:: more inspiration ::

My favorite flower and my favorite blue!

:: a little inspiration ::

State Beach, Martha's Vineyard




















This is one of my most favorite places in the whole world.

Silver Leaf

I am so excited to share my latest project. It has been on my plate for a while and after clearing the decks and clearing out a lot of the judgement that I had going on in my head, I went for it!!

I am re-doing the bedroom, painting the walls a soft gray,making a new quilt for the bed and sewing window coverings. I also needed a new nightstand. I have been stalking all of the decorating blogs and found the most gorgeous silver leafed dresser.

So here is my take on the silver leaf night table.

One of the places that I got a lot of inspiration was this post at the Little Green Notebook. I love this blog, you should check it out!

I will post more pictures when I get the room pulled together.

Clearing the decks!

I'm clearing the decks and making way for new projects, new adventures, and new dreams. My mind has been whirling with new ideas and my list of things to do is growing and growing. Maybe it was the fact that we have been inside so much that I have been looking at the house and how many things need to be cleaned up, repainted, finished, you name it!

Look out spring....I'm coming.

So I have this list of projects that I would love to do and when I have the time to do them I've noticed that I keep putting up road blocks between me and the projects. I will decide that before I can sew I need to make sure that the whole house is vacuumed or that some other chore is accomplished. I know that I have to do my job (i.e., housework, shopping etc.) but why do I keep withholding the pleasure of creating something new or completing a project.

So I've decided in my clearing of the decks, to clear out some (hopefully all) of the judgement that tells me to wait and do (insert chore here) before doing something fun and exciting and creative.

Wish me luck!

Inside Out...and a quilt preview

I am participating in Free Spirit Knits e-course "Inside Out" (you can find info here). The e-course is amazing. I have really enjoyed the first week. I am not sitting in judgement of myself, which is nice for a change. There is a lot of creative play and I had forgotten how much I liked cutting words out of magazines. I know we all did it in junior high and high school. We would sit for hours, making posters for ourselves and for friends. It was fun then (with the rubber cement high) and is fun now (without the rubber cement). I will be continuing this weekend, moving into paints!!!!

I also wanted to preview a new project that am working on. I will be finishing this week, so completed project will make its debut sometime next week. Until then....

I know, really pretty. I love this fabric combination! The cool tones of the gray with the pop of pink and fuschia. Girly without being "my little pony". I love all of the fabric lines that are represented and will get you a list. I purchased from Poppy Seed Fabric and Fabric.com

Next post is the quilt I made for my husband, my own design and everything. The weather has been so terrible here that I couldn't get a decent picture. So today is a beautiful sunny (albeit snowy) day and My family will be outside holding that quilt up to the sun. (Have I mentioned that I really miss the other seasons of the year. I mean a mom can only make so much hot chocolate!!!!!)

There is another soul in this house who enjoys the sunshine.

Have a great day!!!

Snow

I live in Connecticut and we had (according to the news) 30" of snow. I love definitive snow. Snow that keeps you in the house for the day (or in this case two days) school is cancelled, there are no activities and we are alone, the four of us in the snow.

Here is what we woke up to yesterday. (A picture of the main road I live on.)

So with all of the extra time I had, I managed to download the pictures from my camera into the computer. Here are some of the things that I have completed in December.

A quilt for a family friend's first grandchild. I backed the quilt in flannel to give it some extra weight.

A Christmas gift for my sister. We said that we wouldn't buy anything for each other and I didn't. She had given me her stash of fabric (Kaffe Fasset Paisley) that she had picked up at a quilt show. Then she realized that quilting was not her thing and gave her fabric to me. I thought about what to do with it and decided to turn it into a semi-large throw for her to snuggle under. Find my inspiration here.

(You can see my crack team of helpers. Sorry for the bad picture, I finished the binding the day after Christmas an needed to take a picture so that I could deliver the finished gift!!!)

2011

Working away.....starting an e-course. I have made a lot of items and want to show them all.

I love the print. It is from a good friend and is called "Free as Me"!!!

More soon.

This just finished...

The first project that has been finished is that the new counter tops have been installed. Gorgeous granite countertops and the most beautiful, deep sink. I can't help smiling every time I look at them.

The second project that was finished is the quilt for my youngest.

I was unable to handle the mess that the counter top installation made of my kitchen and since I just finished my new sewing space. I decided to spend most of my time there finishing the quilting on this top. I am so thrilled with how the quilt turned out. Most of the fabric was selected by my son and the pattern was also something he had taken a liking to as I was surfing some of the quilting blogs that I read. There is a great tutorial here. He fell in love with the orange quilt and then decided to go his own way.

