Funny Magic

Good Times

We're back from our getaway this past weekend, and I'm happy to report that it was a blast.

The drive up north was great: blue skies, warm weather, and excellent scenery:

On Friday evening we encountered a mud turtle,

and went out for an evening pontoon ride on Lake Mille Lacs.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I wasn't in the mood to be distracted by the camera, but there were campfires and roasted marshmallows, wine and cocktails (the Ruby Junes were a huge hit!), swimming and a bit of thriftstore shopping, lots of chit-chat and plenty of laughter. (Not much fishing, though, as the weather was on the inclimate side - high winds make for rough waters on lake Mille Lacs, waters too wild for fishing.) The weekend went by way too fast, as always, and good times were had by all of us. I hope your weekend was a good one, too.

Summertime Stuff

Ahhh, summertime, and the living is easy. (?) I don't know about any of y'all, but we've been busy here at the ranch. Between various kids' activities, familial and homestead responsibilities, and doing my best to keep the house from become a total wasteland of chaos and dirt, er, what's my point? Let's see, oh yes. We're going out of town tomorrow to spend the weekend up north on a lake with friends, and today is packing/organizing day, which always brings me to the edge of sanity. Or insanity, whichever way you wanna look at it. But not to worry, as soon as we're on the road tomorrow a.m. it'll all be good.

How's about some finished embroidery, then?

This was for the Bunny Stitch-a-Long on Flickr. I love doing little embroidery projects.

Last night, in preparation for our weekend, I made some rhubarb (again with the rhubarb?!) syrup:

 

We'll be having ourselves some Ruby June cocktails this weekend - I'm betting they'll taste great after a day of fishing on Lake Mille Lacs, and swimming, playing, cooking and gabbing. (Recipe for Rhubarb Soda here.)  'Course I'll bring some knitting along for the drive:

Socks - never mind that I have yet to complete this pair - one down, one to go, though! Just haven't taken a good pic yet...I just couldn't help myself from casting on with this jewel-colored yarn. I've really been digging the deep purples and reds and blues lately.

Alright, gotta go and get moving with this (very busy) day. I'll be back next week with pictures of fish, water, and general silliness. I may even have a Muskellunge to show ya...click here if you dare! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Go Local Monday

At long last I'm happy to report that I (and Juliet)  finally made it to one of our local Farmer's Markets last week:

The pickins' were pretty slim as it's still a bit early in the growing season here in the northland, but we came away with some lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, and a bundle of little red onions. I'm looking forward to going back each week and watching the whole market fill up with more summertime eats; in the meantime I'm quite content to nosh away on my salads and berries for now.

After our visit to the Farmer's Market, we met up with some friends for a couple of rides on one of the classic streetcars run by the Minnesota Streetcar Museum:

I've taken many a ride on the historic Como-Harriet Streetcar, but when you go with the little ones, what's old seems new again.

After our ride(s) we indulged in delicious, yummy, and very sloppy ice-cream cones by the lake:

...I'm so glad summer's here...   (Go Local food-happenings here.)

Summer Blouse, v. 2

Quite happy with how this one turned out. Here's how I modified:

1. 3/4 length sleeves instead of full-length.

2. Cut the placket in half lengthwise, therefore no need to zigzag or handsew the opening closed at the bottom. I also didn't use a contrasting fabric for the placket.

3. Took in the sides a bit.

4. No loop and button closure.

Next time (and there will be a next time because I'm loving this top) I will cut the front neckline down a bit as well, because it's entirely too high. 

My sewing space has been seeing lotsa action lately...must be the season, warm and rainy, that makes me wanna sew my brains out. Today I made new clothes for Juliet's doll:

Annalise was in desperate need of some new outfits, so I whipped up a skirt, sundress, and nightgown this afternoon. Yes, in one afternoon! I think I'm addicted to sewing doll clothes now - I used fabrics from my bin of scraps, and just winged-it on the patterns, which was so liberating and just plain fun! (And Juliet was more than pleased, which makes me happy.) Here she is getting-in on the sewing action:

...and I'm more than happy to have her company.

Rummaging.

Just popping in to share some pics of my church rummage sale finds from last week. Thrifting and sailing make me feel just giddy...

Guess how much these 6 vintage Japanese coffee mugs with orange tree cost? Three dollars. $3.00! Outside I was cool, calm, collected. Inside I was entirely otherwise. Wanna see some more cool Japanese mugs? Go here.

After my score of mugs, I picked up this little jewelry box for a dollar:

 

A trio of pillows for a few more bills:

And a vintage pink chenille coverlet:

It has a few stains and a couple rips just along the outer edges, but other than that it's in great shape. I'm kinda' dreaming about picking up a pattern for a bathrobe and making a pink chenille robe for myself. Would that be cool or what??!

Also picked up a few fabrics - the blue checked feels like a wool blend, so I'm thinking winter skirt for that stuff.

 

In my neighborhood this past weekend there were about 100 garage sales, and I got to spend Saturday morning shopping and sailing all by myself. In all honesty, I didn't find a lot of stuff...a dress for Juliet, a fabric doorframe puppet theatre (pretty cool, actually, for only a two dollars)...

