Excellence in S’s and Zs!
I had so much fun opening my box on Saturday!! Thanks to everyone who sent a mushroom my way, and especially to Sonya for hostessing, sorting, swapping, and making my spring day!
Look at these beauties!
From Deborah:
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This fuzzy morel from Alison is the northwestern variety, a relative of my Rocky Mountain Morel:
*****
From jennycno3, this realistic Wood Blewit:
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This sparkly delight from Small Fox:
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This soft lovely from Becka:
From Jen at Painted Fish Studio:
dear sara,
as i write this, it is snowing, and the wind is whipping through the streets of saint paul, rattling my windows, and the temperature dropped 10 degrees in under an hour. major interstates north of the twin cities are closed, due to blizzard conditions. so we, sadly, are very far from spring. but that doesn¹t stop me from hoping! last weekend, i went to payless and picked up some yellow, strappy, heeled sandals. for 23 bucks! and if dancing around inside my house, wrapped in blankets, but wearing my new sandals is the only way i¹ll feel springy, well, then i’ll just keep dancing around!
xo, me
****
Jen’s letter makes me happy to live in Sunny, Warm, Salt Lake City!
(31 degrees with skiffy pink clouds as I write this morning)
No. 5 in my collaboration with Jen at Painted Fish Studio, looking for signs of spring.
When I was about 10, my mom, dad, and I lived with an elderly lady named Marilla. My mother was her caretaker and my dad kept up her property. She had such a tranquil home. I still remember the way the light filtered in through the sheer curtains and lingered on the velvety drapes. In my memory, everything is a shade of gray mossy green or slatey light blue. When we moved in, I was thrilled that my bedroom came with a little alcove and a built in vanity mirror and dresser, just like in old movies! And two pianos, which inspired me to beg and beg for lessons.
Marilla had had a daughter who had died young, I think perhaps she was a hemophiliac and had died in her teens. It was very sad, and she never had other children. Her dear nephew cared for her property and hired my family to live in and care for her.
She adored our dog Missy, a black cocker spaniel, and the feeling was mutual. Missy would rest her soft head on Marilla’s knee, and the gentle lady would stroke those long ears and croon “Poor Mitzy, she has lost her bone. Has Mitzy lost her bone? Yes she has. I shall find your bone you pretty girl.” Marilla was always kind to me, even though I was so impatient and half the time couldn’t restrain myself and had to correct how she said the dog’s name, as if Missy cared!
Along a long, narrow cement pathway that ran between our house and the one next door, where my sister lived with her little children, grew patches of several different varieties of violets in the cool shade. Marilla produced tiny embossed green glass bottles for me to fill with violet bouquets. Violets are one of my favorite flowers and will always remind me of a very happy time of my childhood.
Those houses are no longer standing: they were long since torn down to make way for a strip mall, but the smell is in my nose, and the height of the trees, and the biggest icicle in the world that grew from the second story roof to the ground and was bigger around than my arm.
Two weeks ago I reinjured my back (after throwing it out horribly in December and thinking I was fully recovered). Last weekend, Zach piled of huge stack of laundry on our bed to get it out of the construction zone downstairs. The idea of folding laundry, or even pushing it off the bed to lay down, was excruciating…it hurt just to climb into bed. I burst into tears when my sister Jeaka called to see how I was feeling. She picked me up and took me and the Boogedy to my mom’s to take a nap, then she came back to my house and folded and put away all the clothes.
She deserved a little present.
Mini Medusa tosses her head as if to say “No, I can’t go out tonight, I have to wash my snakes .”
This petite gorgon (mabye 2 inches high) is from Creepy Cute Crochet, a book that Jeaka had checked out from the library, and then loaned me with the intent that I might take a hint! The patterns in the book were super simple, and I learned a few new techniques! I used Koigu, of course. I love that yarn, I would have every color, if I could. And I’d never get sick of it.
Actually, I failed to take a “before” picture, so you can’t really know how small and cramped our entryway felt before these changes. Last weekend Zach and his friend Ethan took down the wall that separated the entryway from the front parlor.
In this photo, I have estimated the size of the door that went from the parlor into the entryway. With little imagination, you will be able to block from your mind all of the things now visible where the wall once was.
I cannot tell you what an amazing difference this is. Our house feels grand!
Here is the view looking down from the stairs, again with an estimated doorway to show you how much more open the place feels!
A few years ago, my friend Alexis in San Francisco visited Europe. She asked what I’d like her to bring me. I said “Bring me the tackiest fridge magnet in the EU!”. She brought me this from Amsterdam:
It’s still the tackiest thing on my fridge.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about swaps, and had so much fun participating in KnitSonya’s Handmade Mushroom Swap, that I’ve decided to host my first swap.
Rules of the Tacky Handmade Fridge Magnet Swap:
1. Each participant must make 5 fridge magnets, roughly identical. Each magneteer will receive 5 random magnets!
2. Magnets should be TACKY. Not merely lame like this one on my fridge:
Nor merely dorky like this one of me on the Santa Monica roller coaster in 2004 (back row):
2. BUT, Magnets shouldn’t be obscene. My piggy might push some people’s limits of acceptable fridge decor, but she’s ok by me. Please just use your best judgment on the line between tacky and inappropriate.
3. Magnets must be handmade. The medium and size is up to you as long as they fit criterion 4:
4. Magnets must be functional (i.e., must hold up at least one photo or child’s drawing and must not be so heavy as to slide down the fridge)
5. Magnets must be mailed to me, postmarked by April 15 (tax day!) and you must enclose a priority mail stamp or appropriate postage to have your surprise magnets sent to you.
Email me if you’re interested! And, pass it on…We need at least 6 participants!
No. 4 in my collaboration with Jen of Painted Fish Studio, looking for signs of spring.
Seen on the sidewalk yesterday. I saw lots of mating pairs like this. I’ve always called them Box Elder Bugs. They didn’t seem to be arguing about which direction to walk, they were steadily heading across the sidewalk.
I made a personalized tea wallet for several loyal readers, tea drinkers all. Now that I know all have been received, I can post pictures here.
For Kristin: Marbelized fabric that reminds me of book endpaper. With a super cool tortoise-shell-esque button.
For Maria: The cupcake queen, with a button that has Sprinkles.
For Sonya: A little something bold and retro. The big button should get itself caught on everything in her purse.
For Jen: Why, FISH, of course!! Swimming against the current.
For my mama: Cherries. I always think of my mom when I see cherry fabrics. She used to live in a little town in Florida called Cherry Lake, and I know so many childhood stories that happened to her and her band of sisters there.
I found this amazingly simple pattern by way of Whip Up, from a tutorial by Christy’s Creations. SO EASY and fun.
A few weeks ago, Erica Perl, a children’s book author, contacted me after seeing this post about a crazy hat I made last year. She has asked me to create something similar for her to wear while she does readings of her soon-to-be-released book, “Chicken Butt!”.
Erica sent a copy of the book to my son, and it happened to arrive on his birthday last week (the big 2!). I can’t wait to develop a new fuzzy hat to go with this adorable book. The silly text and great illustrations gave me a preview of our life two years from now when I have a joke-obsessed four-year-old.
