Green Bee

week of photos : thursday

2009-07-09T17:56:00.001-04:00

week of photos : wednesday

2009-07-08T20:22:00.000-04:00

week of photos : tuesday

2009-07-07T18:53:00.002-04:00

week of photos : monday

2009-07-06T16:03:00.001-04:00

heading out

2009-07-02T15:16:00.004-04:00

We're leaving any minute now to go camping for the weekend. I'm so excited, I need a break so badly. Hopefully I'll take enough photos to share them with you all next week when I get back. Hope you guys have a great weekend (with lots of sunshine!).

almost there

2009-06-29T20:53:00.004-04:00

I finished quilting the summer quilt this weekend. I really wanted to do some fancy free-motion quilting (like this), but after much practice and playing around with settings and a bit of swearing, I've come to the conclusion that my cheapo machine just can't handle it. Oh well. So I did a simple diagonal grid instead. Good enough for a beach blanket right?

I made the binding last night (when I should have been studying), and I sewed it on today. Now it's on to my most favorite part of the entire quilt-making process: hand stitching the back of the binding on. Oh I love it! My mom thinks I'm nuts. :) Maybe I'll have this thing finished before the end of summer after all.

two things that have been occupying my days:

2009-06-27T10:51:00.001-04:00

One explains my absence here during the past couple of weeks, the other explains how I've kept my sanity.

We have a decently sized strawberry patch that has, until recently, been keeping us in good supply of fresh strawberries. Every other day for weeks now I've gone out there and picked. It's been my peaceful, quiet time. My chance for a bit of a break.
There was enough on some days to bake something, but they were just too good. We've been binging on them. Oh, have they been good.

But... there has been no strawberry shortcake, no strawberry-rhubarb squares, no strawberry jam, no strawberry ice cream, no strawberry pie, and no strawberry smoothies. Sad, don't you think?

So yesterday we decided that that had to be fixed. We took a ride out to the country to a pick-your-own strawberry patch. It was a gorgeous day.

And we picked some gorgeous berries..

Oh yes! I can already taste the strawberry pie... and the shortcake... and the ice cream.. and..

flower photos

2009-06-13T11:40:00.000-04:00

(I used the pioneer woman's 70's action (which I found from doe-c-doe) on the photos. Isn't it fun?)

b&w cheesecake squares

2009-06-09T22:12:00.000-04:00

I haven't had a whole lot of time to bake lately (sorry rhubarb!), but I just found this photo of black-and-white cheesecake squares that I made a few weeks ago for a family get-together. They were quite popular (some people went back for thirds and at least one person took a couple home. hehe)... they were really, really good. It was like a brownie cheesecake.. how perfect is that?

It's Martha's recipe of course.. I think it was in the April issue on the last page, or you can find it here.

summer reading

2009-06-05T11:08:00.002-04:00

My mom owns a lot of books. She has so many that I almost never buy a novel or a memoir for myself, I just borrow hers to read. She has pretty good taste so it works out well. :)

Last week I asked her to collect five or so of her favorites so that I can work on reading them over the summer. She came back with 10, unable to pick just 5. So now this stack is sitting on my dresser, waiting for me and I'm loving it there. Every time I pass by I think of reading them during lazy weekends in the backyard, sunny days on the beach, chilly mornings in the woods, and late nights with the crickets chirping. What would summer be without a good book (or 10)?

I already sped through Water for Elephants this week, staying up far too late and being a bit groggy during the day because of it, but it was worth it, I thought it was very good.

Anyway, I don't exactly know what most of these books are about, or whether I'll like them or not, but I figured I'd share the list here in case some of you were looking for something new to read this summer:

- For One More Day, Mitch Albom
- Durable Goods, Elizabeth Berg
- Revenge of the Paste Eaters, Cheryl Peck
- A Million Little Pieces, James Frey (I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about this book, and that it is really mostly fiction. I'll probably give it a try though, but it may be last on the list!)
- The Good Good Pig, Sy Montgomery
- A Three Dog Life, Abigail Thomas
- Jim the Boy, Tony Earley
- With a Hammer for my Heart, George Ella Lyon
- She Got up off the Couch, Haven Kimmel
- Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

unraveled

2009-06-02T19:14:00.001-04:00

Last week I unraveled an old sweater for the first time, using these directions. It was rather easy (just a little time consuming) and I ended up with a ton of pretty, light blue cotton yarn. I haven't figured out what I'll make with it yet.
I'm really excited about this. I already bought two wool sweaters at the thrift store to unravel to make dryer balls (which has been on my to-do list forever!!). One tip: don't do this right before bed. I had dreams all night of untying knots and clipping seams!
Here's the sweater before:
I haven't had much to share here lately. A couple weeks ago I was really busy in the garden getting it ready and planting. That's almost all finished... all that's left is potatoes and some flowers that I'm going to try to dye yarn with (hopefully!).

I'm taking a couple classes this summer, which started last week. That's pretty much all I've had time for since then. My head is getting crammed with scores and scores of medical terms. May I complain a bit more? I don't remember the last time I touched my sewing machine. It's been dark and cold here for days now. I injured my knee running so I haven't been able to do that in a while. It's very frustrating and I miss it. I have no idea when I'll have the time to prep the soil for the potatoes and get them in the ground. And between my and Brian's schedules, I'm afraid we won't have any chance at all of enjoying summer, even though I know that we still will..

How do you guys juggle busy schedules and stay sane?

morning at the farmers market

2009-05-30T09:58:00.008-04:00

Have a great weekend!

pie season

2009-05-27T18:17:00.001-04:00

Ahh.. rhubarb pie. It's one of my favorites, maybe because rhubarb is the first fruit-like thing that's ripe in the spring? I really, really love anything with strawberries and rhubarb together, but there won't be any strawberries for about a week or so, so the humble pie plant was able to shine in this pie that I made for the party last weekend.

I really want to learn how to make a perfect crust, even though I'm still a bit freaked out about it. For this pie, I used this recipe from Martha for the bottom crust and I made a crumb topping by mixing 1/4 cup each of brown sugar, flour, and oats with 2 tablespoons of cold butter. The rhubarb pie recipe I got from here.. really simple and delicious. Overall the pie was fantastic (I ate a leftover piece warmed up for lunch yesterday. With ice cream. Shhh..), but I don't know about the crust. It was good, just a litte hard. Maybe I'll substitute some shortening for the butter next time to get it more flaky? Anyone have a great recipe to share?