I love the backing. I had extra scraps so joined the pieces with a scrappy stripe.

My wonderful husband was kind enough to take the photos for me. So all in all this has been a family project!!

Transitions

Summer is almost over and I am conflicted. It has been a hard on all of us. But now we have to send the kids back to school and although they need to spend time learning and with their friends, I will miss them. August is vacation time, family time, time spent playing games and finding ways to beat the heat. Fast, delicious dinners from the grill and gorgeous fruits and vegetables. August is when we take our vacation and take the time to reconnect with each other. Long, lazy days.

But now we are on to school and September and what I consider to be the start of the new year. I know that it comes in January but to me the real start of the year is in September. New school supplies, new clothes, endless possibilities. So even though I am sad that summer is ending, I am uplifted by the newness of September.

So with September and the changes that have occurred in my life, I have spent much of these last two weeks, reorganizing almost every inch of my house. Cleaning out my kitchen to prepare for new counter tops and quilting. I will have finished pictures soon.

For now, here is an image of summer.

I love to sew!!!

A long time ago, before B and I got married I used to sew a lot. I sewed quilts and loved it. I went on vacation to MV and when I got back B had converted part of his house into a sewing room for me. He painted the walls the color of the sky in MV and it was perfect. I could sew for hours, listening to my music or watching the little television he put in the room for me. It was wonderful.

I forgot how much I love to sew! I had some major sewing machine drama but here are the results! Napkins!!!!!

I'm working on reducing the family's carbon footprint, and found this great tutorial online and here they are:

And with a little mood lighting! I can't wait to sew some more.

Oh, the tutorial is on this amazing blog sewtakeahike: linen napkins {a tutorial} I love it!

Hydrangeas and the Patio

I want to thank my husband and two boys for the best day yesterday. It was so nice to all be together and no one was in a mood. No one was fighting. There wasn't any tension. It was just a nice afternoon and evening full of good conversation and a lot of laughing. I know it sounds strange to thank them, but the way it rolls with two elementary school age children is that there is a lot of time spent talking about who is looking at who funny, who gets to walk with mom or dad, who got to ride on the cart LAST time (eye roll).

So yesterday we went to the plant store and to Home Depot and got a lot of things together so we don't have to leave the house today (Memorial Day) if we don't want to. We scored the best buy on hydrangeas, so we bought six! They are small and we are going to plant them around the patio. (So when I am having a bad day I can sit outside and pretend I am on the Vineyard). We also got herbs for the garden and petunias and zinnias for pots around the house. The nice part was that they boys picked out the colors that they liked and they worked together to get everything. We also had a long talk about what we want to grow and what works best for our yard.

It seems quite clear that we all would like a big vegetable garden but with our property that is just not going to happen. So we have to be content waiting another week for our first farm share and growing herbs....maybe a tomato....or a bell pepper...just how much room does a cucumber need exactly?

Starting Over Again!

Guess what? I'm starting over again. I have missed posting and wanted to get back into it. Mostly for me and as a record of the things that I create. I've been working on a lot of new things and will begin sharing them as soon as possible. Stick with it. There will be pictures tomorrow

2008

Hello 2008. I'm hoping that this goes better in the New Year than it has in the past. I started with taking the summer off to spend more time with the boys and it worked out that I took the rest of the year off!!

I had a great end of 2007, I went to NY Sheep and Wool and did a lot of knitting and I just couldn't start blogging again. It was like when you don't call someone and then it goes on for so long that you feel odd if you just called and then it becomes this strange circle. Anyway, I'm going to at least post twice a week for 2008. I'm planning a lot of knitting this year and I'm also learning to spin. I don't think anyone can get out of Rhinebeck not wanting to own a spinning wheel and a whole stash of roving. So the first goal is some handspun and a BSJ for my cousin.

Thanks. D

June, June, June...

Where did this month go. The last time I checked it was may and I looked again and here it is the end of the month. Nothing and everything has gotten done this month. End of school (which is today!!) Swim lessons start up. Some knitting, not much. Here are pics


Those are the boys feet. I love those feet!!!





Baby socks, Gems Opal, US1 regular pattern

More knitting at the pool. I'm going to try to post every day!!!!

A whole month

A whole month has gone by and not a post from me. This is been an amazingly busy time of the year. The new baby dog is getting bigger and bigger. She is presenting us with more than her share of challenges. (Housetraining and a more determined attitude than we had expected) I'm not sure what we expected. (I'm also not sleeping too much due to the fact that the girl gets up at 5:00 a.m.

