A Family Afair

I get asked a lot where I learned to sew and the answer to that question is : Theresa Clarke. My amazing mother taught all of her girls to sew at an early age. I remember sitting on the floor of her work room, pinning together doll clothes or pillows while she worked on something else. She would come to a stopping point with her work and help me with mine. I will be forever grateful that my mom passed on this useful and fullfilling skill to me.

The good news is that my mama just opened her own Etsy store!!! Her Etsy store, At Last Wedding Designs, showcases her elegant and unqiue wedding garters. They are all made fomr vintage lace and hand-beaded. If you are soon to be married or know some one who is, these garters are a must have. They would make a perfect gift and will be something a bride can treasure forever. Check out her store at www.atlastweddingdesigns.etsy.com And while you are at it check out the other Clarke girls' stores : www.emilclarke.etsy.com and www.sewsewlovely.etsy.com

Shameless

I just have to say my sister, Emily Clarke, is an amazing artist (and yes this is a shameless plug). If you haven't ever checked out her website and blog you really should. Although I have known her my entire life and I am a little bias, Emily is really talented at taking a treasured family photograph and turning it into a priceless piece of art. Emily also loves painting timeless images from the 1940s and 50's. One of Emily's paintings would make a really special Christmas present or feel free to contact her about getting her to paint one of your favorite photos. Below are a few of my favorites of people I love. You may recognize some of them. And don't forget to visit www.emilyclarkestudio.com.

The one where it has been a while.

I think all bloggers have the inevitable "it has been a while" post.

Well here is mine. August and September have been very eventful months for me.

Two of my very best friends had beautiful weddings. I was honored to be bridesmaids and to be asked to make wedding crafts. First it was Lacie and Daniel's wedding in Birmingham, Alabama and next Kyle and Katrina'

s nuptials in Bend, Oregon (below is the Chuppah/Quilt I made for

Katrina's Wedding. I didn't get a good picture of the flag I made for Lacie's Wedding). After I got back from Oregon, My sister in I had a great time with our booth in the west Greenville Art fair. And then I turned 27 this weekend! So all in all it has been busy busy busy.

Now is the time to get your custom orders in for Christmas though. If you would like a bag or a cuff made for a friend or family member for

Christmas send me and e-mail or conversation on Etsy. All I need to know is the colors you would like for me to use and if there is a patterned that person likes a lot ( example: florals or animal print). I already have a few orders in line for Christmas so let me know if you are interested. I can ship anywhere in the United States and my bags and cuff come gift wrapped.

Thanks! And be sure to check out my shop over the next few days and weeks. I have a lot of new items to post and you may find some of your Christmas gifts there!

No one likes a Drunk Debutante

My summer camp has been open for 60 years, so we had a reunion! Honestly, as I drove up the mountain in my car this past weekend, I was a little nervous about the experience that was about to ensue. I haven't been the best at keeping up with my camp friends while I was living in Texas.
I was a little worried we wouldn't have anything to talk about and sometimes I have a knack for saying awkward things and killing conversations (if you would like to hear some examples of this, just ask).

The weird thing was that when I got together with those girls, after a few catching up conversations, it felt like we had never been apart. There were some other camp things that were harder to get used to, like singing songs all the time and having wet shoes, but it felt completely normal to be in that place with those girls.

Camp brings together lots of different types of people. Take for example one of my good camp friends, Lizzie. Lizzie wears pearls with every outfit.

This weekend I found out that she buys pearl earrings in bulk so that she will always have a pair, in the event that she loses them.

Lizzie is about to join the Junior League. Lizzie was a debutante, I actually went to her ball (this was my first and maybe my last ball). At her ball Lizzie's mom told her one of my favorite deep south words of wisdom " No one likes a drunk Debutante" (isn't that the truth?!?!) I, on the other hand, wear clothes that, more often than not, don't match. One day I want to have honey bees in my yard. I wear weird things in my hair and around my neck (ex: quail feathers and huge butterfly wings). And the older I get them more home-grown I become ( why buy something when you can make it yourself?).

If Lizzie and I had met anywhere but camp I think we might have not given each other a chance. However, within the first few days of meeting each other, back in the day, Lizzie and I discovered we both love birthday cake ice cream, our middle names rhyme and our belly buttons are the same height (discovered while playing limbo). This was enough to encourage a beautiful and lasting friendship.

Oh camp! I don't know how you do it but you cause friendship to spring up in unlikely places. I wish there was something in my grown up life that was like camp. Or I wish there was a reunion every year. I would even face the humiliation of the Reds losing at tug-a-war to the Blues, twice in a row, for another weekend with my camp friends.

