simplesparrow

breakfast alone and thinking

All of my family was out this morning so I found myself relishing some alone time. I walked around in the front yard and felt the warm, stormy wind blow past me, I noticed again how rich the colors look outside after a rain. I watched my cat drink from a puddle and then laughed sympathetically when he started to climb the screen because I came in and accidentally left him out. I took the time to make myself a decent breakfast and ate while the only sound was the wind whipping through the trees. And I had time to think without a whole lot of other stuff going on around me. Bliss, really.

Creatively I've been venturing down a new path and it feels rather exciting. I was due for a change, a new direction to explore. I'll be sharing some of that with you soon, but for now I wanted to pass along something I've been pondering and am finding very inspirational. It comes from the book Applique Stitchery by Jean Ray Laury (a gem of a book I've mentioned here before) She says...

"To be significant, work must be personally meaningful. Speak only for yourself. You need not try to comment on the world, or on all mankind. Try, rather, to make a simple and honest statement about a single idea with which you are familiar. If you succeed in this, your specific comment is far more likely to contain a general element of truth. As I am neither a deep thinker nor a profound one, I make no attempt to be profound in my work. I can offer only a personal response, and if that response arrives at something basic, it will evoke a response in someone else."

Without rambling on why, I find her words very freeing. I think I might write them out and pin them up somewhere near my workspace.

(thank you for all the blanket kindness! some asked how i felted the wool, actually this is one time that i didn't. i didn't have much to work with so i didn't want shrinkage. i'll wash this in cold water and hang dry as i do all my wool that i don't want to shrink.)

woolly love

Last night I put the binding on the edges of my sweater blanket and I'm happy to call it finished. I had originally thought that I would make my own bias tape out of some cute fabric but, as the days ticked by and the blanket hung on the back of my bedroom chair collecting dust, I decided it just needs to get finished--I wasn't getting around to making my own binding anytime soon. I went to my drawer filled with bias tape and bindings of all sorts and chose a gray, a taupe and a blue lace.

I think using 3 different bindings is fitting for the blanket and I can say all  the materials used for this were secondhand--I love being able to do that! I was planning to put a backing on this to cover the seams--I should have lapped them--but I decided I would enjoy using this much more if I could feel the cozy wool against my skin as was my original inspiration for this. The blanket fits perfectly across the foot of my bed, a bonus since I didn't plan the size of this at all. At the moment though I'm wearing it wrapped around my shoulders.

After I finished taking the photos of the blanket Noah jumped on the bed and took a tumble in the woolly squares. It's getting lots of love already--perfect.

progress eventually

I just love it when my crafty buddy and I get together for tea, a movie and some crocheting. It's not too often that we do it in the evening because she goes to bed pretty early--but on this night she was feeling energetic. Hannah snapped this picture of us while we were chatting and I was surprised to see how involved my hands were in this conversation. Anyway...

I needed to finish a baby hat I was making for a friend, actually, I hadn't started yet but I was determined to make great progress during our time. I had already seen the movie (Akeelah and the Bee, wonderful movie by the way) so I was sure to keep my eyes down on my work and make good headway on the hat. Emily kept checking on my progress throughout and my hat never did get any bigger then the coil of a snail shell all night! I wasn't impressing her or me with my speed. But, I did eventually finish the tiny thing so all is well.

Isn't this yarn so cute? I wish I could give you the specifics on it, but sadly I can't. I bought it well over a year ago at a shop far from home, didn't save the label and only bought one skein!! Ugh. Hate that.

I decided to add a little scalloped brim at the last minute and I'm very happy with how it looks. I really hope it fits the little head it's intended for because I wasn't too sure on how to size it, but oh--how I loved working with that yarn. yum.

(sorry for the blur here)

a folding kind of day

After Hannah and I folded about 3 big loads of laundry together we moved on to paper and made these clever origami lanterns. This was a kit that I bought her for Christmas that included the string of lights. The first lantern gave us a run for our money but we eventually got past our brain block and actually even improved upon the directions that were included. Really, I should let the company know because I think I would be saving countless others from the beginnings of a migraine.

These were so fun to make once we got going, and I might also add quite therapeutic--all that repetitive folding. But the real reward is in how very pretty they look hanging on the lights. I think I just might need several strings of these all over the house (Mark, what do you think? Yes? )

You can find the kit here, at Magic Cabin. It happens to be on sale too! Just a small tip, you don't need to buy the extra pack of paper they offer along side of it. The way they word the description you might think you do at first. Just saying :)

discovered

Here are some photos that happily surprised me when I discovered them on my card.....

Nathan taking a self portrait....

Hannah's very creative photo of her very delicious muffins...

Noah with a bowl of tomato soup. Tomato soup that appears to have a pair of eyes. Photo by Hannah.

I hope they surprise me again.

And again.

toasty

I love my hand-warmers! This is the first pair I've made and they are super cinchy. I would however like to refine my technique--these have some tiny flaws--but are still so usable. I think I'll look up on the web how others have done it so I can learn some tips. For instance, I had to cut the top off of the thumb when I finished because it was to long and tight, now I have an unfinished edge there that might ravel ( I could finish the edge by hand but I don't want to, so there.) Is there a way to sew stretchy wool without getting the ruffle effect on the edge? There must be, no? I lessened the foot pressure and lengthened the stitch width, that helped some. Sometimes the little ruffle is great, but in this case I sort of wanted the edge to lay flat. At any rate, this first pair fits well and does their job most excellently!! My hands are always cold in the winter, even in the house, so a couple more pairs are in order. I certainly am not running short on scrap sleeves!

Thanks so much for the  get well wishes--I'm feeling tons better.

in between croaks

Well, drat. I've been struck with another illness...this time a chest cold. My voice is all froggy to and Mark keeps making fun of me like I'm a pirate or something. So my grand plans for the past week have been shot down but I still managed to clean out a cabinet in my bathroom, line my silverware drawer with contact paper and get started on my wool blanket---all in between naps and croaky coughs :)

I'm pretty happy so far with how the blanket is turning out. My original plan of just butting the squares edge to edge and then zig-zagging them together didn't work so well. I didn't want the back to have seams, but now it does. I guess I could put a backing on it, we'll see. I'm kind of just deciding as I go along. On a few squares I added a  patch of  some  vintage fabric I've been squirreling away. I like the look it adds--somewhat funky, a little hippy-ish and a tad off-beat. I guess that could be a nutshell description of me now that I think about it!

A happy byproduct of all the sweater cutting has left me with about 6 pairs of sleeves. I'm thinking I would really like to try and make some long hand/arm warmers. Note to self: add that to the crafty to-do list that is already a bazillion pages long.

good morning sunshine

We're home, and so happy to be back in the sun. I love the northwest for so many reasons--we lived in and around the Portland area for almost 9 years--but the sun beckoned my husband to return home, back to the beach several years ago. I must say that when I woke up this morning to a bright blue sky, I was very happy to be home indeed. We usually pay our visits to Oregon/Washington in the summer--and let me tell you the summers there are fabulous! It's been a long while since we were up that way in the winter and it rained all day and everyday that we were there. 12 days. Goodness. Anyway...

Happy New Year! I'm ready to organize and clean out a bit around here and also hoping to start in on a new project--a patchwork throw made from wool sweaters--all before we get back to school next week. I collected a pile from the Goodwill while on vacation. Have you noticed how high the Goodwill has things priced nowadays? Geewhiz. Not the exciting thrift shopping it used to be. My mom and I were grumbling about it while we were there and then when it was time to check out we both had a pile of stuff. So, I guess we're both just full of hot air.

I hope the first week of the new year is getting off to a great start for you!