Weekend

Here's to bread baking in the oven and fresh veggies in the belly. It has been a week of weeks around here. The weather has been amazing as the summer is winding down. Eliot and Kevin start back to school this week and we are closing on a new house on Tuesday if all goes as planned! I can't wait to share pictures and get settled.

In the mean time we are packing up and closing down shop here in our apartment. I suspect blogging will be slow over the next week and until we get Internet hooked up at our new residence. Wish us luck!


The quality of light is changing rapidly around here. The leaves have begun to change over, too.
We have had such perfect summer weather this year I can't feel too badly about fall approaching. Feels like our lives are changing along with the season.

Slow Cloth

I have been slowly working on the rock rug this week. It is coming together smoothly but slowly, piece by piece. I usually carry it around in a basket to bring here and there to work on it but it is finally outgrown it. I am happy with how the blanket has turned into 'sand' - there are some minor color variations that have given the white sections more depth. As we feel fall slowly approaching around here (some trees have already turned!) I will keep slowly working on this.

The feather project is coming along too - I worked on it a lot last weekend. I will take some pictures soon to share.

And of course - Happy Birthday to my crazy Husband.

A Brief Catch-Up

A quick catch up from our week. We visited Grey Animal Farm and were surprised to find that a Pow Wow was happening. There were lots of talented singers, drummers and dancers.

Eliot is a budding gardener. Or at least he doesn't mind getting dirty.

My niece's baptism was in a beautiful church in MA.

And turtles from the animal farm, all lined up on a log.

I am having some issues with my pictures uploading very grainy to blogger the past month or so. These pictures are really very crisp and nice - very annoying. I haven't figured out how to solve the problem yet but if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear it.

*ahh much better...you have to tweak the html a bit to remove the resizing done by Picassa Web. If any wants more details or how to let me know.

Sumac Lemonade

Eliot and I collected a bunch of Sumac and made Sumac Lemonade out of it. It was really good!
It would make great Popsicles, too.




Basic recipe:

10-12 heads of Sumac berries, either Staghorn (we used) or Smooth variety with RED berries. The white are poisonous.
2-3 quarts of water.
Let soak for 20 minutes in cool water. Do not rinse first or you will loose all of the flavor. I had read somewhere of people soaking them for a lot longer, I might try that next time to taste the difference.
Strain through cheese cloth to remove any fibers or bugs.
Sweeten to taste.
Enjoy over ice.

Vacation II

More vacation pictures....

The sunsets were so beautiful they lit up even the simplest things and turned them into photographic subjects.

Crafting with the kids. It was so rewarding to pass on the rug making techniques I have been working on to an enthusiastic listener. I am putting together a little kit for her and her mom to work on.

Can't beat this location for making things.

The kids did so well over the week. This sums up the energy and excitement of it all.

Wrapping up the week with a fire on the beach and as many s'mores as you could eat.

Vacation

We are back from our vacation. It was a wonderful, relaxing electronic free week. I will be posting some pictures over the next few days.

We were in Harpswell, Maine on the tip of a point with a sandy beach on one side and working docks on the other. There were hermit crabs galore and it was dripping with sea glass.
We had a belated birthday celebration for my mother after our big lobster feast.

Everyone 'helping' the kids open (and eat) their lobsters.

Eliot has his first trip in a kayak. We had an old dog named Lacey who tagged along with us all week. She was very sweet and loved the kids. She ended up being a great babysitter.

Summer

It sounds like everyone around the country is hot and we are no exception up here in the northern Atlantic. The heat doesn't bother Eliot one bit. He drinks water like a trooper and flies around on his bike. We were given the bike and found the training wheels and helmet for under 5$ together! Can't beat that.

My Mother's lily's are out and beautiful this year. I hope they last in the hot weather.


I am going on vacation next week up to a cottage on the ocean. I think I will take a computer/technology break that week. I am aiming to make some major headway on my feather quilt and the wool rug and lots of headway on doing nothing. Enjoy your week!

Rocks

The only evidence we have of our trip to the beach last weekend. Another circle rock and a very sandy floor.

I have been putting the rocks for the rug out on the floor to try and find an arrangement I like. The wool blanket has been cut up and I am trying to decide how I want to piece the sand together. I certainly need a bigger craft table - I am aiming for the final size of about 4X5 feet.

Necessity Crafting

Some very quick, makeshift curtains were made this week. The sun coming into the apartment has been pretty intense and I have been pretty lazy about curtains. But, as luck would have it, Kevin and I had a date night and checked out the new Mardens. Mardens is a salvage shop that we frequent for great deals. They just took over an old WalMart store and it was amazingly overwhelming. I was giddy over their fabric department. Everything including organic cotton, Joel Dewbury fabrics and other tons of good stuff for 3$ a yard. I am never going to Jo Ann's again!

The fruit of that trip was some new curtains. I really didn't intentionally want the fabric for that purpose but they will do for now and I can always take them down later and make something else with it. Plus it is nice to have fabric I like on display.

That new/old lamp I found recently in the basement of my work place.

Progress

This was a good day for rug progress. I found this wool blanket at the thrift store in the perfect off white color for the sand in between the beach rocks for the rug. I washed it and am going to start cutting out strips.

Throughout the process of this rug I have been going back to my first drawings of the idea. I always refer to my journals to remind me where I am going. Ideas always change during the process but I like keeping a record while I move along. The journal helps me keep my ideas all in one place. I have never been particularly good at drawing but I can always recall the image in my mind when I look at my rudimentary sketches.

Old to New

I pulled out my trusty wool sweater bag for my newest project. I probably look a little crazy considering it has been in the 80's everyday for the last week but I can't help myself. It holds everything in a nice neat package for an on the go project.

I am working on a little something for someone - a little vague but I don't want the secret out yet. I am working with my pile of vintage fabrics and linen that has come from clothes that I have worn out. Everything has been washed so many times it has a great soft feel to it.

The overall motif is feathers. Along with rocks, feathers are another object I tend to pick up and philosophise about. Changing gears from sewing wool to embroidering linen, has been a nice way to rest my wrists. Plus, embroidery lends it self to fine details in a different way than rolling up wool.



My inspiration for the feathers has come from here. Her talent is amazing.

Camping at the River

We had our first camping trip with Eliot last weekend. It was a lot of fun - if not a little more crowded than we would have liked. I think we are going to try for a more rural state park next time. The river view and beach here was amazing with slow running water and rainbow trout swiming all over the place. We all had a great time exploring and wading around.

Marshmallows of course!

There was a really retro slide there too. I haven't seen a metal slide since I was in grade school. There were all kinds of old giant metal playground items. I can't believe more of us didn't come away with head traumas from these things.


I couldn't resist bringing the ttv camera.

Beach Rug

I am working on a new rug. I have given the other beaded wool rug a rest until I decide how I want to put it together. This new rug idea came from my attraction to rocks with rings around them. Living by the ocean, I have amassed a collection. I like how rocks become arranged at the beach between the tide and the soft sand and then slope up to the dunes. Kevin has also painted several scenes of river stones that are around our house and, no doubt, were an influence as well.

This technique is called standing wool. It allows for more free shapes and pictoral patterns. I am really enjoying the process of putting this one together.

I have also started working on an ebook about this and the beaded wool rug techniques. It will be full of pictures and detailed instructions. If anyone is interested in trading editing for a copy let me know!

Beach Baby

Our little nude dude. It was such a nice golden late afternoon the last time we went to the beach Eliot had to go for a swim. My friend and I went hunting for Elder Flowers but I wasn't quite right in my identification. I still haven't figured out what they are.

TTV

Experimenting with the Duaflex: