Thai heavenly pineapple fried rice...

This meal lives up to its name.
We used the pineapple fried rice recipe from here.
There are no leftovers, but requests were voiced to make it again tomorrow.
New family favorite declared.

Summer Reading Lists

I love a good list. There's something about putting it on paper and crossing it off that makes it real for me. It's a game of sorts. And after lists, my next love is games.

Summertime has lots of listing possibilities.

My favorite being the Summer Reading List.

Last year, I participated in the local library summer reading program. That didn't have very much structure and was more about reading a certain amount of books. I work well with parameters and so I decided to set my own theme for this years summer reading.

I'm going to read through the 1970's. A list made of the books that people were, most likely, reading while lounging in chairs at beach clubs and poolsides, while my friends and I splashed our childhoods away in the sunshine.

I found this really cool website of the New York Times Best Sellers by dates and worked my way through the 70's. I think it's a fun list. I better start soon. I'm a notoriously slow reader. I guess technically it would be a warm weather reading list.

Can't escape the hardscape...

Me, and my big ideas.
Thank goodness for the patience and understanding of my family.
There always has to be a before. So this is the before.

Phase one... the hardscape. Cold frames and space for the recycling.

It's going to be so pretty....eventually.

I'm really excited about our backyard garden plans this year.

Right now, though? It's an awful lot of stone and mud and sod busting

(which is nothing like cloud busting but that song was in my head all day anyway.)

These days, Ethan wants to be a landscape architect, so he is right in his element and thoroughly enjoys these weekends. He's watched so many home improvement shows and landscaping shows on HGTV that he is oddly totally ramped up to the correct skill set level for most of this. In fact, I asked him a few times.. "what do they do on the show, Eth?" when he and I were smoothing and leveling. I'm really glad he enjoys this. I am pleased that he appreciates the time and energy and teamwork used and was really set on seeing it through to the completion.

This project is made of good memories.

Next weekend.... we plow!

(sort of)

By the end of June it will be lush.

Just keep thinking that!

April morning sun...

April's morning sun.
Soft and quiet, with a promise on the curve of her lips.
A promise for a warm spring day.
The kind worth waiting for.
The edge of a smile.
That's what this hour felt like.

hair wear...

a morning spent

a little rain

a little felt

a few stitches

a few barrettes

Felt and button flowers...

I love these flowers.
So cheerful and really simple to make.



Just choose your buttons and cut a co-ordinating flower shape and a leaf shape from felt.
I sew around the edges of my shapes because I like that look.
You will also need a length of wire (this piece is about 12 inches) and green floral tape.



Bend the wire in half and thread though each button and then poke wire ends through the flower shape and then the leaf.
Twist wire ends together to make a stem.
Wrap with floral tape and bend the flower to the angle that you like.

B is for...

A day of preparation brought to you by the letter B.



Bare banquet tables brought into the dining room. Step one.



Baby daffodils that bloom at the perfect time and the beach bucket used as a temporary home. And boys who think quickly. Thanks Ethan.



Baking. Lots of baking. Corn muffins, brownies, carrot and raisin spice babycakes. Yum.

Bunnies! Even one that is magic and looks like chocolate.

(but isn't)

There's still lots to do, but we are together and having fun with it.

Hope you are having a fun weekend too.

Pansies...

Today was a gorgeous day spent outside in the sunshine. Warm faces and happy smiles that come from the outdoors, hard work and a job well done. My little helper was a huge help and the best company I could ask for. This was the first real chance to get outside and get the yard untucked from its winter hibernation. Removing quilts of leaves from around the hosta and the perennials in the gardens. So happy to see them every year. Reminded that things are cyclical. Warm weather is taking its time this year, but things will be beautiful and lush. Eventually.
In the mean time, there are my friends the pansies.
Those brightly painted ladies with delicate features and a strong constitution to withstand the cold night time temperatures that April still seems to want to give us.
We planted pansies here and there and everywhere today.
Well dressed guests for the Easter party.

blooming branches... with paper and felt

There are ways to force blooms on branches of forsythia and other springtime shrubs or trees to use as centerpieces and in arrangements. I remember my grandmother doing this. They look so beautiful. However, just like the idea I have every year for growing the cute pots of grass, I always think of the branches too late to be done properly and on time.
(One of these years we will have those cute little pots of grass.)
Ethan and I found this branch on the sidewalk after a storm last week. We brought it to the back porch and today we decided to decorate it with a little bit of paper and felt flowering blossom love.

