Fatty arrived today - hooray! I was so happy to see him. Being apart for 10 days is hard.
And now he's gone again - off to camp overnight with Kate. She requested her daddy and he couldn't refuse. Here and then gone. Like the rain that comes every afternoon. Beautiful blue skies in the morning and by 3:00 the clouds roll in. Cue the thunder. Cue the lightning. Big storms.
I hope my campers stay dry.
I am going, too. Back next week when the vacation is over.
Funny....I see some themes. Fruits and veggies and lots of pretty fabric. Not that surprising, huh? If you click on the mosaic, it should take you to flickr where you can see the credit for all these lovely photos.
I've been working on the blog a bit - see the new banner and flickr badge? I need to update my links in a BIG way. I am wondering if any of you use blogrolling or have used it. Any insight there? I want my links to be organized (alphabetical order, specifically) and I can't figure out how to do that in Typepad without reworking the whole link list. Last time I did it, it took something like two hours. See why I have been remiss in updating? Any advice you want to pass on would be welcome!
In the meantime, here are some blogs that I have been enjoying recently:
Mia Stella - Marcia, my real life, in the flesh, craft swap friend is an extremely talented photographer and all around crafty gal.
good-ness - Leslie lives in Japan and has a wonderful aesthetic. I especially love her photos and am extremely jealous of her proximity to not one, but a few good fabric stores.
Blue Yonder - Stefani is a loving, caring mama to three boys. She has a quick wit and paints beautiful pictures with her words. I wish I knew her in real life.
Plush-a-holic - Dawn is sooooo talented and makes the most beautiful stuffed creatures. See those conjoined rabbits in the top row, third photo. Yep, those are hers and I think they are just brilliant.
wiksten-made - Jenny designs clothes. Really cute, fashionable clothes. I wish I had that talent. I also wish I lived closer to her so I could take pattern grading lessons. Really. I would pay money to have someone teach me how to do that.
OK - that's it for now. Hopefully, I will get my links figured out soon. Happy Thursday!
When we are in Telluride, the kids are all about s'mores.
Good times, people. Good times.
The 9 hour journey to Telluride did not take 9 hours.
Flights: 3
Take-offs and landings: 4
Planes: 5
Airports: 4
Hours spent at O'Hare: 13
Food vouchers redeemed: 9
Hotels visited: 1 (Denver)
Hours awake: 22
Hours asleep: 6
Drinks spilled: 6 (4 for Kate, 2 for Jane)
Crying episodes: 3 (1 for each of us)
Books read: 2
Granny squares crocheted: 1
DVDs watched: 1
Resilient kids: 2
Tired mom: 1
It took 31 hours to get here, but seeing my parents and the view made it all OK.
We are on summer vacation for the next two weeks. The kiddos are at day camp and I have lots of free time. I brought the crochet and some embroidery and I have some other projects to share, too. I plan on some site construction to revamp the blog and I am sure I will take lots of photos while I am here. But right now, I am going to take a nap. See you when I wake.
Project::Sock Elephant
I made this little elephant for a birthday present. The happy 6 year old promptly named her Ellie. I used the pattern in this book. Blair was the one who turned me on to it, but I was skeptical. My only other sock animal experience was not good. Then I saw Blair's dog and decided to give it another go. The elephant is not perfect (my mistakes), but the pattern was well written and the book is full of cute little critters.
Color week::Blue
The sky at dusk and
me wearing a light blue shirt. I am also wearing these beautiful earrings from Susan - you just can't see them in the shot.
In other news, I taught myself a new craft and am aching to tell you all about it. I'll save that for another day. Let's just say, I'm hooked. Happy Friday!
Project::Tissue Paper Flowers
Kate received this paper flower kit for her birthday back in November. Because the girls' birthdays are close to Christmas, I often put a few gifts aside for a rainy day. We pulled the flower kit out a couple weeks ago and they have been making tissue paper flowers almost non-stop.
They are so easy and fun for kids of all ages (yeah, I like making them, too). They would make great party decorations. Actually, we made some red and blue ones for the Fourth of July, but they got ruined in the rain before I had a chance to take a photo.
Color week::Orange
The girls made my parents each a flower when they came to visit last week. My mom wound hers around the handle of her new orange bag. Jane and Kate really liked that.
Happy Fourth of July!
Completely unpatriotic post to follow as we haven't done any celebrating yet. Hopefully I will have some photos to share tomorrow.
Projects::Knitting and Color week::Yellow
Remember this? Well, it is a knitted purse for a friend lined in vintage fabric that I received from Hannah.
I used the leftover yarn to make this little clutch for Cristina and our moo card swap.
The clutch was supposed to be a zippered pouch.
I sat down one afternoon while hanging out with my friend Jodi and knit up a cabled rectangle. I made it up as I went along so I am not sure if I can recreate it or not. Anyhow, fast forward to the part where I want to line the pouch and put in the zipper. Um, big problem. I didn't think that to line it and put in a zipper, the knitted piece would need to be two pieces instead of one. I tried it anyhow - I made a double lining and put the zipper in. Crap, I tell you! I ripped the zipper out and tore the lining apart and threw it to the side. Then it hit me - a flap! I grabbed the needles, picked up some stitches and knit the flap complete with button hole. I finished it up by reworking the half of the original lining and hand sewing it in. And you know what? I like much more than I would have liked the zippered version. Cristina likes it, too - phew!
Hope you have a nice holiday!
Mail::Lovely prints gifted to me by Jen. How sweet is she?
Warning: my photos do not do them justice.
I am in love with this itty bitty print. I have a thing for houses and Jen's drawings are so gorgeous. I love her other house prints, too.
This print is going in the sewing room/studio. I love the shapes, the colors, the negative space - it is perfect. I am really into green and yellow these days, too. Something about this color combo makes me smile. These prints were a wonderful surprise - thanks so much, Jen! Check out the Swallowfield etsy shop for more wonderful artwork. She has prints and original collages over there - all gorgeous!