little treats to fill in the sacks too. I'm really pleased with how these little bindles have evolved. They are very popular at craft shows since they are so inexpensive and sweet. So I'll be making LOTS of these for Art Star.

.............................

In other fabric news- My SIL and I went to the Salvation Army Fabric Fair on Saturday and let me just tell you I got a crazy amount of fabric for the amazing price of $35.00! Crrrrazy!

There are at least 40 yards of fabric here. It was AMAZING! I can't wait for next year. They are so efficient there with the tables and the check out. They had tons of notions, patterns and yarn that I didn't even bother looking at due to my already overstimulated head. Plus they had huge bolts of fabrics for sale too. I'm just so happy to have such a great source of good vintage/ second hand fabrics to use for Lumpkin so close by.
Some of the fabric contents are a little suspect. They had them on the tables marked COTTONS, but I may have to put them under the microscope and see for sure.
...........................

I also sent this design over to Spoonflower. I might not have time to make much with this print for Art Star but I will surely be offering these as fat quarters there. It's a very cute watercolor Lumpy combined with my new Lumpkin colors.

Everything is coming along nicely. Now I just have to figure a way to keep up with this Lumpkin work and clean up my house for an upcoming visit from family in a couple weeks. Ha! somethings gotta give soon. I have a feeling I'll have to lay off Lumpkin for a couple days in favor of some clean toilets and fur-free floors.
I'll be back later this week!

Easter and such

2010-04-05T20:26:00.009-04:00

We had a nice Easter week off of school. The gals and I went back to Lancaster for the week and M1 got to visit her old school for a day. She loves those people so much and they love her too.

old friends in tiny chairs

We had our Easter/Spring fun on Saturday instead of Sunday since we were coming back to Pittsburgh on Sunday. It was a really nice holiday. Lots of family and fun. The girls hunted for eggs at the Liederkranz and then we had a huge dinner at Grandma and Pop pop's complete with 3 birthday cakes for all of the March/April birthdays. It was hilarious singing HaPpY BiRtHdAy so many times.

hunting with the birthday boy- Papa Louis

Nobody parked in the driveway so the kids hat lots of space for bikes, boards and a little chalking.

daddy terrifies my just a little

We had a lots of fun but it's good to be home. I'll be sewing/knitting/drawing up a storm for the next month in preparation for this year's Art Star Craft Bazaar held May 15-16 at Penn's Landing in Philly. That's right- you heard me- Art Star.
I FINALLY got in after applying for a million years. Therefore I feel especially obliged to make it worth their while. I'll be making a bunch of new items and updated a few old ones. I'm also working on revamping my tags and packaging and snazzing up the display a bit. Cohesive lumpkin branding- let's say it together now- Co-he-sive. Pretty exciting! I'll post on my progress later on this week.
Until then it's back to the lumpkin factory... Suh!

newly updated

2010-03-25T22:23:00.006-04:00

I added a couple of items to the shop today including this magnetic paper doll.

It's printed on 85% pre-consumer recycled magnet and laminated on top for durability. The whole sheet is uncut and approximately 5x8".

This is my first paper doll colored digitally (usually I go with water colors). This little lady originally debuted back in December for a swap I did. I updated her (mostly because I failed to save the original- DOH!). On the up side
I WAS able to cram a couple more little items into her sweet Lumpkin wardrobe/ accessory stash (seamonster!).

I haven't yet named her. I think I'll wait until she has a couple of friends.
Oh yes- there will be more.
There always are.

spur of the moment

2010-03-24T22:25:00.007-04:00

Usually when M2 begs me for a playdate after her halfday of Kindergarten I immediately say "nope". Actually she knows better than to even ask because that's when I get most of my work done while she and the baby are napping after school. So yesterday when she begged to go to the Children's Museum with one of her favorite friends we were both shocked when I said YES!

But first... lunch,

and then we were off...

C3 smocked up for the first time-
she loved it for a whole 30 seconds...

this new gem allowed the kids to make wacky faces
(my little wackos are on the bottom row)
that were then projected on a huge wall.
It was HILARIOUS...

And finally the new Pittsburgh exhibit is awesome! You have to see it. Sometimes the changing exhibits are a little hit or miss (ahem- Bob the Builder?) but this is great. So entertaining and engaging for a wide range of age groups. It is really well planned and executed.

and totally worth missing a nap for.

Luxe Lumpy Pod

2010-03-15T14:19:00.008-04:00

I just listed three of these in the shop this weekend. I've been working on these little Lumpkin playsets for awhile. In 2008 they were in their own little tote with all of their accessories- they were a big hit. I sold out at craft shows before I ever had a chance to list them in the online shop. This past Christmas 2009 I debuted the pod style of the less "Luxe" version made of recycled cottons and wools and again they sold out immediately in one day! I sold this "Luxe" version in an unfinished form at last Summer's Crafty Bastards but they were missing the pod (I hadn't invented that yet) and they had no pillows either. So I finally finished them and here they are...

Hand-batiked Organic Cotton Lumpkin
Wool stuffing
Hand-embroidered...

Hand made mini quilt reverses to an embroidered place setting.
Pink/Burgundy pillow.
Recycled wool Pod dwelling.

Mind you, this is not the traditional habitat for Lumpkins (they usually live in hollowed out gourds) I think of this as more of a Lumpkin camp out.

It really is a wonderful little mini playset to keep in a child's pocket or a mama's bag in case an emergency play session is in order.
Have I mentioned that I LOVE these?

cut ahead three months...

2010-03-11T11:53:00.012-05:00

... aaand here we are. It's been a while. I've finally settled into this Pittsburgh place and I'm starting to feel right at home. I've been waiting to come back to this blog until I was ready to come back for good. And here I am. Ready as I'll ever be. I'm hoping to blog at least 3 times per week. (new goal) I've been really busy working and planning lately. This week I'm going to apply to my first craft show of the year. I gave the blog and etsy shop a little face lift. I've begun to experiment with a new look for my product photography and I think I'm just about there. It feels good to peek my head out of the ground just in time for Spring. Doesn't it seem like Spring is the ACTUAL beginning of the new year? It sure feels that way to me. So let's just do a nice review of all the highlights from this crazy Winter that this little blog missed out on and then we will close that chapter and move on to the next season.

OK I'm going to try and jam as much as possible into this post so brace yourself for some montage action...

Let's see... where did I leave off...
Christmas?
It was a great holiday season for us. M1 and M2 were beyond thrilled with their new room. We surprised them with it on Christmas morning. I really have to take a picture of it now that its all decorated.

I've also been doing some new knitting. I've finished two new handspun sweaters so far this year. Here is a little taste of my new look for the Lumpkin line...

I've been using my backdrop from my craft show booth for the background and taking the pictures in the new room which is so bright and perfect.

We got tons of snow here in Pittsburgh and we managed to take a little wintry weekend camping trip with our favorite Ohioans...

Last month was the official start of the birthday season around here...

Right before my birthday this year I gave myself a pep talk about not being disappointed by another lackluster birthday as a grownup. Ha! Sorry but I really missed those parties and presents of my childhood- it still stings after all these adult years. Amazingly I was showered with gifts and love this year! Dunk got me my first serger! Woohoo! Such a surprise. It's a beauty. The girls made some beautiful things at school. M2 made a felted heart and M1 made a quilted sachet card. My parents even came out with a cake for me and a check to put towards my first spinning wheel (any input on which to choose is appreciated)! WHAT?!? That was crazy. Look out- 2010 is the year of the Lumpkin!

M2 turned 6 last weekend and we celebrated yet again! We took her to this crazy toy store and ice skating and ice cream. She loved being spoiled. The celebration at school was magical. She was looking so forward to wearing the rainbow crown and cape. It was beautiful. I made her a little doll bed out of a clementine crate for her special doll along with some new clothing. She was ecstatic!

Well I guess that brings us up to date now. Next week I'll be posting some new Lumpkin items in the shop and on the blog.

Until then...

Think Local First

2009-12-03T23:26:00.006-05:00

It's sure taken me long enough to announce my news but you know what- this time of year is CRAZY, am I right? So here it is-

THINK LOCAL FIRST!!!

(the Lumpys got a redesign just in time for the event-
They are now made completely from reused cottons and wools.
and I made cute little LOCAL banners just for SSBN event)

This year I'm proud to announce that my Lumpkins have again been chosen as the mascot for the SSBN's Think Local First campaign in Lancaster and York, PA. This year the event is HUGE! I made 80 Lumpys (that was insane) for the SSBN, which are now hiding in stores all around Lancaster and York. From November 27th- December 18th shoppers can buy a passport and button for the event.

(I got my passport at Dogstar Books on Chestnut St. in Lancaster and I saved $ on my book purchase!)

The passport gives people discounts at all of the participating businesses. When you find 25 Lumpkins hidden in the stores you are entered in an amazing raffle just in time for the Holidays. I'm really proud of this event and I love the passports so much. I had an opportunity to visit some of the stores and hunt for my Lumpkins over Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to heading back out this weekend while I'm in town for winter fair at SWS. Think Local First is so important for the holidays. I mean come on--don't you just find the mall so unappealing these days? So head Downtown or to your local Mainstreet this Holiday season and keep your money in your community!

OOooh Look here are the Lumpkins on TV!!

I MADE IT Jr. Market Sunday!!!

2009-11-19T11:00:00.006-05:00

I've been super busy working on a gi-normous Lumpkin event starting next weekend (more on that tomorrow I hope) But right now I have a different announcement...

If your in Pittsburgh this weekend come out to the

I MADE IT Market at the
Children's Museum from 12-4pm 11/22/09

I will be there with all my Lumpkin goodies just in time for your little lumpkins this Holiday season. There will be tons of great stuff on sale for the kiddos and isn't it about time you treated them to a visit to the museum anyway?

(here's a clue for the next event!)

See you there!

Mention you read about this on my blog and get 10% off your entire purchase at the event.

LancasterOnline.com:News:Towns unite to bring in shoppers

2009-11-09T15:52:00.000-05:00

Check out the story about this years Think Local First campaign and the Local Lumpkin in the Lancaster New Era today!

LancasterOnline.com:News:Towns unite to bring in shoppers

Halloween

2009-11-04T14:17:00.006-05:00

Well I'm just about ready to start back to blogging again. The house is almost completely moved into. However there is just one huge room holding us back from total contentment here in Pittsburgh. But more on that nightmare later. For now let's share some Halloween fun. I have really been enjoying reading everyones Halloween posts and I love the creativity of all the costumes out there especially the handmade ones ;) So here are this years costumes:

the littlest was a billy goat:

the older two went with a Wizard of Oz theme:

We really had fun decorating the house for our first official holiday here...

And for day of the dead we honored our loved ones with potato soup (for Kurt) and homemade peanut butter cups (for Nanny Nan). The girls made sugar skulls at the children's museum and we saw a shadow puppet play performed by a wonderful Spanish immersion schoo l for the occasion.

The girls enjoyed serving up the dishes on our altar. I like Day of the Dead so much because it's not celebrating the day your loved one was born or the day when they died it's celebrating their life and their memory. It's a great excuse to take a sweet melancholy trip down memory lane.

All in all I'd say it was a nice weekend. I hope yours was too.
See you soon!

Seamonster Collar Giveaway!!!

2009-09-28T23:46:00.004-04:00

I almost forgot. Kathy (one of my favorite woolie, beautiful baby-makers) over at While Tangerine Dreams interviewed me for the Etsy Fridays feature over on her blog. AND she's hosting a giveaway for one of my child-sized seamonster collars! Get over there quick I think the contest ends on Wednesday...

What are you waiting for? Go!!!!

Let's do the time warp again.

2009-09-25T14:15:00.003-04:00

It's been more than 2 months since my last post so I feel like I have a ton of stuff to share. Let's go in order of relevance for now and then maybe in another post we'll have time to reminisce about the Summer months that just flew past, am I right?

First of all, we moved to Pittsburgh two months ago as you know. This is what my street looked like yesterday afternoon, what's going on in your neighborhood these days? Pretty much constant sirens and helicopters yesterday and today. Yesterday saw 5 unmarked vans loaded with police in riot gear drive past my house. That doesn't happen everyday does it? So far the actually impact on us is a day off of school today.

Next on the list: Crafty Bastards. I can't believe I haven't gotten to share my excitement about being accepted this year. I'm very excited and somewhat terrified to be part of my first big outdoor craft show- and in D.C no less! I've sort of put cleaning and unpacking this house aside while I prepare for the show. I've been a knitting machine lately. I have a bunch of new sweaters, hoods, hats, and hopefully I'll get some sewing done this weekend too. I've spent a ton of time thinking about my booth layout so hopefully it won't disappoint the shoppers next weekend. By the way, go to their website and vote me Craftiest Bastard and I'll be eternally grateful to you.

I've set up my working area a little bit. Unfortunately it's in my bedroom temporarily as the girls bedroom is under construction so they are occupying my Lumpkin space for the time being. It's really not too bad- brightest room in the house that's for sure!

Well I'd better get back to work.
I'll try to post again next week and we can get all caught up.

MOVING SALE!!!!

