good long while

catching up

Although I have tons to do right now I can't help but catch up with a handful of my favorite blogs. I love this photo from the sartorialist. I'm also excited to keep checking in on this -- the portland version of a street fashion blog.

plugging in

Hello! After ten days of living like a nomad I'm back in Ashland catching up with things like email, text messages, etsy orders and my new robot vacuum cleaner. Things that don't seem quite real when you're not around them.

We had a great time catching up with dear friends and taking in some of California's beauty. I'll share a few photos over the next couple of days.

packing

Tomorrow we will hit the road for a 10 day visit to California. We will be attending two weddings - one week apart - both are right around Santa Cruz. In the week between the festivities we'll hang out in Santa Cruz and also meet some friends in Truckee for a bit of rock climbing (or reading in the sunshine in my case).

Today is all about packing and tying up loose ends. I have dresses for the fancier events picked out and a very large stack of books to keep me busy during any down time (a few new craft books and some fiction from the library). Now to fill in with everything else I'll need. I've nearly completed the instructions for our house sitter. With a dog, a cat, finches, chickens and a garden there seems to be a lot to write. I'm looking forward to being on our trip and finished with preparing for it!

I'll try to sneak in a post or two from the road. Otherwise I'll be back here in 10 days or so with at least a few pictures from our trip.

summer

I've decided it is officially summer now. I've been drinking lemonade and I've eaten strawberry shortcake three times in the last week (I just made the shortcake from this recipe and loved it!).

32

Happy monday to you all and happy birthday to me. After some careful calculations I've determined that I am 32 today. You might think I'm kidding but for some reason I'm not very good about keeping track of numbers (and isn't that all that age is anyway?).

Two dear friends of mine from Portland came down for a visit this weekend. I had a lovely time catching up and showing them around my new stomping ground.

growing

Remember this? Well, here is a photo of the progress made in about a month. So far, so good with the vegetable garden. I can't wait to see what happens by next month!

homework

Now that we've made progress on the floors it feels like our work is just beginning. I didn't really think about paint, curtains or any of that stuff while we had the crazy shag carpet. The carpet was so dominant that it would have been silly to try to make those kinds of decisions until after it was gone.

This week I started patching holes and trying to pick out paint colors for the two bedrooms upstairs. I like subtle colors which can be tricky to choose. I think I've found a really soft grey for our bedroom (the bottom color in the top photo). I'm still working on the right shade of super light greeny-grey-blue for the other room. I probably have a few more trips to the hardware store in my future before I get to the bottom of it.

shagalicious

 

I'm not so good with before and after photos. I can never seem to take a before picture that is truly before. I think I always need to do at least something to better the situation before it occurs to me to take a picture. And then after photos are hard too. Are you ever really finished?

So instead of "before & after" here is "with shag carpet & without shag carpet" for you to see. We are delighted with the results. The pets, however, seem a little disappointed with the change. From what I can tell, rolling around on plush multi-colored carpet is way better than on a hardwood floor.

We have a few more projects lined up for the living room in the coming weeks. I'll post updates as we make more progress.

last call zipper pouches

 

 

 

I just put a batch of nine small zipper pouches in the shop. They are all one-of-a-kind.

Now I'm going to take a little break from pouches for awhile. I put a good dent in my pile of random printed fabric leftovers and I bet I can sew zippers in my sleep. I'll do more eventually but I'm not sure when that will be.

After this batch I'll be raising the price of the small zipper pouches. Grab one now if you want a good deal!

{ update: the small zipper pouches are sold out for now. thanks so much to everyone who visited my shop! }

tiny flowers

 

 

On my walk back home from the library on Saturday I passed a lovely little hillside covered with bright red poppies. I had just finished climbing a very steep hill and only had the camera on my phone with me. I caught my breath and snapped a really quick picture.

When I finally made it home I was disappointed that the photo hadn't turned out at least a little bit better. The hillside looks really sweet in person. But one thing that I do like is how the jumble of small flowers reminds me a bit of a liberty of london print.