Embrace the Past

Lemme walk you through it...
This weekend we're having a yard sale. While going through all our junk we came across an old desktop computer. Eric cleaned it off to recycle and put all sorts of photos from our pre-kiddo life onto my current computer. I've been through all 8 zillion of them and here's apparently all our pre-kiddo life entailed:
1) lounging. There are like 79 pictures of me lounging on couches covered in blankets. I miss lounging.
2) cats. We're like an old couple who has 9 cats and takes like 100 photos of them a day except we're not old (debatable) and there were only 5 cats. As many pictures as I take of our 3 children, I took at least that many of the cats. Freakish.
3) lounging with cats. In all the lounging photos one or more cats is always snuggled up with me.
4) lots and lots of pottery.

So, for today's Embrace the Camera I'd like to take a walk down pottery memory lane. The above shot was taken at the Buyer's Market for American Craft in Philadelphia in early 2007. I was like a minute pregnant with Eli and we had just found out like 2 days before this show - the biggest of my career. During that show I booked orders for more than a year. It was intense. My woodworker friend Marc made those awesome shelves. You can put them together in all different ways. They're beautiful.

I'm not gonna lie. I was a pretty dope potter. See?

Pots.
Dear Pots.
I love you.
I miss making you.
I'll be back with you someday...


And locals will have one last shot to score some pottery at said yardsale. There's one wee bin left and its mostly plates and seconds. But sometimes you gotta take what you can get.

I'll be back pottery. I'll be back.

Love. Hope you have heaps of it.

There's a photo I would love to use as a Happy Valentine to you, beloved readers. It's of sweet Dizzy's tiny baby derriere. Y'all, he had (and still has really) a perfect little heart shaped arse. And I have a fabulous photo of it, which I can't bring myself to post. But if he ever crosses me, I may change my mind. I'm just sayin'.


So, in lieu of the hearty hiney...

Owl Be Your Valentine...

So it's not exactly a pot. But it is a jar. That head comes right off and you could store all sorts of V-Day goodies in there. Plus, it means his head revolves a full 360 degrees, all spooky like a real owl.

I decided with every piece I make these days I'm going to do something I've never done before. The first pot I made was a bowl and I cut and chopped and added and carved the heck outta that thing. So, second pot, I made a jar. And I thought, "I've never made an owl jar before." So I did it.


I hope you are all feeling the love today! The fella and I had a lovely V-Day date on Saturday (since he's working for the Big Guy tonight (teaches Bible Study)). We did dinner and a movie and began the "Big Baby Name Hash Out of Ought Eleven." We should have waited to hash until we at least know who's in there. Half the hashing...you know?

What are your V-Day plans...hopes...dreams? Hope they all come true.
Hope heaps of sweets are showered upon you.
Sweet treats, sweet words, sweet nothings, sweet lovin'...the whole bit.

Scenes of my Pottery Past

Did I mention that I used to be a potter? Well, I was. And it was crazy.

You see, about 2 weeks after I found out I was carrying our first child, I did a big time wholesale show - and it went well. I booked orders for more than a year. So I drove home from Philly and went to work.

I worked 14-16 hour days making, glazing, and firing pots the whole time I was pregnant with Eli. It was glorious and it sucked.

Then he got borned. Maternity leave? Psh. (First it's worth mentioning that stopped to unload my kiln load of pots on my way to the hospital to birth him, contractions and all). I was back in the studio before my Mama went home the week after he was born. I was a machine and it was not good.

I mean we survived it. But just barely.
We made do. I made pots with Eli strapped to my body. And I toted him to the pottery co-op to do all the glazing and gas firings. He loaded kilns with me. He napped while they fired. He got bathed in the glaze sink. He basically spent his first year in a pottery studio.

The glazing process took about a week of 12 hour days. And the firings were at least 18 hours, manning a gas kiln with flames shooting out of it. What a trooper he was.

I mean that's a lot of pots.

All of this to say - this go round is not going to be like that. The machine is broken. Think Amish. No electricity. No motorized parts. One pot at a time my friends. One pot at a time.

That makes me sound like I'm in Potters Anonymous. Ooo - that reminded me of this time I was in a cool shop with my friend Jodie, when she remembered that she had money to give me for some pottery I made for her. She yelled across the store, "Hey - I have the money I owe you for that pot."

Awkward.

But I digress...