2009-07-09T13:13:00.002-04:00

The Lumpkins are officially leaving this weekend. The movers come tomorrow morning.

Everything left in the house after they leave HAS GOT TO GO!
tell your friends!!!

*HUGE MOVING SALE*
Saturday July 11th
8am-noon

343 W. Lemon Street
(Across from Mandros)

We have a crazy amount of stuff to sell so please stop by. Tons of
SEWING/CRAFTING SUPPLIES
VINTAGE CLOTHING
TOYS
HOUSEHOLD GOODS
PAINTERS SUPPLIES
S/M Jr's/Misses CLOTHING
BOOKS
FURNITURE
GARDENING SUPPLIES

It's a crazy amount of stuff over here.
Meanwhile I still have some more packing to to before the movers get here! UGH I'll still be packing long after they leave I'm sure. Sunday we drive the truck out to the 'burgh so stop by if your around and bid us farewell! We'll be here cleaning up all weekend.
WISH US LUCK!

SPOONFLOWER HAS ORGANIC!!!

2009-06-19T07:39:00.004-04:00

Oh my goodness. My heart is actually racing I'm so excited. (Does that make me a weirdo fiber fiend?) SPOONFLOWER has finally included organic cotton as one of their options for custom fabric printing! Finally I will have the opportunity to use this incredible service! So what's been the hold up? Well, I've been on a self imposed hunger strike from buying new fabrics. Since September 12th 2007 (yes I know the date, it's been really hard OK?) Which means I haven't been able to partake in beautiful patterns like these from this gal, this guy, or this guy.

My fabric fast started out as a year long experiment but once my year was up I decided to make it a way of life. I now buy only vintage, re/upcycled, and if I buy any new fabric it must be organic or sustainable. Which basically means I've been scrounging around and living off my mountainous fabric stash that was accumulated in the pre-September 2007 days (also known as the Age of Decadence). Read this previous pos t to find out more about my decision to take a more sustainable route for my business and everyday life. And here's a good article about why fabric can be so damaging to the environment.

I really have no time to be doing any Lumpkin stuff right now ( shouldn't even be doing this, Shh!), but you can be sure I will be printing up a fabric design sometime this weekend. I can't put this on hold any longer whether my house is a wreck from the impending move or not. I've just been waiting too long for this! So look out for some new Lumpkin printed fabric to be incorporated into my Fall designs this year. And who knows, maybe I'll even start offering some Lumpkin supplies soon. I won't go over board though- I 'm still very committed to recycling fabric and keeping some of the worlds existing fabric out of the landfill. But there is something very appealing about creating the exact fabric you need for a project. Something with your name on it. And now their is an organic cotton option to do it. I love it! And FYI -all I want for Christmas, Mothers Day, birthdays, everyday is Spoonflower gift certificates. Consider it my permanent gift registry for life.
I'm really too excited about this huh?

Mmm Candy

2009-06-04T17:08:00.004-04:00

I have a bigger sweet tooth than any other person I've ever met (with the exception of one girl in junior high who I witnessed eat a entire bag of smartie rolls in one sitting.)
It's true, and so I'm sure I wanted the vegan candy bar giveaway more than anyone else and that must be why I won. Plain and simple.

My candy arrived today.

Bar #1 -down the hatch.
mmmm it was good.
I'll let you know what I think of the rest soon.

Garden 2009

2009-06-03T10:35:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post between packing and losing my mind. Here is the beautiful garden I'll be leaving behind in exchange for some ratty perennials , a measly carport and a BBQ joint constantly wafting smoke two doors down. I'm not bitter. I know it makes no sense to plant a garden when you aren't planning on being here for the harvest, but I love the garden so what am I to do?
Hopefully I'll be knee deep in an urban rooftop gardening oasis by this time next year;)

Moving update- estimated time of departure is set for July 11th!
Maybe we'll have a chance to taste some of these lovely veggies before we go.

Mama's Day Weekend

2009-05-11T09:11:00.009-04:00

It was a pretty nice Mother's Day Weekend.

On Saturday I took the girls for a little Mama time at the Herb and Garden Fair at Landis Valley Farm. We bought some tomatoes to plant in our back yard here in Lancaster even though we probably won't be here to see them harvested. (My brother better do some canning for me when he moves into this place!)
The weather at the farm was perfect

Yesterday we went to my parents for a huge lunch cooked by my brother. I was pleased to see that everything was vegan except the meat. That was so nice of him.

For my mother's day gift M1 and M2 made beautiful cards and planted me a flower and uD bought me Indian take-out from Taj, mmmmm:) I also got some lovely plants from my mom and my father-in-law.

For my mom...
I made these dresses/shirt for my girls to wear on Mother's Day. I used an old skirt of my mom's from when she was at her biggest weight. She's has worked so hard this past year to get healthy and lost tons of weight. She is a crazy workout queen and I swear she eats more veggies than I do. She's dropped something like 6 sizes!?! It's been very inspirational for me to start exercising again so I can be as strong as her someday.

I also made a little souvenir for her to keep from the old skirt, complete with the old size label as a reminder of how far she's come. I used this bird pattern which was so easy it's ridiculous.

Getting the girls to pose for a nice picture for Grandma in their new dresses was the hard part...
Happy Mother's Day !

Bag Lady

2009-05-06T10:19:00.003-04:00

I'm not the kind of girl who has ever carried a purse. It makes me cringe a little to even say the word- it's just so ...girlie. Blech! But I have always been a 'bag lady'. Since a very young age I have carried a large bag sometimes a backpack with me wherever I go. In this bag I keep the essentials of life. When I was a 'little bag lady' it was dolls and their accessories, my pennies, snacks, drawing supplies. These days I carry all the stuff I need for mothering, crafting, shopping, chauffeuring, and more. Everything I need fits into one bag. My moop.

the changing of the moops

Let me just say a couple of things about a moop. A year and a half ago I got my first moop for Christmas, the Fraulein Tote. It was simple, clean and new. It had tons of pockets. It was roomy and well constructed. I was thrilled. But I still thought- no, I would have never spent that much money on a bag for myself- even though you'd think that a self proclaimed 'bag lady' would at least splurge on a bag.

I carried that bag everyday for a year and a half. Everywhere. My moop has a special shelf of it's own in my house. My children know right where to go when I say "it's in my moop".

Last week the moops had a Seconds Sale over on their Supermarket site.
I paid nearly half price for a slightly imperfect older version of the Market Bag.
When my new moop arrived. I cleaned out my old one and took a moment to inspect the wear are tear that 18 months of constant use had inflicted on it. I'm amazed at how little wear there was at all. The fabric isn't faded or pilling. The seams are all tight and the stitching intact. the ripstop interior prevented anything from leaking through to the outside. None of the hardware was rusted, tarnished or even scratched for that matter? The only small bits of wear I see are at the bottom corners, but it's very slight and I didn't even notice it until after I had washed it in warm water (and I'm not so sure I was supposed to do that.)

Yesterday my oldest child saw me carrying around a new moop.

She said, "Oooo can I have your old one?"

I replied, "No way!"

"But what are YOU going to do with it now that you have a new one?"

"I'm going to keep them both."

"WHAT? That's not fair!"

"Listen, I had ONE measly canvas bag. Now I have TWO. They're my only luxury, and they're mine!"

Hey, when she becomes a full grown bag lady she can splurge on her own moop.
Believe me when I say it's totally worth it.

Newsflash!

2009-05-04T18:26:00.015-04:00

OK, let's get right in to it...

M1 painted this while she visited the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh last month

We are OFFICIALLY moving to Pittsburgh!!!!

At this moment we are planning the move and busy organizing all of our masses of junk.
I really want to take some picture of each room here nice a clean before I pack them up, that's how I'd like to remember this house- yes, I'm rewriting history just a tad- so what?!
My plan is to only box up the things in each room that we need and love. Then we will load the boxes on the truck and everything that remains in the rooms will head down to the 1st floor to a massive moving sale. Look out for that sometime in late-June/earlyJuly. Everything that remains will head to the Salvation Army and then we're off. (And I'll be wearing a huge flower on the side of my head saying things like "Honey, STop the foolishness!" the whole time:)

Enough about cleaning house, there will be plenty of that to come. For now, let's think back on the fun month we had here in Lumpkin Land. And let's do it with a whirlwind of photographs because I'm too tired/lazy to write too much about it.

I knit...
One measly sweater for the month of April. "Mapping", features Cosy's yarn, fits size up to 7-8.

and
some doll sweaters for my imaginary dolls
Both feature Rachel-Marie's hand dyed yarns

The little one played peekaboo...

The bigger one splashed in the sun...

a heat wave always brings out the wading pool.

The biggest one got her hair chopped...

12" headed to Locks of Love

Most of us gardened...

things are sprouting up already!

and We ALL raced...

April was fun.

I'll try to break May into smaller chunks;)

See you sooner...

Hello again

2009-04-06T09:09:00.008-04:00

Let's catch up shall we? March was crazy month.

On the day of my last post at the beginning of March, C3 thought it would be a good time to start crawling. And standing up. And driving me crazy. It's taken me a month to figure out a way to contain her to one area for most of the time while still allowing her some space to explore. Here she comes crawling over to me now:) My favorite baby age is that time when they can sit up on their own but they can't crawl away yet... with her it only lasted 4 days.
Four blissful days, and then she was off.
T.R.O.U.B.L.E

In some continuing education news, this past month I got myself a present with some of my birthday money. Here is my Little Meggie with my first kick-spindled yarn. At first I thought it was more even awkward than the drop spindle but now that I've moved on to my second attempt at kicking I'm really happy with it.

It's nice to have both hands free for a little while before I have to wind it on the spindle. I think the yarn is more uniformly spun too. Eventually when I grow up and get myself a real spinning wheel the girls will have a lot of fun with the Meggie. I actually got a nice chunk of merino roving recently to let them practice with the drop spindle soon. M1 has been especially interested in my spinning lately since she's doing her farming unit in school this year and they have spent a lot of time discussing different fibers and textiles.

In March I also managed to finish three new sweaters. Two of which feature Rachel-Marie's Autumn Patchouli handspun yarn. The most beautiful yarn!
One of which has already been sent to it's new home in Canada....
And this one that sort of matches...
And this one I made from a Hobbledehoy batt that I spun pre-Meggie...
So far I've made 8 sweaters this year! You can check out my progress each month in my Year of Sweaters flickr set.

Well, I think we're all caught up now. This month I'll be a better blogger, I swear. There will be lots of exciting things happening here in Lumpkin Land soon. Next week the girls visit the Pittsburgh school so we can finally decide if the Lumpkins will set up a more permanent shop there this Summer. And there are lots of other Lumpkin plans in the works too- as usual:)
We'll talk again soon...

Happy Bloggerversary to Me!

2009-04-04T12:09:00.002-04:00

OK, so I've been absent from the blog for about a month, but I swear I have a good excuse! More on that next week. I just want to announce that since yesterday was my 2 year bloggerversary I'll be participating in the Handmade in PA Blog Challenge and trying to improve my blog/brand as a result. So hop on over to the HiP blog and check out the challenge ( I don't think you have to be from PA either:) I'll be back for a real post on Monday... I promise!

Gifts, Gifts and more Gifts

2009-03-09T10:16:00.013-04:00

First of all, let's say Happy Birthday to M2 who turned five on Saturday!

She is such a fun-loving kid. She opened her presents and was truly surprised and thrilled with each and every one. She requested a strawberry cake with vanilla icing. I delivered. Keep in mind that home made organic vegan strawberry cakes and no added coloring are NOT pink. So her response was "Wow, nice...it's not pink, huh?" I think she (and the rest of the skeptics) were thrilled with the taste though. I should really write down the recipe before I forget it.

I still didn't manage to finish my doll for her but she will get the first one as soon as I finish them. I DID manage to make her a new Maezy dress in a print that she loves and a little matching dress for her doll. (Note my awesome ballooning skills.)

It was such a great day for her. She's getting to be such a big girl. Pretty soon she'll be in Kindergarten! Yikes.

And our gift receiving doesn't stop there.
I entered into one of the One World One Heart giveaways on the Pumpkinhaus blog. And I won! I couldn't believe it... I never win! I got this great 'little lumpkinmaus' figurine named Marcy (unrelated to my Lumpkin, but just as fun:) AND as a great surprise bonus Dani threw in some beautiful tye-dyed T-shirts and pinwheel barrettes for each of my gals. It was such a fun package to open. The girls got so excited about it. Here they are modeling...

and here's my new little Marcy paling around with one of M1's beeswax snails...

I think maybe Mr. Snail sleeps inside her little belly door at night when we go to sleep;)

And last but not least,
I picked up my new yarn from Rachel-Marie last week for a custom sweater order and it was beautiful as usual. It's my first time using the Autumn Patchouli and it's crrrrazy pretty!

I was happy to discover that she also gave me a couple more of her beautiful hand dyed yarns as a gift. I think I'll incorporate the purple into the sweater (pictures coming soon!)

I'll leave you with my (finally) finished Orange Frogfest sweater (also made with KDG yarn). It turned out really cute but MAN did it give me some grief. I would have to charge $500 to compensate for the mamahours I put into that thing, but it was a good learning experience.

