good ideas - regurgitated

I think I may need to change the name of this blog to Good Ideas - Regurgitated.
I took inspiration from all over the internets for this project.
Amanda Soule wrote about cutting up bath towels to make a patchwork kitchen rug, and I thought I'd take it one step further, and make a beach blanket.
I wanted a simple layout, but with just enough pattern to make it interesting.
My friend Julia made a beautiful quilt for a friend, and I loved that pattern, so I rigged up something like it.
Here it is, almost finished. I still have to trim the far end, and I'm thinking of binding it like a quilt.
The Younger doesn't like it, he says it's ugly, but I think it'll do fine for sitting on at the beach.

coming out of the doldrums

Hi all, I haven't been too present here lately, I think the house-selling was getting me down.
Well, I am back in the groove of things and I have a few fun projects in the works.
First, I designed a little girl's tank top.
The Chicory Tank
modeled here by my lovely Elder Hug-a-Bug
I will have the pattern written up and ready for sale soon, I am teaching a class on it at the Yarnery.
Also, not quite as exciting, my parents were over last night to help with a little kid-sitting while I had rehearsal and my Mom pointed out that I have an insane number of towels.
I took the hint, and I cut 5 of them up today to reassemble into a beach blanket.
I'll see if I can make some headway on this tonight after the kids go to bed.
Anything new and exciting on your crafty tables lately?

Staying Put

Well, the Hubster and I have made the decision to take our house off the market.
It's been 6 months of cleaning, and cleaning again, and stripping our home of personal effects, and tidying, and fixing, and showing after showing, but no offers (save one ridiculous one).
I am glad to have the whole thing finished.
We love our neighborhood, and our neighbors are the best! It's a great feeling to have made a final decision.
What this means in the long run is that remodeling is in our future, so now we start getting some quotes for the work we want to do, and hopefully we'll be able to tweak the house we have into the house we want.
My big plans for the Summer, therefore, include unpacking the boxes and boxes of books, clothing, toys and crafty stash that we boxed up to make our house look more spacious.
I foresee a huge "We're Not Moving" garage sale.
I think if I try to unpack 2-3 boxes per week, or at least know what we have and plan a space for stuff after our renovations, I might be able to finish up by Fall.
Don't hold me to that prediction, however, I am known to get into a project and totally loose steam halfway through.

A picture from the archives today, you all know how I hate to blog photoless -
I have been hankering for the woods, and the weather has been divine lately.
Perhaps a trip with the Younger after school tomorrow is in order. (pre-procrastinating with the unpacking project)

Waiting for the Bus

With the sweetest lady in the world.

Spring Ramble Along the River

Today I had a little time to myself, the first in a while, and I spent about an hour of it rambling around the trails by the Mississippi River.Even though most of what I saw was brown and muddy, there were a few splashes of color.
Ahh, Spring.

Happy Easter

We had a lovely time today, mostly spent outside enjoying the Spring.


Perfect weather for croquet.
We may have created a monster

Funny

As I am clearly in the middle of a felt frenzy lately including this little number for the Elder Hug-a-Bug who is in danger of losing her second tooth at any moment, I was tickled to see this linked on a friend's facebook page. Head on over, it's too funny.