Thankfully I have an entire season of pie-making before me to practice...

planting time

2009-05-22T20:53:00.001-04:00

a day off yesterday + sun + temps in the 80s + a garden ready for planting + a bit of lounging = a very happy me :)

(I hope all of you here in the states have a great Memorial Day weekend! I have baking (rhubarb pie!!), maybe some thrifting, a painting party and bbq at my cousin's new house, and more gardening on my agenda for the weekend. Should be fun!)

old stuff

2009-05-21T21:13:00.001-04:00

I love this little spot on my shelf in the craft room. I got the globe at the flea market for $2 and I found the plastic lion buried in the garden. I love it when I find bits of my childhood out in the dirt (usually it's old Matchbox cars!).

look who I just found

2009-05-18T20:02:00.006-04:00

I was weeding away and minding my own business and I looked up to see this little fella hiding in the daffodils. He kinda scared me! What a cutie pie. Mama rabbit made her nest in the middle of the yard, so this guy must be out exploring.
He reminded me of all the years working at the nature center. We would get calls all the time from worried people that found a bunny nest that they thought was abandoned, or a tiny little bunny all alone. One day, a woman came in with a terrified bunny in a box. She said something like, "I had to chase this all over the yard to catch it, it's mother was no where in sight." Oye.

The mother only feeds them once or twice a day, usually at dusk and very early in the morning, so chances are you aren't going to actually see a mother rabbit care for her babies. She stays away to keep them safe from predators - she has a scent, but the babies don't yet! Isn't that neat? Lucy, our beagle, didn't have a clue the nest was there until she saw the mother feeding them and she chased her away. She's already forgotten all about it (but we put a little fence up around the nest in case she remembers!)

I found a nice web site with a bunch of FAQ's about baby bunnies that I thought I'd share. I know people mean well and don't want the babies to die or suffer, but sadly that's usually exactly what happens when people take the babies away from where they were found and try to care for them themselves (or even if they take them to a rehabber). I'll also find one about baby birds soon and share it here.

10 things I love

2009-05-16T21:29:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone, how's your weekend going so far? I know I haven't blogged in a few days so I thought it would be fun to make another list of things I'm loving right now...

1. These little beauties next to my computer:

2. May Giveaway Day on the Sew Mama Sew! blog. I would love to do a giveaway.. we'll see if I find the time. :)

3. I'm loving cross stitch more and more.. like this one by Etsy seller neawear. Isn't it adorable? (photo by neawear):

4. This amazing tilt-shift video by Keith Loutit, which I found on the How About Orange blog. (Um, I don't know how to add videos, so you'll have to click the link. Sorry about that! But it's worth it.)

5. Also from the How About Orange blog, a tilt-shift maker. I spent more time than I'd like to admit playing with this thing. The photo below is one that I made.. I took it at Greenfield Village last summer. Doesn't it look like a miniature?

6. I'm almost finished with a big freelance job I've been working on so once that is done I'll be able to turn my attention to my garden! (and a million other things I want/need to do!)

7. All that green!

8. This Etsy shop I recently found, ++SIESTA++. She's from Japan and makes the most adorable and beautiful hand-sewn items. Check out her blog as well.

9. This pretty paper mache bowl from The Lulu Bird:

10. And the summer quilt top is finished! I'll share more soon. :)

weekend finds

2009-05-13T17:36:00.001-04:00

On Sunday my mom and I went to the flea market. It was a little slow, but here's some of what I found:
I found a couple more vintage puzzles for $1 each. These make me really happy. I'm in love with the illustrations on the one with the numbers.

And look! Some of the deer puzzle pieces are fun little shapes. Adorable!

I also found two embroidered doily things.. I love the simple look of the flowers. They look sort of modern.

something for summer

2009-05-12T08:34:00.001-04:00

Fabrics for a beach/picnic/backyard quilt. Inspired by the fantastic vintage sheet at the bottom. I love it!

dessert

2009-05-08T17:37:00.001-04:00

I made this key lime pie for a party we had last weekend.. It was delicious. This was the last piece, as you can probably tell. I got the recipe right here, but I used regular limes because I made something like this with the lime peels. I used watermelon jello and added vodka instead of the 1c. of cold water! They looked awesome. And they were very strong. :)

Have a great weekend!

around our house

2009-05-06T18:27:00.001-04:00

It seems like everything has just exploded around here in the last week or so. Yesterday I finally had some time to wander around and take a few photos..
The apple blossoms are open! It's my favorite flower.. the smell is heavenly. And the sound of all the bees busily gathering nectar is incredible! I would love to get married under an apple tree in full bloom. My favorite flowers and my favorite little insects surrounding us. :) (Would the bees freak out the guests??)
(This is Phlox subulata 'Candystripe'. It makes a pretty mound and is one of the first things to bloom in our garden.)

Every year the empty lot across the street gets painted in yellow. I think it's so pretty. I'll never understand why some people hate dandelions so much. This morning I watched two goldfinches enjoy a breakfast of the seeds.
My friend the carpenter bee. :)
Another one of my favorites - violets (mixed in with some lady's mantle, which I also love!).
And we have a robin nest on our back light! I've been watching her work on it for the last week or so and I peeked in it yesterday (I had to use a mirror!).. there's one egg in it so far.

for the birds

2009-05-05T20:14:00.001-04:00

I found this idea (can't remember where!) last year while looking for something else and I thought it was so fun. So I thought I'd try it. Just fill a suet feeder with scraps of yarn and strings from fabric and hang it outside for the birds to collect to add to their nests. I used only natural fibers - mostly cotton and linen and a bit of wool and I made sure they were all pretty short so no one gets tangled. I hung it by the feeders in hopes that they would notice it. I haven't seen anyone on it yet but I'll keep watching. :)

reusable produce bags

2009-05-01T18:13:00.002-04:00

After finding some sheer lightweight fabric on clearance at Joann's, I decided it was high time to make myself some produce bags. I used my drawstring bag directions and made the large bags to be about the same size as the ones at the grocery store. They're about 11 ½” x 18” (I think they're a little too big though). I bought a yard and a half and I was able to make 4 large, 2 medium (8 ½” x 11") and 2 small (6” x 9”). They were easy enough to make but the fabric gave me a bit of a hard time. Folding the top over a couple of times for the drawstring casing was difficult because the fabric was slippery and you couldn't really crease it with an iron. After I gave up on having them look just right, the process went a bit smoother. Next time I think I'll look for something a little less slick.

flea market tips

2009-04-29T17:22:00.001-04:00

Ok, here are my techniques for getting a good deal at the flea market. Hopefully you'll find them helpful. :)

1. First of all, I haggle. The vendors expect it. The ones that completely refuse to go down on their prices usually don’t get my business. Plus it’s really fun.

2. It never hurts to ask. If something’s not priced and I think it could be a little out of my price range, I ask anyway. Sometimes I’m shocked at how low their price is.