Hopefully, I'll list it in the shop soon. (don't worry it won't cost that much;)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts we have recieved!
(And for my family that's reading this, check out this Chet and Edgar update.)

Jambone

2009-03-04T13:57:00.004-05:00

self taught;)

Snow day

2009-03-02T13:41:00.008-05:00

This morning the snow was slow to show it's face. First we had a 2 hour delay and then finally they announced school was canceled and at that, it began to snow. Sounds odd, huh? Even though it hadn't quite hit by school time, it was coming and the schools around here don't like to take their chances on parents and kids venturing out into slick conditions. And there was a Nor'easter coming! Personally I love snow days. I feel absolutely no pressure to do anything at all. I have no idea why and despite the fact that ALL of my days are technically free from the pressures of a traditional 9-5 job, a snow day puts me into a completely different mindset. Suddenly my kids are all home with me during the day (much like they were all weekend?- yes, but now there is no bickering, the girls are basking in the glow of freshly fallen snow, holding hands and snuggling- they're like best friends on a snow day.) And we sort of feel like pioneers. I don't even feel the need to go out and shovel (ok, so the neighbors hate me). So far today the girls ventured out into the backyard for some pre-sledding snow fun (drat! I promised to taking them sledding... might need to reconsider that one.) Afterwards they came inside for a hot bowl of homemade soup.

As for me, I'm trying to sort through the progress of all of my projects. Last week I accomplished almost nothing at all on the sewing machine, but there was this one thing. I had one piece of organic cotton sitting under the presser foot all week and I kept going to it whenever I had a chance- sewing this stylized wood-grainy pattern. It's the last element for a new batch of little Lumpy play sets I'm finishing up. I'll use the wood grained fabric to make the little totes.

I also blocked sweater #5 of the year. It's an actual boy sweater! I know, I was shocked too. I've struggled so long to figure out what to make for little lads. I'm pretty happy with the sweater. It's as close to camo colored as i plan on getting. I'm calling it Mossy Boss. In related news, sweater #4 of the year has taken a turn for the worse. That sweater has become the bane of my existence. I say that too often, but seriously it's driving me crazy. I always start a sweater out not really knowing where it's going, but that sweater is terrible, I've frogged the sleeves at least twice already and look out because here comes the third! i also have to redo the pod pocket and figure out something to do with the bottom of it (already been frogged once) I should call that sweater Evil Orange Frogfest. It's sure to be a hot seller.

Tomorrow I pick up my yarn for my first custom sweater of the year. I'm excited to go to LYS I haven't been there for a while and I have some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket.
For right now, I have a dirty diaper to tend to and new little bunch of batts that just arrived and are calling my name...
Happy snow day to all you Nor'easterners out there!

2009-02-25T07:57:00.010-05:00

We are back from a lovely week in Pittsburgh. I purposely didn't take my sewing machine along on this trip so I would be forced to have time to play with the girls (that sounded awful).
We went to the Children's Museum...and Phipps... and we ate ourselves into more than one food coma. It wasn't all eating out though. One day we stayed in and made two big pots of soup for UD to have in the freezer when we aren't there with him. I was having a very June Cleaver moment. We also got to see Lian and Terry and the triplets which was so fun. Here is C3 with 2 of the trips...

AND we made a couple trips to the yarn shop down the street. They were having a Presidents Day Sale so I stocked up on some organic cotton with which I promptly started making some miniature Maezy dresses for the still unfinished doll floating around in my head (so far it's a very well-dressed little imaginary doll).This week I'm hoping to dye some fabric to finish the dresses. Next Saturday is a big 5 year old birthday event so I'm hoping to get the doll design finished in time for the big gift!

Speaking of birthday's- yesterday was my 31st birthday. My mom made an amazing chocolate cake with peanut butter fudge filling (all vegan!). UD gave me this sweet pair of shoes (totally unexpected). They are summer shoes but I just had to try them on... M1 made me the nicest card...and M2 said "Happy Birthday Mama" every time she saw me:)

It was pretty great day even though I spent the better half of it at my great aunt's funeral. It was actually nice seeing lots of distant family members (although I'm usually too shy to converse too much). Seeing them all interacting and remembering my Aunt Presh, who died very suddenly last week at the age of 75, made me feel good. She was a very kind woman and she raised a really great (and huge) family. It was a beautiful event. At the lunch following the ceremony they broke out the beads from their Mardi Gras party and M2 announced "We're having a celebration!" as she danced around the room while everyone clapped (I'm not sure where I got her from). I actually agree with my daughter- funerals can be really nice celebrations and this one was a special way to spend my birthday too.

Slime and Sun

2009-02-13T09:45:00.016-05:00

Let's start out with a little something distasteful and grim for this Friday the 13th shall we?
Last night the baby got some sort of belly bug and she threw up all the contents of her belly (and then some). That really was so sad to see. I wanted to sleep with the light on just to watch her and make sure she was OK- that idea was vetoed. She wouldn't nurse she just sort of retched every 5 minutes and then passed out. Finally a few hours after her final hurl she woke me to let me know she was ready to refill the belly and so far she's been fine ever since. I just have this awful fear that we will all be stricken now. When M1 was almost a year old she got some sort of bug and did the same thing for a night and then a couple of days later I was in class at the time and I had to leave early because I felt so nauseated. I picked up M1 from her Nanny Nan's and rushed home to find that her daddy was home from work early too and we both were so sick that we had to call my parents to come get M1. I have a very vivid memory of my parents calling to check on us and we were both laying in a heap of filth and trying desperately to crawl (really crawling) out to reach the phone but we missed it. I have never felt as weak as that moment when I was stricken with the M1 plague as we call it. A couple hours later that night both sets of grandparents were all raging with the plague too. It was so horrible- always of reminds me of this classic tale. That was more than 8 years ago and every time one of the kids starts getting sick I'm still convinced it's the return of the plague! Well, how's that for a spooky tale of bile and retchedness?

Moving on...
Before the sad events of last night, we had a pretty nice week. We got a little preview Spring around here and it was very welcome. I actually got to take the little ones out without a jackets for some fresh air two days ago. C3 loved playing in her pen for a couple of hours. Babies find traffic noises to be calming I think. And M2 got to burn through some of her endless energy thrashing around in the sunshine...

As for the biggest Lumpkin, she made me very proud using my sewing machine for the first time ever. She's usually very reluctant and somewhat scared to try anything new especially if there is even a minuscule chance that she might hurt herself in any way. I knew she'd do fine. And her first project? Little surprise valentine pouches. We came up with the idea after a friend of ours brought these cute little felt pouches full of favors to her birthday party. We opted to use paper because it comes in lots of cool valentine patterns and it will be easier to tear open. I sewed up the sides will she was at school and when she came home she stuffed the them with stickers, tiny Nerd boxes (our favorite), and some tiny paper heart confetti. I explained how everything worked and she had took some practice runs on some scrap paper and then she took over and sealed each little pouch on the sewing machine all by herself. (proud much?)

Tomorrow we head out to Pittsburgh for "Mid-winter break" (it's some sort of Waldorf invention I think, and I love it). I'm not taking my sewing machine in an effort to pay some good ole' fashion attention to my own little pack of Lumpkins. Not that they need it or anything. I'm going to try out the vacation mode on Etsy for the first time. I'm also very confident that a weeks vacation will be enough to inspire me to list the rest of the items I've been stalling on for so long when I return.
On tap for next week
(and the reason why I'll likely gain 30 lb and develop a soy allergy if we move to Pgh):
vegan pizza
vegan ice cream
vegan blt
followed by
vegan belly ache
(see above)

I'm going to do a little Valentine post tomorrow if I get a chance.
See you then!

A Little Randomness

2009-02-04T08:57:00.010-05:00

I was tagged a whiiiile ago by this lady and more recently by this lady and by a bunch of people on facebook. So here are 8 random things about me that I'll share with you. Since I fear I've worn out my tagging welcome with most of my blog buddies, I'll just leave it open.

If you want to play along, please do.

#1. I always start projects in the middle. And I usually have no exit strategy if it blows up in my face.

#2. I dream of one day entering a quilt into quilt exhibition. (And have it accepted.) I already have my designs in mind, I'm just not brave enough to start yet.

#3. My three daughters middle names (Mary, Celeste, Nancy) are after their great/grandmothers who died soon before each one was born. Sometimes I imagine my daughters are the reincarnated souls of those women. Especially when I get frustrated with them. You can't really be too harsh with Grammy Cook-Cook, now can you?

#4. I avoided coffee for years because I feared becoming hooked. It's the same reason I never tried a cigarette. I was right about getting hooked. Oh so right.

#5. The self-reflection required to think up random things about myself makes me queezy.

#6. I have 7 dead houseplants "living" in my house right now. I have a black thumb over the winter months.

#7. I used to be on the swim team in high school and sometimes I think I'd like to join an adult team.

#8. One of my first purchases on Etsy was this clutch. Look familiar? After I had bought the original, Flamestitch recreated it for use in the Pretty Little Patchwork book. I didn't realize it, and when I saw the book I thought, wait a minute that's my bag. And when I looked at mine it was slightly different. So I sort of have a famous bag. I've always kept it on a shelf in my dining room because it's so cute. It makes me feel like I have good taste. Ha. I guess lots of people will have them now that the pattern is published :)

Right now I'm working on packaging up the buttons I made last week and as soon as I do, they'll be in the shop along with this...
and this...
and maybe some more.

Woo Pittsburgh!

2009-02-02T10:17:00.007-05:00

What a great game! I don't really follow football. But, once a year I can sure get caught up in the hype. Especially when it's Steeler hype and they push the win to the last 35 seconds! UncleDad (that's his new blog name since he wishes to be nameless) (you like that pal!?) was back in the 'Burgh just in time to watch the game and he called right after they won and held the phone out the window so I could hear the people on Penn Ave. pouring into the street cheering and honking.

Meanwhile, I'm here in Lumpkin Land doing my bi-monthly stint as the single mom extraordinaire. Last night while soaking in the hype, I managed to cast on sweater #4 of 2009 with my last precious stash of knittydirtygirl yarn. I'm trying to make a bigger size sweater for this one. Maybe a size 5-7. Though I never really know until it's finished.

In related a Pittsburgh news update...
I've officially sent off two applications to the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh including one for a certain Kindergardener (unbelievable).
We'll pay them a visit over Spring Break and see what the kids think.
And then I guess we'll just go from there.
If we were there now the kids would have had a two hour delay this morning.
You know, Steeler Nation and all. I kid you not.
(Another point to PGH)

Psst! Another shop update Wednesdayish...

Lumped Out

2009-01-29T18:17:00.007-05:00

I have been taking pictures and editing for the past two days and I finally accomplished a proper shop update today! I have so much stuff in my Lumpkin boxes that I just never list because it is soooo time consuming. It goes without saying that my children are beyond neglected right now, so no computer tomorrow!

Here's a sampling of the new things...

Lumpkin Recycled Notebook, $9.00
Wool Knit Lumpkin Tote, $22.00

I though they would make sweet little Valentine gifts for a little one.
Hey, it doesn't always have to be pink and red, right? Either way, you should really click over to the shop to see C3 in her first (sitting up) modeling gig in the lovely new TULIP bamboo sweater.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Another Lovely Giveaway!

2009-01-28T15:37:00.003-05:00

Julie over at Knitsational has put together a sweet little giveaway that is sure to put you in the Valentine's Day spirit. Anyone in the mooood for loooove... head on over and enter!

Sickies and Such

2009-01-27T15:46:00.007-05:00

Like almost everyone else I know, we've been a sick bunch here in Lumpkin Land. We've got the drippiest noses in town. The littlest Lump got it the worst. She spent most of last week bundled in the sling. Then she lost her voice and I practically broke my back carrying her everywhere. It doesn't get much more pitiful.

Aside from the illness, I got my camera cord back!!!!! Which means I've been a photo fool and I'll have so many things ready to list in my shop update TOMORROW! I have a bunch of sweaters that need to be listed including a brand new one in bamboo that reminds me of tulips. I also have a ton of balaclavas that should be listed if they want to get some use this winter.

In other knitting news, I've knitting up some tiny clothing for the dolls that I've been dreaming of in my head. I've only worked on the pattern for the bodies once- a couple of months ago. But the heads I've had knit up for the better part of a year and now I'm busy making clothing for bodyless dolls. I even know exactly how the faces will be embroidered- it's just the darn body construction that has me wondering. It's still a mystery, but I'm getting closer.
Her head is a knittydirtygir l sample batt that I spun up. The heads came out of wanting to find a use for the little leftovers of the fancy handspun yarns I use for my sweaters.

Today was a button making day. I have some bamboo that I dyed back when I did the last batch of batiks and I'm now in the slow process of spinning (very sloooow process). So I thought I'd make some buttons to match. I really like this funky pansyish set.
But my favorite ones are on the tulip sweater;) I made some extras to just sell as supplies (we'll see how that goes). Getting out the clay was fun but it means that we are living like slobs today. It's one of the pitfalls of working at home. Some days I'm very productive at making Lumpkin stuff but the house is wrecked by the end of the day. I'm sure some people manage to have it both ways but lets just say that those buttons are the only pretty things I have to show for today.