Healthy Competition

All my life I have been pretty competitive. If something has a clear winner, something rises up in me and I have to win. If you know me pretty well you have probably witnessed this. Especially if you ever went to summer camp with me. There are certain things that I am aware I will not win but if there is chance, I have a hard time giving up.

I am a proud member of Team South Carolina on etsy. TeamSC is in place to promote South Carolinian crafters through community and other promotional materials. Right now we are having a contest. The Challenge was put in place to make something that reminded us of South Carolina. I would love for you to go on the blog and vote for which entry you like best. Mine is the "Palmetto Handkerchief Cuff", but I want you to vote for the one that you like the best. If I win I will get a feature on the blog, which really could help get some more traffic to my etsy store. Here is the link: http://scstreetteam.blogspot.com/2010/07/its-time-to-vote-for-your-favorite.html

And Just for the record, never challenge me to a chugging competition. You will lose.

Oh How I love Being an Aunt!

Today is my youngest nephew's first birthday. I cannot believe it has been a whole year since we welcomed Mateo Luis into the world. And Oh what a better world it is with him in it! He has already learned to walk, make a mess of things and get anything he could possibly want from his Aunt Julia. Mateo, your Aunt Julia loves you so so much and can't wait to see what is in store for you on your next trip around the sun.

I really think being an aunt is the best and I have very solid reasons for my beliefs. First, I don't have to be a disciplinarian. One of my favorite memories of my older nephew, Diego, illustrates this point. One day at breakfast I was sitting with my nephew, his mom (my sister, Anna) and his Aunt Emily (my other sister). Diego was probably two at the time and was beginning to have some awareness of right and wrong. And he was wearing those little footie pajamas, that are so cute it should be a crime. As we were sitting there enjoying our breakfast, we would occasionally see a little adorable foot creep up and place itself on the table. Anna would look at Diego and say very sternly (but kindly, my sister is a great mom!) "No Feet on the table Diego", while Aunt Emily and Aunt Julia would erupt in pearls of laughter. A few minutes later, very slyly, someone would once again sneak their foot up on the table resulting in a fairly similar, if not heightened response from his beloved aunts. Thus, young Diego found himself at a crossroads. Did he try to please his mother and take the less fun route? Or did he continue to disobey his mama and as a result earn the attention of his mischievous aunts? Of course he chose the second of the two and of course we continued to encourage it. Oh what fun!

Since becoming an aunt 5 years ago, I have learned to play silly games like "plop down on the inflatable mattress and put your feet in the air" (who knows why that was fun but we played it for a really long time).

I have saved messages on my phone for years because I know that this is the only way I will be able to hear certain little ones (who now are very grown up and can say "Aunt Julia") call me "Ju-wa". I have increased my knowledge of Hot Wheel Cars extensively. I have gotten up early on Christmas morning (even though I thought at some point I would be old enough to sleep in). I have sung silly songs, danced silly dances and answered unending questions. And I have wondered what I talked about, laughed at, and filled my life with before my two nephews filled a very special place in my heart. So Mateo, even though we have only just gotten to know each other, we have a lot of living to do together Bud! And you can always count on your Aunt Julia to think you are funny, to never get you in trouble and to love you with her whole heart!

A dyeing story

My dear friend Katrina is getting married in September. In honor of her nuptials I am creating quite the sewing masterpiece. I don't want to say much about what I am making right now but I can't wait to share it with you when I am finished. I needed some dark purple/plum colored fabric for this creation and in all the yardage I have in huge Rubbermaid bins in my house, none of it was the right color purple. So I decided to dye some of my lighter color fabric.

Dyeing and I have a long tumultuous history. I do not claim to be an expert in dyeing fabric but through years of trial and error I have figured out how to (for the most part) dye successfully. I wasn't a 100% sure what all

these fabrics were (cotton takes color the best, but also shrinks ) and some of them I just wanted to see what would happen.

I added two boxes of purple dye and a bottle of wine colored dye to a washer of hot salt water (adding about 1/2 a cup of salt helps the color take). I like dyeing things in the washer because it drains the water and rinses the fabric. I realized after I put in the dye that it was too pink so ran back to the craft store to buy more purple. The woman who checked me out for the second time must have thought my purple tinted fingertips and purple speckled hands were pretty amusing.

And 30 minutes later I had purple fabric! And, because of a piece of woven cotton that decided to unravel in the dye bath, a lot of purple fuzz all over my apartment. You can tell that some of the fabric doesn't take the dye as well as others, thus the varying shades. But all in all it was a success. Isn't dyeing fun?