3. Offer a price you think is fair. Again, it never hurts to ask. They just might take it.

4. I go often. The more I go the more I’m familiar with average prices on the items I’m looking for so I can spot a steal (or a rip-off).

5. When I’m looking for something in particular, I’m very stubborn and patient. I spend a few weeks (or seasons, in some cases!) pricing the item I’m interested in and wait until I find it at a really great price.

6. Sometimes it’s good to walk away. I've had vendors call me back and accept the price I offered them (after they turned it down at first).

7. I try to control myself when I’m really excited about spotting something I love. I ask about a few other things first. I've found that if they know I love something they’re less willing to go down on the price – they assume I’ll pay their price because I love it.

8. I don’t ask them if they can go any lower on a price. Usually when they give a price it’s still a bit too high for me (um, I’m really cheap). Instead, I give them a price that I’m willing to pay.

9. I show them the money! If I think they might be unwilling to haggle, I like to have the exact amount out and in my hand when I name my price. It seems like they don’t say no as often when they can see it.

10. But I make sure they don’t see all my money… if they see a couple of $20’s I don’t think they would negotiate as much.
11. I bring lots of singles. If I ask if they’ll take $3 on something priced $5, I wouldn't hand them a $5 bill.

12. If I see something I liked but the vendor turned down what I offered, I go back to it later in the day. They may be willing to negotiate so they don’t have to bring it home.

13. You find good stuff early in the season and early in the day and good deals late in the season and late in the day.

14. When I’m looking for furniture, I basically ignore the condition. Instead I focus on the shape. Things like chipped or ugly paint, missing drawer pulls, wobbly legs, often greatly reduce the price and those things are easy (and fun) to fix.

15. Finally (and I think most importantly!), I make sure I’m nice. I tell them good morning, smile… make eye contact, maybe chat a little with them. They’re more willing to make a deal with me if they like me.

my favorite time of day

2009-04-28T17:24:00.001-04:00

rain out

2009-04-27T14:27:00.001-04:00

I had plans on Sunday morning to go to the flea market for the first time this year but it was closed due to rain (and then of course it cleared up and was beautiful for a while and then it rained again. If you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes right?). Anyway, I was bummed.. I'm itching to do some serious haggling. They don't negotiate prices at thrift stores, you know. I've tried before. hehe... (Later this week I'll share some tips that I've found helpful for getting good deals at flea markets. Exciting!)
So for Plan B my mom and I went to an estate sale, where I found a few little treasures: vintage handkerchiefs, a linen dish towel, doilies, a set of cute little painted trays, an old canning jar (for a terrarium of course!), an old frame, and a vintage suitcase... all for $5! And if that wasn't enough, as we were leaving my mom spotted some amazing moss growing in the cracks of the cement and I took some. Is that considered stealing? Wait 'till you guys see this stuff before you judge me.. I think you would have done the same thing. :)

terrariums & mushrooms

2009-04-22T17:46:00.001-04:00

Happy Earth Day everyone! I thought I'd share a little earthy related craft for today.

Over the past week or so I've been a little obsessed with moss. That obsession evolved into making terrariums, and, naturally, hand crafted mushrooms for said terrariums. I am really loving these happy little jars of green. Wouldn't these be great little gifts or party favors?

To make them I just put a thin layer of pebbles in the bottom for drainage and then a bit of soil and just pat the moss into the soil. You mist the moss and from what I've been reading you only need to do that every two weeks or so. You need to use a lidded jar, I made my first one in a votive holder with no lid and it dried out pretty much overnight. I made this one in an old jar that had honey in it and the one with the gold lid held salsa. I'm going to start looking at the thrift stores for more.

I got my moss from outside so I've been checking in the jar every couple of days because I've been finding little insects in there (I let them free outside!)

I molded the mushrooms out of fimo clay and stuck a little wire into them before they were baked. Once baked and cooled, I painted them with acrylic paint and sealed them with a non-toxic satin varnish.

muffin love

2009-04-21T17:35:00.001-04:00

I've been making (and eating) muffins quite a bit lately. I love them because they're slightly sweet but filling and somewhat healthy. Can't go wrong! Both of these I got from this Martha Stewart article, the ones above are the oat bran-applesauce mini muffins (the grocery store was out of wheat bran, so I substituted wheat germ and whole grain wheat flour and they were still really good. I now have the wheat bran but haven't tried it the right way yet).

This one is the banana-blueberry cornmeal muffin. The bananas make them nice and moist and the cornmeal (I love cornmeal) adds a really wonderful texture to them. Next time I think I'll add more blueberries. The recipe called for a cup, I'll try a cup and a half.

raindrops..

2009-04-20T17:48:00.001-04:00

..keep fallin' on my head... (I love that movie)

10 things I love...

2009-04-17T19:51:00.004-04:00

1. Finding a bag of wooden acorns at the thrift store:
2. Black Apple's beautiful new kitchen.

3. These faux bois blocks from something's hiding in here:

4. This fun fabric that was delivered to me today. :)

5. Old sheets swaying in the breeze
6. Instructions on how to develop film using coffee and vitamin C... where was this when I was taking all those college photography classes?!

7. Sharon Montrose's fantastic photographs:

8. Babies!:

9. This ingenious craft from How About Orange.

10. Oh, and the sun, the sun, the sun! It's out and it's warm!!

... have a great weekend!

knitted bunny

2009-04-15T19:13:00.003-04:00

Is it too late for bunny crafty things? (I don't think so..) Here's one I recently finished. I got the pattern from this book.

Remember this post? I gave myself a challenge to make at least 4 things from my older craft books and 2 things from my newer ones before I can buy any new books. Well, that didn't really work, because I have since bought even more (oops). But I'm still working on that little challenge, and this bunny is the 4th project from this book (The other ones are a bit boring and not really worth showing, but I did post a photo of the drawstring pouch in this post).
So, isn't he cute? The directions were pretty simple; I didn't use the two circular needles like they recommended, I just used a set of double pointed needles and it worked out fine. And I added a pom-pom tail, because what kind of bunny doesn't have a little puffy tail?

coffee cake

2009-04-13T19:13:00.000-04:00

I hope you all had a great Easter! We did... how can you not have a good time when chocolate, mimosas, and lots and lots of baked goods are involved? Our family gets together for an Easter brunch, so every kind of breakfast food you can think of we had.. and then afterwards we had dessert too!
I was to bring a coffee cake. I have a big bag of frozen raspberries that we picked last fall that I thought I'd use. I found a recipe for raspberry almond coffee cake on allrecipes and it was really tasty. I think everyone liked it. And it actually looked like a coffee cake! I wasn't really expecting that.

