I'm ready for summer....

I have washed off the porch and moved my christmas cacti out...



summer can start now. And since I was outside with my camera, I thought I would wander around and see what's blooming, since I really haven't spent much time outside for the last two weeks.
This is a David Austin English Rose... Alexander Hamilton.. I think... although it might be the Pat Austin, but since it is the first blooming, it is not blooming true to color... still it is lovely...



... and these lovely iris...



I bought them soley for the name "Caesar's Brother". Who knew Caesar had a brother? (I'm sure it was the iris plant brother of in iris called Caesar... but it does make you wonder.) It was on Portland Nursery's discount dying plant table... just add water.

Babies and Body Functions

I was standing in the kitchen today and heard some furious grunting. When I peeked around the corner, I was confronted with a very red little man deep in concentration. I captured the moment via an illustration rather than intrude on the moment with my camera.



Babies are so not shy about their functions

Warm fuzzies...

What is it about cats in a sunbeam...



it just makes you want to nap...



I've been sick all week, and I'm still sick. At least my ears aren't stuffy anymore. The spouse is sick too. The kids were sick for about three days and didn't feel that bad. I think the germs mutated when they infected Dave and me. We have some super bug that has really hit us hard. Maybe after the weekend, I'll be feeling better.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful, dedicated Moms out there. It's hard work, and you all deserve a big "thank you" today, so you know you are appreciated. I was treated to a little sleeping in, breakfast in bed, and some lovely gifts: some chocolate from a local chocolatier, flowers from a local independent florist, and a belly dancing set! The set had a CD, cymbals, and a book. I had mentioned a while ago that I wanted to go try it with a friend. It looks like such fun.... anyway, Miss Elsie, who is totally Nutcracker obessesed and LOVES Arabian Coffee couldn't wait to try out those finger cymbals. So I got her all dressed up to match the book, and she treated us to an hour long performance and then posed for a few pictures.




She takes it very seriously. I love it that she wants to wear the costumes and accessories. We have a good time dressing up and having dance parties.
Tonight, they are all cooking dinner for me... noodles of some kind!

Morning Projects

I bought a doll cradle at Goodwill last year for $7.00 with an additional 30% off. Pretty good score. However, I have not had a chance to outfit it with bedding. I knitted a little doll blanket last week out of some leftover yarn. This morning I made a mattress and pillow.

Here is Miss Elsie stuffing the pillow...


The finished project...


It turned out pretty well. Elsie is pleased with it.

I'm getting into a spring cleaning/decorating mood. I want to make some new pillows for the living room and take down the velvet drapes. I came across these cool mobiles this morning. One of these would be so cool in the house... just what I need... another project. We still need to finish the basement. Although I did get the following things done:
chimney cleaned
carpets cleaned
oven cleaned
ice maker fixed
sent out area rugs to be cleaned
... so I'm off to a good start with the spring cleaning.

Good Mail Day!

Look at all the goodies that arrived in the mail today!




I love days like this. All these lovely things offset the large package I received from Taiwan for a freelance client which means more fittings and comments... ah well... back to the goodies...
These magazines are from Strikkelise. We've been swapping magazines. How cool are the sewing ones?



Why don't American pattern magazines have current, trendy fashions? I love these..



Then... I ordered some gorgeous hand-spun yarns from Camano Made. One of my internet gaming friends raises goats and dyes and spins. Look at these beautiful creations!



This one is 95% cashgora kid and is the softest, loftiest yarn I have ever owned. Just wonderful!



Black with a metallic eyelash...



Then 3 skeins of mohair/angora with beads!



I'm thinking for some kind of lacey wrap. The girls at Camano Made said it is a very hot yarn (apparently they have a sleeveless sweater that is so warm it cannot be worn). I hope my knitting skills do it justice.

A big thank you to Strikkelise for the magazines and to Laurie and Bec for the extra yarn goodies!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty Flowers

I've been playing with the macro setting on my camera after being greatly inspired by Bec's photos.



These are some of the better ones...









I put the rest out on my Flickr account. Now I just need to get the yard cleaned up and everything weeded, and I'll be ready for summer. Mmmmmm... gin and tonics in the backyard!

AHHHHH!!!!Allergies!!!

Soft palette is itching... nose is running.... ears are itching.... throat is scratchy... itching in places that I can't scratch!!! It is spring and the tree pollen is killing me! It's a bummer because I love to garden, and I can't even be outside without a box of tissues. My Claritin no longer seems to be working well. I've got a call into the doctor's. Hopefully they can give me something else.

I'm trying to think of better things to keep my mind off this general itching feeling coming from my head. Here's a picture of Miss Elsie and me at the luau in Hawaii... right before it started to dump rain... at least there were no allergies.

I love Target!!!!

Look at this great tote I picked up for the summer....



Just the perfect size to stuff with a picnic lunch!

The spouse's birthday

Miss Elsie was so excited to bake her daddy a birthday cake. She asked him "Do you want a pink cake for your birthday? or a strawberry cake for your birthday?" Putting aside all personal preference, my darling husband told her that a pink cake was just what he wanted. So off to the store we went, so Elsie could select the pink cake mix. I normally bake cake from scratch, but being pressed for time Mr. Duncan Hines was there to bail me out.