I'm really excited about getting my hands in clay again. I can't tell you what it is about it that I love, but whenever I can't do it for a while, the first time I'm back at the wheel it's like, "Ahhhhh. This is what I've been missing." I certainly can't go at it like I used to - but I'm kind of excited about having to mix things up. I'm going to make all new pots in all new ways. Get excited.

Everybody's Doing It

Now that there's clay around, everybody wants to get their hands on it.

Makes a mama happy.

Sneakity Peekity

Coming soon...
Happily Home Thrown.

Fantasy To-Do List

My fabulous friend's blog - The Make Shift Revolution has issued a remarkable challenge - create your own Fantasy To-Do List.

In her words:
"the purpose of a fantasy to do list is to start thinking beyond all of the many obligations that abound long enough to envision what life might look like with a little added refrains of fun. items on these lists have a strange way of slipping out of the hypothetical world and into our real lives! just try it. you’ll see."

When she laid down this challenge a week or so, I let the idea marinate, and, whadya know, some dreams I didn't even know were hiding under there, peeked out their little heads. Now, as the purpose indicates - these to-dos are fantasy, and are in know way required to get done. But, just thinking about them has lead me to believe, a few just might come true.

So, here's my list of fantasies, some more realistic than others:

• Be a potter again (see photo below).

• Go back to India (see photo above).

• Get a bicycle and attachment for the boys and ride allovercreation.
  

• Get a maid (I might want this one the most).

• Go to Hawaii

• Have my pottery featured prominently on the set of Central Perk during the Friends reunion show.

• Become a singer/songwriter (that one came out of the blue didn't it).
  

• Read a book. Or two.

• Have a staff (like employees who work for me and do the piddly tasks of the day instead of me, not like a big stick)

• Single task (as in, the opposite of multi tasking - my m.o.)

I feel like my list may be woefully devoid of generous "do good for others" kinds of things - but this is fantasy. And in fantasy sometimes is all right to be selfish.

Hmmm...wander which one(s) might come true? Wait and see.

Oh, and on completely separate topic - there's only one day left of the End of May Sample Sale! Jump on over for some Memorial Day bargains.

The Introductions

I think I put the blogpost cart before the horse. So, let's go back a step. Let me introduce myself.

I am Jessa. Second sister of 4. Wife of The Fella for dangerously close to ten years now. I have lived a migratory life, but am currently nestled in Colorado, while The Fella works on his PhD. We're content here, but could be anywhere in 5 years.

I am the happy Mama to two of the sweetest little wonderboys on the planet and I spend my days in stitches at their antics. They are two and a half and uh, a half.

I have a Bachelors in Communication. It's practical and I have used it for real jobs, which I guess is the point. I have a Master of Fine Arts in Pottery (which I promise is a real thing). Until October 2008 I was a full time potter with work in over 40 galleries across the U.S. You can see the work of that season here. More on that later I'm sure.

In October 2008 - my elder boy child got mobile. Until that point I did Decker-Smith Pottery with him in tow. In fact, on my way to the hospital to birth him, I stopped to unload my kiln. Whilst in labor. Contractions and all.

After he was born, I just kept at it. I strapped him to my body and went back to the wheel. Looking back, I'm amazed that year didn't kill us both.

But mobility broke the camel's (that's me) back. Thank goodness.

In October 2008 I decided to give us a break. Two short months later, confirmed on my husband's birthday, we discovered we would welcome another baby in the coming year. So it just made sense to extend my hiatus and put Decker-Smith Pottery on the back burner.

And welcome him we did. Sweet Baby A, the little mouse, is a ball of love and he has added so much joy to our days.

So now I scratch the crafty itch in other ways. Lots of 'em. But more often than not I sew. I started when E-man was about 10 months old with the simple, one seam pants seen above, which I still make. But now they have enough dorky matching home sewn outfits. They're set. So it's time to send some of that handmade goodness out into the world.

Enter: The Etsy Shop

It just seemed natural to start Happily Home Sewn the blog in conjunction with starting Happily Home Sewn the Shop.

What you'll find here is the chronicles of our crafty adventures. You might come across some ideas you want to try. And I hope you'll send me some of yours too. You'll see our successful projects, and some screw ups I'm sure. I hope you'll see how creating teaches and nurtures me and my boys, and maybe even get inspired.

So. Welcome! Let me know who you are and what you think. I'd love to know who I'm talking to, if anybody.

Now. Let's get crafting!