patching & pottling or pottling & patching...

last week before the end of summer feeling was upon us, me and my lads of three went on a bit of a jolly across the waters to the olympic peninsular. having lived here for 12 years it seemed somewhat of a crime we had never been before and so we went. we pottled up a mountain in clog boots, (me not them), we pottled around places and we pottled amongst the shelves of despair in thrift stores and vintage malls (still in clog boots). after our pottling days, we spent our eves around the fire pit and then watching old movies. upon arriving home we all agreed it was a few days well spent pottling and none more so than myself. for amongst the moments of pottling, i found several pieces of vintage linens which had my heart skipping a beat and my crafty cogs turning.

with the 'great mossy shed shuffle of 2012' coming to an end, it has resulted in where once my old studio desk stood, then a settee, now resides our kitchen knook table. upon discovery of 6 squares of old linens i was spurred into action with making some fireside seating. now here is the thing, its not much of a thing but its a thing worth mentioning. the thing is, this fireplace was once red brick and brass surround. it was not to my liking but it had potential and with a can of soft white paint the potential was realized. when the cold winter nights draw in and the power outages arrive, we do rely upon this little fireplace inner to give us warmth despite its unpretty looks. hence the 'warmer days' decoration is removed and heat comes forth. so what more lovely then fireplace cushions me thinks to distract from the rather not so pretty gas fire.

 i rustled around in my linen closet upstairs amongst the towels, bedlinen and unearthed several spare pillows for beds. brilliant i thought, that will do nicely if ever nicely would do.

after finding a few other willing fabric victims including a wonderful piece of vintage cross stitch tapestry, i patched and pieced to my crafty hearts content, three fireside cushions... reversible no less.

uppers showing

unders showing

i have noted in the days which have passed since placing my patched cushions in situ, an abundance of short white hairs sticking to the tapestry cloth, pointing to the fact there has been rather a lot of illegal parking going on from a pesky little doggie 

Tif

Finishing Details

We close on the new house in just under eight weeks. I'm begging our builder to get that timeline down to seven so that Joe is still on paternity leave when we close. It would be so much easier to move with him around to help.



The next several weeks are all about finishing work -- cabinets, countertops, floors, trim, built-ins, lighting, plumbing, hardware. I've been excited over every piece of drywall and every inch of fiberglass to date, but my builder keeps telling me this is where it really gets fun.



We went up to the house on Friday to take some progress pictures, it's amazing how much is done already. I can't believe we get to move here in just two short months. And, even more so, I can't believe I get to live here and raise my children here. We feel so fortunate and blessed, to say the least.

{ my little loves }

{ mudroom, garage entry, pantry, closet and laundry room }

{ great room from kitchen with kids' playroom on the left }

{ the start of built ins }

{ the girls' room } 

{ girls' side of the jack and jill bath }

{ Ryan's room }

{ guest bedroom }

{ guest bath }

{ master bedroom}

{ master bath }

The house is running about a month ahead of schedule. This week kicks off our 15th week building (from the time we broke ground). Amazing how much has gotten done already. I think the cabinetry will be installed by the end of this week, which is probably the thing I'm most excited for right now. I am anxious too. I had weird dreams all weekend about the cabinets being installed and crumbling, or arriving at the house and finding out they were all installed upside down. Really weird stuff. I have odd dreams when I'm pregnant anyway, but some of these are out there. Fingers crossed they go in right side up  Happy Labor Day!

curiosities, collections and clusters...

a few days previously to this one i am on right now, i found a little wooden shelf out and about. i took the little wooden shelf home noting its distressed state. for it was painted in a distressed fashion on purpose. i told the little shelf i noted its distressed state and not to worry, i would give it a nice coat of glossy soft white in the hope of it feeling less distressed about things.

yesterday upon waiting patiently for several coats of paint to dry i put up my new little friend upon my new wall of vintage wallpaper. 

as i did so, i felt a rebel, for i have read on several occasions, where i do not recall, it is somewhat risque to place things upon wallpapered walls. after my small act of rebellion i plonked several curiosities and clusters which pleased me greatly.

upon going about the rest of my day i noted there appears to be a growing band of little shelves of curiosities, collections and clusters around the shed these days. here is just a sprinkling of a few i noted

technically not a shelf but a side, however i noted it quite the cluster and therefore felt it qualified for inclusion 

in my new and improved studio space

another collection from my new and improved studio space. this is a bit of blur, a bit like the whole summer really

next to my man's side of the bed, thought he would appreciate a few forsaken souls to look over him at night

above my little office corner, hard to see but is indeed a shelf amongst the inspiration bits and bobs

Tif :)

Waking up too early

I'll make you strawberry pancakes, pretend like it's the weekend now. Well, it is the weekend, but Joe is on call which means that it may as well be a Tuesday. I started off the morning with this strawberry pancake recipe and I will never buy pancake mix again. Ever.

As a family, we're moving away from the grocery store more and more. I've found local resources for dairy and meat and our farmer's market is stocked with all of the fruit and produce we need. We have a few green grocers that have bulk dry goods and I'm trying to navigate the world of understanding flours and grains. I want to learn more about preserving food. As it is, I'm so sad that we only have a few bags of strawberries left in the freezer from our berry picking adventure.



Our farm offered up an opportunity to go raspberry picking in late August and after the kids went nuts over strawberries in June I jumped on the chance to take them. My kids rarely eat raspberries, but the ability to pick them off the bushes blew them away. They probably ate two pints. I joked with the farmers that they should have weighed my kids before and after we picked so that we could have paid our fair share.



A few weeks ago I took a sewing class from a woman opening up a small business out of an old rectory who plans to teach home ec-based classes within the community (find out more about her courses here). Our CSA Coordinator left her position with our farm to focus on her work with From Scratch Club, an organization dedicated to sustainable, local living. And while looking at course offerings through FSC, I stumbled upon a bevy of culinary arts programs through a local arts center (some of the courses are a perfect option for date night).



There seems to be a growing trend toward getting back to the basics and living closer to home. My kids eat more when I use fresh ingredients and make their food from scratch. I've tried so many times to get them to eat mac and cheese (they love mac, they love cheese -- should be a no brainer!) but the only time they'll eat it is when I make my own sauce. And who can blame them, this tastes so much better and cooks in the same amount of time.



Rebekah, from Wild Ink Press, just posted a recipe for homemade pasta with a roasted tomato sauce. How good does that look? I remember being a little girl and going to my Great Aunt Blanche's house and seeing pasta drying all over the place. Literally on tables, furniture, kitchen counters. She'd have to move pasta so you could sit down and I thought this was SO weird. Now I wish I would have asked her to teach me her secrets.



The new house has a sunroom that will double as a playroom for the kids. It's all windows, with southern exposure. I cannot wait to teach the kids about plants and start seedlings for our garden with them this Spring. We have a hill on our property up away from the house that is going to be perfect for raised planter beds. Grace, from Finley and Oliver, graciously posted information on her (spectacular) raised planters earlier this year and I've had it bookmarked ever since.

Puff has shown so much interest in the kitchen and every chance I get I let her climb up on a chair and help me. A fun side effect to doing so much at home cooking is their involvement in our meals. I saw these learning ladders and I'm thinking it has Christmas or 2nd Birthday written all over it. Seriously though, is there anything sweeter than a toddler helping in the kitchen?

Engaging the kids in our meals and actually having them eat (rather than throw) what we make has been an amazing, but unexpected, side effect of our shift to local food and home cooking.