Garden Jubilee

What can I say????  Kendra one of our fearless farmgirl friends had a fabulous shabby chic booth at our local Garden Jubilee festival. She put together some themed herb, salad and tea pots and baskets with a lot of nice touches to add to her presentation…. loved your tags! Sorry I didn’t get any close ups of them.  Great job on the sign Jen.  I brought home some echinacea(sp?) and local mountain mint.  The echinacea is in the ground but I’ve got to think about where to contain the mint. I’m hoping the weekend was a success despite the rain.

Gone Goaty

Our kids together enjoying some fresh air at the Carl Sandburg Home.  The pairing of children with their siblings is so sweet.

As we entered into the open field the children just took off running and kept running.

And the baby goats.

Garden Green

I’ve gardened a little in the past and I’ve read a lot about gardening, but this year I’m really trying to understand how to be successful at it.  What I can say so far is I’m having to exercise a lot of patience.  Beginning with starting a seed indoors weeks before it even gets in the ground to watching it slowly grow- nature just goes along at such a slower pace than we do.  To stop, watch and listen to all the little things around me is truly a joy.  Just being around the garden with my children is such a blessing, they feel it’s draw to look in to see what’s going on… what seeds have sprouted, what flower is blooming.  Discovery and wonder……. it’s rubbing off on me.

Shoulder Bag Tutorial

I find a lot of inspiration from the tiny happy blog.  This is Melissa’s tutorial on making a shoulder bag, you can find it here. It’s  a great small bag that’s easy to put together.  If I make another I will add some length to the body of the bag because I need a bit more space to carry  around all the things my family needs. The pocket is from a pair of butter yellow corduroy pants that I used for Claire’s skirt.… and again a vintage button.

The Girl Skirts

I have been working on some summer skirts for Sierra and Claire .  I have found for the 3/4 year old that a bed skirt is a perfect knee-length with a provided hem.   This one is a nice soft blue cotton, the width can be chosen depending on how much swing is wanted and then I add a double waistline because I like the way it looks and fits.  The large flat section of a bed skirt that normally lays under the mattress can also be used for lining skirts or other projects.  Our local fabric outlet store sells them for a dollar so it’s a great way to use/find fabric.  For this skirt I added a tea dyed maternity sweater no longer needed for some charm.

For Claire  I found a beautiful butter yellow pair of corduroy pants for a quarter.  She’s still small enough so that I can just use a pant leg turned on its side for the main body of the skirt.  Some Ralph Lauren print for  contrast and a vintage flower button from my grandmother’s collection.

a Winter Embroidery

I’ve been inspired  to pick up my embroidery needles and take note of nature.  You really have to look closely in order to interpret a sprig or branch or flower.    This  was done in the last days of winter.

To Be young again

This is my 4 year old bottle of energy and enthusiasm.

Sometimes when i get my on this swing i can feel it too.         i should swing everyday.

Walk in the Forest

After feeling the cold the whole winter it is invigorating to get out for a hike in the forest.   I have always loved moss… if you look at it closely it looks like a miniature forest.  And always faithful to be green.