Every now and then I like to have a pajama day, a nice lazy day during which I never bother getting dressed. A nap is also a requirement. Sometimes, however, I want to have a slightly more productive yet still relaxed sort of day. These days are best observed when the weather is warm and the sky is blue, and everyone else is at work, and you can just do whatever you want. Attire must be comfortable, just a notch above pajamas-because you might just go out in public (but only if you feel like it), and must include flip-flops. That’s the kind of day I had on Friday. I’ve been needing a couple days off, so I told Mr. HeyLucy I wasn’t going to work Friday or Monday, but he shouldn’t expect much out of me, I was only going to do whatever I felt like doing at the moment.

Here’s how my flip-flop day commenced. I slept in until eight, which is not too late, but enough to feel like I got a little bonus sleep. I took care of the basic morning chores in a leisurely manner (unlike my usual rush to get everybody fed and watered on my way out the door), and finished assembling and painting another box for my beehive. I glued and nailed the ten frames that fit inside. I have a little more to do with the frames, but I’ll tell you about that later.

Because a new hobby requires as many cute new accessories as possible, I whipped up a little headscarf from Weekend Sewing. The first time I wore my hat and veil to work the bees, my hair got twisted up and fell in my face, and you can’t exactly reach in and move it once you’ve got 10,000 buzzing bees in front of you. It worked perfectly when I wore it for yesterday’s hive inspection. Although it’s quite adorable, and I’ve worn it for most of the weekend while working in the yard, it’s not particularly flattering with my short hair poking out the back, so I’m afraid I will not be able to model it for you.

This pattern was just as easy as can be, and took all of 30 minutes. I highly recommend it!

Before leaving to go for a nice swim, I enjoyed a quick breakfast of Greek yogurt and strawberries. One of the best things about living in Southern California is our ridiculously long strawberry season, and I had the most perfect strawberries.

I headed to the pool, swam for a half hour or so, and then I got to just lay in the sun for another half hour. It was perfectly warm, with a tiny breeze and the bluest sky. It was such a treat since I usually swim on my lunch hour, which means 30 minutes in the pool and then rush to shower and dry my hair and get back to my desk.

I went out to lunch with a good book and had some spicy Thai food. I ordered some extra to take home for our dinner, and then headed over to Lowe’s to pick up everything I needed to build a raised bed for a vegetable garden this Summer.

Back home for the evening, I watched a little Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while knitting, of course. And then, worn out from my perfectly relaxing day, I went to bed and slept like a baby. I feel like such a braggert telling you all about my day, but it was just the nicest ever. I hope everyone takes a flip-flop day soon!

Speaking of knitting, I could use an opinion. I’m nearly done with my pumpkin sweater (Alpaca! Just in time for Summer!) and I have this lovely coral heather laceweight, enough for either the Whisper Cardigan or Featherweight Cardigan (Ravelry link). I just can’t decide. I love the back of Whisper, but being somewhat busty, i don’t know if the front is very flattering. I like the Featherweight Cardi, but it’s still a new enough pattern that there aren’t many finished versions on Ravelry yet. I love Ravelry just because you can see what the finished products look like on a variety of figures. Which do you prefer? Explain please. Oh, and the yarn? Knit Picks Merino Laceweight, $2.99 a hank, either sweater requires two to three hanks, and even including shipping that’s less than $12 total. Bargain sweater!

And one last thing, because this is rather long, but I did one other project recently that I’m quite pleased about. I made a little pin board for above my work table, and it’s so handy and it was very easy. I had a 12″ cork tile laying around, so I cut four one inch strips. I cut one of the strips in half, and then butted two strips together and glued a third, centered between the two. on top. That left the two halves, which I glued on either side of the centered strip, so I ended up with a double layer, 24″ strip of cork. I cut fabric into a 3 1/2 by 28 inch rectangle, and sewed it around the cork I just hung it up with strong double-sided foam tape, and that was that.

So handy! Now of course I’m going to have to make some cute push pins to coordinate. Maybe tomorrow.

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Let's just drag birthday week out as long as possible, shall we? I didn't get home until nearly 9:00 on Friday night, after running all sorts of errands, and I was still so pooped on Saturday that I took a three hour nap. That may have had something to do with the fact that I also cleaned out the chicken coop, and swept off another big section of driveway. Enough with the excuses, however, I have another giveaway to tell you about.

