garden goodness

Does anyone else have a few of these hanging around?  
I have always saved my wine corks.  Inspiration hit years ago when I saw my first wine cork bulletin board.  Always wanting to make one, but still have not.    
Anyhow, we were looking for something fun to mark our goods in the garden.  
 How about a wine cork on a stick?  Or a popsicle stick?  Or a tongue depressor?  Now we're talkin'!
 After a few were made and stuck into the soft earth, we decided they were too hard to read with the name written on the side.  So we decided to write the name on the top.
Just something little that is making me happy these days.

And pumpkins?  The most exciting thing for me to watch grow!

sew red

{Out my living room window.  So red.}

The random number generator chose #23 All stitched up  and #59 Kathy to win the book Sew Red.  Please email me with your address and you will be sewing in no time.

Happy weekend!

homemade nutter butter's

Okay, guys.  Go to your refrigerator, take out 2 cups of butter (I know!  That's a  lot of butter!) and get it to start the softening process.   You're gonna want to make these... quickly.  
My kids all used the exact same adjective.  At different times.  "Amazing."  I thought that was pretty much amazing, too.  
If you can dare to not taste the dough... all the power to you.  Just beware that once you DO taste it, you won't be able to stop with one spoon full.
They were a little more time consuming than my most baked cookie.  But, SO worth every minute.  
The recipe makes quite a bit.  So I popped half into the freezer for a later date.  
I also played around with the size.  The size I was happiest with was making the balls about the size of a small brussel sprout.  
You need to overemphasize the shaping part.  Really get in there and squeeze your peanut together.  
And get ready to have a batch of truly amazing cookies, that won't last long.  
Recipe here.  I only made half of the icing since I froze half of the dough.

I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of Sew Red.

xx

sew red

I know some of my friends I like to knit with are also friends I like to sew with. Unfortunately, my sewing machine has a little dust covering it.
I would love to change that this summer.  Dust it off and dive into a fun project.  Maybe a project out of Sew Red.  The same beautiful idea as Knit Red.  With equally amazing stories and lovely projects.  I marked a few of my favorites:
Hop! Skip! Jump!  A quilt where you don't have to cut straight lines.  That's the charm about this beauty.
Paneled Maxi Skirt.  A strip skirt with a simple elastic waist.  Who doesn't love that.
Parson Gray Ditty Bag.  A useful drawstring bag that is great for travel, home or gift bags.  Easy to make and you can use your leftover scraps.
Drawstring dress.  A drawstring neckline, with shoulder slits and elastic cuffs.  Make it long or tunic length to wear with leggings.
Petal Dress.  This sweet dress is young, fun and versatile.
Mobius Cowl Wrap.  A perfect project for a beginner sewer.  Use your scraps for this fun project, too.
Sonoma Purse.  Made from just three fat quarters. Easy to sew and fun to wear.

There are many more projects with inspirational stories in this beautiful book.
Thanks to the awesome peeps over at Jimmy Beans Wool,  I have two to give away.   If interested, please leave a comment between now and May 14, 5:00pm EST and I will have the random number generator choose a couple of numbers/names.

Have a beautiful weekend!

scenes from sunday

I just downloaded about 10 days worth of photos and decided to post these to remember how great the weekend was.  You know, cause sometimes Monday's can be a bit challenging. 
Remembering all the great things in life makes e v e r y t h i n g better. 
There was work at a beautiful shop with loads of great energy and happy people.  A derby gathering.  Mint Juleps and the choosing of horses.  (He chose Orb, I chose Golden Soul. She chose Charming Kitten, he chose Frac Daddy.)  There was the caving of the delicious gluten full pasta craving.   
Sleeping in.  Coffee and knitting.  A jeep ride.  A trip to the nursery where the vegetables were carefully selected.  
A small Cinco de Mayo celebration with chunky avocado salsa and a gluten Corona light.  The planting of the lettuce, peppers, broccoli and herbs.  A video Libby shared with me that she found cool and inspiring.  I teared up. (Grab your tissues. Remember, you are more beautiful than you think!)  A lovely Sunday night dinner with the first corn we've had since last summer.

Yep,  those challenging Mondays are put to rest.  Grateful for so much.