Autumn is here (in case you didn't know)

I think I mentioned that I've been busy decluttering, deep cleaning, rearranging, and bringing out the fall decor. Autumn is my very favorite season and it brings out the homemaker in me like nothing else. And, luckily for my family, it brings out the urge to bake like nothing else as well.

Anyway, I've just about finished. The main areas are done. I had taken some pictures to share on a message board (or two) and I thought I'd share them here too. Click Here.

My little sewing spot

Or, more accurately, my living room sewing spot. I have another sewing spot in my bedroom but I don't use it all that often. I like this machine more and our only tv is in my bedroom (tv viewers tend to become irritated by sewing noise). This spot is not usually this organized. But I have to clean every once in a while.

The sewing chair is on loan from the kitchen table. The poor table never has all of its chairs. Right now one is at the sewing machine and another is under my bum, in the kitchen, at the computer. It's ok though. The dining table is covered in my cutting mat, a bolt of muslin, and a small pile of fabric. If all the chairs were at the table, people might think it was an acceptable place for eating. And then my fabric would be in danger. Hmmmm....sounds like some more cleaning might be on the agenda.

Yesterday I began work on a quilt. One that I plan to finish in record time. It's my gift for little baby Oak. I'm going to visit today (soon!) and I hoped to have it finished. But last night, at 1am, I realized I didn't have anything with which to bind the quilt. So I gave myself permission to sleep.

On another note, have you ever seen someone's crafty work and been completely awestruck? Oh my goodness! I was perusing Flickr and came across this This amazing teensy-tiny knitting blows my mind! And even though I'm only have basic knitting skills, it makes me want to try some mini knitting. Can't you just see bendy dolls in teensy knitwear?!

Yet another finished cross stitch project. I hung all the stitcheries I've made in the hallway today. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I'm so used to the wall being blank, I guess. I'll live with it a bit before deciding if I love it or if I need to tweak it.

I used these cool velcro picture hanging strips to hang everything so when if I change my mind, it can all be rearranged easily.


Here's a little peek at how it turned out. I apologize for the weird angle but it is a hallway after all.

In addition to playing with my new free motion quilting foot for my sewing machine, I'll be working on making a lil' something for the redwork swap I'm participating in. The deadline is fast approaching. But that's ok. I've pretty much settled on what I'll be making.

And before long I'd better get back to my business. I'm sure everyone must be thinking I've quit or died or something. Things do tend to slow down after Christmas but I think I've gone a bit overboard in taking advantage of the lull. Perhaps March will be a month of business productivity. It could happen...

I've managed to catch a bit of a cold. It's ok though. I needed a good excuse to rest. Life has been moving at much too fast a pace for my taste.

I've been trying to restore order to my stash of supplies. And I haven't managed to keep myself from playing. When I was cleaning up the felt scraps I happened upon a new box of pencils. Hmmmm...pencil people. They aren't exactly practical as the eraser is hidden. But sometimes fun is more important than practical.

I made these wee little baby bracelets for an order. I can't even believe they will actually fit a human child. They're sooo tiny...as in doll sized. I will be amazed if I'm not asked to make them bigger!

The bracelet on the left is made with lapis lazuli, sterling silver, and tiny Swarovski crystals. The one on the right is Czech glass beads, sterling silver, and Swarovski crystals.

I've also finished decorating the Christmas tree. I've mellowed out about the alien pod lights. Once the ornaments were on it was a bit better. And the blueish glow does sort of match the tree skirt.

Last year I bought a few scented beeswax star ornaments from Dreamseeds. I adore them! So much so that I needed lots more.

I don't know if I've admitted it here, but I'm a bit of a candle freak. I prefer to buy them in glass jars (love them with a lid!) so I can clean them out and use the jar when the candle is gone. Well I save the wax bits. Last year I melted down what I had on hand and cut out some stars with a cookie cutter.

I've been melting wax and cutting out more stars today. I mixed together all colors/scents of wax and ended up with a nice red color. I also added in some extra fragrance oil. My entire living room smells just heavenly!

I store the wax ornaments in a big baggie and all of last year's stars still smell wonderful.

I thought I'd share a picture of the completely decorated tree. It's decorated simply...tin tinsel, wax stars, a few small ball ornaments, and lots of candy canes!

Oh, and one of the pictures I snapped captured the blue alien glow of the creepy led lights in all their glory. I'm sorry it's so blurry. But at least you can really see what I was talking about. They are so gosh darn bright! They do blend in quite a bit now with all the other tree busyness. But when it was just lights and garland...whoa!

I seem to have settled into a bit of a weekend routine. We end the week with a whole house tidy on Fridays so I take a break from housework on the weekend. We also take a break from any formal homeschooling. My husband has been gone the past several weekends from early in the morning until evening. This has left me plenty of time for productive crafting.

So after waking up, having coffee at the computer, and getting dressed for the day, I make myself a large pot of tea. I set it up on my nightstand with its warmer which holds a candle to keep the pot steamy hot. I spread my supplies out on my bed and pull out the dvds Netflix sent me (usually documentaries or weepy dramas...movies that interest no one but me). When I run out of Netflix movies I pull out my Little House on the Prairie dvds.

Aside from cooking simple meals (or ordering pizza, like I did today), I barely move from that spot all weekend. Some might think this is an incredibly boring way to spend the weekend. I find it blissful. It recharges me.

