I am finally getting over my stupid bout of strep throat. When I arrived home Saturday night after a very fun and relaxing week visiting family (despite the aforementioned strep), I found that the daffodils had gone crazy, and our normally wild, weedy yard was blanketed with scattered patches of yellow. I hope to get pictures this week, and pick bunches and bunches to share with friends. Anyway, the point of the daffodils was to say that I may be developing a minor case of spring fever, and have started doing a little spring cleaning. I kicked it off by washing the curtains in our little guest bedroom, which is also currently my sick room. I decided to perk things up a bit with this sweet little crocheted garland from Yvonne of Yvestown. When you are a not so good crocheter, like myself, it’s really necessary to have friends who are masters of the craft, don’t you think?

Read More

Taken with GorillaCam, edited with PS Express, Tiltshift Generator, and Lo-Mob

Taken with GorillaCam, edited with PS Express, Tiltshift Generator, and Lo-Mob

Taken with GorillaCam, edited with PS Express, Tiltshift Generator, and Lo-Mob

Oh, all right Spring, I guess you are welcome to come now, you and your pretty, pink, blossoms. 

I'm not sure which version I like best, I think the first one is my favorite. What do you think? 

Tonight is knitting group, so I'll show you some knitting in the next post. I've joined the Knit Knit Café Westknits KAL, which is fun, since I haven't really done a knit-along before. 

Here are some links I've been collecting recently:

I'd like this camera case for my iPhone.

Brooklyn Tweed is going to take us on a tour of the mill where Shelter yarn is made. The series starts here. I think this will be fascinating. 

Doesn't orange-vanilla marmalade sound delicious? 

I would love one of Ann Wood's ships, but maybe I can make do with my own teacup instead. She very generously shares the how-to. 

I'm currently cooking a lot of quinoa. These recipes look delicious, and this one is for sure. I know, because I've made it about three times in the last two weeks. 

I like brownies, but they are so rich, I don't have them often. These seem like a really good idea. White chocolate?! Raspberries?! Yes, a very good idea.

Read More

I'm having kind of a good time finishing some things that were started a long time ago. Here are just a few: 

A long ago thrift store find, this little display shelf was dusty, dark wood. I think it still needs one more coat of glossy paint, I just had some flat spray paint, but I love it so much more in white. It's nice to have a place to showcase some tiny treasures that I love. 

A simple appliqué quilt I started long, long ago. I finished sewing the three big flowers and their stems, so now I just need to get some batting, figure out the backing, quilt, and bind the whole thing. I love the saturated colors of these batik fabrics. I know they're maybe not so modern and hip, but I don't care. I'll probably hand quilt it with lots more of the same bright colors. 

It's nice and chilly in the evening, so I've picked up the knitting needles again! This is the Tea Leaves cardigan (Ravelry link) I started in March, and that is the bottom edge, just about ready to be cast off. Then I'll just have to do the sleeves and the button band, and I'll have a new sweater for this autumn!

There are a couple more projects in the works, and all this suits my ADD style just fine. I've also managed to hem my living room drapes, which have been hanging there un-hemmed for longer than I'd like to admit. There's also another porch project that I hope to finish this weekend that I think is going to be very cute. 

Luckily, Winston keeps me company in my little house studio as I work on all these projects. It really must be fall, his summer haircut is growing out quite nicely! 

Read More

This summer I seem to have lost my creative mojo. Is it too dorky to say mojo? Is there a better word for it? Anyway, whatever you call it, beyond cooking on the weekends and living on the leftovers and peanut butter and jam sandwiches during the week, I haven't done much of anything lately. In an attempt to remedy that, I decided to spend a little time in my little house studio this weekend. First of all, it needed a good tidying up. I cleaned up all around my sewing machine and ironing board, although I didn't quite have it in me to tackle the work table and closet just yet. Still, that little bit made all the difference.

I made a little garland from vintage book pages. There was nothing too it, I just used a big circle punch and sewed a long chain. I stacked three circles at a time and by folding the top and bottom circles, ended up with these flower-like shapes. I thought of doing something like this for Christmas cards last year but realized that there was no way I would have time to make enough. I think I'll do it this year and just start now, it's easy enough to make two or three at a time. I think they'll be fun wrapped flat around a postcard, and then the recipients can fold them open. See, already I have another creative project to think about. 

Another thing about this project that makes me happy is that I don't have to buy a thing. I have way too much junk, and I need to start using it or getting rid of it. I worked on two more projects this weekend that I started long ago. I think this will be the focus of my autumn cleaning-using stuff up and finishing what I started. So hopefully, I'll have lots to show in the coming weeks as I do this. The more I think about it, the more motivated I'm getting. Yay! 

As I was cleaning, I remembered that I had my grandma's thimble collection stashed away in a box, and decided to pull them out so I could enjoy them. As I was tidying up in the little house studio, I realized that many of them were tiny enough to fit on the ledge above the window. 

 

I love  being able to see them. She collected them when she traveled, and I know I gave her a couple as gifts when I was little, and I also have a bunch of just plain, utilitarian ones that she used when she quilted. 

 

Read More

I don't think I mentioned this book yet. See that little pink bunny in the middle? That's one of two contributions I made to this sweet little book of softies for kids (and everyone else, too!) to make. There's also a peeper pattern in there. It's only available in Australia, so I hope all you lucky Australians pick up a copy! As you can tell from the cover, there are some super cute things to make. I think I might need a pink stuffed submarine.

Read More

Some good things in my world right now:

  
   

There are four ducklings all together, two khaki campbells and two cayugas. They are from a straight run, so we don't know if they are male or female, but I'm hoping that we have at least a couple girls so we can have duck eggs. I'll tell you more soon, they're keeping me quite busy at the moment.

Also, it's one of the best times of the year, peony season!

 
 

 
 
 

Read More