cherry tomato

spring is in the air

I'm so happy Spring has finally arrived. I love Spring in Seattle. Oh sure, it can be frustrating when the weather takes the opportunity to demonstrate just how little meteorologist really can "predict", but I don't mind the uncertainty because as long as I get a little sunshine, I'm satisfied.

My mother is fortunate to share her birthday with the first day of Spring. She has developed quite an affinity for birds over the past year or so, so I decided to make her a little nest for her birthday this year.

I had this vision of what I wanted to accomplish, and while this didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned, I'm pretty pleased with it. I cut pieces of wire into various sizes and tied and wrapped torn fabric strips around the wire. Once I wrapped the pieces of wire, I formed them into the nest shape. Finally, I filled the nest with some marble eggs I bought at a local shop. It was much more challenging than I had anticipated, and I have a new appreciation for the talent of all those nest-making little birds out there. However, Mom was happy, and that's all I could have asked for.

Happy Spring!

how NOT to behave in a crisis situation

Thank you for the kind welcome back. It's nice to know there are still people out there interested in checking in on me. It is much appreciated.

This past week was filled with odd occurrences, not the least of which was my darling puppy getting her right eye scratched by one of our cats. The event went something like this:

- cat runs up to dog and scratches her eye
- dog lets out agonizing whine
- dog's eye starts dropping tears
- Mary looks at dog's eye and FREAKS OUT
- Mary's freaking out scares the dog even more
- Mary starts running around the house trying to get her brain to function because, apparently, in trauma situations, Mary loses all brain function and ability to breathe.
- Eric arrives home and calmly assesses the situation.
- Mary continues to freak out because she can't breathe
- Eric calmly calls vet and finds out what we need to do
- All to go vet
- Mary cries the whole time

As you may be able to tell, I don't handle crisis situations very well. The good news is Zoey has a good prognosis. I'm still extremely worried, fussing over her at every opportunity, but she should be okay.

Poor little girl:

Now, I'll leave you with some photos from a walk in the neighborhood over the weekend. Spring officially begins this week, and the signs of its arrival are everywhere. I couldn't be more pleased.

 

yikes

It doesn't seem possible that it's been so long since my last post. This year, more than any in recent memory, I've really spent the winter hibernating. However, just as the spring buds are starting to burst open, I feel my creativity waking from it's wintry slumber. I've been a terrible blogger - so bad that I haven't even been keeping up with others' blogs.  I have a lot of catching up to do.

I went to Portland to visit my sister last weekend and had a wonderful time going to antique shops and fabric stores, and I picked up some fabric for some home projects.

For the first time in what feels like ages, I spent the afternoon in my studio while listening to some of my all time favorite music. A perfect Sunday.

I'm not quite ready to jump into a huge project, so I just started with something simple. I made two sets of curtains for rooms in our basement and some napkins. Eric and I regularly use cloth napkins, and some of ours are starting to get a bit funky. Plus, most of our napkins are just solid colors, and I wanted to make something a little cuter.  I feel a  twinge of guilt about using nice designer fabric for napkins, but I'd much rather be using that gorgeous fabric than have it collecting dust in my studio. Here are the ones I made this afternoon:

As soon as Eric saw these, he said, "These are so nice. We'll have to use them when we have people over", to which I immediately protested. I'm not one to save things for a special day. I'm all about using what you have. I don't mean this in a morbid way, but I know that if you save something for a special day, that day may never come. I think it's better to use the fun stuff instead of saving it and make every day just a little special.

It's good to be back.

a trip to the peninsula

A few weeks ago, Eric and I visited my mother and step-father on the Olympic Peninsula. They live in a small quiet town surrounded by salt water, fresh water and a nearby mountain. Their home is on 5 wooded acres, and during a break in the rain, we were able to take a hike through the property.

It was a cold foggy morning, and I spotted a mushroom colony in the yard.

And here are some things we spotted on our hike.

I've always had a thing for moss-covered trees...

A single huckleberry.

Some lichen.

Some mushrooms growing from a tree stump.

It was a perfect, restful weekend, and I look forward to returning next week to celebrate Christmas.

This will prove to be a busy weekend full of my work holiday party, a birthday party and another holiday party. On top of that, our little startup is being featured on the Today show tomorrow, and we're expecting an extremely busy day that will begin at 4:00 am. It's going to be really exciting, but I think I'll probably end up collapsing by Sunday.

With that, I think I'm off to bed to prepare for the early morning. I hope you all have a wonderful, and most importantly, relaxing weekend.

snow days, birthdays, holidays

they days fly this time of year. so many commitments: so many birthdays: so many parties. it's hard to keep from feeling run down. how does this always happen? it's september, i blink my eyes, and i'm suddenly near the middle of december! how. does. this. happen?

december 1st was our first snowfall of the year, and while it only lasted for about 24 hours, it was sublime. zoey was crazed with excitement at the cold, white frost covering everything in sight.

i think it's safe to say she loved it.

