Elephants and Trees make me weak in the knees

I fell in love with this fabric while working with it. It has a subtle sheen like egyptian cotton sheets because it has such a high thread count. And the best part about it? It's organic cotton! Cloud9 is the manufacturer and the fabrics come from the lines My Happy Nursery and My Happy Garden.

This is the second quilt that I have completed that still needs to make its way into the hands of a very special mother-to-be. Soon enough! In the meantime I get to enjoy it's wonderful colors around my house (and the elephants, of course).

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Green Tumbler Quilt

I finished this quilt a while back (see the beginnings here), but was reluctant to post it because it hasn't been given to the expectant mom yet. I have another quilt to post in a bit, so hopefully that will keep the mystery of which quilt is going to whom alive for a while longer. I loved working with this fabric line, it is Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadows line.

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Plum Jam

I love plum jam, it is definitely my favorite. The only problem is that you can't really buy it many places. So I make it. And can it. And enjoy it all year long. This afternoon I fired up the stovetop for about 2 hours and processed around 7 pounds of plums (thanks mom!). I ended up with eight perfectly filled, purple jars of jam that I can't wait to eat. Yum.

Loom Love

I picked up this loom at the neighborhood Spring Cleaning garage sale for $40. The woman who sold it to me was a textile major in college and had all kinds of helpful books that she dropped off at my house the next week. I love living in such a friendly neighborhood!

I've been itching to learn how to weave for about a year now, and know close to nothing about how to go about it. Luckily I tracked down a weaving class close-by and will be learning the basics this Saturday. We'll be working on a loom that is smaller than this one, but I'm hoping the basics will translate easily to working on any loom.

The scarves that originally piqued my interest in weaving can be found here.

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Pink and Green Spider Web Baby Quilt

I just finished another baby quilt for a college friend's new little girl. Their nursery is a sage green with pink accents and black furniture, so I wanted to make something that would match the décor very well. I was a little unsure about the color palette at first, but I have to say that they grew on me as I worked.

This was my first time making a spider web quilt, and in fact my first time using strips sewn together as the fabric to cut out pieces for the quilt. I am happy with how the pieces line up and how the "spider webs" look. I would quilt it a little bit differently if I were to do it over again, but I think it turned out great.

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Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the woman who taught me to say "please" and "thank you," color inside the lines, wear clothes that match, cook, sew, plant a garden and most importantly how to be a good person in this crazy world. I love you mom, Happy Mother's Day!

Boy Scout

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Garden Plans

Right after moving into the new house I sat down and planned out the new garden. There is an existing area with a retaining wall that will be a perfect foundation for the raised beds we'll be building. The entire backyard is pretty steeply sloped, so having an area already flattened out gave us a very much appreciated head start.

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Flowers

I'd forgotten how much fresh flowers around the house make me smile, especially ranunculus.

Girls Day Out

A few weeks ago my dog Bella and I went for a hike and left the boys at home. We had a great time getting lost in Auburn State Recreation Area's wilderness and wading through streams. We spotted a coyote and encountered a few horseback riders along the trail. We didn't quite make it to where we had planned (we ended up about 2 miles away), but we had lots of fun without the boys! I can't wait to go back and do the hike we had planned and explore the other trails in the area.

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Surprise Snow Day

This winter has been a surprising one for us in our new house. We are at about 2000-2500 feet and didn't consider the fact that our new home might get a sprinkling of snow. I am pretty sure (I hope!) that we have simply had three fluke storms with snow this year, but that doesn't sound quite right. The snow did look very pretty coating everything with fresh whiteness, maybe having a few snow storms every year wouldn't be so bad.

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New Quilts for New Babies

I think every twenty-something goes through a period of time when it seems like everyone you know is either having a baby or trying to have a baby. For me that time is now. In order to keep from being stressed over finding appropriate gifts for each of the wee ones when they finally come into this world, I've started two baby quilts to just have handy when the occasion arrises. So pretty much, first two babies born get one of the awesome quilts I'm making!

It's been such a nice change in pace while working on these quilts to have a huge kitchen table and plenty of room to use while working. The new house also has so much natural light, I can usually work without any lights turned on. I still need to give you a tour of the new place, I promise I'll share all about it soon! But for now, here's a bit of the dining room…

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Home

It's been a while since I've checked in! But, with good reason. I recently bought a house and am now all moved in. I also have a new dog. I'll be sharing much about those two things soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd share a little bit about another house I recently visited, Jack London's house.

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Beginning to feel a bit like christmas

It's finally starting to feel like the Christmas season for me. The tree is up and lit, garlands are hung, the advent calendar is up, there is a wreath on the door, presents that need wrapping and a few Christmas cookies have been consumed. I am loving making new traditions with J and having our first tree together (which I single handedly cut down, thank you very much) to decorate and put presents under. I hope you are having one of those magical Christmas seasons as well!

Newish Bike

I completely forgot to tell you all about my new bike! I got it a couple months ago on my trip to San Luis Obispo and am so in love with it! It's a Linus Mixte in light blue, and I think it's perfection. It rides like a dream and the back rack along with the basket I added to it make it perfect for running errands or going for a picnic. I plan on owning it for a very long time and taking really good care of it, so I recently took a bicycle maintenance class through REI, I learned so much from that class that I plan to use.

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