I'm a guest blogger today on Cathe Holden's blog, Just Something I Made (a warm welcome to those of you who are visiting from there!). Cathe is incredibly creative and she does some amazing things with clip art. I'm always inspired when I visit her blog.

I put together a little tutorial to make a business card holder. You can check out the post here, or download a PDF version of the directions right here.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T08:00:00.002-04:00

love, Charlie and me. :)

my first thrifted silhouette

2009-04-09T19:58:00.000-04:00

Oh, I love this. I may need to start a collection. Yes, I said need. :)

I'm going to take the day off from blogging tomorrow... I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

more easter crafts

2009-04-08T18:41:00.007-04:00

- sew a bunny Easter basket at disdressed (top left)
- craft some fabric covered eggs at V and Co. (top right)
- make a fabric egg garland with Make It and Love It (bottom)
- whip up adorable DIY Homemade Marshmallow Peeps with Twig & Thistle
- print chick party favors from Martha
- sew a chenille Easter bunny softie from Smooch Designs
- find a whole lotta bunny love over on LollyChops
- print and stitch a free egg embroidery pattern from Bird Brain Designs

napkins? coasters?

2009-04-07T18:38:00.000-04:00

..I don't really know what they're for, but I love them. Look at the mermaid!

More lovely things I found: vintage sheets, linen napkins, an awesome crochet pot holder (Brian hates it, hehe), and a few more linen napkins. One cannot have too many linen napkins! :)
A vintage stuffed dog and cat sewing pattern and a tin of buttons:
And finally, one of my favorite finds from the weekend:

isn't it sweet?

a weakness:

2009-04-06T20:28:00.000-04:00

vintage aprons. I found these at an estate sale on Saturday.

(I love the rick-rack on this one.)

I'll post more of what I found tomorrow..

I've got sunshine...

2009-04-03T22:26:00.000-04:00

It was quite blustery and dark and rainy today so imagine my delight when I discovered these little beauties nodding out in the wind! Of course I had to pick a few and bring their sunny cheeriness inside with me. :) ...Have a great weekend ya'll.

new in the shop

2009-04-02T23:08:00.000-04:00

After a couple of weeks spent hanging out around here in various stages of completion, these two bowling sets are finally finished and in the shop. Um, I'm totally loving these. Wouldn't they be perfect in an Easter basket? I made two to start with, a girly pinkish set with a butterfly bag and a boyish set in blue with a cool striped bag.

easter crafts

2009-04-01T19:25:00.007-04:00

(photo from Curbly)

Some Easter/spring inspired things to make or print:

Learn to dye eggs naturally at Curbly (pictured)

Print some cute Easter gift tags from babalisme

Make faux-chocolate bunnies from Martha

Knit Easter finger puppets at the Purl Bee

Craft little chicks from pom-poms with Fiona Carter

Download free Easter embroidery patterns from Tangarang

Make a wheat grass centerpiece with Martha

Make paper tulips with cheeky magpie

sewing & knitting

2009-03-31T21:02:00.000-04:00

Just a few peeks of what I'm working on. :)

what I did this afternoon:

2009-03-30T20:40:00.000-04:00

(I love that it's time to play in dirt again..)

love this guy...

2009-03-27T17:40:00.001-04:00

have a great weekend :)

gratitude wrap

2009-03-26T18:19:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I made this cute little "gratitude wrap." You can download a free PDF with directions to make one on the SouleMama blog (over on the left side under "For you!"). Isn't the fabric adorable? I got it from good-ness but unfortunately I'm not seeing it in her shop now.

I think it's the perfect house for my Gwen Frostic cards. :)

socks 'n stuff

2009-03-25T17:54:00.001-04:00

I have a few things to share today. First, more socks:

These will be a Christmas gift for my mom. I used the same pattern as before, except this time I made them a little longer and I grafted the toe with 10 stitches on each needle instead of the 8 the directions call for. They fit me perfectly, so I think they'll fit my mom perfectly as well. I used Red Heart sock yarn.

Second, I got an award from The Ordinary Housewife (Thank you so much!!):
This award is pretty cool because you only give it to one person. I'm going to pass it on to Rural Mamma. Her blog is great... her little ones are adorable, she takes great photos, I love the quotes and poems she posts, and she makes butter. How awesome is that? That's totally on my list of things to try because of her blog. And her Etsy shop is super cute too. :)

And finally, Grosgrain is having a giveaway for this fabulous refashioned frock:

Did you know I don't own a single dress? It's true. So I hope I win this one because we have a number of showers/rehearsals/weddings to attend this coming up summer and I'm not too fond of clothes shopping... :) Plus I just love it.

what we're listening to

2009-03-24T17:53:00.001-04:00

Some of the quilt stitching over the weekend was done while listening to the new album by The Decemberists (you can download it here from iTunes). Brian and I are both really loving it. And I'm also loving the album art.. isn't it great?

finished

2009-03-23T19:27:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I finished the orange quilt. I ended up machine stitching it and I think it's ok. Nothing like the look of hand quilting but definitely faster. I got the pattern and directions from this book, which is one of my favorites!

This may be odd, but my favorite step of the quilt making process is hand sewing the back of the binding. I love it. Maybe that will be my motivation to get Brian's quilt finished. :)

hello spring...

2009-03-20T21:47:00.001-04:00

... I'm so glad you're here.

(have a wonderful weekend...)

i love this

2009-03-19T19:40:00.000-04:00

(photo by Jamaica)

I found this pillow on Jamaica's blog the other day and I fell in love. The pillow is to die for but what I really love is how she did it. She scanned vintage papers and then printed the images out onto inkjet fabric sheets.

This is one of those wonderful ideas that just overwhelms me with all of the creative possibilities... I'm thinking.. old maps, dictionary pages, paint-by-numbers, vintage magazines.. so many things would be perfect for this. Even vintage fabric scraps maybe?

banana pudding

2009-03-18T17:42:00.001-04:00

I don't know why, but every spring I start thinking about banana pudding. I really love banana pudding. I looked online for a recipe but they all called for things I didn't have, like sweetened condensed milk or cream cheese. Plus it seems like it would be way too rich (has anyone tried it with stuff like that in it? is it good?). So I didn't follow a recipe. It's so simple.. I don't know why I looked for a recipe in the first place or why I don't make it more often. I feel sort of silly posting this as a "recipe" because it's so stinking easy but it's soooooo good. :)

Here's what you need:
- 1 big box of vanilla instant pudding mix
- cool whip (I used about 1/2 of a 12oz tub)
- box of Nilla Wafers (I used about 1/2 of the box. maybe a little less)
- bananas, sliced. I used three