In other news, it's Go Local Monday and I have nothing to show for it this week, so I'm gonna read all about other people's happenings over at Heather's place and vow to get my arse to the Farmer's Market this week or else!

Have a good day!

Today...

 

Vanilla yogurt with, you guessed it, rhubarb-raspberry sauce and a bit of ground flaxseed.

 

Polka Dot Bunny is hosting an embroidery stitch'along on Flickr. Cool. I'm in.

 

...a bowl of flowers from Juliet....

Here's a few other fun things I've come across lately:

Vintage Sheet Fat Quarter Swap - I believe you can still sign up.

Summer Knitty is up!

Yummy yarn giveaway here. Leave a comment - quick!

Happy Thursday!

Go Local Week Two - From the Homefront

For the second year, my friend Heather is once again organizing Go Local, a deliciously inspirational challenge to eat one meal per week consisting of locally (within 250 miles from where you are) produced ingredients. The purpose, in her words, is "To inspire and be inspired to eat healthy, local foods. It's good for you. It's good for the environment. It's good for the economy." I couldn't agree more!  Myself, I'm looking forward to making my first trip of the season to my local farmer's market this coming Saturday morning; in the meantime, here's what's been happening around my place:

The rhubarb has been nearly picked clean and devoured this year: breads, compotes, and tomorrow... rhubarb crumble.

One of two tomato plants are coming along nicely.

And I'm loving my first experience with growing fresh herbs: sage, oregano, and thyme. Not pictured: rosemary and lavender, too.

Oh, and let's not forget this:

Catching and frying our own fresh fish, straight from the lake on my dad's property up north. When Charlie and hubby and my dad were up there a few weeks ago, they caught some nice sunfish...not enough to keep for a fish fry, so it was more of a catch-and-release type of weekend (lucky fish!).

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to my weekly dose of Go Local this year - the recipes and inspiration to be shared is such a good thing.

Time to go and check out this week's edition! Ta-ta for now...

Mama's Got a Brand New Blouse

I've been itching to make something from this book for the longest time now, and by-golly, I finally got around to it this past week and made the Summer Blouse.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, although I did make lots of adjustments and flew by the seat of my pants about 70% of the time. Here's how I hacked away at the pattern:

- I made the whole top a full inch wider so that I'd have some room to busta' move in it (see pic below, haha).

- The sleeves were waaaay too long, so I shortened them by many inches.

- The top was waaay too short, so I lengthened the whole thing by 3 inches.

-The placket was a total f$##(&$!@ and next time I'll have to do some fancy footwork in order to make my peace with it. (In the end I zigzagged the dang thing shut and it puckers a bit at the bottom. Why on earth is it so long to begin with???!)

- I also think the neckline is too high, and will chop that down on my next attempt, too.

 All that said, here's me in my best Mama's Got a Brand New Blouse pose, because this pattern demands a little comic relief:

If you're thinking about making this top, let me just say that I'm glad I read some of the reviews on Amazon and printed the errata from Ross' website and checked the Weekend Sewing pool on Flickr, because I totally want to embark on some more of her projects, however I'd prefer to be a well-informed grasshopper.  

In other news, I stopped at a church rummage sale on my way to work today and got so many awesome things I can hardly see straight. Will take pics and post soon - have a good weekend!

Turn the Page...Tuesday

Last month I missed out on TTPT, but really, I wasn't loving the book I was reading at the time, and ended up casting it aside after 100 or so pages. Since then I've picked up this one:

Prior to my annual weekend up north, I happened to find myself at Target in the book section looking for something, anything, that would be just the ticket for some relaxing cabin reading. When I started skimming the synopsis on the back of the book and learned that the main character's name was Paige, well, into my shopping cart it went. As of now I'm about 3/4 of the way through, so I guess it's safe to say that I like the book and will surely finish it. Here's a review from Publisher's Weekly:

Abandoned by her mother when she was five years old, Paige O'Toole has been left with painful doubts about her self-worth. She leaves her Chicago home for Cambridge, Mass., at 18 to fulfill herself as an artist, but must work in a diner because she can't afford art school. When she marries Harvard medical student Nicholas Prescott, his parents disown him, disapproving of their Irish Catholic daughter-in-law. Again Paige is forced to sideline her creative needs and work as a waitress in order to support Nicholas until he is able to establish his career as a cardiac surgeon. Paige is soon overwhelmed by the demands of Nicholas's socially sophisticated world, and after the birth of their son, Max, she becomes emotionally and physically exhausted. Unable to communicate her terrors about herself to Nicholas, she leaves him to search for her mother, who may hold the answers to her life. Told in flashbacks, this is a realistic story of childhood and adolescence, the demands of motherhood, the hard paths of personal growth and the generosity of spirit required by love.

I'm thinking that I'll for sure read something else by Jodi Picoult when I finish this one - any recommendations?

Hope your week's off to a stellar start!  Find more book-love goodness at Adrienne's place.