I have a couple games of tag to catch up on but I'll have to get to that next time...

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-01-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

Shop Update

2009-01-16T14:06:00.009-05:00

In an effort to make 2009- the year that I actually keep my etsy shop stocked with all of my wares- I'm proud to announce...

The first update of the year

Wednesday
January 21st 2009
8pm

here's a little preview...

And more...
plus some Valentine's Day items too!

See you there

www.littlelumpkin.com

Handmade Holiday

2009-01-12T14:27:00.006-05:00

Well this post is way late but I wanted to share my presents for the girls this Christmas. I was actually late giving M2 her present because my yarn arrived late but here she is in her new cropped flared pod pocket sweater (in her favorite colorway)- My first sweater of 2009.

So serious today?
I offered to make more tiers for it so it wasn't so cropped but she likes it this way.

And for M2 her very own hand drawn magnetic paper doll. M1 had the first of the paper dolls. Our washer machine in the kitchen is actually covered with misprinted custom paper dolls of other kids, so M2 was very excited to have her very own with some of her favorite outfits and some dream outfits thrown in too.
It came with a little magnetic board and a carry along tote too!
PS.
I just applied to my first craft show of the year. I won't get the news until March 2nd though! Ugh... Wish me luck!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-07T14:47:00.009-05:00

The Holiday roller coaster ride has finally come to a screeching halt. I am happy to resume life as usual around here. I love that time of year but it always feels like I'm teetering on the edge of a breakdown. It was a really simple holiday. Spent the Christmas week in Lancaster and New Years in Pittsburgh. This past week in Pittsburgh had me again considering the possibility of us moving there full-time. ALL of us. I always enjoy the weeks we spend there throughout the year and of course the whole summer, but I usually leave there feeling happy to get back to Lancaster. The main reason I've stayed in Lancaster has been M1's school. She loves her school and the family that they have grown into. However, it takes a half hour to get there and even with the carpool it averages a half tank of gas every week. Where would she go to school in Pittsburgh? Ok, so the Waldorf school is three blocks away.
Pittsburgh,1: Lancaster,0

The other main pain I have with moving is my house. I really like UncleDad's house and I think it would be a great home for us all full-time. I LOVE my home though. It's the house that Kurt died in and C3 was born in. It's my first home. This is my favorite neighborhood in Lancaster. My whole family spent months remodeling it for me. Yes, and lets not get me started on leaving my family back in Lancaster.
Score: Tied
I could think in circles like this for hours.
And I have.

But this past visit to Pittsburgh I really opened my eyes and looked around. I imagined what it would be like if we fixed up the house there. If we actually decorated and lived there instead of using it as a pit stop between UncleDad's work and Lancaster. I started to make a list of things that I felt would HAVE to be improved before we could all officially move in. Most importantly we reopened the conversation with M1 about the possibilities of change (her biggest fear of all). M2 is still young enough to not care about a move (aside from the impact it will have on her weekly donut dates with Pop Pop). M1 was very upset... for about a day and then all of the sudden she started to feel like she might be open to it after all.

Take a minute...PLEASE

2008-12-19T08:36:00.007-05:00

Let me just do my part here and encourage everyone to get involved with the effort to
SAVE HANDMADE TOYS IN THE U.S.A.
In less than two months time, small businesses like mine could be a thing of the past. Please take a couple minutes sign a petition or write to your congress person (preferably both). Click on the SAVE HANDMADE bear on the left side of this page to find out how you can help save my (and countless others) livelyhood.

For more information:

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

There's also a great etsy article and open letter.

Crafty Weekend Success

2008-12-11T10:43:00.009-05:00

First of all let me just say a great big thank you to everyone who came out this past Sunday for the first ever Local Lumpkin Look See in Downtown Lancaster. I believe the event was a big success! So thank you for Lumpkin hunting and for shopping local this Holiday season!
**************************
Now, you know it's a busy weekend if it takes you until Thursday to post about it. Yes, with two craft shows and a swap to get ready for, I was sure swamped (don't get the impression that I'm not still). City Art Market(CAM) was again a chilly success. There were so many more vendors this year and lots of handmade choices for all the shoppers. It was great seeing so many of Lancaster's craftiest out this weekend. Here's a picture of the booth set up, which was a hit. I bought another small 4' table for the event and I still felt too cramped. Maybe I need 2 of those? Expansion! Everyone was really nice and the booth was very well received. I don't even have a fraction of my items listed on ETSY so people are shocked to see all the stuff I actually have in stock. Me too sometimes. That's my favorite part of craft shows- looking at the whole collection of Lumpkin goods on display. It makes me feel like I've actually accomplished something when all of the little projects get added together into a mass. And as its fun to remember back to my first show (the one where I met Rachel-Marie and she introduced me to Etsy) with the little card table and a few paper dolls- and see how much the business has grown. Winter Fair was so nice this year. I actually made time to attend the adults only preview dinner. It was so lovely. Lorenz and I (+baby) got to sit in the "romantic seating" they had set up in front of the arched window on the landing. I wish I had a shot from that night it is so beautiful the way they set up the school with lights and trees and decorations. I just love it!

On Sunday is when the chaos ensues. The wild children of Waldorf take over the halls and the Holiday season officially begins with cookie cottages and crafters and good food and of course the pocket lady. I got to see a dear friend Erika Miller(Kurt and my German teacher from high school) and she got to meet C3 for the first time. It was so nice to see her, she is the best person with babies.The older girls also had a fabulous time with their school pals.I got to trade with a bunch of people for some Christmas gifts. Including some glass goodies from Keysha and I finally scored a Janell Wysock piece in exchange for this fun hood of mine. Here is Janell modeling it. (I really need to get a picture of my great new shrug too.)
Yesterday I finally finished up the stuffing swap and shipped out 8 little batiked Lumpy's to their new homes. When I was trying to think of something to make for the swap I couldn't seem to get the idea out of my head to make these and then I waited until last Thursday to start making them right before my craft weekend! It sounds like a nightmare but really enjoyed every bit of those little Lumpy's. I hope their new little owners enjoy them as much as I did making them. I made a little photomontage to remember our time together and bid them farewell.Well that's all for now.
Tonights projects include 5 loads of laundry,
making 7 assorted Christmas stockings,
mooching 1 dinner from Grandma
(and a partridge in a pear tree).

CAM, WinterFair, New Cards, and Stuffing Swap

2008-12-05T12:05:00.011-05:00

Whoa I feel really busy. But it's a good kind of feeling. I usually work very well under pressure. Actually I don't really know how I work without pressure because I have a habit of stacking all of my deadlines on the same day or in this case weekend. So yes, I have two show schedule for this weekend. And there is the big Think Local First Lumpkin event too. Luckily I can set up for both show the night before.

If you're in Lancaster this weekend I encourage you to attend BOTH of these events!
No really- it's crucial that you do so.

You certainly can't miss the over 60 vendors at CAM his weekend. There will be music and treats and plenty of handmade goodness to help you knock some items off the ol' Christmas list.

And then there's Winter Fair.If you have children, then you NEED to be there! It's the most magical holiday event in this region. I really mean that.
Also, if you attend these events you're likely to find me, and what more could you ask?

In other news, I got my new business cards from the Green Printer and they look amazing! As I expected, the paper is not quite as thick at my previous cards and they aren't quite at shiny, but they are really great cards and they appear to be very durable, bright, clear, just wonderful. I'm so proud of the design. It's very bright and busy and fun on one side and clear and informative on the other.

OK, no more time to dillydally.

With so much to do today, I'd better make a list.

Here's my schedule for the day:

Make advent calender(5 days late)- DONE
Finish making notebooks today- decorate tonight
Finish items for the Stuffing Swap
(I've been calling it that for some reason)
(I know I'm always the last one to
finish things, but they'll get there- I swear)
Print product photos for the booth display
Label and price a couple of items
Bake and Frost 2 dozen Cupcakes
Pick up the car from the shop
Set up the booth at Eastern Market
Buy a Christmas tree

I feel like there is something missing here, but it seems like such an outlandishly long list that I'll end it there. Oh wait-that's right...
Take a shower and burn these pj's in which
I've had two consecutive 'jammie days'

That oughta do it.

Last year as a single digit

2008-12-03T12:25:00.012-05:00

Baby M1
This past weekend was M1's 9th birthday. I can't even believe it. Nine years ago I had no kids and now that's such a huge part of who I am. I can't even picture what life was like before. M1 is my starter baby. The first one. The one who teaches you all about good mothering (and bad mothering) She was a happy sleepy chubby baby. Everywhere we went people drooled over her beauty. Once when we were at a drive-thru window the cashier looked in the backseat of our car and spotted a toddler sized M1 snuggled in her car seat and the lady looked truly amazed as she turned to Kurt and I and announced (in a disturbingly shocked tone) "My, you two propagate well, don'tcha?" Yes ma'am.

new parents with M1So in honor of her 9th big birthday, we took M1 and a couple pals rollerskating on Saturday and then we ended the party back at our house for some pizza and cupcakes. It was so much fun. Lorenz got her a pair of these new skates so we went out skating again on Sunday too. We are skating fools! I had forgotten how fun it is. Soooo fun.action shot
pizza goodness
We finished up the weekend with our traditional dinner at Ichiban on Monday (her actual b-day). We started going there forM1's birthday when she turned five which was the last birthday she spent with her daddy. So we've kept going every year. Kurt had painted the big light (in the background) with the japanese kanji on them to look like aged metal (really they are wood). So it's fun to showM1 and M2 a little something their daddy made beautiful.chopstick pro
And for her birthday I published one of her books that she had recently written/illustrated,
Oh The Love My Boy. She's been begging me to scan it into the computer for months and she was so excited and giggly when she opened it. She's such a great little person and she's getting to be a great big person too.
Happy 9th Birthday little lady.

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-11-26T07:32:00.000-05:00

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Local Lumpkin Look See

2008-11-25T08:09:00.005-05:00

(click the picture to zoom in-I'm really proud of these cards
even though they took me soooo long to make )

Think Local First Week starts in 9 days.
As a way to try and encourage people to Shop Local this holiday season, the Susquehanna Sustainable Business network and twelve businesses in downtown Lancaster are hosting a Lumpkin Hunt! For $2.00 you can buy a Button and Official Punchcard for the hunt. The button gets you tons of discounts to even more local shops. When you find the Lumpkin in the shop, you can get your card punched! After you fill your card with punches, you're entered in to a raffle for a great Local gift pack! The buttons are on sale at these twelve businesses;

Building Character, 342 N. Queen Street
Isaacs Downtown, 25 N. Queen Street
j.a. sharp, 322 N. Queen Street
Dosie Dough, 323 W. Lemon Street
Mommalicious & Smilin’ Gal, 310 Queen Street
Wish You Were Here, 108 W. Orange Street
The Starvin’ Artist Café, 106 W. Orange Street
Eastern Market, 308 E. King Street
Patio at Penn Stone, 190 W. Ross Street
Peachy Green, 25 W. Grant Street:
Radiance, 9 W. Grant Street
Chestnut Hill Café, 532 W. Chestnut

so go out and get one for yourself and join in the fun of buying local for the holidays. I can't wait to take the kids out Lumpkin hunting! I hope you will too.

To Do List, Business Cards, First Snow

2008-11-21T10:41:00.008-05:00

This time of year I find myself to be a very conflicted person. On the one hand I'm very excited about having a happy holiday season and preparing for all the fun, and making presents and decorating. On the other hand, as a maker of children's goods I know that this is the most important time of the year for my business, so I feel I should be knitting, sewing, creating my fingers to the bone before I miss it. This year I can't have it both ways. So instead of making my family miserable while I pollute the house with fiber shavings and push the limits of child neglect, I've decided not to put too much pressure on myself to load up the Etsy shop as I someday dream it will be for the Holidays. I know that all sounds very vague. What exactly constitutes "too much pressure'"? Who knows? I'm just going to try not to freak out about business. Instead I'll be freaking out about the state of my house.

So here's the Holiday To Do:

1. Make some new stockings for the kids
2. Make an advent calender
3. Finish gifts for the Stocking Stuffer Swap
4. PLEASE finish setting up the playroom!
5. Decorate the house
6. Throw M1 a proper birthday party

[side note I just happened to look at the clock and it was 11:11:11 am, whoa]
Back to what I was saying before- Part of the reason I'm not too upset about missing out on prime business opportunities this Gift Giving Season is that I've been doing some serious work on the Lumpkin brand and. This week I designed a new logo and business card with my own lettering and everything. I've also been researching all of my favorite Etsy shop's policies. I'm trying to come up with a good clear brand that expresses what I'm trying to do with this business. I sent a brand new design of my very first recycled business cards off to the printers! I ordered them from Green Printer they were having a special. I did my last order through Overnight Prints and they were great cards, but cards are a huge reflection of my business practices and so how can I print them on new paper stock(wow that sounded pretty high/mighty huh?)? It was really important for me to go "green" on this now. It did cost a bit more and I expect the paper quality might not be as indestructible as my old cards. In addition, uploading my file to the Green Printer website wasn't quite as user friendly for me because my images required crop marks so I had to figure out all of that (ok, Lorenz did that). I'll let you know how the cards turn out.

