Snoodle

Bloom Where You Are Planted

    I want a garden.  Not just that, I want to be a gardener.  I want to step barefoot into the backyard to harvest a salad.  I want to heal using herbs that wind into the depths of our property.  I want to fill dye-pots with hues plucked from a medieval-style plot.  I want to send Eleanor out to pick favorite blooms to decorate our dinner table.  I want a wide brimmed hat and dirt under my fingernails. Then, I remember that this is a rented home and close the door.

    This has been a sabotaging obstacle for me: this pesky renting, this tiny apartment.  I keep myself from doing projects because I'm waiting for a bigger bedroom, an attic sewing room, a pantry, and that garden I truly can call my own.  For years, I've been shying away from tending a garden because of the ever-present hope that we might move. 

    A little while ago I went to a garage sale with my sister-in-law in a very poor rural area.  The house wasn't much to look at, but the garden was sensational.  It was brilliantly covered with beautiful flowers and herbs.  She had small gardens with decorations and vignettes scattered throughout.  She spoke with great fondness about her plants.  It was clear that she was devoted to them and in turn, they gave her great joy.  My sister said, "she's really bloomed where she's planted."  I agreed but was internally thinking it a bit of a cliche- one of those phrases you see on stepping stones or fence plaques.  But after we got into the car, I though more about it.  She really did bloom, very literally, where she was.  She created an oasis of beauty spread out before her double-wide. Maybe I could, too.

    Indeed, it's expensive and a lot of work to start a proper garden when we might just leave it.  But little things have been creeping into the yard- the determined mint, the strawberries that might actually produce if the woodchucks don't get to them first, and a scattering of cheery violets and other little flowers and greenery fill the gaps between the blades of grass.  If these plants aren't speaking to me, my seven year-old certainly is!  I need to succumb to the fact that I surely have years -plural!- to continue living here and make it bloom. 

    It might be nice for the next tenants to have a little beauty left behind.

    This gardening idea, along with our farm fantasy, is not new.  Nora and I have been dreaming about our future garden filled with lilacs, apple trees, daffodils, herbs, and favorite veggies. We already have strawberries as berries of all kinds are high on the list.   Lately, she's been sure to comment on the bleeding hearts that we see as we walk through the neighborhood.  Knowing the generosity of our neighbors, I sent a plea to our neighborhood forum and asked if anyone had this particular plant to share.  I got many responses and immediately pounced!  We loaded up the wagon and a shovel and made our way to a hidden garden down the street.  We dug up the plant and replanted it under the dappled light of our (neighbor's) tree.  Its close to Sweet Pea's grave where, indeed, Eleanor keeps a piece of her heart.  The delight I have gotten in its presence makes me think that I might just be getting my hands dirty more often... right here where I'm planted.

Overheard while painting

It's rolling

I'm just going to let the colors roll and cross all over the paper.

It looks like a blue cactus.

Oh, it's rolling along the bottom.

I made purple, mama!

This is like an amusement park... every color is a wild ride!

It looks like a rainbow.

I accidentally got purple into my yellow streak.  It looks weird, but sometimes weird things are pretty good.

It's turning out fancy.

This painting is like me: silly. 

Well, it's polka-dot on a rainbow-y background.  It's colorful.

I'm wiping an outline of a house so that I can paint a red house.

It looks like the prairie.  It looks like where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived.

 

Introducing Hawkins

... we're pretty sure that's the name that's sticking.

On Christmas morning, Nora found a little something under the tree that couldn't be wrapped.  His name is Hawkins.  The auditions of names was pretty extensive:  Marshmallow and Cocoa were a couple of the first to be tried... then, Gabriel, because she was trying to be Christmas-y.  But after hanging out with this adventurous rabbit, he was dubbed Hawkins after Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island.  It's hard to believe that Nora would be excited about Treasure Island being so very sensitive, but watching the Muppet version softened the story a little- though, she quaked with fear and squished daddy's hand while watching it. She learned the story and started acting it out (and oh, the singing!)  She's been pretending to be Jim ever since and finally started putting her hair up in a ponytail to look more like the cabin boy!

 

So, Hawkins he is and what a fun rabbit!  He's got a fun personality and is fast- almost too fast to snap a photo as he lippity-lops from place to place.  He also seems to like the camera and hops right up to the photographer leading to many photos of just his twitchy little triangular nose!

