there's so much magic in the air

there's so much magic in the air

I'd really love to learn a balance of doing and telling so that I remember to invite you to all the delightful collaborations I've been working on.  Remember when I said I wanted this to be the year of collaboration? Well, it is. I could not be happier about it.

It's been a year in the making, but my part of the work on my friend Sanae Ishida's upcoming book Sewing Love (2022!) has come to a close. It was a lot of rewarding work drafting, testing, fitting, and sewing many of the looks for the book with a beautiful range of models. I miss the regular visits to my studio from the incredible women I got to know better who continue to inspire me. 

At home, we're learning how to sail, and practicing with a friend. It's so nice because everybody brings a different set of experiences and perspectives to our practice together.  I spent every summer on a sailboat in my childhood.  When my parents split I was 6.  My mom got the house and my dad bought a (very little) boat to live on and learn how to sail. Every other weekend we spent learning how to get around on my dad's boat. It sounds like a romantic notion - living on a sailboat - but in hindsight, it must have been so hard for him. A single dad with two little kids and no house or apartment to take us to for drawing and games. Instead we put on big orange puffy life jackets and bopped around the marina behind him like little ducklings. When we would finally go out on the lake and watched sails fill with air, it was pure magic for all three of us. If you hit fast forward to my tween and teen years, you'd see me working the check-in desk at regattas, and screen printing participation awards in the garage. My dad really took a chance on learning how to sail as an adult and turned it into a lifelong passion. 

When I  was a single mom myself, I moved with my kid to a little neighborhood by a lake near the sailing club I remembered so fondly from my childhood and teen years. I hoped my little one would learn to sail, too, and find an even better, more empowering experience than I had. Unfortunately for sailing, but not for life, we moved to the other side of town to form a new family before that could happen. 

Now, almost 20 years later, my youngest child is racing little sailboats and assistant-coaching beginners at sailing camp.  (She won an award for Most Inspirational Sailor in her first season.)  This summer, she's the most experienced of all of us.  Though I grew up on and around sailboats, I wasn't taught how to sail.  My sister and I were passengers only, and I wanted my kids to have a different kind of childhood. A more participatory one. A childhood where they are teachers and much as learners. A childhood full of the magic I felt when I witnessed the sails filling with air for the first time at six years old.  But ALL the time.

Creating that kind of magic means that I need to keep the spark alive in myself as well. One of the joyful collaborations I participated in last month was a panel during the Holisticism Summer Solstice Festival on Magical Motherhood.  It was amazing to know there are so many other magical mamas in my world, and though we come from diverse backgrounds and cultures, our magic is similar. Our practices share some of the same roots and differ in other areas, but we all prioritize a wonder and openness in our approach to parenting.  We were asked when we'd do another one, so we put together circle for this Thursday. You can find out more here. I'd love for you to join us if that's something that calls to you.

It's been more than half a year, and I'm still finding magic in my daily yoga with Ella.

Before the Magical Motherhood Panel, I talked about Sustainability at the Summer Block Party with a host of lovely collaborators covering topics such as rest (Flory Huang), tarot (Elissa Torres), human design environments (Ariana VanBeurden) and traditional chinese medicine (Jamie Ni). 

The file from the event is really big, but I'll be breaking out the individual sections so you can come to my talk on caring for summer textiles.  I'll make it available on my very slow journal when it's ready.

There are more collaborations in the works, exciting new projects, and slow and quiet time with my kids planned for the rest of the summer. If you'd like a little sample of what's coming in my next workshop with Jamie for the Summer Season, we had a little chat here.

Were there enough links for you in this post? I'll try to take it down a notch next time. I hope you're having a wonderful summer, and I hope to see you soon. Maybe at Portland Frocktails next weekend?  Ella and I are sewing right now to get ready.