All of this BRAND work has made me feel really good about my business. I guess I've always known that I'd have to completely define my brand before I could truly be happy with my end products. Babble babble babble.

One more thing,
we woke up to snow this morning...
house temp. 59'F burrrrr

Goings On

2008-11-18T13:54:00.010-05:00

It's been a crazy couple of months (I was going to say days, then weeks, but no... months) really. As for today's craziness, I've been trying my darnedest to find a source to print some business cards on recycled paper that won't cost me an arm and a leg. I'm all out of cards and it's time for a change. So, I'll take a break from that annoying research to post a little bloggity blog. It's been a pretty darn exciting couple of days so I'll do my best to squeeze it all in.
First of all...
Here's the poster I made for the Think Local First campaign
[Ooh what's a Local Lumpkin Look See? Hmm, more on that to come]

Secondly,
I got my hair all chopped off...
My bro's girlfriend Sandie cuts my hair and she always does such a great job. She actually sculpted it with all of her cutting instruments so that I don't have to dry my hair or style it (because I never do) but it still looks like it's been styled. She's like Edward freakin' Scissorhands.

And last but not least,
I decided to start C3 on some solid food. I know, I know, she's only just turning 5 months this week so why the rush? I always held out to the 6 month rule for the other two, but then I realized. What the heck, I don't follow any other rules? Why such a stickler on this? Basically the kid was hungry. She has been up all night fussing lately and my goodness she does have a tooth already- might as well put it to work. Here's my baby rice cereal recipe that I've always used (taken loosely from this book) :

4 parts short grain brown rice
3 parts sweet rice
piece of kombu seaweed

wash the rice and cook the ingredients on low heat with plenty of water for a couple hours. (I keep checking on it and adding lots of water so it's really soft and sloppy.) Process the rice through a food mill (this gets rid of the chunky parts)

I usually make a big bowl and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat small amounts at each meal. As she gets older, I'll add flax oil to the mix and some nutritional yeast. Later I'll add in lentils and I'll begin adding in some of the chunks that get processed out in the milling.
This rice is really sweet and yummy. My 9 year old just had some for breakfast too, so you know it's good.
C3 of course did a bunch of gagging spitting, but she was very interested in putting the cereal in her mouth and she was very curious about it. So this week I'll be working with a layer of crusted rice on everything!
That's all for now, I'll see you Thursday...

Think Local First Week

2008-11-13T13:35:00.005-05:00

December 3-9 2008
mark your calenders and do all of your
Holiday shopping in Downtown Lancaster during
Think Local First Week.

Buttons will be on sale soon at all of the participating businesses that will allow you to receive special discounts during Think Local First Week. I'm so excited to announce that my Lumpy has been adopted as the mascot for this SSBN Campaign! I just finished designing all of the promotional materials for them today. And stores will start selling buttons as soon as next week! I'm so grateful to my good friend Karen for suggesting my Lumpkins for this campaign. Here is some information from the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network:

5 great reasons to shop locally:

1. Keep money in the neighborhood

Locally owned businesses recirculate more money back into the
local community than chain stores, per square foot occupied.
A space filled with a local business rather than a chain puts more
dollars back into YOUR neighborhood.

2. Get better service.

In a local business, you know the person behind the counter,
and they know you. They have a deep understanding of the products
they are selling, and they take time to serve their customers.

3. Create and keep good jobs.

Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally,
and small businesses account for the vast majority of job growth.
Locally owned businesses are far less likely to pull up stakes and move operations to another city or country, taking their jobs with them.

4. Help out the environment.

Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases,
requiring less transportation, and they generally set up shop in
commercial corridors rather than developing on the fringe.
This means less sprawl, congestion, habitat loss, and pollution.

5. Put your taxes to good use.

Local businesses in neighborhoods need comparatively less
infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public
services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the
community.

There is even more fun Lumpkin news ahead so stay tuned...
Lumpkin Hunt anyone?

HANDMADE ARCADE part 2

2008-11-12T08:17:00.004-05:00

Ok, it's Wednesday and I'm due for a shop update. I've imposed this work schedule on myself to insure that I at least get the basic needs of this little business met throughout the week. So from now on it goes like this:

Mon.....ship orders
Tue......blogging
Wed.....shop update
Thu......blogging
Fri........ship orders
Sat....\ off
Sun.../ line

Don't worry there won't be a test.
Technically yesterday was a blog day but we'll make up for it today.

So, Handmade Arcade was swell. Really really swell. I have never had so many people see my wares at one time. Thousands of people! And everyone stopped to looks at everything and had great comments even the people with no kids. My display was a huge hit. I'm so glad I took the extra hours away from sleeping to get it done in time. It was a beaut. The music was great, the people watching was even better, and the vegan cinnamon rolls were the BEST! It was really helpful to be able to hear what things people thought about everything I make. Some things people wanted patterns for making themselves, some things they wanted in bigger sizes, sometimes the just wanted more variety of colors. I can't wait for next year and I can't wait to apply to some more big shows in the Spring.

Here are some pictures of the event...

(check out the lighted sign!)

(my helpers for both days)

I also got to meet some other makers. Finally met the Lemons over at Lemon Cadet and got to talk baby shop with Beth. I also got to meet Sarah of 'Charlie and Sarah' she's a fun little chatterbox. She kept calling M2 'the model' from the seamonster collar picture and acted all starstruck, which made M2 giggle a bit. And we met Cosy of Cosy Knits Literally. And Jessica from Cityspun (who I'm ashamed to say lives in Lancaster and we've never met!)
I did some trading and some purchasing and ended up with a nice pile of goodies.
yarn from CitySpun and Cosy Spins, a recycled baby dress from Sweet Pepita and a Bean Romper from Lemon Cadet.

The whole trip to Pittsburgh was wonderful (besides the late night drive home). I can't wait until next year!
Look out for Thursdays post when I reveal more secrets about Lumpkins and the approaching Holidays!

See you then;)

HANDMADE ARCADE

2008-11-06T08:09:00.004-05:00

This weekend is the Handmade Arcade so get excited everyone! This is my first year doing it (I missed out last year from all my complications with C3) So I can't wait for this weekend. I have seen pictures of the event so I'm pretty sure it's great. I'm looking forward to maybe trading with some people for some Christmas presents. I'm also especially excited to meet some other arts 'n crafters. So if you're in the 'Burgh this weekend please stop by the Arcade and...

mention you read about it in my blog for a %10 off your TOTAL purchase!
awesome.

***NOTE the New Location***
parking should NOT be a problem (did that sound convincing?)

COME OUT AND BUY HANDMADE

YES!

2008-11-05T01:47:00.003-05:00

no sleep til Anderson does!

GO VOTE!

2008-11-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

well... what are you waiting for?

Last Year...

2008-11-01T10:01:00.000-04:00

at this time I was only about 8 weeks pregnant when I started having very heavy bleeding and thought I had most certainly lost the baby. After a day in the ER and an ultrasound confirmed that the baby had a heartbeat and the presence of a large blood clot, I was told it was a threatened miscarriage and that I would most likely completely miscarry in the days to come. It was impossible for me to understand what was happening inside my body. The doctors couldn't tell us what was causing it or how I could stop it. I just had to 'wait and see'. Regardless, what a wonderful way for the extended family to discover I was pregnant.

Hey mom I'm pregnant... or at least I was a couple minutes ago.
I remember feeling responsible in some way. I tried to remember what I had been doing that morning? Too much running around? Too much bending over? Does that cause miscarriage? And when I went to the ER and explained that I was about 8 weeks pregnant they looked at me like I was nuts. They wondered where I had confirmed the pregnancy and who was 'in charge' of my prenatal care. You mean besides me? I'm sorry did I miss some critical milestone of pregnancy by not getting an official diagnosis of my condition from the doc before 8 weeks? My goodness, I know when I'm pregnant and how pregnant I am. It's amazing to me how condescending the medical community can be to people regarding their own bodies.

After that first weekend of the ever threatening miscarriage that never completed, I was told to go about business as usual. Nothing I did or did not do would contribute to the inevitable. Despite this advice I tried to take it as easy as possible, convinced that I could prevent a complete miscarriage by remaining still or crossing my legs or 'sucking it in'. Basically I drove myself nuts. I spent the days reading about other peoples similar experiences and how it had panned out for them in the end.

Since couldn't yet feel the baby moving and I didn't have the luxury of owning an ultrasound machine, I pretty much worried all the time in between doctor visits which were weekly for a while. I mourned the loss of my baby every time I went to the bathroom and noticed the bleeding had gotten heavier. The threatened miscarriage continued for weeks. The bleeding slowed and stopped at about 12 weeks and then began again with a vengeance. After another trip to the ER I was finally told to try complete bed rest for two weeks as a last resort . Finally I was able to take what I had felt was the obvious course of inaction. I laid on the couch at my parents house for weeks, while Lorenz was working in Pittsburgh. They cooked for me and served me and did the same for my girls. Aside from the constant inquiries into the amount of bleeding I was experiencing that hour, they were really great. A couple more weeks and ultrasounds went by and the doctors advised me to remain on complete bed rest. "Don't be too optimistic, but it's not quite time to throw in the towel just yet", I was told by one incredibly crass physician.
So we spent another mournful Christmas and New Year at Grandma's house. But, amazingly after another two weeks on the couch I was told that the blood clot was almost completely gone and at about 24 weeks gestation I started being optimistic about the baby. From that time on I had no troubles at all. Everything was perfectly normal. None of the doctors could ever really tell me exactly what had happened, but from all of the different explanations they provided me, I gleaned that somehow the placenta detached from the wall of my womb just enough to cause heavy bleeding. I'm so grateful that I was finally prescribed bed rest after weeks of being told to go about with business as usual. I really think that that's what did the trick for me. Once the wound had time to heal I really was back in business. I'm especially grateful to my parents, family and friends for caring for me and my children and allowing me the time my body needed to heal.

Everyday for those two months last year, I thought I was in the process of miscarrying. As the threatened miscarriage went on there were plenty of times that I wished I had a window into my uterus. There were a handful of times when my family and friends had to help me fish blood clots out of the toilet and try to assess if it was just a clot or something more. Often I feared that I was just postponing the inevitable and as the baby grew larger everyday it would be harder for me to cope with eventually losing it.

But when it was all over I never did miscarry.
Now I look at my 4 month old daughter today it almost doesn't seem like that was her. It seems like a different pregnancy. Those two months were like a time warp. And then suddenly I was 24 weeks pregnant and it was like I had just discovered it for the first time.

Threatened miscarriage is such an emotional roller coaster (seriously, I know it's an overused expression, but it applies) . There is almost nothing the doctors will tell you to make you feel better. But I did find so much comfort in other people's stories, while I was in the thick of it at this time last year.

(and here's the little bouncer now)

Inventory

2008-10-29T15:48:00.007-04:00

I saw this lady doing it a couple weeks ago and it inspired me to take inventory of my own wares now that this weekend is my second show since the baby was born. It's an event at the YWCA called Women 2 Women. It seems like a nice event to attend even if you're not a vendor. There will be tons of wellness activities in addition to the food and marketplace. From their website:

The YWCA Woman to Woman event showcases women-owned businesses in Lancaster County that promote wellness and empowerment. More than 300 women from all walks of life attend Woman to Woman to sample offerings through workshops and personal services. A marketplace featuring local women artisans and food from local restaurants provides a place for participants to connect with other women throughout the day.

It should be a pretty fun event and I'm excited to get a chance to practice my new set up for the following weekend in Pittsburgh at the Handmade Arcade.

So here goes with the inventory so far:
12 hand spun pod sweaters
2 NEW Pod Skirts
7 organic cotton newborn caps
10 merino balaclavas in various forms
10 merino child-sized sea monster collars
8 organic cotton/bamboo batiked plush Lumpkins
6 cotton/wool Scrappy Lumpkin playsets
and a bunch of older things.
There are about 600 things that I'd like to get finished by next weekend, but I'm trying to remain realistic about what I can still make at this point in the game, so I'm not too crazy and disappointed.

I still have to do some tagging and pricing and a couple display/lighting issues to finalize at least in time for the Arcade. I'm really excited about it! Next week at this time I'll be packing for the 'burgh and I'll probably be freaking out. But for now I'm still working my chilly little fingers to the bone. Little Lumpkins everywhere (meanwhile the house has gone to pot)

Everyone come out to W2W this Sunday at the YWCA!

Chet and Edgar Need a Home

2008-10-16T23:26:00.009-04:00

Chet helping out

My little loves need a new home (baby not included). Lorenz is allergic and this means the cats have been spending far too much time in the basement. They are the most loving and sweet boys I've ever come across and they really don't deserve to be cellar dwellers.
A little bit about the boys:

They are almost 3. We got them at the humane league at a point when we were feeling lonely a couple of years ago. Kurt and Lorenz's mom(Nanny Nan) was staying with us for about a month toward the end of her life so we could help care for her while her caretaker went to get some more training in the Gerson Method. It was the first time I had another adult staying with me since Kurt's death. And even though many of our conversations had to do with her approaching death it was nice having her there every morning when we woke up and tucking her in at night Keeping up with her daily regime of food and juices made us feel productive and powerful as though we were outsmarting the cancer eventhough in reality we were powerless. After Nanny Nan moved home to live out her last few weeks we were lonely again and pretty sad so we decided to go and get one nice old female cat to keep us company. However as often happens when we visit the humane league...we brought home the opposite... two brother kittens.
They were only 4 months old.

