a perfect summer day with a pinch of nostalgia.

there is something about living by the sea, you see. something that cannot really be expressed in words, although many people have tried. it is more something in the air, the smell on the wind, the salt in your hair at the end of the day.

see i am trying here to express it and failing.

we got a chance to visit some wonderful friends this week. it was a bit of an impromptu trip back to belfast. we had some errands to run the first day and some catching up with family (more on that later) but we got a great chance to just BE with some old friends and do all the things we would normally do on a thursday in near july...if we still lived there...which was wonderfully grounding in a way. like somewhere in the world we still live in our little white house with our apple and pear and cherry tree (the one that only bears fruit every 3-7 years....remember?) somewhere in the universe we are still nesting by the sea, our hound dog is still basking in the sun of our garden, my heavenly blues still creep up the lattice (actually they do- i drove by our old house and they are on their way)...

don't get me wrong -- i like our new place...but this heart has a memory, a long one- esp. for places and houses and previous nesting grounds!

well yesterday we had the perfect summer day with friends, and it is oh so good to be with them and feel like hardly anytime has past...

picking up right where we left off!

//this moment//

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. inspired by soulemama!

this week//last week

{warm}
{cold}

finally getting around to it and growing towards the sun

this morning was an early one. as the sun gets up earlier and earlier everyday now, so do we--like hens who can't sleep when it's light out we find we are waking before five.

in many ways i have always been an early bird and em and a have always been late risers, sleepy heads, rubbing the sand out of their eyes around 9 or 10.

but five!

so today we got down to some much needed planting!

tomatoes are finally in and sunflowers too!

the few i planted 2 weeks ago to try are already sprouting up and growing like mad.

they have a bend in them. they grow towards the sun.

those smart seedlings!

{they know just how to find the light}

alter(ation)

been moving furniture again and going through old things. found a few loves and set them up to be seen everyday by me and my beloved.

it's good to feel summer on it's way.

feeling klee

{gee's bend quilt selection pictured above}
{klee painting above, hand numbered by stephanie in preparation for our work.love the look it}

about to take up a great collaboration with a dear old friend...and really looking forward to it!

the idea is to make this klee painting into a quilt. it's a bit of an undertaking actually what with all those irregular sized squares and uneven bits. we are really inspired by the quilts of gee's bend...

we plan on using only thrifted cotton, which i admit makes finding the right pallet a challenge...but who, my loves, does not enjoy a thrifting challenge from time to time!

steph is a wonderful artist and professor and all around amazing light and i am so lucky to be reconnecting with her on this project

more to follow!

wish us luck!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. inspired by soulemama!

*fill - in - the - blank - friday*

taking a cue from sunshine & bubblegum

1. The very best thing about the summer is : the smell of the grass and garden baking gently in the sun AND swan lake AND going there with my em and alex AND baking gently in the sun after swimming!

2. My first crush ever was : apparently i used to chase my neighbor onto the bus trying to *kiss* him..i don't remember any of this and will always deny it's truth.

3. This may sound really silly but… the lilacs that are currently fresh cut and gracing our counter make me feel like an adult....dunno why.

4. I squeeze my toothpaste : from the bottom to correct how my beloved squeezes the toothpaste any which way he will.

5. My absolute favourite "comfort food" is : pasta alphabets with butter...thanks mom!

6. A random fact about me is :

i am completely affected by textures. food, fabric, soap, ugh anything. it is both good and bad and part of the reason i started making my own things...so they can be *just* the way i like 'em.

7. The one piece of technology that truly makes my life better and I couldn't live without is:

boring but true: my computer. connects me to so many lovely and dear friends out there in the world wide.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. inspired by soulemama.

a thrift forage.

this morning it was still cloudy and we were still a bit stuffy but we really needed to get out of the house a bit! we decided to start out early since that is when we are feeling our best, all well rested and fed you see.
em and i made our way to our new favorite thrift store and really scored some books. when i brought them home to add to the growing collection, i realized i have a whole shelf of entirely thrifted books. in fact make that a shelf and a half!
which made me sit back and think a on an idea i'm thinking of taking up:
dottie angel's amazing and inspiring: challenge of the utmost kind, in which everything you buy over the next 365 days is either handmade or second hand.
i'm starting to think it *is* doable. and might be just the thing i need around here!
also of note:
we found another book in one of em's favorite series about the pig olivia. hooray! and only 99 cents AND those lovely glasses pictured above. nothing, i say nothing has the feel of vintage glasses! so sturdy and smooth! and what a treat after loosing 2 of my fave vintage glasses over the last year...

a hand in time...

this little project (for my mother-in-law..shhhh. don't tell!) is inspired by one of my favorite stitchers in all the land: kimberly over at chez~sucre~chez!

she has a wonderful shop full of goodies over at etsy and makes the sweetest and tidiest cross stitches i've ever seen.

i loved kimberly's *hand towel* with hand embroidered on it in red.

i did a simple version by tracing em's hand onto wool felt and then following that outline...all sewn up in light pink.

it was much easier to get a better trace by first using the felt. that way the dear linen didn't get all mussed up!

now go check out this girls shop!

unexpected nesting.

okay, so when our cold got the best of us around here and we ended not being able to make our craft fair (sigh, frown) i planned on taking it easy around here.

at best i planned on maybe getting all the laundry folded and put away, answering emails and maybe if there was extra time and i had the energy... cleaning up the studio a bit after the last few weeks of crafting.

i was not, however, prepared to be a snake charmer. catcher. roper?

yup.

my cat, ever on the hunt for a tasty morsel around her was eyeing the kick heater grate all morning. it wasn't until she JUMPED back that i got a little curious about what it was she was oogeling over.

yup again.

a snake.

tightly coiled and loving her new found spot.

husband is in boston and so i called my dad and put him on speaker...

5 min later i had the grate pulled off- but that girl wasn't budging.

hrmmmmmm.

put the grate back on finally and she slithered over and stuck her tongue out to give me a good smell and in the process revealed her most sacred prize:

a nest.

oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

yikes!

p.s. my sister said she read (she is sure it was a *snapple fact*) that there are no poisonous snakes in maine...

i'm off to check that fact!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. inspired by soulemama!

getting there.

over here in no. yarmouth we are suffering some minor set backs. well if you can call colds all around and rainy days bad news...

BUT we are almost done with our crafting for the upcoming may faire and are excited to see new and old friends there! the may faire has always been one of my favorite festivals. it is filled with true joy and cheer...and you can never have enough of those two things!

plus em has learned to blow her own nose! at least she puts the tissue up to her face and goes "shhhhhhhh".

time slows...

with the day to myself i have finally gotten the time to complete some cuties that have been on the work table for quite a while now.

these little guys are hand sewn up from my fave medium--felted sweaters.

they are a take on a pattern from a great book on waldorf crafts.

and here they go...

back to it.

well while papa and baby are off to the *wake up the earth* festival, mama is getting some much needed time to herself! next weekend we have a craft fair at our dear ashwood waldorf school in celebration of may and all things spring! so while the sweetlings play in the sun i'm at home enjoying tracing, cutting and stitching!

these lil' guys will be puppets and be tucked away each in there very own hollow.

hallo.