whole lotta goodness

Last week I received this great bunch of Lotta Jansdotter fabric remnants in the mail. All high-quality linen, in lots of different sizes, from 5 x 5 inch squares all the way up to 72 x 13 inches! Lotta has restocked her website with super cute little Lotta drawstring bags, each filled with a mix of her leftover fabrics (a web exclusive). I bought two bags, one with the larger remnants, which had about four or five different fabric pieces in it and a second one with maybe ten or so different kinds of fabrics in a bunch of smaller sizes. She asks that you don’t use them to make items to sell, which is not a problem at all for me, since I can think of approximately 101 things to make for myself.

I’ve started with a new set of summer pillow covers for my living room. I used some neutral color linen to complete each pillow, making an envelope closure on the backside. I think maybe a tote bag is next and possibly some sort of simple linen throw with some bits of these fabrics pieced into a patchwork stripe running the length of it.

inspiration

I found this great little German (I think) wooden candle holder at the flea market recently and have been looking at it a lot, as it’s been in my living room since bringing it home. I love those red and white mushrooms and have a lot of them stashed around my house, mainly with my Christmas decorations.

I think the correct term for this type of mushroom is Amanita, which I learned in this helpful guide I picked up a while ago:

Anyway, after rummaging through my fabric stash last night, I came up with this skirt for my shop using some linen I had on hand and one of a set of vintage napkins I unburied at the thrift store a while ago. I love the all of the little pictures on the fabric – mushrooms, bugs, snails, nuts, leaves. I still have four of the napkins left and hope to make something for myself sometime. It all reminds me of the walks we took in the woods near our cabin in Northern Michigan when I was growing up. I always came home with a handful of treasures I’d picked up along the way, many of which are right on those napkins.

afterschool project

Henry and I tackled a (relatively) quick project last week after school. After seeing it done in several different places online, we decided to try it ourselves. It was very simple, really: Mod Podge, paper, Mod Podge again. I let Henry go through a couple of falling-apart old books I had with interesting animal plates in them. After choosing a few, I cut them to size. Henry painted the front of each drawer with the Mod Podge, I stuck the paper on, then he put a second coat over the top. I think it maybe took an hour and he was very happy with the result. They hold all of his “homework” supplies, which he has carefully chosen: pens and paper, an old anatomy coloring book of mine from college, Peterson Field Guide to Birds, a penmanship dry-erase notebook, and various trading cards. I’m not sure where he’s come up with the concept of homework (he’s five), but he’s very excited about it.

flea market finds

On Mother’s Day morning, after a delicious breakfast prepared by my husband, the whole lot of us took a short trip to the local flea market. I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about it at first, until my husband volunteered to commandeer both boys while I shopped. The thought of taking a fast and wreckless three year old and a begging five year old through narrow, glassware-stacked aisles does not appeal to me. Daddy did a great job of visiting all of the non-breakable-type booths with them (they tried out many riding things and helped him sort through records). It was pouring down rain and we didn’t stay long, but here were a few things I picked up:

The woman I bought this from said it is Marimekko fabric that her mother had sewn into a log holder (it had two wooden dowel handles before I disassembled it). While I can always use a good log holder, I thought I could make it into a bag instead. I can’t find another example of this fabric anywhere on line…it looks like Marimekko to me…but if anyone knows for sure, please let me know. I’d love to know of a resource for finding out about out-of-print vintage textiles, especially Scandinavian.

I also bought this cute owl linoleum block print from her. It was in a crazy blue-stained oak frame which I’ve since removed. I’m going to re-frame it and hang it in our bedroom.

Lastly, I picked up this sweet little silhouette of a braided girl to add to my ever growing collection of silhouettes. She was hidden behind another silhouette I bought that was framed, and I ended up liking this one much more than the one on top.

first birthday

I am a firm believer in first birthday’s being just as much for the parents as the child…it’s also a milestone for the parents, who have just survived the first year. My dear little niece, Avery, and her parents just celebrated her first birthday with a much anticipated trip to Michigan and a big party filled with family and friends and lots of little ones running around. We all enjoyed every little bit of it, from the time my mom, sister, and I spent together getting ready for it, with Avery watching, to the gloppy first fistfuls of chocolate cake, to the grass-stained knees and juice-stained faces at the end of the day, collapsing into car seats for the ride home.  Here are some tidbits from the big day:

Birthday banner made using small paper plates, printed cardstock and string.

Birthday dress made for Avery.

Paper dot garland made with these cute circles from Elfrida, assembled by me and my very patient father. I was inspired by a garland made with self-adhesive dots from an old Martha Stewart Living issue (December/January 1996).

sunday dinner

We had friends over for dinner yesterday. I don’t mean to imply that I cooked the dinner. Actually, most of the cooking was done by my friend, Niki. I chopped and she cooked. We had a wonderful spread – a perfect spring meal: sauteed chicken breast, rubbed with a delicious spice blend (I think it was called Northeast Woods) from Penzeys; cheddar cheese and whole wheat quesadillas; a yummy succotash (no Lima beans!); fresh fruit salad; and a hot and flavorful mango salsa. Niki is an amazing cook and her baked goods are to die for. And aside from the fact that she does all this with food, she’s also a very talented artist – check out these free-hand, machine-embroidered kids’ shirts she’s been designing and making for her recently-opened shop. I’m loving this one.

Niki’s Mango Salsa:

2 (very) ripe mangos, peeled and diced

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, ribbed and finely chopped

a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

juice of one lime

coarse salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and let it sit at room temp for at least 30 minutes prior to meal to blend all the flavors. It makes a great accompaniment to chicken, pork or fish!

Fresh berries for the fruit salad, individually cleaned by Freddy.

Succotash made with summer squash, yellow onion, fresh-shucked corn, jalapeño pepper and Great Northern beans. Mmmm…

in bloom

I had a chance to enjoy the front yard today…hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

a little progress

This weekend was more productive than usual (when I say that I mean we got more than one thing crossed off the to-do list). Grandpa and Mimi took the boys Friday night so that we could paint our bedroom and do a little spring cleaning. Henry, at five, is pretty good at sorting through toys, tossing the irreparable ones and giving some to charity. Freddy, almost three, is less enthusiastic. He tends to keep broken toy parts and hoard them like little treasures. I find collections of things in various receptacles around his room. So, it was much simpler to sort without his help.

Above is a peek at a freshly painted white bedroom wall (primer + two coats over the old sage green paint). Not too exciting by itself, but it really brightens it up (we are surrounded by large trees, so our house seems kind of dark a lot of the time). I’ll post more photos of the room once it’s all put back together again. For now, I’ll leave you with Mrs. Hen and her chicks.

Also had a bit of time last night to make these dainty little britches for my shop:

ahhhh

We had a great time out in the back yard yesterday…the boys were able to run around and not be on top of one another. Despite the piles of soggy leaves left to rake from last fall, fun was had. Every ball, bat, wagon and wheeled toy was used (if only for a few seconds each). All prehistoric beasts were hauled out of doors for a massive patio takeover. Even the sand table was opened up and played with, despite the lack of sand. Ahhh, Spring.

i am not an old lady

My husband laughed at the idea of me hanging plates on the wall. He said this is something that only old ladies do. He obviously has not seen this or these. The three plates below are the beginning of my “plate installation.” I found the deer plate at a local consignment shop and found the newsprint plate when scrounging around Mazatlan several years ago. The raptor platter is an amazing piece by New Work that I picked up here.

I also came across these great plate hangers at my local Hobby Lobby. You just dab some water on the adhesive surface and let it set 24 hours before hanging. (There are easy instructions for removing them if you change your mind later.)