Chet. The sweet and clueless one. He's an orange tabby with white spotting. He is the most loving little fellow. He will snuggle up on your lap and literally knock you out with his kisses (seriously, he's a headbutter). Sure he seems a little dopey when you look him in the eyes, but that just because he's got a one track mind for ~LOVE~

Edgar. The strong silent one. He's the mostly orange tabby. Not many things can make you feel more special than a visit from Edgar. He's much more reserved with his emotions than his brother and so when he comes to sit on your lap or nuzzle your ear it makes you feel truly loved. That, and he has such a snobby little face, when he gives you attention you can't help but feel like your finally part of the in-crowd.

(I could always find work writing cat personals?)

Edgar was the one who chose us. We were looking in the kitten room (just for kicks, I swear) and little bitty Edgar kept smacking Mabby in the head as she walked past. Then he would wrestle around with Chet in the little cage they shared. Finally after the fourth time of getting cat-slapped in the head, Mabby said "I think this one is choosing ME?" So we brought Chet and Edgar home. Honestly, I have said it many times in the past couple years, but adopting them was one of the best decisions I've made (granted, it's one of the only decisions I've made). But truly, no regrets whatsoever.

Then Lorenz came along.

Unfortunatley, Lorenz is allergic to cats and try as I may there is no denying that life for him is miserable with them around. And there is NO living with a miserable man.

So I need to find our boys a new home. One that will take them both and will love them like we have. They aren't picky fellows. They'll eat pretty much any type of food. They are used to Swheat Scoop litter, but they'll use grandma's brand if they're in a pinch (or any brand really). They are both neutered and they have been chipped. I don't really keep up with their shots, because frankly, I'm not too keen on shots period.

I shot this little clip of them a couple days ago. They're the best. Come on people! These are the best cats and even though the girls and I hate to see them go, they really do need a new home. All of my friends and family are either allergic or have too many cats as it is. Accept YOU! YOU need a couple new furry friends don't you? Well, then just let me know! Please...

UPDATE: the boys settled into their new home just yesterday afternoon
and it looks like they are doing just fine! Thanks

Quirky Yet Boring

2008-10-09T11:53:00.007-04:00

The super knitter Leah over at Our Yellow House blog-tagged me last week and now I'm finally back at my blog for a response...

Here's how to play:

1) Link to the person who tagged you
2) Mention the rules
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself
4) Tag six other bloggers by linking to them
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged

1. I became a vegetarian the Summer after high school graduation because my best friends were doing it. Of course, back then I had no understanding of food- whatsoever! I would get mashed potatoes with GRAVY from the dining hall in my first semester of college and I didn't realize that gravy was made of meaty drippings? It still boggles my mind that I was so stupid about food at one point.

2. Along the same line. I like/tolerate almost every food (vegan that is) except OLIVES- all kinds.

3. I exaggerate everything by at least 20 times...sometimes more.

4. Yesterday I backed the car through the garage door. I'm not proud.

5. In college I studied German, Spanish and Chinese. I can speak English.

6. Someday I want to live in a yurt for least part of the year.

Do feel like you've learned something quirky? And yet, are you still slightly bored? Well then i think I've accomplished my goal.

I'm tagging these bloggers should they choose to participate:

Autumn excitement

2008-10-02T10:04:00.006-04:00

Well, it's that time of the year when we all get to relax around here. Sort of. There isn't enough day light left to be working outside so we're much more likely to stay cozy in the house at night now- and it's much easier to allow ourselves to go to bed early. Pretty soon bed will be the only warm place in the house (mama don't turn on the heat til January).

It's the second day of October, and that means I'm still feeling optimistic about what Lumpkin merchandise I'll be capable of producing in time for the Holiday shows and events. Some time in the next couple of weeks I'll start paring down the expectations and then next month at this time I'll be trying to come to terms with what I was REALLY capable of making. For now though, I'll remain blissfully delusional about the mass of wonders I have floating around in my crafty brain.
Here's a picture of some of the stock so far.
Right in the middle you can see the newest Lumpy. They are batiked and embroidered organic cotton stuffed with bamboo. I really enjoyed making them because they are all different and I love all the separate processes involved- sort of the same way I feel about the sweaters . Here they are before I stitched them all together.
I machine stitched them, but I think next batch I'll probably hand sew them. In hindsight it was the more obvious choice since there is already so much hand work to making them. I'll make another batch soon- maybe purple, ooh fun.
In family news, we're all sick with a cold this week. When we're she's not sneezing(and sometimes when she is) the big girls are really enjoying the baby girl lately. She's so much more alert now. A few months will do that.

One more thing, the Lancaster Yarn Shop is opening tomorrow WOOHOO! I'm soooo overly excited about this shop. I only live about 6 blocks away and it will be stocking my favorite local yarn by Rachel-Marie (ok, should I call this the KDG tribute blog soon? It's getting ridiculous isn't it?) It will be so nice to have a place that I can ride my bike to and hang out with other yarn obcessed people. Unfortunately, I suspect my bank account will not be happy about this new prospect. That's ok, we'll work it out. Go to the LYS opening on First Friday tomorrow. it's on Gallery Row at 136 N Prince Street and get yourself one of these. The weather should be perfect! Downtown Lancaster is becoming such a great place. Speaking of downtown, I have some exciting news of my own to reveal soon, but not yet. Here's a hint.

Oh yeah, and I've been blog-tagged for the first time EVER! How nice. I'm still working on my response. Hm, six quirky yet boring things about me? I'm pretty sure I can think of a few. But that's for next time.
Have a super weekend!

New Knits

2008-09-23T16:57:00.008-04:00

I finally got some more sweaters finished up for last weekends Art Harvest in Pittsburgh. That is such a fun event, the people are so nice and the music is lovely (mostly). I still have a few more sweaters to finish in the next couple days. Most of them are made with my favorite yarns from Rachel-Marie. I also made my first sweater with my own hand spun Bamboo. I pretty much love the way it turned out.

I spent an entire day last week crafting matching buttons for all of my little knits.
Don't they look so sweet all together? Art Harvest was really fun and I got lots of great feedback especially on the sweaters. Unfortunately my skill with the credit card imprinter was lacking and I was flustered trying to hold the baby and take care of customers at the same time. Oh well, some people managed to get some freebies since I didn't write down all of the info I needed for the transaction. That's cool it all goes to some happy kiddo anyway- can't be annoyed with that, just with myself a little bit. Regardless- I'll never make that mistake again, right? Oh, how I despise the business end of all this. Otherwise we're doing well around here.
I love the Fall best of all.

Palin Pandemonium

2008-09-11T11:09:00.005-04:00

Ever since the Olympics ended my obsession with watching competition has switched over to the Presidential race. My face is constantly plastered on CNN watching for the newest interpretation of what one of the candidates have said on that particular day. I'm a slave to the hype. I realized how much so when, as I watched, memorized by Sarah Palin's speech at the RNC, I started to be swayed to the dark side. (zombie drone) mmmm pretty lady...mmmm hackey mam.....mmmm genius.
SLAP!
Snap out of it! At first I thought McCain was a genius picking this woman. And then I reconsidered- No, my Hillary Dems aren't so gullible are they? Oh, but now I realize I was right the first time. McCain is a genius, an evil genius. He cooked up this pretty puppet lady in his secret lab and he is right now, as we speak, teaching her to say brand new phrases to unleash on the American people. Mwahahaha!

In an effort to keep this political dream team from world domination in my own small way, I created this bumper magnet last night:

My car will be wearing one.
Let me know if your car wants one too, and maybe I'll send one your way.

cozette

2008-08-13T16:58:00.008-04:00

Well we named the baby. Here's the announcement I finally got to make this morning. She'll be 8 weeks old on Friday and she finally has a name! For the purposes of this blog she will henceforth be called C3 with her sisters M1(Mab,8) and M2(Mae,4). It sure feels good to be able to call her by name although I have to admit it's hard to get used to not just calling her baby. Soon enough she'll just be Cozy to us. We are still in Pittsburgh for couple more weeks so the shop is still closed for now, but feel free to window shop until September! The holidays are coming up fast and i'm working on lots of new items this year. I have to figure out a way to travel with my inventory or maybe just have two inventories. Stuff I make in Lancaster and stuff I make in the PBG. Or better yet, maybe just pick a city permanently, that's an idea!

We have been obsessed with Phelpsvision-
I mean the Olympics. oops. I love the hype! Swimming is so fun to watch. At least for me it is. I can practically smell the chlorine. In related news, I'm about 20% finished with my Ravelympics project.
I'm freestyle knitting another kiddie vest in the Freestyle Free For All event. I am only really knitting while I watch TV at night- and that's usually Olympic coverage lately so it's very fitting. I'm using a commercial yarn instead of my usual KDG variety since I was out of Lanc when I discovered the Ravelympics so I wasn't prepared. It's pretty yarn, but I have to say that I miss the lumpy bumpy texture of the handspun. It really is my fave.

My parents visited this weekend and we took them to the Zoo and Phipps and we took a scenic drive up Mt. Washington. It was a nice couple of days. M1 went to Outdoor Discovery camp here last week, which I highly recommend for parents looking for a nice simple educational nature day camp for youngsters. It was her first camp experience and she loved it. Her favorite part? Digging up leaches in the pond...gross me out.

I probably won't get a chance to post again until I get back to Lancaster, unless something amazingly exciting happens. So, until then, have a great time winding down your summer. I hope you end it on a high note. That's what I'll be working on too.

(M2 overlooking the gritty city)

One Month

2008-07-20T06:59:00.004-04:00

Baby X
Well, baby's first month flew by in a flash, as usual. I'm sure next time I look at her she'll be huge and doing some amazing new tricks. You can't look away for second! She still has no name, which I hear is completely ridiculous at this point (everyday, from everyone I meet). Soon, very soon.

In the meantime, I finally listed some of the new goodies I've been working on for the shop. I love the new sweaters. I love making them. Most of them require lots of different skills, so I don't ever get bored with them. From the moment the yarn arrives at my door from Rachel-Marie I'm excited about those little sweaters. Unfortunately, since they are each unique and rather time consuming, I tend to become very attached to them, so hard to see them go after all the time we've spent together. I have to say, seeing a little one wearing the sweaters makes all that sadness melt away though.

So sweet! I knit each one freestyle, that is, I just start knitting and see what happens. At first I thought I should try to write down the patterns as I go, so I can duplicate the sweaters later, but I get so easily bored creating the same thing over and over again (as I've experience with my beloved seamonster collars). I'm happy with my decision to keep them OOAK, it makes kids feel extra special knowing they are the only one to have that particular sweater.

In other news, the fam and I will be heading out to Pittsburgh for most of August so any orders placed during August won't ship out until late in the month. Bummer, I know.
Have a loverly weekend.

Baby No Name

2008-07-01T11:57:00.006-04:00

Here's a little video of the baby, still no name yet but she's a little cutie. She's wearing the newborn T-shirt I embroidered for her and it fits her like a sausage casing. She's also sporting her little diaper cover by bundlesofjoy.etsy.com which was on my Etsy wish list- thanks aunt lian!

The Birthing Quilt

2008-06-18T16:59:00.003-04:00

The Birthing Quilt, originally uploaded by LittleLumpkin.

It's finally completed. After 6 years of working on it. I started this quilt after the birth of my first child. We had planned a home-birth but ended up with a ton of interventions and a cesarean. For a long time I blamed my fear of motherhood and birthing on the "failed" outcome. But then, over time I came to realize as I now realize about everything- All things happen for a reason. My first birth experience led me to begin this quilt. I wanted to reflect on the power it takes for a woman to give birth and the incredible link we must have between own minds and our bodies at the time of birth. They must be working together through the whole process. The way I explored this concept in the quilt was through the use of vines which represent being rooted in ones self. I felt like the the vines growing up around the birthing mother signified her connection to the earth and the birth as an ancient ritual. I also used the embroidered Joan of Arc quote "i am not afraid, I was born to do this" as a background element and it becomes the mantra of the quilt. It doesn't matter how many times one gives birth, there is always that element of shock and fear which must be overcome while your in the thick of it. It's that mind/ body connection.

When I became pregnant with my second child, I again began working on the quilt. I spent many hours thinking of the inspiration behind the quilt and hoping to finish it for the big event. My first VBAC. This time i was going to concur my fears and embrace the birthing process fully. Follow my bodies lead and let nature take its course. My second birth was amazing, everything I could have hoped for. The quilt was however was still not completed. Later that same year when my husband Kurt died, I assumed i would never finish the quilt. I assumed I was finished having babies (a crazy thing for a 26 year old to assume, I realize, but being a young widow is a tough thing to wrap your head around).

