{this moment}

{this moment} - a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. This is my contribution to Amanda's {this moment} photo project. Lucky me, my days are full of these moments, I just happened to have the camera in my hands this time. :) If you'd like to see others' moments, check the comments over at SouleMama today.

looking forward

Today, I am looking forward to starting the seeds that we chose today at Downtown Home & Garden, our local farm/garden/home supply store, home of everything you could ever desire in kitchen supplies, yard needs, outdoor furniture. Hana and I have a date for planting tomorrow afternoon. Colors, colors, colors!!! Yippee!!!

I am also looking forward to a bit of quiet time tonight so I can finish the project I mentioned yesterday. I found very little handwork time during the fun and sunshine of today, so maybe tomorrow I'll have a finished object. In the meantime, here's a bit of color for you...

I hope you had such a colorful day!

remedies

The warm sunshine today was like a remedy for my winter-trodden soul. Ahhh... We get what we need.

Another recent remedy: my Rose Remedy Top! I'm really liking a short-sleeved sweater over a long-sleeved t-shirt or blouse lately. The change in season means a whole wool sweater might be too warm, but a top like this keeps my shoulders and core just right! Please forgive the hodge-podge of pictures, it's the best I could get, and I wanted to show you this top before... well, before I forget to! The sleeve construction is so unique, and while knitting I wasn't sure how it was all going to go together. There are several eyelets that you create with the front & back pieces, then those eyelets set off the sleeve like a visual seam. After seaming, a few rows of stockinette to add a rolled edge, and ta-da! a short sleeve!

When I first saw the Sage Remedy Top on Ravelry, I failed to notice the feather & fan motif on the lower portion of the back. Had I seen it that time, I probably would have queued it up sooner. It wasn't until I viewed another Raveler's photos of the back of hers that I got the whole picture and was sold.

Here's the feather & fan section of the front (along with Hana's ponytail!). The placement is perfect, in my opinion. The scoop neckline hits at a nice spot on me. I'm shopping around for the perfect t-shirt (aren't we all?) to go with it; the t's I have all seem to be pretty high crewnecks... I know, I know, get over it, right? ;)

Besides being a cute picture of the Wee, this picture shows the gathering that happens right beneath the lace section on the front. This makes the top blousey in a very nice way, pretty. I'm glad that the yarn (Great American Yarns Merino/Silk) is so lightweight, almost airy, because it doesn't weigh down the top. You can see in the top photo that there is a ribbing. That ribbing works to pull in the bottom of the top just enough, again accentuating the blousing effect. The ribbing looked too tight while knitting, but once it was blocked (the pattern tells you just how wide to stretch it), it's perfect!

My Rose Remedy Top has been worn a bunch already. It is a cozy & pretty reminder that Spring is inching its way here...

Now, to remedy the blah way I've been feeling about the interior of the house, tonight I'm channeling my inner Lucy of Attic 24 (cookies too, except mine have dried cherries!). She has an attic in her home where she crafts, how awesome is that? In my imagination, it is the artist's garret of my dreams, candelabra and all! I'll be back tomorrow to show you how this remedy works...

What sort of remedies are you applying these days??? I hope they're working wonders!

moments of clarity

I've snatched some time in the sewing room lately. Clearing off the work table, discovering some unfinished objects, some much adored fabric, and rekindling my desire to make some sweet duds from my Japanese sewing book pile/collection. But first, in order to provide myself some clarity and future guilt-free sewing jaunts, I finished up a few hangers on...First up, this Birthday Party Dress from Oliver + S. The whole aesthetic of the Oliver + S line of sewing patterns speaks to my vintage-loving-girl-at-heart side; the illustrations (paperdolls!), the silhouettes, the hairstyles on the paperdolls, their shoes! And even though my Girly does not necessarily share my love of all things ol' fashioned, she does love blue and the prospect of a mama-made dress! If I remember correctly, the fabrics are both Lecien, but I cannot recall where I ordered from... sorry. There are many sweet details in this pattern that made it a challenge, but also make for a special mama-made; the box-pleated front, the button tab, the back button placket, and one detail that you cannot see is the faced hem (no pic, whoops). I enjoyed the whole project from start to finish, even though I started in the fall... ;)