I have been working on a few projects I need to share with you, but for now, I'm leaving you with a couple more photos from our snow day.

i haven't forgotten that i promised you some photos from my trip to my mothers. i'll share them with you in my next post. i was able to capture some interesting images i'm looking forward to sharing with you.

be well, friends.

it's nice to live 10 minutes from the beach

Oh, dear readers, i didn't mean to be away all week yet again. I've been hit with some sort of bug and haven't quite been able to kick it all week. I meant to share these photos with you early in the week, but, well, it didn't really work out that way, did it?

I'll just leave you with some images from our trip to the beach last weekend.

 

 

Have a great weekend, friends. We're going out of town for the weekend, and I should have some more photos to share with you next week.

i love autumn

I received this stunning package from Andrea a couple of weeks ago now, and I've neglected to post about it. If you aren't familiar with Andrea's blog, I highly recommend it. She writes beautifully.

Anyway, Andrea organized an Autumn-themed swap to celebrate her favorite season. While not my favorite season (that would be Spring), Autumn is a very close second. So when I saw that Andrea was organizing the swap, I signed on. It couldn't have come in a better year either. This Autumn has been amazing. A year ago, we were having record rainfall in Seattle, and Eric and I were dealing with a flooded basement. This year has been much drier, and I've been able to more fully embrace the season. We live in a lovely tree-lined neighborhood with a greenbelt behind our house, so we're surrounded by the changing leaves, foraging squirrels and plump birds.

Andrea's swap package arrived on a particularly horrible day, so coming home from work to her awaiting package made my day. As soon as I opened it, all the stress of the day melted away and was replaced by pure delight. I am so touched by all the treasures she included. Particularly these:

One of Andrea's gorgeous book frocks accompanied by one of her favorite reads. She also included some school-themed items like pencils, a small globe and a couple of notebooks, and, of course, some fabric and other crafty bits.

I've been so busy that I haven't even been able to fully enjoy the entire package but plan to go through each item slowly, so I can fully savor each little treasure.

Thank you, dear Andrea.

Zoe

My apologies for the extended absence. As predicted, work has been keeping me busy during most evenings, and those evenings when I haven't been working, I've been much to tired to do much of anything.

Oh, and then there's this:

We've been talking about getting a puppy for awhile now and have been casually looking for a good fit over the past couple of months. We knew we didn't want to buy from a breeder as there are so many dogs out there that need good homes. We found her just yesterday (!) and she's already made herself part of the family. The cats' distinctly different personalities have become magnified by the addition of our newest family member. Vedo, as ever, couldn't care less. He's most concerned about her food and is constantly slinky around her food bowl. Madison is the most territorial and seems to feel a sense of betrayal. He uses intimidation to accomplish his means: establishing dominance. Sophia, well, she can't stand dogs and stays 20 feet away from her at all times with a puffed up tail and steady growl. As I type this, Zoe is sitting by me, and the cats are all clustered together like they're some sort of street gang hanging out on the corner. They usually don't get along well together, but when there is a perceived threat, suddenly they create an indestructible bond. Zoe, of course, just wants to be friends and play with them.

Zoe is a darling. She's a 3 month old Boston Lab. We have only had her for half a day, and we're already exhausted. This is all so new to us, but we're both really excited about all of this and look forward to settling in with her. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

plush you

Plush You! opens tomorrow evening from 5-9 pm. For those of you in Seattle, be sure to swing by and support your favorite plush artist and pick up your copy of the Plush You book. I went by the store today and saw the book for the first time, and it looks great. It's so fun to see everyone's work together in one place. Many thanks to Kristen for making it all happen.

I participated in the show last year but not this year. Ironically, I feel even more excited about the show this year and have no doubt it will be amazing. I'll be sure to take some pictures to share with those of you who can't make it.

the small projects continue

It's already Sunday evening, and I feel like I haven't had nearly enough time to accomplish everything I wanted to this weekend. The weather has been pretty dreary, so I've spent most of the weekend inside. We have floor to ceiling windows in our living room/dining room, and it's nice to be inside and look out onto the activities in our yard. The grey sky makes all the other colors jump to luscious life. The impossibly red apples are spent and lying in the impossibly green grass. A squirrel dashes around in the rain, samples a clothespin to make sure it isn't food, and scampers off to find proper food. It's nice to witness these things from my warm, dry living room.

I awoke this morning thinking about making some plush pears. Frankly, I have no idea where the idea came from, but I had to act.

I used natural linen and mixed it with some cotton fabric, then threaded some fabric through the pear from top to bottom and tied knots in both ends to mimic the stem.

I've also been busy making some autumn pillows for the house. I still have some more to make, but I've made a pretty good start.

This is our new old sofa (referred to in the last post). I thought the pillows would detract a bit from the tattered upholstery.

Work is stressing me out a little these days, so I really need these little projects as a release. As much work as I have to do, I'm making a point of keeping some projects going in an attempt to maintain more of a balance. I have workaholic tendencies, so these projects help me keep things in perspective. I also like having the house decorated for the season. Silly, I know, but it's one of those little things that makes me happy.

Have a lovely week, friends.