weekend projects

Fabric bucket pattern here. For an artist friend. I have one that I keep my paint tubes in.
Baby kimono pattern from Weekend Sewing. It was a bright windy weekend here and I loved spending time at my sewing desk with the windows open. This little kimono is for a sweet girl who's due to arrive in June. It was fun to sew, but I was confused a bit by the tie placement and ended up not following the pattern exactly. Also, the underarms are kind of wonky. Oh well. I have some of this beautiful Lecien fabric in the blue colorway too, so I'm starting on a boy version of this tonight. Three cheers for getting my sewing mood back!

oh my.

via bigBANG studio

I am so in love with Kay Tuttle's Cover Stories series. Swoon. I can't even decide which one I would get. I do have a thing for foxes, though. I love that charismatic little fox in the top painting. Crows are pretty amazing too. I wonder what my spirit animal is... And how do I find out?

ready for spring!

These poor tomato seedlings are so ready to be outside. We bought seeds this year from Baker Creek. Their catalog is just luscious. We are trying Dr. Walter, Nature's Riddle, Japanese Black Triefle, Southern Night and Violet Jasper for the first time. Our old stand-bys are Stupice, Black Cherry, Cosmonaut Volkov, Ciudad de Victoria, Cherokee Purple, Striped Roman and Aunt Ruby's German Green-- not necessarily from Baker Creek.

Also coming up: peppers! I am newly infatuated with hot peppers. We are trying Black Hungarian, Tunisian Baklouti, and Odessa Market.

deodorant.

I've been really into making stuff lately. Not so much sewing or knitting going on, but our kitchen has been humming. A few weeks ago I tried this homemade deodorant recipe from the Angry Chicken blog. It is AWESOME. (The deodorant. And the blog.) I have been using Weleda and Dr. Hauschka for a long time. I love both of them-- I mean, I love the way they smell-- but I would find myself needing to re-apply several times a day. With this homemade stuff, I only apply it once, and I'm good to go for the whole day! Seriously life-changing. I'm impressed.

I also recently tried making spoon oil (recipe and lovely pictures and description found here). I hope to start a regular practice of oiling my wooden kitchen pieces, and I'd like to try this on my bamboo countertops.

Creepy angel matchbox.

i love tea.

But not necessarily this kind.

I helped my mom clean out her tea cabinet and we found these bags that I think may have been around since the late 1980's. I've really been liking teas from Homegrown Herb & Tea. Especially this kind. R is loving this kind.

GO conference 2010

Last weekend was the annual Georgia Organics conference in Athens and I headed up there feeling very meh about going, but returned with rejuvenated inspiration. A large part of that came from an excellent lecture I heard by Marshall Duke of the Center for the Study of Myth and Ritual in Family Life at Emory University. His talk was called “Family Dinner-- The Real Happy Meal.” It was about the importance of rituals for children and families, and especially the importance of the ritual of sitting down to dinner together each day. And it was great. Very, very. I nearly cried. He has written several papers, but he also recommended this book, which I am going to check out. During the trip, I spent some of my down time reading Nutureshock, which is a really fascinating read—even for folks like me with no kids. I’m just trying to absorb it all, and taking it slow. It's one of those books, though, where you want to tell someone about the crazy statistic you just read....on every page. My copy is from the library and I'm seriously considering breaking my February spending hiatus to one that I can write notes in.

One of the farms we toured was Woodland Gardens, which was possibly the cleanest organic farm I’ve ever witnessed! It was lovely and they had lots of delicious-looking food packed into several high tunnels. Another one, Roots Farm, had the cutest little 3-legged dog and a gorgeous passive solar log house. Swoon.

Upon returning from this conference last year, I changed my work schedule to work 4 10-hr days so I could spend 1 day working on a farm each week. That was my first baby-step towards my dream of farming. It has been fun and wonderful, and this year has flown by! Now….I’m trying to figure out my next step.

you can't make good coffee by reading a book

I love this card I found in my granny's things. It says:

Although you've been married for just three weeks,

One lesson you've learned as happiness you seek;

That meals are important to grow big and strong,

Good food and good coffee in all homes belong.

Good food you can get by learning to cook, but

You can't make good coffee by reading a book;

So here is some aid we're offering to you,

As that aromatic drink you're trying to brew;

Throw away your container for boiling caffeine,

Here's a new percolator, the best that we've seen;

(We're sorry we can't present it tonight,

For Santa misplaced it in his southerly flight;

Don't fret and don't wail -- you'll get it post haste,

And we're wishing you the best in good

coffee taste!)

for their sock drawer

Last weekend I found this needlepoint my aunt did for my brother back in 1983. It was stuffed back in a wooden chest, which could be where this stain came from. I couldn't bear to just toss it out, so I made a few lavender sachets, out of the non-stained parts, to send to my brother and his wife. It's so nice to to a quick project every once in a while! It seems like it's been a long time since I've completed something-- I needed this!

valentines.

Valentine's day has always been a special holiday in my family. My parents still give us gifts, and I still make my cards from bits of old papers and vintage book covers I've torn off of hardbacks heading for the recycling bin. (That actually was one of my jobs one summer-- removing the covers and bindings on old books so the pages could be recycled. I found some gems.)

I love this simple valentine card design by Rifle Paper Co.