I felt the need to make something with paper today, so I made a little set of pamphlet-style notebooks, and experimented with an accordion book. The accordion book is a little wonky, but I like how it looks standing up like this, and the pages are my favorite printmaking paper. I know I've talked about my old red book for sketching and ideas and quotes, but I also usually have a little notebook in my purse for to-do lists and grocery lists, and other sorts of temporary scribblings. So I hope you will find these handy, and very usable. They all have Amy Butler cardstock covers, and two of the notebooks have brown paper pages and for the third I used ledger paper. 

Speaking of Friday night errands and grocery lists, lately I'm all about visiting ethnic grocery stores. This week I did the bulk of my shopping at 99 Ranch, a local Asian grocery store. It's gigantic, and they have all sorts of interesting things, including a deli with my new current obsession, banh mi (Vietnamese/French-style sandwiches). I also got ingredients for my gyoza and vegetables for a couple stir-fry dinners this week. Last week I visited a Mexican grocery store and made a big batch of Chile Verde. Their produce was so cheap (tomatoes for 59 cents a pound!), and I even treated myself to a carnitas taco from the taco counter at the front of the store that was one of the best I've ever had, and only $1.50. Of course I can't forget my favorite ethnic grocery store, Mitsuwa Market, home of all sorts of wonderful Japanese deliciousness. Between these three, Trader Joe's and Fresh & Easy, I almost never have to go to a regular grocery store, and I definitely spend less. So today's giveaway question is: Where do you do most of your grocery shopping? Any hidden gems to share? 

I'm also really excited to show you this book (Quilts, Baby!), which arrived this week:

 

I think the official release date is May 5, but Amazon says it's shipping in 1-3 weeks. I have two patterns in here, but even if I didn't, I would still want to buy it, there's a whole lot of cuteness inside. Here are my patterns, a bubbles quilt, and one with little crosses:

 

 

And here are some of my favorites by other quilters:

 

I think I'm going to use this pattern for the bird baby quilt I'm making, and will use the bird print instead of solid yellow for the big rectangles. And holy moly is this one adorable:

 

I love this one so much, those little cats climbing the stairs just kill me:

Okay, thanks for looking at all those pictures of books. There might be one more giveaway tomorrow, I'm working on something and I'm not sure if it's going to pan out, fingers crossed!

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I wrote down everybody's names from the mushroom comments and put them in a little bowl, and then I captured the rest on film:
 
 

 


Yay for Rachel! I'll send you an e-mail to get your address, and your mushrooms will go out in tomorrow's post!

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I was so involved with my injury and my mushrooms yesterday that I only gave you one crappy picture of the finished terrarium. I thought you might like to see a little more. Or maybe you're over the whole terrarium thing already, and wish I would move on to something else. If that's the case, then come back next time and I promise I won't even say 'terrarium' once.

Looking down from the top, and here's a more clear side view:

I don't have any helpful hints for you, really. I got that jar at Ikea for $5, and bought a bag of pebbles at Michael's for $2.29. I used about a third of the pebbles in the bottom, then threw a handful of potting soil on top of that and just piled the moss in there. It broke apart a little as I handled it, it's fragile stuff, but I think it still looks okay, and maybe it will grow and cover any bare spots. As for finding moss, I'm also not sure what to tell you. I've always liked moss, so I tend to notice it when I go on walks. This was growing in the shade, mostly near rocks, and I just picked it right up. I had enough of everything left that I made myself another one, which I think I will take to work and keep on my desk.

This one is in a Weck canning jar that I found at a thrift store. I found two, actually. The other one has some of my favorite buttons and buckles in it, but this one was just waiting for a special use. Don't their jars make you want to can everything? I would love to get some and just can all Summer long. I have plenty of mason jars, though, so I'll just have to be happy with those for now.

I also did more than make terrariums this weekend, I also started a skirt for myself. I really hope it comes out as I envisioned. I think it just might. Here's a little sneak peak:

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That's right, I am reporting the very first recorded terrarium-related injury. I headed out with the dogs this afternoon on a quest for moss. It's very hard to walk through our gate and down the street and leave the dogs behind, because the pitiful barks make the neighbors think we're dog abusers. So I hooked them up to the dual leash, and we set out. And we walked by the Next Door Neighbor's house, when their dog (the same dog that runs along the fence line in tandem with Winston every, single, day) started barking and my dogs freaked out, tangled themselves up and tripped me, even though I was, at that point, standing still. I'm still not sure how they did it. But because I know you all are as excited about terrariums as I am, I couldn't let a little bloody hand wound and a couple scraped knees stop me. Oh no, we got ourselves up and untangled, and continued on the Moss Quest. I just tried really hard not to bleed on it, the leash, or the dogs.