Make the pudding following the directions on the box and put in in the fridge for a few minutes. You can mix the pudding and the cool whip together if you want.. I didn't but I think it might be easier/faster if you do. Then just layer the nilla wafers, bananas, pudding and cool whip until you've used up all the pudding. Let it sit in the fridge for a while so the cookies get all soft and yummy and enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T10:24:00.002-04:00

Here's a few fun things to make or print. :)

Saint Patrick's Day Cupcakes from Martha (pictured above)

Shamrock pin how-to by Stitcher Scribbler

Crochet a Four Leaf Clover from Crochet Spot

Make a rainbow cake at Omnomicon

Bake some Irish Soda Bread from All Recipes

Download and print a Shamrock party kit at HP

Saint Patrick's Day Pins from Martha

get crafty

2009-03-16T19:41:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we went to a little boy's first birthday party. I had made this little stuffed elephant ages ago just for fun and I thought it would be great for him (Um, I actually forgot all about it until I cleaned my closet a couple weeks ago and discovered it again!). I'm sure he'll love it more than I have. :) The pattern and directions are from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.

(Look at his cute little tail!)

Now that we're (sort of) on the topic of craft books, omg there are a ton out right now that I want. But I got a few for Christmas that I haven't made anything from yet, and I have some older ones (like the one I mentioned above) that I only made one or two things from so far. I can't really justify getting new books when I haven't utilized the ones I already have, you know?

So I came up with an idea. A craft book challenge. I'm going to make at least four things from all of my older craft books and two from my newer ones before I can buy anything new. If there isn't four things I want to make, I'm going to sell the book on eBay. Sounds like a good plan right? But, I am going to separate the knitting books and the sewing books because I only have two knitting books and I really, really want more. Play along if you'd like! I'll post more on what I'm making soon..

colorful

2009-03-13T17:39:00.001-04:00

This past week, whenever I had some extra time, I was busy working on a few things for my shop, including the bookmarks in the photo. I'll be listing them over the next few days. I wanted some colorful ones and I really like how they turned out. I'm also working on a couple other fun things but they're not ready for their close-ups yet. :)And I have something free (and colorful) for you all : labels you can download and print. You can print them out on sticker paper, or print them on cardstock and make tags. I also made a sheet of all red labels and one of all black. :)

Download the colorful label sheet here

Download the red label sheet here

Download the black label sheet here

Hope you like them.. Have a great weekend!

no more crazy

2009-03-11T18:35:00.001-04:00

Brian bought me a couple sets of knitting needles for Christmas and until now I had no way to keep them all tidy and organized and it was driving me a little bit crazy. Enter the knitting needle rolls. To make them, I loosely followed the directions for the colored pencil roll in Last-Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts, modifying the sizes to fit the needles.

This is the one for the single-pointed needles. I made it out of a beautiful vintage table cloth. There is no way I'd be able to cut into something like this normally but when I got it it already had a big strip cut off. :( It still took me months to muster up enough courage to pick up the scissors.

I included a little flap at the top so the needles won't slip out. As I'm looking at these pictures I realize that I could have just made the entire roll taller and then just fold that over. I made it separately. heh. duh!

And here's the one for the dp needles. I made the pockets different sizes to fit the different sized needles. Some ended up a bit too big and others are a little snug but overall I'm happy with it.

the sun...

2009-03-10T17:49:00.000-04:00

... is back to shining in the kitchen in the evenings. I love that.

more thrifted finds

2009-03-09T18:31:00.000-04:00

Last week I found this cute little Polish doll:
And a box full of vintage ribbons. I really love some of them. Others, not so much. :)

I love it when I find paintings at the thrift store

2009-03-06T18:18:00.000-05:00

Have a great weekend!

spring greens

2009-03-05T18:20:00.002-05:00

I tried getting a treasury to feature these pretty green items I found on Etsy but I missed it by two minutes! So I made a poster sketch instead. Aren't they lovely? I love the bunnies. Have I ever posted a photo of my rabbit Charlie? I'll have to 'cause he's just about the cutest thing you'll ever see. :)

Here are the links:

1. Madeline Ivory Chrysanthemum Necklace 2. New Growth Green- handspun handdyed 2-ply yarn 3. Landscape 285 (I just realized this is sold, sorry!) 4. Avocado Jar

5. Original Oil painting Bunny Peeks In 6. Layered Circles Felt Flower Brooch Pin in Avocado Green 7. Heart Serving Bowl 8. Elements of Craft Eco Bangle Bracelet Set of 3

9. Vintage Button Ring--Spring is Here 10. MOSSY STONE in Superwash Wool and Nylon Yarn 11. Pretty Vintage Buttons - Lime Bright Green 12. vintage mint celadon green bunny rabbit with carrot

randoms

2009-03-04T17:58:00.001-05:00

I know I've mentioned this before, but Brian and I have annual passes to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn. I really (really!) love the village, but it's closed this time of year, so in the winter we go to the Museum. I like it when it gets later in the day and all the kids on their field trips go home so I can do things like this and not feel completely ridiculous (just a little ridiculous):

Yep, that's me. A hot dog. A Wienermobile was right next to this little ingenious photo-op, but silly me didn't get a shot of it.

One of my favorite things at the museum is the Dymaxion House. It's crazy to think how different the suburbs might look if these houses had actually gotten manufactured.

Other randoms:

- Check out this yarn. Yum!
- And check out this etsy shop, Thrush. It's full of fabulous vintage clothing and other goodies. I love how she names the items.

- I love this rag rug tutorial from Moda Bake Shop.

- Oh! An update on the cloth pads: Awesome. They worked really well and were super absorbent and really comfy. I had no issues with bunching or sliding around. At first I was rinsing them out in the shower, but it took a while and the cold water was torture, so I started filling up the sink with cold water and letting them soak for a while in there first, which helped a lot. Once rinsed, I put them in a glass jar filled with water until all of them were used so I could wash them all together. When I buy/make more I think I'll rig something else up for storage. I felt pretty weird saving them, which is normal I guess when you start saving something you're used to throwing away.

My favorite one was the "medium" size from gogreengirl. It fit really well. The liners seemed a bit overkill, a little too thick for me. I think I'll try making my own liners. Anyone know where I can find organic, undyed/unbleached cotton flannel?

day 28 : purple

2009-02-28T10:08:00.001-05:00

(Yum!)

Well, today is the last day of thing-a-day for this year. February was a long month! Thanks everyone for hanging with me. I think next year if I play along I'll do it a little differently, like maybe four larger projects, one for each week, and I'll work a bit each day on them.

