turkey feathers

Garden Dreams

I finally put my sewing down and went outside for awhile yesterday just before a thunderous lightening storm blew in and abruptly changed this sunny scene.  We've been brainstorming ideas and planning the next phase of the backyard garden; making notes, flipping through back issues of favorite gardening magazines, and dreaming BIG!  (It always starts out that way doesn't it?)  Conversations about it actually started mid-winter, but there are stakes in the ground now and sketched diagrams.  As I was filling the bird feeders I noticed a few tulips emerging out of the ground.   Sadly though, I never hold out much hope for them.  Their leaves get nibbled by rabbits, and as soon as the flowers appear the deer sneak in and nip them off before they ever get a chance to bloom.  I tell ya, this is somewhat heart-wrenching for me, so I remain detached and try not to coo over them too much.  This is as good as it gets.  A ladybug's point of view perhaps, against an undecided March sky. 

Milk & Cookies Doll Apron

Here's my tiny contribution to this month's Tie One On challenge for making an apron for a doll. When Amy over at Angry Chicken announced the theme this month I was excited thinking this is something I might have time to do.  A little under the wire maybe, but I made the deadline and that really makes me happy since I've missed the last two.  And as you can see I'm already putting some of my new mini-rick-rack to good use. It's so perfect for doll clothes.  Oh my don't these cookies look yummy? It's true my girls were baking again this week, but these aren't the result. No, these came from the dollhouse kitchen upstairs. 

All The Trimmings

My mailbox has been brimming with goodies this week!  Good things come in small packages. Especially small 2 x 5-inch packages. Just look at all this.  I feel like I won the lottery, or gone to rick-rack heaven at least. The incredibly talented LK was kind enough to pass this along *just because* she knows my fondness for the stuff.  And she also included a darling old simplicity pattern for cute stuffies! I haven't seen this one before.  It sure is cute, is it not? All I can say is, I am really touched. Thank you so much!  I don't know what it is I love about rick-rack, but it speaks to me in mysteriously happy ways. The packaging is always fun to examine too. Long-gone names like Boiltex (now Coats & Clark), Trimtex, and Cameo (my personal favorite from Lion Mills). Some sold for a mere 19c. Imagine that! I ask you just what wonderful thing can we buy today for 19c? Not even one button, I'm afraid.  These older colors always seem easier on the eyes too.  Most new rick-rack is made from polyester now, I think the cotton is nicer, just knowing that it was grown from the earth and not spun out of a recipe of chemicals, although I do succumb to poly when I have to. Gosh, I hate to open some of these and spoil their perfectly preserved packaging (some 50 years old). The red stripe and the navy dotty bias binding is especially sweet. I'm already imagining all kinds of things I can do with them.

Miss Bliss

They say, "third time's the charm", and it certainly seems to be the case here. Meet my "official" wee bunny, Miss Bliss. The first two attempts didn't seem to be quite right, and I kept looking at the others over here and wondering why Petula and Chocolate Bunny (see below) were so different. So I double-checked to make sure I was using the same pattern as everybody else. Indeed I was. But it turns out that, if I had put on my glasses and actually read the directions I might have discovered that I was one piece short! (Very possibly one short of a full deck too, if you know what I mean.) Oh dear is me, and my sincerest apologies to Hillary; I am thoroughly abashed over my blunder, as it was never my intention to alter your perfect design. So here she is...and oh my stars, what a difference that one little piece makes. Here is my wee bunny looking precious and plump wearing *GingerBliss* Amy Butler designer fabric. The eyes are wooden flower beads stitched down with embroidery floss. They do look blissful don't they?   Now I have to confess that this is all just slightly embarrassing. What a pitiful poor state I'm in now, so much so that I can't even bring myself to show you the bottom half of Chocolate Bunny, attempt #2. In fact it has been suggested (by certain children in the house) that she looks more like the Velveteen Rabbit. So let's just pretend that this was *intentional* and leave it at that.  And, maybe not mention that there's no wee family resemblance here either, even though she is a distant relative.

Make-Believe

My goodness, I do seem to be on a roll lately with making bags and lots of other crafty stuff and it's all coming directly from my stash, with the exception of the new polka dot fabrics, which I'm finding out have a magical way of perking up even the dullest old patterns & prints. As Cassie suggested, I do believe there must be a magic wand waving around in here somewhere. I actually made two bags this weekend, and this is one of them. Now I've had this dreamy cotton chintz for umteen years, and originally had used it to slipcover some cushions on my white wicker porch chairs. I saved the scraps, but never thought of using them until now. Funny how when you bring something out that you haven't seen for a long time, you suddenly see it differently; for better or worse. Or, of using it in a way that you hadn't thought of before. I love when that happens. I couldn't decide if I really liked this, when my youngest (who is a very girly 8-year-old) hopped into the room and saw it. She stopped cold in her tracks and her whole face lit up and then she said, in a faint whisper, "oh! This is just my style!" I was kind of taken aback, because normally she doesn't pay much attention to what I'm working on.  I think it was the little bird that caught her eye.  Funny enough, she had actually just been pretending to be a bird.  A bird named "Rose" as a matter of fact.  So this went to her.  Afterall.

 

Updated to add:  source for bag pattern.

Use What You Have

 

Toni, from the simple sparrow blog, has declared April, Use What You Have month, and has invited others to join her in the challenge of not buying anything new in the way of art and craft supplies for one month.  

Not too difficult for me  because I have lots of stash on hand from years of sewing and crafting, and finding use for remnants and scraps always makes me happy.  So I'm in. 

This was the perfect opportunity to use what I had  to make a new bag.  And I had everything I needed.

The back is an awesome print with a blue bird that went perfectly with a snippet of vintage rick-rack in a matching shade of robin's egg blue. 