Next up, as I was sorting through some old clothes which I hope to repurpose, I came across a shirt that was in the wrong pile (yes, there are more than one pile). This shirt belonged in the "gotta' girly this up if I ever expect Hana to wear it" pile (I'm not kidding)! This was a basic oxford, probably manufactured as a boy's style, but I think the color of the oxford cloth is special enough to warrant the effort of a re-do. So, in order to up the girly factor I visited another little, teeny-tiny pile that exists in my sewing room, the Liberty of London Tana Lawn scrap pile. I think it was my mother who first introduced me to all that is to love about Liberty of London Tana Lawn. I know there are many fellow worshipers, I am in good company! The scrap pile of love is the result of a bit of a splurge at Scarlett Rose (say it with me, like Eloise, "Oh, how I loooooove Etsy!") At Scarlett Rose, there are up for offer many, many Liberty prints in small, but usable scraps. I could pick a whole bunch and not have to decide on just a precious few! Like a kid in a candy shop! Awesome.So, I snipped off the collar first. Then the cuffs. Better already! The sleeves had plackets, so once the cuff was gone, the opening was flappy and simply hemming it would not have tidied it up much, so enter a couple of elastic casings from some pretty teal floral Liberty, et voila! I was careful to keep the elastic on the loose side, because a lot of sleeve length was lost with the cuff removal, so the sleeves are more like a 3/4 length. Now I could have called that done, but then I felt like a bit of applique was in order. A heart of course! While I was at it, a skirt was made also using some of the precious Liberty scrap pile, but it definitely needs to be modelled....

So, I had a good weekend clearing up some real & mental clutter. I hope you had a good one too!

xo

Ahhh-choo!

So sorry to have disappeared like that.... A flurry of nasty colds has swept through the house, but we've come clear now. I'm going to re-group here quietly for a couple more days and plan to post again over the weekend. Thank you for checking in on us.

accumulation

An accumulation of gratitude, snow, and granola bars...

I thought I should drop in here to say, "Phew! February is on it's way out!" And I would like to say thank you for all the encouragement to be bold back to this longest shortest month, and return all the virtual high-fives you gave me about the Crafty Crow appearance. Thank You!This is some of the beautiful snow that fell last week. Here is what we did with some of it:*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

For some reason today, I just had to make granola bars. I haven't tried making it from scratch before. I've found it hard to find one that I really like at the store. I'm picky about the bars I buy; I don't tolerate cashews, don't want the chocolate (I know, I know, blasphemous), like a good portion of chew, a titch of salt, and not too sweet. Please. Oh, and I love knowing exactly what's in there. I guess it should have occurred to me sooner. I tweeked a recipe I found over at delicious Smitten Kitchen. My modifications: I only had whole almonds, so I sent them through the nut-grinder. I didn't have wheat germ, so substituted oat bran. In my impatience, I added the oat bran before I was instructed, so it got toasted with the oats, almonds, and coconut (unsweetened); no harm done. Our honey is very solid, so I melted it a bit before mixing it in. And I felt compelled to add 2 tbls of butter, melted (Deb said I could!) For fruit I used dried cranberries, dried apricots, and raisins. You can see the sunflower seeds on top; that's because I forgot to mix them in. I just pushed them onto the top of the granola bars after it was all pressed into the pan. YUM. I think you should make some too. {By the way, that rigatoni is calling my name!}

So, if you're reading, you've made it through February too! Hooray for us! I hope to have a finished object (or two) to share later this week. Time to check out the Closing Ceremonies; the Olympics really helped me through this last bit of the calendar. :)

moments like these

Often, when I cook, I visualize a scene of the ideal setting for the food I'm preparing (there's that optimism again). Sometimes, that fantasy can be the push I need to add just that extra side-dish, condiment, or garnish. Sometimes, more than not, the vision can lead to frustration too, wishing I had that sprig of parsley that would be so pretty or those olives that would be the perfect salty tidbit. Sometimes, though, the whole picture comes together like this... ... a new cookie recipe, a new knitting project, and a perfect cup of coffee in my favorite mug! I found the peanut butter cookies through Leslie, and with their perfect little garnish they sure make me smile. I'm knitting this top with a merino wool & silk blend which weighs next to nothing and is very soft. The silk gives the fabric a gloss and the rustic spinning keeps it all from being too sleek; a perfect combination in my opinion!

What moments are you savoring?

Oh, and guess what?! The Heart-felt Tutorial is in Crafty Crow, an awesome on-line craft project resource! I emailed Cassi of Crafty Crow to offer the tutorial thinking that it was a bit late for another Valentine's Day project, but feeling brave and that I should just try. I had cruised the projects for a week or so after I emailed Cassi, but didn't see it. Then just last week, I received an email from Helen of Curly Birds thanking me for the tutorial she found on Crafty Crow (Helen's heart pouches are so sweet). I had all but forgotten about the submission. I could (can) hardly believe it! Whoopee!!! Big news for little ol' moi. Thank you to Helen for the tip-off and thank you to Cassi for the link-up!