I'm going to take a few days off from blogging, but I'll be back next week. Have a great weekend!

day 27 : blue

2009-02-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

Close up of a very fun button on a vintage handmade dress I found this week at the thrift store. Love it!

day 26 : green

2009-02-26T18:38:00.000-05:00

A warm welcome to those of you coming from the Sew, Mama, Sew blog! :)

(Sew, Mama, Sew pulled together some really cute fabric bookmark tutorials (you can find that post right here) and one of them was my fabric bookmarks I made back in August. Cool!)

For my green photo today: green stuff that I found on and around my craft table. Makes me want to stop sorting things by type and sort them by color instead. :)

And I thought I'd share another photo of the daffodils that I posted about earlier in the month. They're still doing ok. A little yellow, but ok. Soon we'll have flowers!

day 25 : yellow

2009-02-25T19:23:00.000-05:00

day 24 : orange

2009-02-24T11:34:00.002-05:00

I've had this quilt top finished since early last summer and I pulled it out recently to quilt it. My original plan was to hand quilt it, but the other day I started machine quilting it to get it finished faster. Unfortunately, I'm not liking it! I still haven't decided if I'll rip it all out and hand quilt or just keep machine quilting.. Ever notice how some projects just don't want to get finished?!

day 23 : red

2009-02-23T11:01:00.001-05:00

Today is day one of color week. If you decide to play along on your blog, please post a comment on this post! :)
Heaven is a fresh strawberry paczki straight from Hamtramck (paczki is pronounced "poonch-key"). Am I cheating because it's not Fat Tuesday yet? Oh well, it was so good. And I'll eat a custard one tomorrow. And then workout.

day 22 : socks!

2009-02-22T15:32:00.001-05:00

My first knitted socks! I had so much fun with these, and it's not difficult at all. I have no idea what took me so long to try it. I already went and bought more sock yarn (I'm thinking about Christmas gifts! Hand knit socks would be the perfect gift, don't you think?).

The heel wasn't scary for me, because I've done the same sort of thing when I made those felted baby balls. The toe needed to be grafted, which I had no clue how to do but I did a quick search on You Tube and found this video. At about 5 minutes in she walks you through grafting the toe.

I used Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarn in HS08 Marino and this sock "recipe." I wear size 9 shoes and they are a bit too small for me, so if you have big feet like me you might want to make them a little longer. :)

day 21 : little house

2009-02-21T16:53:00.005-05:00

Just a silly craft today, little paper houses. I printed a house template (found here) and used that to cut them out of scrapbook paper. I just layered the printed house on top of the scrapbook paper and cut them both at the same time.

I added a roof, a different colored door, and even curtains. I had some scraps of chipboard that I made the bases from and covered them with more paper. Wouldn't these be cute all decked out for Christmas?

day 20 : paint chip notepads

2009-02-20T19:23:00.000-05:00

Today I made these cute matchbook notepads out of paint chips and old computer paper (you know the kind that's all attached with ridges on the sides?). I love them. Don't they look perfect for spring and Easter? I have them available here in my shop.

day 19 (and 18) : tomatoes

2009-02-19T22:38:00.000-05:00

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I'm a little bored with this thing-a-day thing but I'm too stubborn to quit it, so I worked on these little tomato pincushions instead. I finished two of them last night and a few more today so I'm counting this for both days. :)

It's the "homegrown" tomato pincushion from Martha. I made the heirloom ones. Quick and easy and pretty cute. I'm thinking of putting them in my shop.. is that allowed or would it be a no-no because I got it from Martha?

I'm not sure what I'll do for the rest of this week for thing-a-day, but next week I'm thinking about color week. Red for Monday, orange for Tuesday and so on until we get to purple on Saturday. Anyone want to play along? I was inspired by Erin's yellow week.

day 17 : soap

2009-02-17T15:10:00.000-05:00

I've been making this shaving soap for a while now and I just love it. The regular shaving creams freak me out with their crazy mystery ingredients and overpowering synthetic fragrances. So this is what I use. I know it's not pretty but it works really well and has a nice mellow, herbal scent thanks to the herbal infusion and a little essential oil. And one bar will last months and months.

I got the recipe from a book titled "Ageless Natural Beauty." You can find a free preview of it right here, and the recipe for this soap is on page 181.

day 16 : yellow

2009-02-16T15:40:00.006-05:00

I don't know about you guys but I'm ready for spring. Only 20 more days until daylight saving time starts again.. Why do we stop with daylight saving time anyways? That would certainly make winter a little easier to handle, don't you think?

That rose photo somehow made me think about these amazing moss terrariums I had stashed away in my Etsy favorites and I thought maybe you'd all enjoy them as well. Here's a photo of one:

(Photo by made by mavis)

You can find them here in her shop. And here's the one that's pictured above. I love moss. :)

day 15 : knitting

2009-02-15T19:51:00.004-05:00

Working on my first pair of socks! I thought it would be scary and difficult but it's been fun.

day 14 : candlelight

2009-02-14T21:03:00.001-05:00

yesterday's thing-a-day : Day 13 : chocolates!

2009-02-14T10:37:00.002-05:00

I didn't post my thing-a-day for yesterday yet, so I'll do that now and later I'll post my photo for today (once I take it!).

Yesterday my sweet Valentine brought home chocolates for me from my favorite shop. God, these things are good! And they're so pretty..

Hope you're all having a lovely Valentine's Day!

last-minute valentines

2009-02-13T17:40:00.000-05:00

Short on time? Here's a few cute things to make or print for Valentine's Day that won't take forever:

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Hearts at Make and Takes
Love is All You Need Class Valentines from Bunny Cakes
Valentine Pins from The Purl Bee
Paper Fortune Cookies at design.wash.rinse.repeat
Printable Valentines from Inside a Black Apple
Sewn Paper Valentines from The Purl Bee

day 12 : buttons

2009-02-12T20:52:00.000-05:00

Just a simple shot of a vintage pickle jar storing vintage pearl buttons. Those buttons make me so happy. :)

day 11 : painting & some quilts

2009-02-11T20:08:00.000-05:00

First my thing-a-day photo:I actually forgot all about it until just now so that's why the lighting is yuck.

