It's morning in the garden...

...and the birds are singing a happy tune. I love life this morning. The air is crisp and clean with early morning happiness. Everything has newly awakened after a restful night. Oh, how lyrical I wax...

Peonies, teacups, and Whiplash

The peonies are in full bloom. They smell divine!


Who remembers these?

They were thrift finds by Katie, the thrift goddess, who ran out of room for all her treasures and decided to put them up for grab in her Etsy shop. Now they are proudly gracing my tea table. (and look how nicely they match my vintage melons Pyrex dish)

I finally finished the Whiplash mini quilt. I blogged about the process here. Sewing away all the loose threads was quite a job. Fortunately we didn't have TV last night, since Gavin was trying to get the new surround sound system (to go with the BIG TV) working, so I had some time on my hands. Did I mention that I now have black cables running all over my family room floor? It's the new decorating trend, isn't it?

Once again, taking photos of something with this much contrast was a REAL pain.

What fun we had

We're back from our trip to the Columbia Gorge. It was a ton of fun. So much fun that I kind of forgot to take photos, but here are a few. The angel above was my only (and favorite) aquisition. It seems like not many stores in little towns are open during Memorial Day weekend.
We did see a bunch of beautiful waterfalls along the Historic Columbia River Highway and got some much needed exercise.




"Can we go now?"

Once we got to the hotel, I pretty much packed away the camera. I'll see what Gavin did and try to post some of his.

Added on 5/30: The ornament is by Laini Taylor. www.lainitaylor.com
My other favorite was a quote from Little Women: "She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain."
I almost got that one.
Oooh, I just found her blog! growwings.blogspot.com
Thanks Linda for asking for this info. I would never had found it all if you hadn't!

Red, White & Blue

I found this photo and it seemed Memorial Day-like...

Off to thrift, antique and drink cocktails at sunset.

Freshcut offcuts

Now what does a person do with leftover Freshcut?
Why, make a pincushion of course! Designed by Heather Bailey herself! From the summer issue of Quilts and More.

Tips:
1. Get a doll needle as stated in the directions. It will be impossible without one.
2. Make sure you get the correct tightness in the ribbon as you do each side. Trying to adjust it afterwards is a real pain.
3. The narrower the ribbon, the more likely it is to twist.
4. Use strong thread when sewing on the buttons - I used hand quilting thread.

We're leaving early tomorrow morning to spend the weekend here. Josh is planning on spending the weekend with a friend, so this will be an adults only weekend. Hmmmmmm...

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

All kinds of stuff

Yesterday was an all-kinds-of-stuff kind of day.

I picked some roses from my much neglected rose bushes. They have rust and aphids but still manage to come up with a few little flowers. (Check out the old family shot - that little boy is now 14!)

I made a skirt. It took most of the day. I used sew what! Skirts but I think I'm a little too old curvy for this method and had to make a lot of modifications including adding darts in the back for my big curvy butt. But I like it - and it cost a total of maybe ten bucks.

I helped Josh with "The Jell-O Experiment". This involves making "fake" Jell-O with absolutely no flavor and testing it on people to see if color associations make them perceive a flavor. (The good thing about having a hippie for a son is that I can take pictures and post them everywhere since no one will be able to recognize him anyway.)



...and I made dessert. It was yummy!

A Folio in Freshcut

Here it is:

Kathy from Pink Chalk Studio is developing a pattern for this wonderful note taker folio. I was honored to be one of the lucky ladies asked to test the pattern for her and as a reward ended up with this wonderful accessory.

It has room for a letter sized notepad...

...and little pockets for pens, pencils, and even business cards.

It was a ton of fun to make and, of course, I LOVE Freshcut. I'm going to be the envy of everyone at every meeting I ever attend, that's for sure!
Keep reading Kathy's blog for news on the release of the pattern.

Sneak Peeking again...

Yes, I know. How boring! But I really don't have anything completed that I can actually show.

I'm working on some ideas for an Etsy shop. It's really kind of infectious, and what can I say, I'm very easily influenced.

The above item, however, has nothing to do with Etsy ideas. And if I get permission from the appropriate sources, I'll show the whole thing tomorrow.

Happy crafting everyone!

The quilting gods are frowning

Happy Monday everyone!


This weekend I worked on my mini quilt for Whiplash. I used this pattern, which lead me into temptation and I yielded. I made the top and back, put them right sides together with the batting, sewed all around the edge leaving a little opening and turned the whole thing right side out - like a pillowcase. The quilting gods would NOT approve! It was REALLY easy though.

I just have the quilting to do, but need some advice on what to do in the big white squares. I don't want to distract from the little fussy cut flowers, so I'm contemplating just quilting straight lines from corner to corner in each white square. Too boring? Help!


Oh, and I even pieced the back. I figured, since I didn't have a big enough piece of fabric left for the back and would have to piece anyway, I might as well make it look nice.


P.S. Excuse the bad photos. It's pouring outside and really dark everywhere in the house.

Fruit Salad

That's what my mom calls anything that's just thrown together willy nilly. It started with going to the garden center and buying everything I like, then trying to find spots for it in the garden. "Fruit salad - that's what the garden will look like..." Hopefully it's not all bad or some of my scrap quilts would really have to go to the big salad bowl in the sky.

Anyway, yesterday was a complete washout.

I crawled around on the floor for an hour with my fabrics spread out everywhere trying to put together something for the mini quilt challenge - no success.

I kept knitting the darn sock for hours (even after knowing yesterday already that something was not right) and then frogged it - there's either something wrong with the pattern or I'm an idiot.

Therefore, my post today - fruit salad...

The UPS guy brought the yarn for my ripple. Yay!


The Circuit City guys brought the new TV. It's a monster. The photo does not do it justice. Martha is the size of a house!


Oh, and here's another snippet of amateur art:

Uh Oh!

Oh, dear! I'm becoming one of "those" people - the ones with stacks of WIP's and UFO's. At one point I was concerned about not being like that because it seemed like everyone was, but then I accepted it and kind of started feeling proud of my ability to complete one project at a time. But now - I'm really confused, but oh so happy with all the things I have to look forward to.

Look what hopped into my shopping basket yesterday...

I have a very special project planned for this. Stay tuned.

My latest ripple has been progressing in stops and starts. I won't go into details. If you're interested go here.


While waiting I decided to hop on the sock knitting bandwagon. I'm a little worried about these, but forging ahead anyway.

Sneak Peek IV

Ha ha, just kidding!

Here it finally is! Not quite as I envisioned, but OK'ish...



And now on to the mini quilt...

Sneak Peek III and other things

This is the last one, I promise. I just did not have time to finish the Tie one On apron yesterday, but today is the day!


The tree peony in the backyard is flowering. I just love these big blooms.



I love dewdrops on maple leaves.


And remember the dumpster diving episode?
Here's the loot we scored:

Josh found this and HAD to bring it home. It is kind of cute, I have to admit.


I found these...

...which look really cute in the herb garden.


Off to finish the apron...