Hi, My name is Rachel, and this is my happy family.
My story began where the crickets chirp, and the bullfrogs leap, wait...It actually began before that with these two people
My mom and Dad
My parents story is a large part of mine. They met and moved from the cornfields of Ohio to the heat of the Texas sun...I do not know all of the fine details of their travels west, but it was the 1970's and they spent time living on a hippie commune. They were both carpenters there, and also learned many other trades, like spinning cotton into yarn. In the late 1970's they moved back to Ohio, married, and had my brother. Though they lived in a trailer when he was born they soon moved into a tee pee. I am not sure how long they lived there, but when my sister came two years later they were still living in the tee pee. My father soon acquired some land and they built their first house which was a log cabin. In the 1981 I was born. This time at home in the log cabin, and my father delivered me with the midwives assistance.
Even though it was the early 1980's my parents went against the stream and we lived with the basics.
We had no running water, and no water. Our bathroom was an outhouse, and we took baths in a tin tub with creek water. My parents also grew their own food, and my mom made most of our meals from scratch. They were vegetarians.
A couple years later the fairy tale ended my parents separated. My father moved into a old one room school house, and my mother back to the city she was raised. We stayed with my dad, and my earliest memories are things like dancing to Puff the Magic Dragon in the kitchen with my dad, and watching my brother catch the school bus on the winding hills of our home.
During all of this time I spent plenty of time in the woods. It is now a part of me, and wherever I go I have the forest with me. We moved back with my mother and had a "somewhat" normal life from that point on.
My mother was always going to art school on the side, and was constantly gardening, painting, sculpting, and drawing.
My father moved to West Virginia and started his own construction business. At 11 years old I moved with him. Our home was always a work in progress. His father was a woodworker, and he picked up many of his skills. My father was always doing something with wood whether it was making a dining room table for us, or putting a loft in our attic. His art was in his building.
I say all of this to say that art and creating is in my blood, and the love of nature runs in my veins. I was always creating new fashion trends during the time with my father. Whether it was wearing huge puffy skirts in the fifth grade, or ties and hats in the sixth, I always had fun with fashion. In high school I would stay up late making up outfits. I could not sew at the time, but I sure cut up a lot of things. In 2000 I went to college and studied first mass media, and then education. I was not sure what I wanted to do, so I thought education would be a good sensible career choice.
In 2001 I married my husband and we moved to Philadelphia PA, where we studied and had our first daughter. I was ready to devote my entire life to my family at that point, and we had our second daughter after we moved to Charleston SC. That is when I really developed a passion for sewing. I tried many things from candle making, painting, cake making, and crocheting, but sewing was the one that stuck with me.
We soon moved to Hawaii for three years and had 2 more children, both boys. At the end of 2010 I started my Etsy Shop Sweet Home Boutique. It is an expression of my life and all of my hope, love and experiences. We are now living back in South Carolina, and expecting our fifth child in March.
