Tuesday, August 05, 2008

I've Met My Match

Hi Knitters,
Well, it has happened. I have met my match. Let me tell you a little story. At about 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon my youngest daughter and I started a craft project. We were completely inspired at Anthology when looking into a couple of altered book projects that were on the shelf. When we got home we found a couple of old hardcover books that had already been read. We decided to use these to make our own altered books. After pulling out tons of supplies I innocently sat down with my daughter to start.
We both started with the covers, front and back. (The book I am sharing today is my altered book, I will share her book when she is done.) Next we dug into those inner pages with a vengeance. We stapled, mod podged, painted, punched, tied ribbons, braided, fringed, wove, cut, glued, drew, stuck, wrote, and ric-racked. The hours started flying by.
I suddenly realized that my husband was home from work. We were so entranced that no dinner plan had even crossed my mind. My daughter showed no sign of slowing down, not even slightly. I didn't even have a hint at the kind of brutal crafting night that was in store for me.
Here she is looking all cute and sweet but lurking inside this little body is the crafting strength, endurance and attention span that could rival any serious crafter out there. My husband found a frozen baked ziti and quickly popped it in the oven when he saw the shear determination of this mother/daughter crafting team at work on the kitchen table. He knew there was no stopping either of us.
I knew I needed to finish my book last night and I wouldn't stop until it was done. I shouldn't even be doing anything else but knitting and writing but how can I resist a request from a crafter of this caliber. It was about 7pm when she stopped for a quick serving of baked ziti. I plugged straight through, skipping dinner. It was a marathon or more like the iron man.
I became dehydrated and starving at about 10pm and I had to call it quits. It had become truly rough at this point. When I told her she was one brutal crafter, she just laughed. I made a quick grilled cheese and chugged down a big glass of water before crawling off to bed. I left behind my crafting partner in crime still working away at the kitchen table. I walked up the stairs thinking that I have finally been beat. I have crazy stamina when I get going on a project. In fact, I have not met many who can keep up with me purely in the endurance department when it comes to crafting.

My day has come.
I am officially passing the torch.

Pssst, I am having another giveaway starting at the end of the week. Check back to enter if you are interested. It's going to be a good one:)

Now, I gotta go rest up for my next challenge. This is going to be an interesting one, this girl of mine. Phew.

best, susie
p.s. Altered books are really cool and fun. You should give it a try.

15 comments:

Alicia said...

Hmm...my daughter is only 4 months old. I wonder how soon we can get started on this together? =) It's funny that you pulled a marathon craft event last night because I did the same with Itty Bitty Nursery in hand. My daughter has a pacifier that was begging for a clip. And I couldn't just use the one as-is from Target, so I stayed up into the wee hours knitting a flower clip for her. I just wanted to say thank you, thank you for the tutorial. It was so very helpful, and I can't wait to get started on some of these as gifts now. You truly make knitting an absolute joy for me. When my little girl wakes up from her nap, I'll take a picture of the clip and send it to you. So much fun!

Tracy Batchelder said...

I think it's great that you two share a passion for crafting!

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a great and inspiring saga of crafting and altered book-making. I'm glad we inspired you, now you've returned the favor because I have to go make an altered book with all those bits of ribbon and fabric. Yours looks fabulous and I can't wait to see your daughters.

on another note, wow, what a following you have! we're getting a huge number of visits to our blog from your referral. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Susie you are such a great Mom - you have passed on your creativity to your children not only genetically but by "doing" - I have been inspired by the way you share your talents with them in so many ways (loved Fairy houses!!) Your children are so blessed to have you for their Mom!!!

I just returned from spending 4 days with our 7 day old grandson - what a joy to bond with him!! While there I knit a froggy pacifier clip - too cute!!! Thanks again for your inspirations!! Cannot wait to make some flower clips also - jill

Anonymous said...

Your blog made me laugh and brought tears to my eyes. How sweet that you share a love of crafting, that you unconditionally shared this time with your daughter, that this will be something that she will always remember, and that your DH was able to understand the importance of the whole thing! A beautiful bonding moment! Thank you for sharing.

Lissa K said...

Susan,
I can't wait to see your daughter's altered book! Sounds like you too had a grreat time crafting together! You are making some wonderful memories for both of you! I know they will be treasured ones, for sure.
Hugs!
Lissa

Annie said...

You have an awesome husband for understanding or rather appreciating the power of creativity at work.
Your daughter rocks!! and so do you :)

Anonymous said...

What a great story - one could feel the drive and passion of both crafters! Yesterday after going to the Anthology website, I printed out a copy of the quote from Kurt Vonnegut and attached it to a photo of one of our flower beds - it's now displayed on our refrigerator. If you click on their photos they enlarge and then you can see ALL the fun just waiting... Our youngest son goes to UW-Madison and we'll be bringing him back to school in two weeks and making a stop at their shop!

Betz White said...

What a great story. I love doing projects with my kids. I taught my youngest son to knit this summer...I will post about it soon. It meant so much to me! You're a great mommy.

BTW, I finished one sock and blogged it today. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Susie!!! I'm not sure if you'll remember me, its Jaime Birkholz. I used to work at alphabet soup....I miss the store and was sad to see it closed.... Lindsay S. just had a little baby boy last week and I wanted to go to the online store to get her one of your creations, since I know how much she loved them. I was sorry to see it is no longer running. Nicole is doing well too. We had a mini shower for Lindsay and we couldn't stop talking about how great alphabet soup was, and how much we missed it.
Anyway, just wanted to say hi (if you still talk to Karen, please tell her hi for me as well), and tell you that I love all your things on the site. I'll have to look through it further. Hope everything is going great in your life (it looks like it is)!

Unknown said...

I had to pop in and say 'hi'! I also used to be a Susan Anderson, before I got married. I'm getting ready to cast on for elefante, and your blog is very sweet!
Before I was a knitter I was a die hard scrapbooker and paper alterer, so your book immediately caught my eye. Great job! It sounds like you both had a ball.

Alice Regan said...

What a wonderful way to spend the day! I'm chuckling a bit ...passing on the torch to daughter dear! I miss those days ...spending hours with daughter dear on a super duper project we just couldn't put down! Enjoy ...they grow up way too fast.

Jennifer said...

Could there be any better compliment? What a lovely mother/daughter bonding moment.

Gayle said...

Susan,

Crafting with your daughter is the ultimate bonding. Creating together is a wonderful thing. I am also a collage/assemblage artist and have tried to do an altered book but was never happy with it. Yours is so happy! I can see that you made it a lot of fun and I'm sure you are both very proud of it. Thanks for your fun blog

Dee said...

Hi Susan, I have your books and just love them. I have made many of the things. I am in the process of making the pacifier clips now along with a couple of the sweaters as I ahve a new grandaughter arriving in October.

I look forward to another book from you.

Diane