He's been thoroughly enjoying his "bunny castle" made out of a cardboard box which he has been treating as a gingerbread house.  He likes chasing Nora around while she hops around on her knees pretending to be a bunny.  We even caught him doing a "binky," the rabbit happy dance.  He also likes nibbling on pine cones, timothy hay, the broom, celery leaves, pants jeans, chino, or jammies), kale, a leg of the kitchen counter, toilet paper tubes, and a little strawberry for dessert.  We think he might be part beaver.  But there's also a little evidence to the contrary.

 

A Little Privacy, Please?

Huzzah!  At long last, the little door curtain is finished.  Was it during Spring cleaning that I took the old one down?  Considering that it took me all of about 20 minutes to make the thing, I'm a little embarrassed that it took so long.  The cute fabric that I used is a vintage sheer with tiny flocked dots.  When I cut the fabric, or rather, tore it (ripping is a totally legit way to straighten fabric) I was a little concerned that this fabric was so vintage that more would fall off, but it's fine.  I don't tend to gravitate toward sheers, but I may be turning around.  The fifties/ sixties feel of it is quite dear and watching MadMen and the Help is only increasing my desire to decorate my home and self with all things vintage.

Everyone here is thrilled:  there's no glare on the television (priorities) and my they can run around in their birthday suits... er, it might be time to sew a couple more robes.

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Don't let the competition deter you!

There's still time to comment here and win!

The Make Do Desk

Our little compartment, I mean apartment, is small.  Really, really small.  Exacerbated by a seven year old who likes to dance, a mama who uses the kitchen floor for basting quilts, a daddy who tinkers with computers, and a whole family who collects books, this place often feels like it is shrinking around us.  We've had to "make do"  a lot:  laughing at the idea of a queen sized bed and sharing a dresser, a loft for said seven year old to make room for dance and play, a dining/ sewing table - one which often pushes the other aside...

One thing, however that I was not willing to "make do" with is going without a place for Eleanor to do her work: school, art, newspaper writing, mad-libs, jewelry making, sewing, whatever it is that she does; I feel it's important for her to have a space of her own and certainly not add to the dining/ sewing table usage!

It was clear that she needed a desk.  We had an old school (literally) desk with the flip-up desktop and inkwell, but I was always worried about her pinching her fingers, the angle always caused the writing utensils to roll off, there wasn't space for anything to be left on the top.   It never really got used.  So, I was thrilled when I found a child-sized desk at my favorite thrift shop, ReStore.

It certainly did NOT look like this when I got it.  It was painted white and appeared to be left in a garage as the top sustained a lot of damage and was quite rough.  It was so rough that I thought twice about getting it, but I checked out the drawers, gave the chair a good shake and all appeared intact and sturdy.  I coughed up my $25 and brought it home.  Fast-forward a few months and it's done!  Much of the time was spent just picking out a color.  I had no preference which might have made the decision harder.  Nora chose green and we got many, many paint samples and observed them in different lighting throughout the day... for many days. 

Nora finally decided on  "Little Apples" by Pratt & Lambert.  (a semi-gloss acrylic latex).  It makes me think of jadeite but brighter and a bit cheerier.  Thanks to David for finding time to do this.  I can't paint. 

After the paint decision was made, it was my job to come up with a lovely coordinating fabric.  I was struck with the jadeite/ 30's inspiration. I thought I would use something from my small collection of reproduction fabrics.   Though, anything would be better than the original:

Now, I don't fault the previous owner for the fabric choice.  I'm guessing it was fine 80's fabric... in the 80's.  And you've got to expect a fair amount of wear and filth, but what I don't understand is why the fabric was pieced.  It was clearly sewn together before the chair was upholstered and not a repair.  Kudos to the person who sewed it because the pattern matched up perfectly. But for the small amount of fabric needed to cover a chair, why not use a continuous piece of fabric?  Which makes my ultimate fabric choice so ironic:

Yup, that's a lot of piecing!  The paint color choice was not the only area of indecision.  I couldn't figure which fabric I wanted to use the most, and when I did, I only had scraps left.  So, I crazy quilted the scraps that I had.  So, now I am the  woman pieced the chair cushion.  I did, however, use fusible fleece to hold it all together.  I think it will last until I get tired of looking at it and want to reupholster it again.

To make the actual cushion, I used nap mat from work that had ripped and was going to be thrown away.  Because it was covered with vinyl, it was easy to use a marker to trace the wooden seat's base and just cut it with strong shears.