And here's some more photos of the quilts made by Susana Allen Hunter that were on display at the Henry Ford Museum last year (here's where you can see the others I posted):

Do you guys like these quilts? I love quilts designed like these but my mom can't stand them.. I wonder how most people feel about them.

day 10 : thawing

2009-02-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

We had record highs today in Michigan. There are puddles and little streams everywhere... the massive amount of snow we had is rapidly disappearing. I love it! I'm hoping my garden soil will be nice and workable really early this year. We won't be getting any more snow, right? ha! :)

I was checking out Etsy today looking for Valentine's goodies.. there's sooooo many great things there. I pulled together a poster sketch with some of my favorite finds:

1. BE MY VALENTINE handspun novelty yarn 2. Love birds, letterpress card 3. PETALS - Winter flower - Unique Corsage Brooch Pin 4. Red Velvet Cake Balls
5. It's because of love - Necklace 6. My Dear - 5 x 5 signed fine art photograph 7. February No.2 8. I Wheelie Like You Letterpress Card
9. Heart Balloon - Printable Valentines, Notecards, Gift Tags and Stationery 10. Be My Vegantine Heart Cupcake Box filled with 6 Chocolate Ganache Dipped Mini Cupcakes 11. I LOVE YOU wood stationery set 12. FROM A PASSING CAR- Fine Art Print 8x10

day 9 : at my desk

2009-02-09T20:24:00.003-05:00

I got that adorable calendar from Blue Tricycle on Etsy. It's comes as a PDF file that you can print yourself. Neat huh? She has cute cards and stationary sets as well.

day 8 : my buddy

2009-02-08T18:10:00.003-05:00

I love that Lucy hangs out with me in the craft room while I'm working..

day 7 : evening

2009-02-07T18:48:00.001-05:00

hope you're all having a wonderful weekend so far...

day 6 : warmth

2009-02-06T19:49:00.004-05:00

I wanted to post some Valentine crafty ideas for you but this day has gotten away from me. I'll pull some together soon. For now though I'll share a site I recently found: kittenskittenskittens. That's right, a blog full of photos of kittens! You're welcome. :)

Now I'm going back to my knitting by the fire. Hope your Friday evening is warm and cozy.

day 5 : waiting

2009-02-05T20:52:00.005-05:00

day 4 : golden

2009-02-04T17:55:00.002-05:00

The last bit of sunshine for the day. A few minutes after I took this it was gone.

day 3 : emerging

2009-02-03T18:08:00.002-05:00

First my photo for create-a-thing-a-day:
We have a little micro-climate on the south side of the house where these daffodils are planted. I also have some planted out in the middle of the yard, but we won't see those for weeks. So maybe this is cheating a bit, but I'm still so, so happy to see them.

And on the crafting front, I finished this the other day:

A hat for Brian. He picked out the yarn and the pattern. The yarn is Berroco's Ultra Alpaca and it's wonderfully soft and silky. I love this stuff. The pattern is the Jacques Cousteau Hat, which I found on ravelry and it's available for free here. I'm pretty sure he picked it only because of the name. :) But I love the pattern the decreases make:
It's a really easy pattern but I did have some issues with the sizing. I started with the men's size and bigger needles (he has a big head) but it was way too big. Even the larger size with the recommended needle size was too big. I finally tried the smaller women's size and it's a perfect fit. So I started this hat three times! I'm glad it's finished and he loves it.

day 2 : in the sun

2009-02-02T20:39:00.000-05:00

I love all the sun references in this photo. Thea is laying in a patch of sun, with my great grandfather's old bed in the background with a pattern in the wood that looks like sun rays. And in Greek mythology, Thea (usually written as Theia) is the mother of the sun. Cool huh? I didn't realize any of this until after I took the photo. :)

day 1 : snow trail

2009-02-01T20:24:00.001-05:00

Figures, day one of create-a-thing-a-day month and my camera battery dies! The above photo is the one and only photo I took today. ha! But I actually kind of like it so all is well. With all the snow we've gotten in the last month, the dogs have taken to using a few well-worn trails to get around the backyard, and this photo shows a small piece of one, with the sun and shadows highlighting it (I love shadows.. I love to watch them change throughout the day and throughout the seasons..).

It was such a beautiful day today, 38 degrees and sunny. I'm sure 38 seems really cold for some of you, but I don't think in the entire month of January it got above freezing so we were thrilled. We took the dogs for a walk and I even spotted six robins!!

started

2009-01-30T11:44:00.003-05:00

I started Brian's quilt this week. I had planned on doing a log cabin-ish quilt but he saw my sketchbook where I had sketched out some designs and he really liked the strip quilt look. So that's what I'm doing. It's going to be a lot bigger than I had originally planned.. so I hope I don't run out of fabric. Maybe if I'm motivated I'll finish it this weekend.

thing-a-day

2009-01-29T08:48:00.001-05:00

February is create-a-thing-a-day month. I played along a couple years ago but I didn't finish the month, so this year I'm planning on taking a photo a day. That way I figure I'll get to the end of the month. I like thinking that I'll start this project in winter and finish it at the end of February with a little bit of spring poking through. In reality I know that I'll be starting and finishing it in winter.. but at least the days will be a bit longer...

It's pretty free-form: for 4 weeks starting on Sunday February 1st, participants create one new thing a day. Choose your own themes, one per week (I don't know if I'll do this). Work in any medium. And post your work on the group blog every day. Again, I don't know if I'll post stuff on their blog, but I did sign up just in case. You can do that from their site here.

Play along with me won't you? :)

maybe I've gone too far

2009-01-28T08:50:00.000-05:00

Sorry if this grosses some of you out. I almost didn't post about this but I think it's awesome so I'm just going to assume that someone out there will agree with me!These came in the mail the other day... yep, cloth pads! I read about them in the Etsy forums (just do a search for "cloth pads"). You can find lots of info on the internet as well. I read that cloth pads can actually make your period shorter and less painful. Plus it's much better for the environment than all those disposables! I absolutely hate disposable pads so I can't really believe it's taken me this long to get some cloth ones.

I did a lot of shopping around on Etsy and I finally decided on these two sets to start with so I could test them out. The polka dot ones are from Pleat and you can find them right here. The white ones are from gogreengirl and you can get them here. I got the sets that have a liner, a regular pad, and an overnight pad.

I haven't been able to try them yet, but they all look very well made and up for the task. ;)And looking at them in person I think they would be pretty easy to make myself.

------

Completely unrelated... Julie from knitsational is having a really cute giveaway on her blog, so check it out!

and so it begins...

2009-01-27T08:29:00.001-05:00

I read this a few days ago on Keri Smith's blog, the Wish Jar:

"There's a point where you can give up on winter--when temptation can enter your soul, prying its way in like cold air through the cracks in your cabin--around January sixteenth or so, and this can make you realize that February's coming, and beyond February, March.

See, I don't yet realize that March will be the hardest month. Early February's the coldest, and often the snowiest, but March, strange, silent March, will be the hardest.

The danger in yielding to thoughts of spring--green grass, hikes, bare feet, lakes, fly-fishing, rivers, and sun, hot sun--is that once these thoughts enter your mind, you can't get them out.

Love the winter. Don't betray it. Be loyal.

When the spring gets here, love it too--and then the summer.

