A Cozy Day

With the weatherman calling for rain, which never came ;( we sat and cooled off in the freezing air conditioning.
Lighting my favorite candles to make the house glow and smell divine of spice.



I sat with my yarns and started another blankie, I do have a plan for all these little blankies. You just have to stay tuned.
This isn't the gray I was after but it too caught my eye.

After getting a little too cold we sat outside to watch the rain clouds, that never opened, roll over the house. We laid turf (desert friendly) this Spring and it is really life like especially how it catches the dead leaves from the front yard trees. So my child was taken to collecting leaves and would shout "Weaf" when finding another one...then one caught his eye and he yelled "KITE"
Yes, it was shaped like a kite. We took the time to learn the color brown with the help of leaves.
Child was so in love with that leaf shaped like a kite, he was decorating his basketball net with the leaves. This is the pic I caught and then he, of course, had to take his own pic.
It made me giggle a little that this is my child. Loves the leaves and is decorating his hoop with them :)

Today it is sprinkling, very little, but I will take it. Downtown looks amazing, dark and as if you can't even see the Strip. They must be getting all that rain that was predicted. It is gray out, and all I can hope for is that it stays dark like this the whole day. It would make me so happy!
I would love to be able to go to storytime today with the dark clouds covering, it makes the storytime room so much more inviting. Reminding me of fall days back home as a child sitting in the school library...all we would be missing is the smell of the laminating machine heating up. Oh, how I miss that burning smell.

Union Jack Bunting

I woke up with a bang yesterday.
Moved around the house full of energy but all I seemed to accomplish was this...

My cottage chic Union Jack Bunting.


I had a few scraps of blue yarn left from the blankie I a made and just made a five squares with them.

I blocked them and strung them together


I cut scraps of cotton in this cabbage rose material and laid them out.

I lightly glued each scrap in place to it would be easier to sew.
Let it dry and came back to sew it all down.

I love the shabbiness of the quilted style.


This will work great with something else I am putting together. I will get pictures of it hanging by next week hopefully.

Happy Monday! I plan on quilting this afternoon and I have my eye on some gray yarn to start a new crochet blankie tonight :)

Saturday in Review

My day in review.

Starting with the Joy of Life, maybe I should have a shirt that says Joy of Crafting. Could one of you francophiles get on that?

A little quilting...
a little crocheting and sewing...

and a little fishing....


Such a good day. I didn't get as much finished as I planned but there is always today ;)

Going for Gold

I am in love with the soft texture and golden green color of this waverly yarn.


I completed this little blankie in it and I wish I had enough skeins to make a huge afghan for my bed. But I found this yarn on clearance and they only had 3 balls left, :(

With the after remnants I was inspired by this pinterest pic to make some gold ribbons.
I started the foundation last night while watching the Dodger/Giants game. I will work on it more today.

I have also started on another crochet bunting it is being blocked now and waiting for its adornments.

I still have a quilt, that darn grain sack pouf to finish...but the fish garland is all done and I am thrilled with it. I will try to get a picture of it today while there is some sunlight in the house.
I am sure you are all tired of hearing about my fish.

Child is off to swim with dad and I will get to work on my crafting.

Should be a great Saturday. What are you up to?

I Got Lost

It has been months since getting out and browsing and window shopping.
(image via kate spade blog)
Summer is not my fav, and it doesn't inspire me to leave the house, let alone go shopping for clothes. I go out for the necessities of life, food and coffee.

I hibernate indoors for most of the 100* + days.

But some how yesterday it was like something was calling my name to head out and do a little pre-fall shopping.

I set out to find a few plain gray sweatshirts inspired to make something like this...
So I hit the sporting goods shops in hopes of finding vintage like sweatshirts. I did, and was questioned immediately on why I needed these by the cashier....um, excuse me, people can go in a buy oh, lets say assault riffles without questions but I go buy a couple of sweatshirts in 100* weather and get put thru the ringer on my intentions for sweatshirts????? Crazy what this world has come to.

Anyhoo, left that store immediately and headed to where I know customer service is top notch.
Kate Spade. I didn't know that the new fall lines were already hitting the floor, I was just going in to say hi to the girls and boys. But my heart about dropped when I saw they had already put the shirts I had on my fall wish list out before they were supposed to.So in love with this Pardon My French T.

And this super comfy Joie de Vivre sweatshirt, ahhhh cozy.
I quickly grabbed my sizes and headed for the checkout....remember I stated I hibernate in the summer. Well seems my bank thought someone had stolen my card, since I hadn't used it in so long, and was on a shopping spree and flagged my card, put a hold on it just as I was swiping at Kate Spade.
How embarrassing, luckily my hubby was near by and saved the day. Believe me, we immediately called the lovely bank and chewed someones butt. Let me get this straight, I am a responsible adult that doesn't go in debt and uses my bank wisely, gets punished and embarrassed when trying to do a little shopping. But if I were going nuts everyday and overdrawn they won't shut your card down, no, then they are glad to slap you with fees for going over your bank limit. Again, what the hell is this world coming too!?!?!?!?