We used layers of our favorite flower paper punch and brown felt for the centers.

Yes, I know daisies don't grow on trees.

But they do grow on branches....in this house!

Easter Springtime garland

We have fireplaces with mantles in the main rooms on the first floor. Decorating with seasonal garland adds another dimension to the space. Felt is very forgiving to work with and can be as detailed or as minimalist as you choose. This is a sort of folk art Easter garland for the dining room mantle this year.

Paper is another option. Ethan made this sweet garland out of card stock and ribbon using a flower paper punch and his own pattern templates. He likes to hang them across the door to his room

a four seasons pillow

The first of the new handmade accessories for the front porch.

In early Spring, before all the flowers appear, the front porch always looks a little bare. Pillows for the rocking chairs are a sweet way to make the space a bit more inviting.

I had a dream about this pillow design last night. Then, I woke up and made it. I love when that happens. I'm so excited about it. The fun design of this pillow is that only the tree trunk and the buttons are permanent. The leaves and the flowers "button" on and can be changed with the seasons.

kite paper stars

Heavy rain today.
The kind that hurries up pedestrians and slows down cars.
Ten year old boys, who are anxious to be outside riding bikes and running around, press their sweet faces against window panes in their best impression of Cat in the Hat.
I can totally relate.
I wish it was sunny too.
Sometimes we make our own sunshine. I like saying that. Today, I think we really did it.
We made kite paper stars.

These stars are made with a waxy colored paper called kite paper or transparency paper. It can be found in Waldorf supply stores or I found the paper we used in the Hearth Song catalog. They also sell a book, which we own, but I can't seem to locate at the moment. So, we found the basic star pattern online here. And there is also one here. It is a simple folding technique. They go together quickly and these stars become addictive to make.

Easter bunny napkin rings...

It's spring break holiday at school. That means that I have lots of help getting ready for Easter dinner. Lots of crafty company. Today we made rabbit napkin rings using layers of newspaper that we repurposed, some strips of homespun fabric, and some chalk.

To make the newspaper thick and sturdy, Ethan glued together about 4 layers of newspaper squares, one on top of the other, using craft glue spread in a thin layer with a cardboard squeegee.

While that dried we went on a walk.

There are woodpeckers everywhere in the trees today, by the way.

Trace your rabbit onto the glued layers and cut out.
We added color with chalk and features with a sharpie marker.

Make two vertical slits on the neck area and thread the two ends of the fabric strip through leaving a loop in the back for the napkin to slide through.

Tie the rabbits "bow tie" when you've got the napkin in position.

how to make felt daffodils

April is the month of soft yellow. Delicate and beautiful, like daffodils, holding the secret of the coming sunshine during spring rain showers. Pretty perfect for the grey sort of morning we are having in Pennsylvania today. I made some felt daffodils. I thought I would share a how-to sort of tutorial. They go together quite easily.
Soft yellow, soft felt, soft rain... happy first day of April.




I started out with
1 rectangle shape 4 inches long by 2 inches high for the "cup" part of the daffodil, the corona
2 three petaled shapes for under the cup, the perianth
2 four inch lengths of twine or hemp string, knotted at the ends

you will also eventually need a large wooden skewer, 8 inch length of wire, and floral tape to make the stem.



Form the rectangle into a tube and sew where the ends meet, stopping about 1/8 of an inch from one end, This end will be the top of your daffodil. I also like to sew around the edges of the three petaled shapes.

Make little cuts along the top edge sort of like a fringe.

Fold hemp string/twine in half and slide inside the tube.

Make gathering stitches along the bottom edge of the tube and gather together leaving some of the hemp string loop sticking out. Knot tightly.

Cut small slits in the three petal shapes and poke the hemp string loops through the slits, joining the cup shape to the petals of the daffodil.

You can adjust the length of your hemp strings and make the the height that you want inside your daffodil.

Insert one end of the length of wire up through the bottom of the petals and the bottom of the cup and then back down through to the bottom.

Carefully insert the pointy end of the skewer through the center so that it just pokes through the inside.

Wrap the wire around the skewer.

And then wrap the skewer, loops of hemp string, and wire all with floral tape.

Tada. Now you have a felt daffodil.