But be loyal to the winter, all the way through--all the way, and with sincerity--or you'll find yourself high and dry, longing for a spring that's a long way off, and winter will have abandoned you, and in her place you'll have cabin fever, the worst.

The colder it gets, the more you've got to love it."

~Rick Bass fr. Winter -Notes from Montana

----------------------------------------------------

I don't love winter. Not at all. But I try to... you know "live each season as it passes" and all that. I've actually been doing pretty good... more or less content to be inside by the fire, sewing or knitting or watching a movie.

But yesterday I got this in the mail:

And before I could stop myself I was reading and planning and dreaming about seeds and vegetables and the smell of the soil and the warmth of the sun and the wonderful tired feeling of a day spent working in the garden... and just like that, I was lost to spring.

But it's too bad that this is what my garden looks like right now! :) So I guess I'll be working on being loyal to winter.. I still have lots of time to practice...

pleated beauty handbag

2009-01-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here's the bag I mentioned last week, the pleated beauty handbag from Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I decided to leave the linen plain and not embellish it like the directions say to do. I also made the lining fabric different than the outside of the bag (I didn't have enough linen). I like the bag a lot but it might be a little too big for everyday use, although I like that I can easily fit a journal, camera, or some knitting (or all three!) in there.
I had more problems than I thought necessary on this bag.
I think Bend-the-Rules Sewing is a cute book, but there was some important info left out on a few different occasions and the directions in general weren't very clear. I had to do a little guessing (Is that why it's called "bend-the-rules"??).

Another thing I changed a bit is I sewed up the middle of the pocket to make two smaller ones. The size of the pocket in the directions was huge. And I meant to include some small magnets in between the lining and the outside fabrics but I completely forgot! It seems ok without them though.

a little project

2009-01-23T18:16:00.000-05:00

The other night I made this cute little clutch from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing book. I don't really need a little bag like this. But I had my eye on making a bigger bag that's in the book and I thought making this first would be a good way to get the purse lining technique down. It was very easy and I think it's really cute.

I wish I could say the same about the bigger bag I'm working on now... I'm having some problems! Hopefully I'll finish it this weekend though and I'll share next week.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

shop update

2009-01-22T20:42:00.000-05:00

I've been adding a few new things to the shop this week: custom baby rings (you pick the colors)...

Some new colors for the baby rings (more are in the shop)..
And some more matchbook notepads like the ones above, just in time for Valentine's Day. :)

more quilt inspiration

2009-01-21T20:06:00.001-05:00

As I was collecting those wonderful quilt images from Monday I was reminded of a quilt exhibit Brian and I went to last winter at the Henry Ford Museum. It featured quilts made by Susana Allen Hunter dating from the 1930s to the 1970s. They were such an inspiration so I figured you would all enjoy them as well.Several were made from old work clothes.. see where the jeans pockets were removed?
A saying I tell myself often (and try to live by) is "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Or do without."
These quilts are proof that you don't have to go out to the fabric store to get brand new pretty fabrics to make a pretty quilt, don't you think?
(this one's my favorite)

I have more quilt photos from this exhibit that I'll post sometime soon.

out my window

2009-01-20T09:55:00.005-05:00

Happy Inauguration Day!I've been watching these icicles forming outside my craft room window for a while now and the light was so pretty last night I decided it was time to photograph them. I love the upward branching of the trees in the background and the icicles reaching downward in the foreground.

quilts on flickr

2009-01-19T17:23:00.001-05:00

The other night I was looking for quilt photos on Flickr because I'm in need of some inspiration for Brian's quilt (that's right, I haven't started it yet. I'm horrible!). I found quite a few amazing quilts. Some of my favorites are pictured above. #2 is my most favorite of all of them, I love it so much. Looking at these all together I see that I'm drawn to square(ish) blocks surrounded by white space. I guess that's a starting point for Brian's quilt.

Here are the links:

1. a quilt of our own 2. cecilia's quilt 3. WIP: A quilt for me. 4. Quilt top 5. Paintbox Quilt on the Sofa 6. Aqua Daisy Chain quilt top 7. A field of flowers quilt top 8. quilt top 9. #3's quilt 10. Rainbow baby quilt 11. button quilt up close 12. quilt paint box whole 13. Quilt for the crib 14. red and aqua quilt 15. Study in Blues and Red - Modern Art Quilt 16. Log Cabin Baby Boy Quilt 17. I found a quilt top today! 18. Quilt from Grandmom 19. sun and moon 20. Colorway Quilt

in the mail

2009-01-16T19:11:00.000-05:00

Today the mailman brought me new business cards for the shop. I ordered them from Overnight Prints and I'm really happy with them. I've never ordered business cards before (always just made my own) and I must say the quality is great. I'm all for doing it yourself but I just can't compete with actual business cards, you know? :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend and stays warm! I'll be spending it nice and snug by the fire.

felt food

2009-01-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

I've been a little into felt food lately (never mind that I don't have kids!). They're so cute and the perfect thing to work on while watching a movie. I figured a purchased pattern would be a great place to start, so I bought this one from Etsy seller umecrafts (she has a bunch of really cute patterns. I'm still thinking about getting the veggies).

Pictured above are my creations. The banana has a removable skin.. neat right? And the apple has velcro on it so it can stick together, but I won't make any more apples like that. It wasn't fun hand sewing the velcro on and it looks silly all stuck together, not at all like a whole apple.

But anyway, when I was searching around for free tutorials and ideas for other foods I found a few links that I thought I'd share:

- A pattern for a loaf of bread from cherrymix. I just noticed that she also has a pattern for a cupcake and a fortune cookie (and more) on her site.

- A couple tutorials here including a strawberry. (This is umecrafts's blog.)

- Ravioli, lemon slices, tomato slices, ice cream, egg and orange slices all from One Crafty Mumma

- Finally, here and here you can find a ton more ideas, photos, instructions, and tips.
Oh, and about the felt. I used this ecospun felt that's made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles which I think is awesome. It's a good quality, nice and thick and strong. I bought it at Joann's on sale for 8 for 96 cents or something like that. If you want real wool felt (which I love.. maybe someday I'll make some out of wool..), you can find a large selection here, or here if you want to shop from Etsy.

estate sale finds

2009-01-13T09:54:00.001-05:00

Here's what I found on Sunday..
Two paint-by-numbers.

And I saw this old falling apart envelope that looked to still have fabric in it.. I thought it might be pieces of the aprons.

But it was the entire piece! All three tea aprons, including waistbands and teenie tiny pockets for each one. I couldn't believe my luck. It wasn't even ever washed, so when I washed it it faded a lot, but I actually like it better this way.

(I think Henry likes it too.)