A relaxing day out with the family and having fun ended on a happy note with me getting my bank card back. We finished up by having delicious cookies and the best coffee and nordstroms cafe'. Their coffee is so strong it seriously gets your heart racing with 2 sips, better than espresso!! Being so late in the day, I had to switch to their decaf which was just as tasty!
Happy full belly and new clothes :)

Sewing and Crocheting

Lately it seems I just can't get enough of sitting and sewing by day and crocheting by night.


Just yesterday, after cleaning my home all day Monday, I sat while child slept and sewed and sewed and sewed. Its is amazing what a 3 hour nap can give you time to do. The monsoon clouds would fade by as the afternoon passed. Making my studio become dark and gray. Giving me a smile when the wind would toss the tree leaves outside my window, mimicking a rain sound. Oh, monsoon season, you went by too fast.


I had a stack of new cute fabrics that have been calling my name for months. I wanted to wait to use them after my class with Junker Jane at Jenny Doh's studios just in case I was inspired to use them there.
After not having them go with my monster doll,

I decided to do a quick patchwork quit with solid panels in between. I started piecing out all my fun bright child like fabrics together. It is almost finished it hangs in my studio closet to fit the last panel.

After I got to a stopping point on the quilt, I decided to revisit my fish project from last week.
I made 12 more cottage style fish to dangle from my drift wood garland. I just love how they look all lined up. The fabrics are all super soft cottons and that natural cotton batting makes them so soft and plush like a little quilt in your hands.


I will most likely find the time to string them today to cross that project off of my to finish list.

While this goes on by day, I put it away as child awakes. We spend time learning colors and shapes. Working with glue and scissors. He is a master at the scissors. Dinner time comes around and then it is time to sit and watch some evening television. I adore Jane by Design.
Yes, it is a teenagery show but I still just love it.

So I pull out the crochet hook and sit crocheting away at another simple blanket. I love simple lines and it is something that doesn't need concentration, I just go line after line as I watch the story unfold on tv.

Getting back to that monsoon, Monday we sat on the front porch waiting for rain.
The clouds came by thick and the thunder clapped. But all we got was a few spits of rain.
We took pictures of our feet as the drops hit them. Child even had to include Woody's boots in our picture taking. Child takes pictures of his feet all the time. It is funny to find his feet on my camera.
Now monsoon season has passed, all hope for an afternoon storm is gone :(
See ya next year rain.

Creating with Jenny Doh and Junker Jane

What a whirlwind of a lovely weekend.

We took off Friday for California headed for Crescendoh Studios in Santa Ana.
My favorite Plush Doll artist, Junker Jane, was teaching at the famous Jenny Doh Studio.

(image from Jenny Doh's instagram)
I have been such a fan of her work for years.
I love her imagination and stories that go with these unusual dolls.
Her simple technique wows me...it is a full of detail and can be as complicated as you make it.

Arriving at the studio early on a quiet Saturday morning the building is full of surprises. It is an amazing space. Walking up a grand staircase was unexpected, but so inspiring.
Getting to the Crescendoh Studio was welcoming and quiet. Dolls were set up of Junker Janes work. It made ya wanna dive right in.
The day flew by, my dream of sewing all day came true. To sit around others and share tips and stories was so much fun. Everyone in class got to make their own version of a doll.

(image from Jenny Doh's Instagram)
We talked style, design, family, and even music.
Junker Janes hubby was also there and found out he is a drummer in a very cool Portland band named Iceland
My favorite song is Red #5. It really reminds me of the music I love and took me back to my first days of concerts in St. Louis.


This Doll came home with meand this is the one I made
The weekend wrapped up quickly and we headed back home by noon on Sunday.

As we were driving I would crochet and the drive went by quickly. We even hit an unusual desert downpour. It went from 109* to 69* in a matter of seconds. The rain was hard, could barely see the road or cars on the road next to us. But it was so exciting. We could see the clouds building on the open plain as we drove in closer to Nevada. Then the sky just opened and let it all out.

Now back to that crochet blankie I was working on.
It is now finished and being blocked as we speak.
I have already started on a second one in a mustard green color from Waverly yarns. It is all acrylic but super soft. I will go slower on this one, it is just a little something to work on at night as I watch tv.


Today is cleaning, unpacking and getting ready for our week ahead. Since I crafted all weekend, not much time to sit today and craft :)