Oh, but I have to back up a little bit. Last night I went searching for some cute mushrooms, also for the terrarium, and I couldn't find anything. So in desperation, I picked up some red and some white polymer clay, despite the fact that I've never used the stuff before, and have never considered sculpting anything in my life, least of all tiny mushrooms. I had to have some mushrooms, you see. A plain moss terrarium  just would not do.

Here they are in progress. Those are their spots, waiting to be added. This picture kind of makes me laugh. I figured I'd just use up all the clay and make as many mushrooms as I could, while I was at it. The clay was easy to work with. I'd say the hardest thing about the whole project was the fact that the red smudges really badly, so that was kind of a pain. I had to scrub really hard to get it all off my hands, and you can't even think about touching the white unless your hands are perfectly clean. If there's any interest, I could maybe, one day, post a little mushroom making tutorial. It usually takes me a long time to get around to these things, so don't get too excited.

I'm quite pleased with how they came out. I'm almost tempted to just leave this little fairy ring in my studio forever.

Obviously, I can't put all of them in my terrarium, so I'm going to list a couple sets of three in my shop, and I'm going to give away a set of three right now! Surprise! Well, not right this minute, but just leave a comment if you want to make a terrarium and need a set of mushrooms. I'll leave the comments open this week, until Friday or so, and then choose a winner next weekend.

And now, for the big reveal:

I'll keep you updated on its survival. I hope it does okay. Mr. HeyLucy was concerned that it might start to smell. I have to say, that thought never crossed my mind, so I will report on that as well.

And here is a hopefully sympathy-inducing shot of part of my injury (small, so you don't get too grossed out):


You can click to see it bigger, if you're into that kind of thing. The saddest part about my injuries? I actually fell off my back step a few weeks ago, and scraped up my hands and knees in the same places, and it was FINALLY nearly healed. I can't blame the dogs for that one, however. I'm not very coordinated, I think my center of gravity is all wacky because I'm tall.

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I hope you are all had a LOVEly Valentine’s Day! We don’t go to crazy around here, a bucket of KFC and maybe a card or some flowers is the norm, but Mr. HeyLucy was feeling virtuous yesterday and decided to forgo the usual fried chicken indulgence. We made prime rib instead, and it was delicious.

I have some happy gifts for you: a few fun little game links. Gatuno is a cute adventure game. You are a cat trying to find a sad little boy a Christmas present. Wrong holiday, but the sentiment is the same. If you find that one too frustrating (and there is a walk-through available here, in the comments), here’s a super simple adventure created as a project by an animation student. The music and imagery are quite nice, even if it takes only about a minute to play the entire game. This isn’t actually a game, but it’s fun to watch (make sure you have your sound on!). Hema is a Dutch store that I loved when I lived there, sort of like a smaller version of Target. And the most imaginative of all, I’ve saved for last. Samorost is so original and lovely. It wasn’t too hard to figure out, and the graphics and sounds are just so perfect. It’s a nice little escape.

I’ve decided to do a small project or two towards the completion of my studio project each weekend, and use the rest of my free time for actually playing and enjoying the space. The projects for this weekend included putting up a shelf above my worktable:

I’ll be using it to display art. I have a few things awaiting frames right now, and a tiny Amy Ruppel painting on the way, so I’ll show more when things are nicely arranged and displayed. I also recently ordered some Black Apple paper dolls. I spent yesterday cutting and mounting them in Ikea frames, and I love they way they came out. I hung them right where I set up my ironing board when I need it, so I can enjoy them while I iron.

So far this weekend I’ve also finished knitting my latest scarf, made a couple more shot-cotton scarves for gifts, and started a new quilt. I’m planning on spending a good amount of time in my sewing machine chair, so I hope to have a quilt top to show you soon. The crocheted cushion is courtesy of one of my favorite internet people ever, Yvonne. It was part of our annual Christmas swap and I love it with the cushion I’ve got on there.

Now I just need to decide on a color to paint the chair. What do you think? Maybe it’s time for an opinion poll.

 

Thanks for always bing so nice around here. A couple pictures from my home were recently featured on Apatment Therapy, which is incredibly flattering, but the commenters over there are awfully full of snark. I don’t really understand why anyone would take time out of their day to criticize something as personal as another persons home, but I suppose it’s their decision how they use their time.

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