Sweeping up the leaves

It's Thanksgiving already! October and November have flown by, but here's a little snapshot for you:

** Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel at The Woodlands Community Garden **



** Tree delivery at dawn, followed by many many volunteer tree planting events for work **









** A trip to the Philadelphia Zoo (the oldest zoo in the country) with some new friends **



** Lots of baking! **





I'm continuing my quest to perfect my apple pie recipe this fall, along with tweaking my presentation (see how I made it look like an apple when you cut it in half? clever clever me).

** Sukkah! **



We built a temporary structure called a sukkah on our porch this year in honor of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The holiday is a celebration of the harvest (and other religious and historical events) - the sukkah is open to the stars on top and filled with plant materials. Ours was decorated with paper chains, gourds, fruit, chestnuts, mums, fabric and drying bunches of herbs.







After we built and decorated it, we invited all of our friends to eat with us under the sukkah. Even though it rained during most of the week long holiday, we shared two fabulous dinners with friends and family. And it only took us two extra weeks to take it down!

That's all for now, I hope to post more frequently once I get a new laptop. This little setup that I have right now is driving me crazy, and I think it's time for a new computer, don't you?

White Christmas

Well, at least I can pretend.







Merry Christmas!!!

'Tis the Season

Back in November I organized a make-your-own wreaths class at Urban Jungle and it was great fun! I had a great time gathering supplies (with help from my parents): we collected fir and pine boughs from their home in NJ, and then I collected cedar and many other interesting greens and natural materials for people to use, including pine and fir cones, bittersweet berry vine, rosemary, cinnamon sticks, dried mushrooms, star anise, holly, sweet gum fruits, moss, and lots more.





We used wire bases or grapevine bases - the grapevine worked better because it takes a long time to make a wreath and people liked doing half of it and having the grapevine show through for the rest. Plus, they're cheaper.

I saved a lot of materials with the intention of making my own wreath, but by the time I got to them they had mostly dried up. So I used fir cones, a pine twig, and dried mushrooms to make this little beauty:



I'm pretty happy with it, and since M and I are still in discussions about Christmas decorating in our interfaith house, I think it's appropriate. I got the mushrooms from a local Vietnamese grocery store and I LOVE them.



Happy Holidays!

Happy Valentimes!

This year I decided to do something a little less time-consuming than last year, and I actually finished them on time (last year people were still getting them in March).

I had this great paper that I saved from an ad for an art school in Northeast Philly - I think it would make the most amazing wall paper. Check out the little pteradactyls . . .



I cut out some great illustrations from my seed catalogues and went all french with them. It was fun looking up the names of all the vegetables . . .



I wish you and yours a wonderful and snuggly valentimes day!

Happy Easter!

I gave the natural Easter egg dyes another try this year. Top left is spinach, top right is yellow and red onion skins, bottom left is beets, and bottom right is red cabbage. I'm happy with the right side, not so much with the left. I created the striped pattern by putting rubber bands around the eggs before boiling them



And I made small baskets for my family members. Jelly beans, smooth 'n melties, licorice, a chocolate-covered marshmallow egg, hard boiled eggs, and a "bath bomb" in the shape of a bunny rabbit. Oh man, I love Easter.

V Day approacheth

I love valentines day, and a big BOO to all of you sour pusses. For me, valentines day is about showing the love to my friends (and eating chocolate). And it comes at a perfect time because I always leave Christmas and the New Year feeling like I couldn't see, give things to, or call everyone I love and V Day is my time to make up for it. So this year I started early. Behold, the craftiness:



I'm making felt conversation hearts. The sayings crack me up; TXT ME, CLOUD NINE, and SWEET TALK are my favorites. I've been working on them for weeks, and my preparedness is only rivaled by Nicole, who made these amazing cards. I won her giveaway and got an amazing little bundle in the mail!



She has been posting many other wonderful valentine's day-themed things on her blog and she will be selling her stuff in Sacramento soon, so go fill up on beautifully drawn cards for your loved ones! (Or just order them from her etsy shop).

I also found this silly project when I was researching my own V-day conversation heart project.

Seasons mobile

I finally finished a birthday present I've been working on for a while. It's a mobile for my friend Metthea to hang in her "apartment." She lives in the upstairs loft of a building that used to be a hog barn. It's absolutely adorable and it's out in the country. It took me almost a year from conception to completion of this project, but I think it will be perfect hanging over the stairs in her space.





I used a combination of patterns from the books "Woodlands: small toys to sew, vol. 2" by Teresa Levy, and "Softies: simple instructions for 25 plush pals" by Therese Laskey. The materials are felt, embroidery thread, wire, fishing line, and found natural objects.


**materials and prep**


**sticks, pine cones, redwood cones, douglas fir cones, magnolia seed cones, and feathers**


**summer tree**


**fall tree**


**winter tree**


**spring tree**


**oak leaves (I added a little gall on one of the leaves, neeeeeerd aleeeert)**


**acorn**

I'm so happy it's finished and she loves it!

The Unexpected Beanie

Well, I tried to make the "Robin's Egg Blue Hat" by Rachel Iufer, but mine definitely turned into a beanie rather than a nice tight cap. It kind of hangs. But that's okay, I think I know someone with a head big enough to appreciate this beanie, and an appreciation for buttons . . .



The pattern is very simple, and I love the little flap (though it looks better with a single color yarn than my crazy fall colors, I guess). If you try it, take her advice and come up with a different way to decrease. I also blocked this before sewing the flap together, which added to the slouch-factor.



Why do we do this to our animals? And why does it incapacitate me with giggles every time?

The best fall hat EVER

If I do say so myself. I'm pretty pleased with the way this one turned out - I used the same pattern for the wool hats last Christmas but I've learned to tweak the pattern a bit, plus this yarn was well made and NOT knobbly as all get out.



I got the yarn a year ago at the Yolo Wool Mill open house (which is coming up in two weeks!). Unfortunately, I forget who made it and what the blend is, though I do know that it is hand dyed and at least partly if not all merino wool. It's so soft and gorgeous, I just want to rub it on my face all day (is that weird?).



Aaaaaaand, I used those buttons right away! Shocking.



Here's a detail of the pompons - you can really see all of the rich colors in there.



This hat will be perfect for walking around town on blustery fall days like those we've been having lately in Davis. The shadows have been intense.



Yesterday, Sammy and I went for a long walk on just such a blustery day; partly to take the hat for a test drive, and partly because the light and temperature were just the way we like it. What a happy boy.