 Cassie might recognize the fabric.  It was part of the vintage swap we did last year (that also just happened to be organized by Toni). 

Funny how it all came full circle!

Spring Fever

Crabapple trees in bloom! Evidence that spring is around the corner despite the snow. Weather-wise March is always a mixed bag. For instance, today started icy, turned blustery, then rainy, followed by breaks of sunshine and sudden bursts of hail followed by more rain and sun most of which all happened in the time it took me to do the grocery shopping. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been dying to show these darling towels made by Carol, a stitching friend on the east coast where spring is still a ways off and spring fever is in the air. She used some of the bonus patterns (we sent along with her PatternBee order), to make them.  I love the soft colors and the towels she used for these. So pretty. Nothing like baby animals to usher in the season.

And some more new additions, the Squeeks are done, and my goodness I'm still trying to figure out how something so small can take so much time to make. So many little details. At times it seemed endless. But I'm pleased with them now and happy to send them out into the world to work their magic and make people smile. The pictures I took of them turned out pretty sweet, and I swear they were actually posing! One of these little dears is already on her way across the sea, flying over hill and dale to a new home and her remaining fourteen sisters are hopeful that each of them will soon be adopted too. They want me to tell everyone that they smell good because they are stuffed with lavender. 

Also, one more thing ---they are not for kiddles under 3 years old or anyone who will want to chew them, hang them by their tails, or pull their whiskers.  Thank you.

Update: All sold--thank you!

Seeing Spots

And (drumroll) another bag.  This one's got a sweet 30's vibe with polka-dots and rick-rack which always seem so hip and happy. The flower print is from RJR "everything but the kitchen sink" line.  The plaid is a new dishtowel I chopped for another project.  It's super satisfying to get more mileage out of it.  I like it!

Squirrel Builds Snowman

Yesterday our crazy squirrel friend paid a visit. He seemed particularly fond of the kid's snowman. Then we realized why. I'd scattered bird seed across the deck the night before because the bird feeders were almost empty and I figured this would suffice until morning, however I was not counting on snow. Anyway, the snow was scooped up off the deck and sculpted, birdseed and all.  Didn't even think about it.  So throughout the day, the squirrel, and the birds, were nibbling and pecking away at this guy.  If you didn't know about the birdseed, you might think the squirrel was the one building a snowman from this picture!

Snow Dust Memories

So this is what we woke up to this morning, and it was quite a surprise too I might add, since I have been paying absolutely no attention whatever to the daily forcasts. It's true that the snow word had been bantered around a bit, and there certainly was tangible evidence of it in the mountain areas and passes causing quite a bit of trouble for motorists, but when it came to talk of snowfall in the valley, I was a bit skeptical since the last three predictions didn't pan out. It's not really that cold either, my outdoor thermometer says 40 degrees so this can't last long....but in the meantime, ain't we got fun! Earlier this morning, and not wasting any time, Ginger made a couple of friends:

...a snowdog (I wish you could see his pinecone feet and bushy fir tree tail), and a little snowbaby.  I'll be hanging out in today. With a hot cup of cocoa. Watching the melt.

Bluework Bag

 

 

 

 

 

Mostly I worked on bags over the weekend. Four to be exact, all from the same beach bag pattern I started out with two weeks ago.  Quite a few people have asked me for the pattern.  I don't have one, but started with a rectangle about 15" x 12" and tapered the bottom a couple of inches.  This one's for an old friend I haven't seen in long time.  The little twill tab says, Remember and the bluework embroidery is a flower motif of Forget-Me-Nots, an old pattern from the turn of the century, so it's got built-in sentiment.  I seem to have lots of little wayward embroideries like this that I've kept from projects that never got finished, or from samples I've made, or that were part of a vintage piece. They come in handy when I want to add a flourish without losing my momentum on a project. It seemed like the perfect choice for this bag anyway, and I really like how it all came together. Now to fill it with vintage embroidery patterns, floss, fabric, and a long, newsy letter before I send it on its merry one-thousand mile journey, where I hope it brings a little happy rememberance.

Looking Closer

These glorious little daffodils, which seem to serve no other purpose than to bring joy to all that behold them, have been calling to me for days to take their picture. By angling the camera a few inches from the ground I was able to get a nice portrait of them with the sky as a background. A neat trick.

And the natural view from a few feet away. Insert "birdsong" for the full effect and enjoy a little bit of early spring from my backyard.

Mini-Swap

Earlier this week there was a BIG surprise that was delivered by the postman.

Upon closer inspection, we noticed, it had lots of decorations. 

A clue to its origin. 

Can you say Mini-Swap!

 

 

Our swap partners were Silus (7) and his Mom Sara, and baby brother, Rowan. (No blog, so I'll show both swaps). 

 

I can tell they had fun putting this package together for us, and you can see this was a bright moment in our day when it arrived.

First there were cleverly folded stars that changed colors when held up to the light. Really pretty! Included was more of this kite paper and directions for making origami. 

Then we found these cute "walnut critters"; turtles and ladybugs that Silus made and that Ginger played with the rest of the day. They had quite an adventure when she took them outside too.  

Sara made each of us a yarrow stick from the herbs in her garden using essential oils and beeswax and I can't even tell you how wonderful they are. Truly. Our dry chapped lips are no more! 

And we especially liked the paint chip collage from Silus.  It's hanging up in the playroom now so we can all enjoy looking at it. 

 Here's some of the loot we sent, including a puppy dog we made for baby Rowan.   

Well, I have to say, that this was such a fun activity for us, and it was  especially nice to get to know Sara and her sweet family better.

Thank you Molly for the fun and games!

Click on the button to see more mini-swappers.