When my husband makes it home my bag of wool moves off his spot so he can snuggle in for a nap. He is usually worn out enough that he doesn't even notice the girly stuff on tv. Although today I saved The DaVinci Code for us to watch together.


I made a lot of progress this weekend. I got a lot of ordered animals cut out. I wrapped 25 bendy doll bodies. Some animals are partially sewn (up to the point where I need to begin stuffing). And I got a couple cows and a sheep all the way finished. I hope to have all holiday orders completed and in the mail by December. I'd like to manage to get my site stocked a bit before the holidays are upon us. We'll see...

Someone requested more telling pictures of my little house. I snapped these to share on a thread about decorating at Prairie Homemaker so I'll share them here too.

I had difficulty with the lighting for some reason. I couldn't get a decent kitchen picture at all. The kitchen is open to the dining room. The 3 rooms make a "L" and, aside from the bedrooms and the bathroom, they're about it for now. We're working on finishing the basement, but that project is on hold until tax refund time.

I'll be back a little later (it's way too early right now...I'm going back to bed) to share something exciting that arrived in the mail.

Mama got a new toy

This is something for which I've been on the lookout for quite some time...a simple little china cabinet that's properly scaled for our home. Not only did it have to be quaintly sized, but it also needed to be made of wood (not laminate or veneers) so I could have my way with it. And it needed to be cheap.

Last night I was poking around Goodwill, doing my thrifting thing, and I happened upon this little cabinet. It's wood. It's not humongous. And it was $50.

I've decided I'll live with it as is for a little bit until I decide what color it needs to be. Right now my head is swimming with possibilities. It has a few dings and flaws but that will just save me work when I get to distressing and primming it up.

So what do you think? Black? Cream? A deep barn red? That medium colonial blue? And crackled or just plain distressed?

Ah the possibilities...

Another corner of my home

I don't have anything interesting to show project-wise. I'm just re-knitting that leg of a soaker/longie that I had to rip out (when I was *so close* to being finished...still anguishing!)

Here is one of my peaceful, cozy spots: my nightstand. I'm bored with the wall color in there (and I've bought a super pale blush pink to replace it). Even so, this spot brings on a contented sigh.

I do a lot of handwork while sitting on my bed. It's a comfy spot and I have plenty of space to spread out my supplies. My nightstand almost always shows evidence of crafty pursuits. :-)


I also have some of my favorite things on the walls surrounding my nightstand. Framed is my daughter's first embroidery project. She made it completely on her own and surprised me with it. It says, "A momma's love". I apologize for the horrid picture. I have a new camera on its way to me so hopefully I won't need to apologize for my pictures for long!




I have a few pieces of wire art created by my dear online friend, Sherrie, hung near my side of the bed. I absolutely love her work and I feel blessed to have so many of her creations. (again, sorry about the picture quality) This teensy vase hangs just to the left of Isabelle's embroidery and the ring bearer's pillow. I keep a bit of dried larkspur in it when I'm lacking tiny fresh flowers.

I also wanted to mention how thrilled I am that the potpourri orders I mailed off have been so well received!! And while it isn't something I have stocked and on hand, I will be offering different blends in the future. I hadn't planned to go into the potpourri business but here I am. :-)

It all started with tea. My tea habit has gotten to the point that it's more practical for me to buy in bulk from a wholesaler of herbs, spices, and botanicals. To meet the minimum order requirements I also allowed myself to indulge my potpourri habit. Since it's been such a hit I'll plan to create a new blend or two each time I replenish my tea stash. It won't be too terribly long before that happens. It appears I've understimated my rooibos needs.

Well, the breadbox is finished. The top lifts up and there's a small compartment. I have no idea what it's supposed to hold. It isn't big enough for bread. I think I might store my bills in there. Give them an official spot to live. Maybe they'll get their due attention that way.

A corner of my home & There be pirates, matey!

I love the glimpe into another's life when they share a "corner". So I thought I'd share one of mine. (click the picture for a bigger version)

My house is puny small quaintly-sized so there aren't all that many corners to see. But I futzed around with things in the dining room today so I'll start with it.

The quilt-covered table is holding a cake stand filled with stacks of still-warm peanut butter cookies. And the teapot is filled with some yummy peach rooibos and licorice root tea to wash them down. I'm on my second cup. The spaghetti sqaush sisters on the table are destined for dinner (with pesto and shrimp, I think). And Isabelle and I played a round of Chinese checkers a little while ago. I expect a rematch after dinner.

Here's close-up of the framed vintage embroidered piece that hangs under the shelf. It never shows up in photos. The wrinkles aren't really that pronounced. They're just showing up because I had to play with the photo to get the coloring right. If they were that bad I would have dismantled the whole thing...vintage or not! :-) I just love it. (again, click the picture for a better view)


Ok, I'm a dork. I just realized you already saw this particular "corner" the other day when I posted a picture of the kids having breakfast. Sorry for the redundancy!


And here is my pirate with her treasure chest, and her booty, and her map. Isabelle came up with the cutest idea today. She boxed up the treasure (lollipops, empty spools, a small bag of change, and a di) in a recycled box. Then she dug a hole in the backyard and buried it. She made a map and put it where Mason would find it. What 5 year old boy would be thrilled to find a pirate map?!

Well it took him all of 3 minutes to dig up the box. He brought it inside and tore into it. When he saw the booty he stomped his foot and said, "That's it?!?" I heard him mumble, "Dumb pirates" as he made his way back down the hall.