When I dug the birthing quilt out three years later, I intended to finish it in earnest this time. I unfolded it from storage and discovered that the safety pins with which I had secured the fabric layers had rusted and left spots of orange throughout the quilt top. At first I was disappointed and I think I actually cried upon seeing those spots thinking I had ruined the quilt by storing it so hastily. Now, I love those tiny rust spots. Suddenly the quilt was alive. It had aged along with me over those years between my last baby and this next one. The quilt had weathered the storm with some scars to show for it, just as I had.

Six years ago, Kurt helped me paint the figure of the birthing woman, because I couldn't quite get her proportion right. At the time I started the quilt I didn't like the fact that I needed his help, I wanted to do it all by myself. That sound so childish now, but that's the way I felt. Now, three and a half years after his death, as his older brother Lorenz and I prepare to welcome our first child together into this world, I am again reminded that all things happen for a reason, and Kurt's contribution to this quilt is priceless to us now.

It feels so good to have completed this quilt. It will hopefully be a source of inspiration for my children and their children as they grow and experience the birthing process- becoming mothers and fathers themselves.

It's storming outside now. A lovely moody night to birth a baby, I think. My contractions started last night and have been coming slowly but surely all day. This labor is slow and seems to have started only as my body's reminder to me that I need to stop running around trying to prepare for this baby. So I'm staying cozy in my little nest of a bedroom tonight, hoping to hold my new baby soon.

bye bye for now

ahhHHHHH freakOUT!

2008-06-07T11:21:00.006-04:00

Ok, so it's T-minus 14 days until baby. There is a full moon on June 18th and that is a mere 3 days before my actual due date. I'm suspecting maybe the baby will be joining us on that day. No kidding. In which case I'd most likely be perfectly capable of attending my sister-in-law's wedding taking place on my actual due date. In these last pre-baby days we are planning on setting up the playroom and I still have to get the baby clothing back in action. Diaper service is on stand-by for the first couple months and all of our other supplies seem to be in order. I'm also hoping we'll finally set up the balcony of love this weekend. Everything is coming together. The last crafting projects I'll be working on include finishing up a couple flower girl dresses, finally finishing M2's quilt and starting on lumpkin #3's baby quilt.

Here's a sneak peek at M2's quilt which I've been working on since before her birth. It was supposed to be done for that birth, but it never happened. It started as a personal quilt of mine to reflect on M1's birth and to inspire me as I prepared to attempt my first VBAC with M2. Since M2's birth was such a magical moment in my life I decided that this art quilt will be hers. Not exactly a warm cuddly baby quilt like the others will have, but I never got around to making her one of those because I was student-teaching up until the last day of my pregnancy with her. I may actually finish her quilt which I also call the birthing quilt this weekend! After about 6 years of construction, that will feel so good. It will hang in my room for the next couple weeks and serve as my inspiration for this next new birth adventure.
More on the Birthing Quilt in a future post.

Today it is sooo hot. I actually turned on the AC so I can stand the work it will require to set up the playroom. Ugh, it's still awful. We are going to go out into the world of industrial AC in a couple of minutes. First stop- Salvation Army's anniversary sale- every thing's 1/2 off today. I need some wool pants to cut up for my woolie diaper covers I'm making. It will probably be pretty crazy out there today. Later today we're going to see Brigadoon at the Fulton Opera House. Oh! here's another great tip for Lancaster city living. Every first Saturday matinée performance (2:00pm)of any play at the Fulton is a "pay what you want" show. This is a great way for young families to get a chance to go to the theater with the kids without breaking the bank. I love exposing the kids to the theater, but honestly, there is no way I'd pay $30 to see a show that they might get bored half way through or someone might have a fit and then I have to leave. The girls love to see the fancy theater and all the wonderful actors and costumes. We get all dressed up and feel fancy for the afternoon. And "pay what you want" means just that, folks. If you can only afford $2 a ticket, that's OK with them. They also have an interpretor doing sign language for that show, which is also cool. Aside from that I've always loved Brigadoon and now the girls do too.

It should be a busy day, hopefully we'll be able to hit up the pool sometime this weekend, I really want to get some use out of that maternity suit this time around. The girls need to work on their swimming skills too. I hope you have a lovely weekend. If you're around here, enjoy the sweltering weather!

Craft show weekend

2008-06-02T16:21:00.009-04:00

We had such a busy busy weekend and I barely had a second to rest my bulging belly. On Saturday we went to CAM at Eastern Market and set up the little Lumpkin stand. It was such a fun event, I wish more people came. Actually, I wish more people just knew about Eastern Market's gloriousness period. Unfortunately it's in it's third year now and every time ask someone about it they say " oh yeah, I've heard of that I always mean to go but I forgot" well trust me, if you go that first time you'll be hooked. It's just such a great experience. It really feels like a community run institution there, like you're part of something wonderful when you take part. OK, anyway, the rain did not hold out as I had hoped and the day was rather stormy. So not many people+ bad weather= sorry sales, but the rest of the vendors made it an event to remember. I got a bunch of fun stuff from the regulars there and a couple of new items from people I never met before.

On Saturday, I was very excited to have some time away. The last road trip before baby arrives. We drove to Philly for the Art Star Craft Bazarr and it was everything I'd hoped it would be. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the vendors still had tons of merchandise left over from yesterday because they all got rained out too. We even managed to get there early enough to get a free goodie bag packed with postcards and buttons and lots of junk. The Bazzar was at Penn's Landing this year and the water and the breeze was lovely, although I saw quite a few vendors chasing their wares down the sidewalk as it got caught in the breeze.

These were my favorite vendors:

1. Sarah Ashley Terjanian
She had really interesting flowy dresses that were completely designed and hand made by her using fabric which was also designed and printed by her, they were really nice pieces of art. Unfortunately slightly out of my price range:(

* * * * * * * * *

2. Owly Shadow Puppets

Andrea Everman was there with her lovely laser cut shadow puppets. That is truly the perfect use for a laser cutter, I think it's the best use ever actually. There were lots of laser cut goods there but none as original and useful as these whimsical shadow puppets. Although I didn't purchase any puppets this time, I DID buy one of her screen printed Shadow Theater fabric panels. Evidently she sell a little theater for placing in a door way on a tension rod, but sometimes the prints have minor flaws and so she sells them to crafty people at deep discounts for use in making their own custom theaters. Stay tuned to see what I do with mine!

* * * * * * * * *

photo from http://www.angryolive.com
3. Angry Olive
I really loved this stand and I'm really mad because I seem to have lost the card I got from the girl. Anyway, she makes very original kids items that are actually priced accurately reflecting the time, skill, and materials it requires to craft a truly high-quality children's heirloom. I had a real appreciation for her work, and I almost bought a little cotton baby bomber hat, but I'm holding out to see what she puts in the etsy shop she's said to open shortly.

* * * * * * * *

4. Sweet Pepita
A fellow yetilovessemonster member, and oft mentioned cake recipe source for my vegan baking needs. I finally got to meet Shannon Delanoy of Sweet Pepita yesterday. I didn't even know she was going to be at Art Star and I forgot to mention to her that I just used her vegan cake recipe fro the yeti blog for Lorenz's b-day cupcakes the other day. I bought one of those little organic pixie hats for Lumpy#3 and I am very excited about it. all of her items are very well made and extremely reasonably priced. I like that she uses recycled and organic fabrics because that's something I've been trying to transition into with my own business.

* * * * * * * *

5. The Blackspotbooks
This little stand had very nicely crafted blank journals and unique jewelry. Some of the journals were only and inch tall and they had nice ratty tattered pages and rustic leather covers. I enjoyed them. They also had a beautiful 8 week old baby and I'm still in awe that the mama looked so great only 2 months after birth, but that's a side note. The craftsmanship was commendable.

* * * * * * * *

Overall it was a lovely weekend full of crafty goodness. As for my own crafting, I spent a couple hours before bed making this "God of Wrath" dress for M1 to wear today for her school play. She requested skulls embroidered on it (if I had time-she's so generous) but left them out because it turned out to be a pretty snazzy little dress. Even though it's a bold color with some spooky stitching it could still serve as a fun fancy dress, but probably not with the skulls. Plus they would have looked cheesy. I was amazed that it actually fit her so well when she tried it on this morning. I didn't use a pattern, I just tried to eyeball the size compared to another loose dress she has. I didn't feel like messing with buttons and zippers so I made the neck and bodice plenty roomy for pulling over the head. the fabric is an old round tablecloth someone gave me. I tried to incorporate the existing serged edge into the design so I wouldn't have to mess with sewing a neat hem. It turned out really nice I think. I'm going to the second performance of the play this afternoon. I'll be sure to let you know how it went.
Bye for now.

CAM- City Arts Market Saturday

2008-05-29T08:37:00.013-04:00

If you're in Lancaster this weekend you should stop by the Eastern Market for it's opening weekend. This year they are calling it the City Arts Market (CAM) It's everything you love about Eastern Market(food, organic produce, flowers, music) and 50+ vendors(including me) and performers. It's fixin' to be a good time I think, maybe not for the full term pregnant ladies among us, but we'll survive.That's right! Officially full term on Saturday.
That's unbelievable especially considering the amount of scares this baby has given us. I feel pretty good, I'm still up and about doing work and stuff around the house, but my hips are killing me and the pressure on my pelvis is worse than I remember with either of my other pregnancies. We are all really curious to see who has been in there all these many months. M1 wants a sister (she's practical and worries that we'll have to get all new baby stuff) and M2 wants a brother (she thinks that we need more boys in the family so Lorenz isn't completely outnumbered). I'm happy either way. I have always felt like I'd have a boy with every pregnancy and they always turn out to be girls so I guess I'll assume it's a girl since I feel like it's a boy? Whoa that was confusing. Either way we haven't officially decided on any names yet. I really have my heart set on the boy name I've chosen but my girl name changes everyday. Who knows? And Lorenz might be taken off the naming committee because his suggestions are insane- I'm surely not naming my son Duke Leto Atreides. Surely not.

Speaking of Lorenz- HAPPY 32nd BIRTHDAY Today!!!
(not that you ever read this)
(Haha! On the swing at the Herb and Garden Faire)

In crafty news, I am working on a new little Lumpy project that involves some organic cotton and batiking. Hopefully that will go well, I did all the dyeing yesterday, and today I'll do some wax removal and hopefully some sewing too. I hope these little guys turn out as cute as I envisioned them.
Also, if baby allows(and it better) I'll be heading to Philly to visit the Art Star Craft Bazaar and yet another pregnant pal there. If I feel ambitious Sunday morning maybe I'll whip up some vegan donuts for the prego vegan. I'm hoping to be at the Bazaar early enough to score one of those free goody bags!
ok, that's all for now.
And make sure you stop by CAM on Saturday it should be really fun, I'm sure the rain will hold out!
Bye Bye!

Recycled Tomato Planter!

2008-05-15T13:40:00.005-04:00

Well, I'm a serious sucker for infomercials, I rarely indulge but I often fester away coveting the most silly contraptions. This time I came very close indeed to purchasing one of these
upsidedown tomato planters. I resisted the urge an decided to try and make one using junk I had around the house. It took me a couple hours yesterday morning and the aid of this diagram
I also used the etsy plastic fabric making tutorial. I also made a bunch of modification to the original design. Then I put it all together into a nice little slide show for you! I hope someone else make one too. I planted two cherry tomato varieties and one plum variety. My planter ended up being a little smaller than the original planter, so I don't want it to get too heavy. I just planted them yesterday and already the leaves of the tomatoes have begun to grow upwards towards the light. I'm planting three other tomato plants in the ground nearby so we'll see if I really get more yield faster with the hanging planter as the commercial suggests. Please let me know if you make one too! I'll keep you updated on my tomato growth.
Have a nice day!

Lumpkin Tote Tutorial

2008-05-07T09:26:00.003-04:00

Hello Everyone! I made this lovely little Lumpkin carrying case the other day and I thought you'd like to see how it was done. Here's a slide show of all the steps it took to complete. Hope you enjoy.

May Day!

2008-05-01T11:06:00.004-04:00

Lumpkin Garden 2008, originally uploaded by LittleLumpkin.

Last years May Day was sunny and hot, today it's very chilly and gloomy out, but you know i sometimes think that the gloomy skies accentuate the brightness of the greens and flowers of spring. It's a nice backdrop. The fields and the trees up against the steely blue sky is a lovely combination too.

So here's that Lumpkin garden I've been telling you about. I created it within the wildflower garden that my late husband (that still sounds so weird to me) Kurt planted out front. It started in the spring of 2005 and I've been adding to it every year. Kurt knew everything about native plants and was the one who started telling our daughters the magical tales of the Lumpkins.

I've added the tulips along the back wall even though they are far from native to PA, but I love their color and they fade away fairly quickly so I don't feel they hinder the authenticity of our garden. I also added Kurt's miniature hosta collection to the garden which I think really adds to the tiny charm. It really is a beautiful little place to visit.

The pond and the path need some maintenance and the ivy trellis and courtyard are severely overgrown, but thats o.k, the Lumpkins are still cozy in their homes until it gets a little warmer out. I'm sure they'll be out tend to their spring cleaning soon.

