A Closer Look at Ottoman

Garden Update (first strawberries)

Boo got to eat his first two strawberries out of the garden on Monday; he was pretty excited.

I took these pictures at noon, so the light isn't great.

These little red gems could have probably waited one more day to be picked and eaten, but I was just as excited as Boo was for him to gobble them up.

The greens that I was afraid would croak are bouncing back:

And, the tomatillo has lots of flowers. It grows differently than a tomato which surprised me a bit:

This picture isn't great, but you can see how stick-like it is compared to a tomato. I know tomatillos are green tomatoes (I know, duh), but I thought they would be more alike as a plant than they are.

Our squash are doing well also:

There are a few plants that aren't doing as well such as the watermelon, basil (surprising enough), a cucumber and one of the peppers. I think we'll get some organic something for the sal bugs and some lady bugs and see if that helps!

Happy Thursday!

Orange in Three Parts (part 3)

Okay, the last installment of "Orange in Three Parts" is about how I finally managed to make Personalized Doily Paintings for my little family. I'll share Jeff's and mine since I don't disclose Boo's real name. I particularly like how Jeff's turned out, since it has a lot of loops, it looks really lacy:

Notice the little specks of white paint, they somehow end up on the paintings as I paint and I consider it part of the working process (I don't like things messed with much and sanding them off and touching up would be fussy and besides, I like them).

Here's my name (Summer):

The paint color on these is simply "orange."

Happy Wednesday!

Thrifting with Jenny Highlights

As promised, here are the highlights of my thrifting adventure with Jenny...

At our first stop, I found a "Jello mold"...at least that's what I call it:

I completely scored at our second/last stop and found some great supplies for my "for your Wall" pieces!

Vintage embroidery hoops:

The paint that's on one of the oval ones comes off easily, I made sure to check. Notice the metal one? Yay!

And, French cashmere (100%) embroidery floss:

You can bet these are going to be part of a limited edition of "Lichen for your Wall!" I'm just going to work out the details.

I also found some paper sewing patterns to use as an eco-friendly tissue paper for my packaging (I first got the idea from my package I received from Thrush and then as a recommendation from Chakra Pennywhistle). I made sure to pick out particularly ugly patterns (so the good ones could still be used as patterns). Then, I saw this:

It's a pattern for a jacket, but I may have to paper a wall with it or something...it's incredible!

Lastly, and mostly, I found something that made my heart race:

A vintage school desk in pink and blue. It still needs a good cleaning (notice the craziness of our home in the background?), but it's wonderful!

It will be perfect next to me while I sit and sew/needle felt/embroider and will quickly stash my project.

All for now and a bit of a break from orange...but one more to come!

Happy Tuesday!

Orange in Three Parts (part 2)

I completed a peppermint pincushion of the lichen variety yesterday, and yep, it includes some orange!

Here it is:

Lichen Peppermint Pincushion 2

Orange in Three Parts (part 1)

I love the color orange (I think it's my favorite color) maybe because it's because I was born in 1977. I even had an orange umbrella with a ruffled edge and white polka dots as a kid and one Halloween, I had to be an orange witch and my mom made the costume (if I find the picture, I'll post it). Anyway, I have a few orange-y posts of things I've been making and here's the first:

Lichen for your Wall 6, (4 inch)

Happy Memorial Day!

A cosa verde Front Page!

A cosa verde first for me yesterday, I was on the front page for "Today's Picks." I thought I'd share because it's very doily-related:

Jenny and I had a blast thrifting yesterday and I'll share what I found ASAP!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

embroidery hoop

Wow! Look at all the embroidery hoop loveliness:

Click on the images (there are two stuck together) to get a close-up!

Happy Friday! Yay...it's a "girls day" with Jenny (if only for 2 1/2 hours)!

A Couple of Clever Ideas

This is going to be quick because I need to get outside and work on the property (mow, mow, and mow), but I found a couple of clever ideas on others' blogs this week.

First off, is a how-to on making scratch off lottery tickets from ArtMind! Oh, the possibilities:

(found via Totally Tutorials)

Next is a rad chair that I'd love to have at the computer - yay active sitting! It's called ergoErgo:

(found via swissmiss)

Happy Thursday!

Moss for your Wall 4 (4 inch)

I finished this piece last week and I mentioned in this post that I hoped to have it in the shop shortly, well here it is:

Moss for your Wall 4 (4 inch)

Happy Wednesday!

Eames Postage Stamps

Sheesh, I usually have something for you on Mondays, but I just needed a day to sort of chill out (maybe because it was so stinkin' hot yesterday).

Anyway, a few months ago, I was in the Post Office and noticed Eames postage stamps on a bulletin board. Unfortunately, I didn't have the money with me to get them at the time, but I told myself I would the next time...and I did. Well, the last time I was in the Post Office, they weren't there, so I think that they aren't selling them anymore. However, I just did a search and found some on Amazon:

One of each of the real deal please! I'm going to frame mine at some point and hang it up...not the real thing, but still pretty rad!

So, I just thought I'd let you know that these are out there (I suppose if you're a big Eames fan, you already know...but you may be super busy like me) if you need a little more Eames in your life!