My wonderful little boy graduated from preschool this month with all the pomp and circumstance that is entailed. Cap and gown or rather cap and t-shirt. It was one of the most adorable things I had ever seen. (I know, I'm his mom.) Mom's are supposed to feel this way. I didn't even feel guilty about having the best seat with the best view of him.

Anyway, the knitting has been horrible. One pair of socks and a baby hat is the sum total of the month of May I just realized that I haven't taken a picture of the baby hat (I will include later).

The socks were hard. Harder than they had to bee. I'm really not good at the heel. I can do the regular heel, but these and the one of Fanny was really hard for me to do. The wrapping and turning made it really difficult.

Yarn: Crystal Palace Bunny Hop

Pattern: Speckled Rib Socks

Needles: US 5

Here I am complaining about socks that are knit on size 5 needles. They should have taken me a day instead of a month. I've casted on a shawl and I'm going to try some lace. I'd post pics but it just looks like nothing now.

Baby hat to come....more posts soon

The New Baby

Well after much waiting for the rescue organization. We are not a patient people. Uncle Jimmy had quite enough and helped us find our new baby:



Her name is Mayday, She is 10 weeks old and we got her yesterday. Her first night went really well and right now she is relaxing in the sun room while I post her pictures.

She is the sweetest little thing, which is why I had to pick out the very stylish pink collar and leash.


I hope she likes knitting. I'll have more posts and pics later.

Here is the dog update

We were approved to adopt and we have been waiting to find out about availability for the dog that I had fallen hopelessly in love with. I would visit her picture every morning on the Internet after spending the night before dreaming of our long walks together. Her name was Pearl. How perfect.

Anyway...in the last week a lot of "Adoption Pending" tags were put up on the website and I prayed that Pearl would be spared. (I know I'm being dramatic, what did you expect.) Pearl is being adopted by someone else.

There is hope for another dog, or so we thought. A 5 1/2 month old female. I got excited, waited for pictures and now the person who has the dog thinks she might want to give her to someone else. I don't think I can take much more of this. This is worse than dating!!! (Will he call, won't he call, does he like me?)

I'm trying to be patient. I'm making the people at the rescue organization laugh. At least I think they are laughing...

In the meantime here are some more socks.

Pattern: Fanny from Socktopia (It is a really cook KAL)

Yarn: Cascade Fixation (the elastic was a little tricky)

Needles: Knitpicks US3 (One of which broke halfway through sock #2. Knitpicks is replacing it)

Keep a good thought for the puppy and me.

On Target for April

I joined the 52 Pair Plunge thinking it would be nice if I could make 52 pairs of socks in a year but I may not. I can't believe I'm on target. I've made four pairs of socks in April and I will have another pair finished before the end of the month! I'm stunned and feeling kind of wonderful about it at the same time.

I also have plans for a couple of other projects. I really want to knit a lace shawl;. I want to experience blocking lace. I also find the need as I get older and with the weight loss I'm always cold. I mean I'm now the person hoping they turn the air conditioning down in restaurants. I'm old before my time.

Here is my fourth pair for this month:

Pattern: Simple Ribbed Socks
Yarn: Art Yarns Color #132
Needles: Knitpicks US3

On the dog front, we are still waiting. When we finally get her I am going to paper this blog with pictures of the new addition.

Have a great day!

Back from the Vineyard

Hi! I'm back from Martha's Vineyard. We went to help my parents open their house for the season. The weather was terrible and the company was great. My sister and her girls went and we had a great time. I'm almost done with another pair of socks and I'm dipping my toe into a baby hat and sweater (NOT FOR ME!) A friend is having a baby.

I'll post an update tomorrow

Bye

Knitting along and waiting

Here are the Art Yarn socks:

They are simple ribbed short socks. Done on Knitpicks US3 circs. I ended up with a ball of yarn the size of a piece of bubble gum. There was much rejoicing in the house as I finished the toes. I thought I was going to run out and would have to destroy both socks in order to knit again. I had thought of setting fire to the yarn and then the moment of blasphemy passed. (I put my head down!)

We are still waiting to hear from the rescue organization as to whether the dog that we are interested in is available. This process takes forever. I know that it is a good thing But patience is not one of my virtues and I just want a dog NOW!

I have also gotten really attached to a dog on their site and I would like to know if that girl is available. I'm so superstitious that I won't even link to their site because on the off chance that anyone in the world reads this and checks it out I may miss out on her! I know I have reached a new level of insanity.

Maybe we will get the call today from the dog's foster parents. I'll keep my fingers crossed.