Elsie wanted to decorate the cake herself with her various toys. It sounded much simpler than mixing different colors of frosting and getting out the decorating tips. She selected the toys she wanted to use, and I washed them up.



Of course, we were out of birthday candles, so had to make do with a tea light. Probably better and safer than 44 candles anyway.



The inside is princess pink. As Elsie started to fill to capacity she focused on eating the pink cake rather than the cream cheese frosting... which is the opposite of most kids... and some adults. Typically you eat the frosting as you start to fill up...



These were some delicate bouquets she picked for Daddy over the weekend to decorate his office space...





She loves to pick flowers. I'm going to have to keep an eye on her this summer.

Brownie Landscape...

I do love baked goods. I have both cook books from the Magnolia Bakery. This is their brownie recipe. Six eggs and 2 sticks of butter... you bet it's good. Last time I was in New York we made an after-dinner cupcake run to Magnolia. The cupcakes were good, but the other desserts in the case looked way better. Every recipe that I have made from these books has been spectacular.



Here is Miss Elsie contemplating the brownie...

I have a problem...

I'm addicted to fabric.



I just can't pass up pretty things at the fabric store...



Now that I'm moving all my fabric to the studio, I realize just how much I have. I need to start sewing some of it up or it will not fit!

Mister Ewan's Room

The Little e's room is, for the most part, finished.



I recovered the seat of the rocking chair yesterday with a beautiful neutral linen. I am so pleased with the results. There is another piece in the house that I want to recover in linen, but I think I better pay someone to do that. It's a bit more complicated than a rocking chair cushion.



The casement windows look like they could be out of the nursery in Peter Pan. During the summer it is wonderful to have them all open. It's just like being outside.



We have a few more things to put on the walls... a clock, and some Tin Tin prints... I would also like to paint a large graphic on the blue wall. We are leaning toward a stylized thistle and lion... which is the tattoo the spouse would like to have done in honor of Mister Ewan. He already has an Elsie tattoo... but that's a post for another time.

Fixing Things

I made Miss Elsie a doll quilt for her vintage doll crib. In my effort to be thrifty and recycling-conscious, I put on this nasty lace trim.


The lace proceeded to pill and shrink eventually drawing in the edges and making the little quilt cup shaped. There is a fine line between thrifty and quality... and I crossed it. I cut off the offending lace and bound the quilt in some vintage seam binding from my stash.



Much better.... I have taken the remaining lace and put it in the yard sale bin. Someone else can have a go at it.

Little Leisure Suit

I made this suit for Ewan before we went to Hawaii. It is out of the softest tattersall plaid.



The pattern is from Ottobre Magazine. I have subscribed for almost 2 years and this is my first project.




Their designs are so cute and light years ahead of most pattern companies... Burda is excluded from that comment. The magazine comes with all the patterns all sizes printed on 3 sheets of paper stapled in the middle. It does require a bit of concentration to make sure you are tracing on the correct lines. I apparently selected the wrong hem line and the suit wound up with not much of an inseam and a lot of diaper showing.... so today I added some bands to the leg openings to create some length. This is my first little man sewing project, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Moving into the Basement... some more

I have most of my things in the basement space now.... and most of the spouse's things too..



but we have a lot of sorting and organizing to do yet...



I moved my desk down yesterday and got everything set up for my computer and assorted gadgets.



We still need to get shelves up and some type of storage cabinet for all my fabric. I really like these from IKEA, but I think they are too tall for the ceiling height. IKEA is supposed to open this summer here in Portland. I can hardly wait! Then I can just measure everything and see what fits.

Big E, Little e

It was not my intention to have two kids whose names start with the same letter, in this case, the letter "E". I'm not fond of theme naming one's offspring. We just happened to pick two names that we liked and they both, oddly enough, start with the same letter.



Elsie has been called Big E ever since she was a tiny thing... and the nickname has stuck. So she gets a big E for her door...



If the big sister is the Big E, then it's only fitting that the little brother is Little E...



.... so Ewan gets a little e for his door.



Their rooms are not finished yet and not ready for a grand unveiling, but hopefully this week I can finish them up. The pictures give you a sneak peak as to the colors, but both rooms still need pictures hung and drapes made... all the fun stuff. We are still trying to come up with a letter or letters for our bedroom. The spouse suggested "Mgmt.". It just doesn't have quite the same whimsy. Any suggestions?

Coming out of the fog...

I think I'm finally getting over this bug. I've had it for over a week! And it would figure... last night Mister Ewan decided to sleep through and I kept waking up with nightmares and stuffy nose problems. Tonight, I'm hoping for more rest.
I did run a few errands. One of which was a stop at Michael's to return some Christmas leftovers. They looked at me like I was insane returning stuff this late. But their return policy guarantees a merchandise credit with a receipt. So I took my merchandise credit and bought a few Easter goodies. I was so inspired by Mo's Easter chicks, that I picked up some myself. Although I couldn't find the white fluffy ones. I'm always behind on anything with white feathers (I missed the white feather trees at Christmas too).

I picked up these little pink chenille birds....



... and the last two plastic boxes of the glass eggs. They are so tiny and so dainty.



I had to hunt all around the yard for suitable branches. I did some yard cleaning last week and cleaned everything up. After several false starts, I decided on some weeping maple branches. They seem to be sturdy enough.



I need to get out some more of my Easter decorations, but I'm worn out for today. Maybe tomorrow.