hey!

how's your week goin?

the calendar says it's spring so come on- all together now lets say:

"hip, hip hooray"

                         i made this little canvas a couple years ago- who doesn't love a bird in a party hat?

every spring i am so anxious for things to green up outside that i plant wheat berries

in pots to tide me over. it germinates in about 3 days and is just so lush and

pretty sitting here and there. i also

start to plan/dream about what i want to add to my gardens. i save seeds from

things like lupine, cosmos and zinnias and i shelled them yesterday and got them ready

for planting. i haven't started seeds in the house for many years, but i'm going to

this year. soon. the timing is everything. i don't want to start them so early that they

struggle and get "leggy" waiting to be transplanted. 

i also decided to rent a plot of land at the community gardens in town. i just wanted

a little more black dirt to plant flowers in. my gardens are so full of

perennials that there isn't much room for annuals anymore

it might have nothing but zinnias in it, but that would still make me very happy.

                                                                                 hello little chick peeking through the grass. : )

to pass time in my slow season, i usually get the urge to make things. or clean and declutter.

i'm tired of decluttering (which i did a lot of after Christmas) so i've been sewing.

i made more zippered cosmetic bags and then i decided to try making pennants.

my friend christa made some darling ones a couple years ago for a cottage sale we had

but she works full time as a librarian now and so girlfriend doesn't find much time to craft.

she gave me her blessing to make some to sell.

*i sell some of my handmades at a fun store in town called Lotus Lake Gifts.

i had fun buying fabrics to use and they are really simple to construct.

i made a triangular template out of cardboard and cut out my points.

they are double sided so you need two for each triangle and most of them

have 9 triangles (so you need 18 of them). then you just sew (wrong sides together) the two long sides, leaving the top open for turning, turn right sides out and iron.

next you use double fold bias tape and just slide your triangles into the

tape and sew in place. easy peasy and super cute for hanging over

patio doors, on stair railings, over windows, in a kids room, for parties,

decks, your bathtub, (ok maybe that was a stretch)... the sky's the limit.

these instructions were lame...sorry, i guess i'm not that great at directions. lol

  

i'm thrifty (cheap) so i had a hard time throwing the pretty scraps.

instead i made a really simple garland out of them.

i also whipped up two neck wraps. for these you just

sew a small pillow case like bag-mine were about 7x15-   leave a small opening. turn

right side out and fill with dry rice. you can add essential oils if you

want and i did. lavender in one and peppermint in the other.

now...sew up the opening and then heat them in your microwave for about

3 minutes to use on sore muscles. they smell good, feel good and can be

used over and over.

*if you have cold feet at night you could take one to bed.

then the last little project i've got to show you is these whales. like all you other creatives,

i love to cruise through pinterest.  i saw several fabric whales one day and thought it

would be fun to give them a try. the hardest part was making my own pattern and figuring out

how i was going to construct it. i was pretty excited about the first one, but it was

smaller than i thought it was going to be, so then i enlarged my pattern and made one more.

i'm about done here, but you didn't really think you would get

through a spring blog post without a couple pictures of ranunculus did you???

here's this weeks beauties.

and here's a last tidbit of exciting family news.

our oldest just bought his first house!!

it's in a little farming community- just perfect for a country boy like him.

i'm going to show you a teaser of the view from his front porch

and when he moves in i'll share some more.

yes he has a lake view!!

(i have a feeling duke, his yellow lab is going to love that part and

will be sneaking over there for quick swims).

be well, and like ellen says at the end of her show,

"be kind to one another".

xo, beth