Happy May Day Little Lumpkins!

M1 in her May Day Crown

Just an update

2008-04-30T10:46:00.014-04:00

I have a million things I want to share, so bare with me for a moment. First here's the progress on the garden so far. It doesn't look to impressive I admit, but there is only so much a pregnant woman can do. I cleaned up all the weed growth, and Lorenz 'installed' my bamboo fencing. I decided to leave one bed open for my new step-dog to have a poop patch. It seems to do the trick. I also cleaned up the wisteria and will hopefully have this new IKEA trellis in place soon because it will start

taking over the yard before we know it.At the front of the house we have a special little memorial Lumpkin garden which I'll post about later this week because it has some exciting features this year.

Moving on to the kitchen,
this morning i was inspired by my huge sack of the most delicious oranges this season, to create a new granola recipe.

Orange Ginger Coconut Granola
(first draft)
Preheat oven to 300' F
6 c. oats
1 c. chopped pecans
1/4 c. tasted sesame seeds
1 c. unsweetened medium cut coconut
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. salt
........
juice and zest of one orange
1/4 c. coconut oil melted
3/4 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla extract

mix it all together and pour onto 2 cookie sheets with a rim.
bake at 300'F for 1 hr. or until it's all dried out and golden brown.
Stir once half way through baking.

I think it turned out pretty well. It wasn't terribly sweet and the oranginess was perfect.
I only use coconut oil occasionally, but a less saturated oil would work out just fine too. Give it a try and let me know what you think. In other news, I'm moving closer to finishing my little sleeveless spring knittydirtygirl sweaters. I have postponed my adventures in polymer clay button-making in exchange for a simpler solution. I've discovered the joys of Shrinky-Dinks. M2 looking very "little match girl"I got a variety pack from the local Micheal's store and I've been experimenting with it daily. I think I've settled on a simple little button for the sweaters and
I'll be sure to post the finished beauties soon!
I also want to say (and this is a little bit late) that today is the last day of the Lancaster County Library Book Sale. That means it's half price day! and if you get there late in the day around 3 or 4 they will let you fill a bag for like a $1.00. I love that book sale. M2 and I went on Monday with the rest of the book lovin' kooks in town. We had to park a half a mile away and it was pouring down rain, but we had fun. This was the first year that my youngest was able to entertain herself browsing books for a couple hours. I came away with a few gems including a cutesy little sewing book for M1 and a sweet little May Day 'Operetta' just in time for Mayday. My favorite was the tiny little hardbound Maurice Sendak alphabet book Alligators All Around. Well, I guess that's about it. We're off to have some lunch and take our nap, M2 is four years old and she's just now starting to take naps! I'm training her for when lumpkin3 arrives. Because I plan on napping constantly! I'll leave you with a peek at our lunch- Vegan grilled 'cheese' can be fun, I swear!Vegan grilled 'cheese' w/ FYH jack cheese, pizza sauce for dipping, oranges, blue corn chips, mint tea

YUM! Maybe I'll do my little Lumpkin garden post tomorrow in honor of May Day?
We'll see, have a lovely Wednesday!

Whoa mama

2008-04-24T13:42:00.010-04:00

Ok, there are officially less than 2 months left until baby 3 arrives. When did that happen? As you can see I've grown to gargantuan proportions. Actually I'm not any bigger than I was with the other two and they were each under 7 lbs. Not that I'm afraid of a big baby... come on I dare you kid! It just gets harder to lose after each babe, slower anyway. We are out in the garden getting ready for the big transformation from lump of weeds into this years magical veggie patch. There is much to be done before this weekends rain comes. I'd like to get the seeds in the ground before a single drop falls. I've been doing lots of other little nesting things around the house too. I decorated a little Lumpkin Tote hat box with some fun embroidery which I'll blog about more later, and I have been in perma-knit mode lately, so I made about a dozen of these little gems, soon to be in the shop
Oh, and I just in case anyone is in the Marietta area, this weekend... Please stop by the Susquehanna Waldorf School's Spring Fair this Saturday April, 26th 11-2pm. There will be lots of fun games, and crafts, and entertainment and food. Hopefully there will also be some sunshine. It's a really great event. Fun for all!

Shop Update!

2008-04-08T15:20:00.006-04:00

I listed a couple of new items in the shop today.
Pretty darn exciting...

Handknit Gnome Hat Birth-12mos

Tattoo T- Custom Embroidered

And here is a shot from what I hope will be the last ultrasound on our little lumpkin
So cute, the umbilical cord was in front of it's face for most of the pics, but this one is pretty good.

have a nice tuesday!

Camera Cord Found!!!

2008-04-02T10:17:00.012-04:00

all cozy watching Enchanted Saturday night
Evidently I'm nesting. I know this because my new favorite past time is cleaning and not just surface cleaning, I'm talking about mucking out and ridding myself of all worthlessness. It's been an intense process of digging through closets and drawers and boxes in every single room of my house. I'm proud to say that the downstairs is completely clean and organized.
Living Room

Dining Room

The second floor is another story. I'm trying to relocate my small sewing room to a more spacious area of the house and transform it into a playroom for the kids. I've been resistant to the playroom, but there is no way the kids can live in the same room as their toys and not live in a constant mess.

I've also been doing lots of crafting for my own personal enjoyment and those close to me. I'm really into embroidering right now. I stitched on this cute little newborn shirt for our newest babe coming soon.

tiny embroidered Lumpkin
I have a little tip that I found works really well when embroidering names and text. I go to the this website and choose a font and size of my liking (up to 72 pt) and then I type in the text I want and tape my fabric directly over the computer screen to trace.

It's a great light box and you don't ever have to print anything out and waste paper. It's perfect. I highly recommend. I'm working on some little projects for my three favorite babies fresh from the womb.

I've also been doing some personal knitting. I made myself a little belly tank top for these last couple pregnancy months.
I think I'll fashion a little bottom part to it for when I'm back to the 'no-way-I'm-showing-any-belly' days. The picture is really bad, but the wool is so soft and richly colored- I'll have to model it on a later post.

Oh, and check out his great find, an amazing little hat box from the piles at Zenith in Pittsburgh when we went for Easter brunch.
It's the same shape of a Lumpkin!
Oh, I have some plans for that little box, and they do involve embroidery.
More on that to come though.

On the pregnancy front, I've officially went off my rocker with sugar intake and it's time to cut down because the pounds are piling on.
Plump at 28 weeks

Last night I was almost going to go eat a bagel for a snack, but with some advice from my recently pregnant pal I opted for a high-protein low carb alternative. Tofu on a bed of greens and tomatoes.
A lovely bedtime snack.
Sesame Garlic Tofu on Greens w/ Tomatoes

Mmm, I could go for some more of that right now. And I do believe I shall.

My best friends babies

2008-03-19T22:14:00.004-04:00

the secret ingredient for better baby making

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOWERS TRIPLETS!!!
Well Done Mama Lian!

pregnant b. demented

2008-03-18T13:12:00.008-04:00

This week I'm working on a few new projects. Actually, I'm working on six billion projects lately all at the same time. This being my third pregnancy I've noticed that I'm very distracted and my memory is fading fast. I notice it constantly. The other day I poured some water into my iron with a measuring cup. About 10 minutes later I required the same measuring cup to make my pizza dough. I went into the dining room to fetch the cup (still on the ironing board) and it took until I was in the kitchen standing over the mixing bowl to discover that I'd grabbed the iron instead. These things are happening everyday. Pregnancy Dementia? I think I'm onto something. I have just sort of been flitting around the house starting and never really finishing any particular task. Normally this would drive me crazy, but I find it somewhat comforting that there is a little project waiting for me around every corner (at least right this second I do- that's the thing with pregnancy hormones, they 'giveth' patience and they also 'taketh' away)

Sadly, we are still without power cording for the camera, so my blog is again without pictures, however I have a couple of nice little scans to share. First, is a cute little paper doll I finished last week for a little girl at my daughters school. I was pretty happy with the outcome, sometimes they can be brutal since I'm not always the best caricaturist. This one went well.

I have also completed four of the most beautiful little baby sweaters using my knittydirtygirl yarn supply. I'm officially tapped out. As soon as I GET A CAMERA WORKING!, I'll post pictures. whoa. In the meantime, here's a little idea I'm mulling over in my head. Two of the baby sweaters still require buttons to be truly finished. I had the brilliant idea to make little custom Lumpkin buttons out of polymer clay. I envisioned what I wanted the buttons to look like and I've even drawn a diagram of how I imagine one would make a cane of polymer clay Lumpies. The only problem is, I've never made a polymer cane. I have a bunch of books about it somewhere and I even have all the tools and some fresh clay around here somewhere. I've just never done it and it scares me a bunch, but, I'm going to try to follow this little diagram and tweak it as I go along. If only I had a camera to capture the madness that's about to begin. Wish me luck, I'll keep you posted.

Birthday Weekend

2008-03-12T08:16:00.006-04:00

M2 feeding her babydoll
Well, the cord to charge the camera is lost at the moment, which means no new pictures from the past week, but that would be oh so boring so I'll try to be creative. It was M2's birthday on Friday. 4 years old! Thats crazy to me, as all mamas say. Time sure flies. Actually, baby # 3 is exactly spaced with the other two by some cosmic coincidence. Either that, or I'm only fertile for like one day every four and a quarter years. Unlikely. I made M2 a "white" cake for her birthday. which is sort of funny considering it is virtually impossible to make an even semi healthy cake "white". Since i used unbleached all-purpose flour and sucanat this vanilla cake came out a lovely caramel color. I used sweetpepita's chocolate cake recipe yet again, but replaced the cocoa with extra flour and added some almond extract. I made a very light chocolate frosting for it. It was a delightful cake, and as usual, the non-vegans in the house were very impressed with the great taste.

On Sunday we went and renewed our membership at the Reading Public Museum. I love that place! It has just the right amount of stuff to get through it in timely manner (good for small kids), but it also has such a variety of things, natural history, cultures, art, crafts, and they are constantly getting pretty great traveling exhibits. This past weekend was Fiber weekend which coincided with the Hot House exhibit. I really enjoyed the exhibit, very inspiring to see what people are doing in the textile arts these days. Annet Couwenberg's Act Normal And That's Crazy Enough 2002

But my main reason for mentioning the museum is to give you all a little tip! I join this museum almost every year. A family membership is only $60 a year! But wait, there's more... That membership means that my family can stop by there for free any time we want, plus we get a bunch of guest passes and free admission to the planetarium. But, that's still not the best part! When you join this museum you become part of this system of reciprocal museums. This basically means you get free admission to much more expensive museums in cities big and small around the world! We have used our membership to access the Pittsburgh Children's Museum, The Carnegie Science Center, museums in Cleveland and Philadelphia, the list is CRAZY!! Everywhere you go you can use this membership card. They have never given me any trouble, the reciprocating museums are thrilled to have you there no matter how many times you visit. I would say that in the course of a year, our membership to the Reading Public Museum pays for itself more than 20 times over! Just a tip for all of you parents out there who enjoy visiting museums when your traveling with the family. Go out and support a small science museum in your town or be like me and support the neighboring towns museum, and for goodness sake please take advantage of this amazing system.

wouldn't it be nice

2008-03-06T17:19:00.003-05:00

If only Etsy had a baby registry mine would look something like this...

LeastLikely2Breed's Bundle O Joy...$17.50

Bronwenhandcrafted Missoni knit pouch sling...$64.00

Bundlesofjoy Waterproof Diaper Cover, Vintage Fabric....$10.00

GreenSprout Wool Soaker Shorts...$29.00

DevonRose Babys Blue Bonnet...$28.00

Maidenlove's Green Bean Mama and Baby Elephant set...$40.00

Innerwolfbatik's International Breastfeeding Onesie...$20.00

Modernmama's Joan of Arc Bangle....$72.00

CHANGING my ways

2008-02-20T16:12:00.003-05:00

Hello hello, this week we are on vacation in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania's top vacation destination, of course. But seriously, last night we went to IKEA and actually purchased my first ever piece of baby furniture. Thats right, I've had two children in the past 8 years and never purchased or even entertained the idea of owning a single piece of baby furniture. Behold the changing table...

The SINGULAR-It's very simple and solid wood. It doesn't look much like a changing table and we can use it for storage later on. So why the ban on baby items? I don't know. I just hate the idea of having this tiny piece of furniture that will be useless to me in 2 years. I've never had a crib since I feel weird about people sleeping in cages and my babies have always slept with me while I'm nursing them. I feel better that way. I'm also a pretty lazy mama and my kids probably wouldn't have gotten fed, if I had to get all-the-way-out-of-bed (droning voice) to go nourish them. They also never would have gotten fed when we were out and about, because I am way to disorganized to to mess with formulas and bottles and all that jazz, plus my kids aren't cows so they drink human milk. Ok, this has become the lactivist blog entry today. So, anyway, I caved on the changing table because while my laziness tells me that diapy changes on the couch/bed/floor are perfectly acceptable, I understand the appeal of a poo-free environment to sit/sleep/stand upon. Plus, papa was itchin' to buy something for baby and how can I deny such sweetness.