The drawer pulls that were originally on the desk looked like this:

They're not horrible, but needed cleaning that I wasn't going to do.  The knobs that I used also came from the Restore.  They are wooden knobs that I painted with white craft acrylic.  They're fine, but I'm noticing that arty-y fingerprints are appearing on them at a steady pace.  I might replace them with vintage milk glass or porcelain knobs. 

Being unimpressed with the inside of the drawers which were (almost) painted in a previous life, I told David not to paint them green and that I would figure out "something."  Once again, the ReStore came to the rescue!

I always peek at the wrapping paper/ wallpaper section there, but have never taken anything home with me.   Maybe I was looking with a different eye that day, but I found the perfect wallpaper (from 1979 according to the paperwork in the roll).  I put the good ol' Mod Podge to work and papered the inside of each drawer.  It looked quite antique when the glue was wet (sort of tea stained) but also looks lovely when dry.

I'm loving Nora's little desk accessories.  The toadstool eraser/pencil sharpener was in her Christmas stocking, the toadstool stapler was a lucky garage sale find.  The caterpillar is a wind-up toy and apparently essential to homework completion.  The bulletin board in the first photo came from (surprise) the ReStore.  It's Melissa and Doug and was still in the original packaging.  Score!

Eleanor is really enjoying it.  I think she's writing more ow that she has her own space. The typewriter really pulls together the whole 30's theme!  I'm happy with the depression era thriftiness that made the whole project quite economical!

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I'm really excited to be giving away a copy of  

Singer: Sewing for the Home.

All you have to do is leave a comment on my last post.

 

 

Oh Yes, the Blog.

Some people are daily bloggers.  I imagine them waking up, brewing some coffee or tea, feeding the cat, and settling into a husband-made wooden chair to muse on life by the glow of the rising sun and the computer screen before the children wake and their day is filled with serene knitting, joyful trips to explore ferns and mushrooms, and cooking something gluten-free.  They're out there, but I'm not one of them.  I would love to be a daily blogger, a stay-at-home mother, a master seamstress, someone who knows what to do with a spatula.  But I'm not.  I'm not a daily blogger, or a weekly blogger, and as I look at the date of my last post,  I don't even know if I'm a monthly blogger.  But I'm willing to do better.  I'm not sure if I could be any worse! 

While I have not posted any evidence since the seasons have turned, we have indeed been having a fabulous summer.  For the fourteenth year, we cooked for the Millbrook Bonsai Society's Bonsai BBQ.  The weather was perfect.  It was a Spring of record rain, and it remained dry for the whole event, but it wasn't too hot behind the grill.  Nora used her camera to take pictures of nature: coy and bonsai trees... not your Vermont flora and fauna, but she also made careful notes in her nature journal about the lilies and the snake we discovered by the hoses near the greenhouse.

We also took a trip to visit with my nephew who was on leave.  It was a great opportunity to see the goats and the new little goatlings!  ...and the rabbits, the chickens, the quail, the horses, sheep, and the labrador.

We celebrated Father's Day by stating the obvious...

from the Bold Banana on Etsy

Of course, we also went to the Vermont Quilt Festival.  Nora's favorite was the horse quilt (who would have guessed?!) called "Summer Dreams" it was quilted by Angela Miller of Williston, VT.  

Another mutual favorite, which Nora dubbed the "confetti quilt," was crafted by Philea A. Spear of Waitsfield, VT in 1909 when she was eighty-four years old.  She recorded (thank you, Philea!) that it took 12, 976 pieces of material.  Those are some teeny pieces!  The quilt was donated to the Vermont Historical Society by Lettie Belding Palmer.

We celebrated an exceptional graduation.  My sister-in-law, Wenda, while growing the farm as seen above, working as a dental hygienist, mothering 3 children,  caring for her own mother, interning at a vineyard, and remaining pretty much awesome, maintained a rigorous university schedule and graduated in plant and soil science.  Yea!  She chose not to walk with her class, so the family surprised her at the annual Fourth of July celebration with a graduation!  She was, indeed, surprised.  Eleanor was thrilled to be the "flower girl" and present her with a bouquet.  We couldn't be more proud of this accomplishment... and are quite pleased that she will continue working at the vineyard!

My other sister-in-law, from New York, brought big ol' rocks from a quarry where she has been regularly been digging for fossils.  All of the children got a chance to carefully tap into the layers to find fossils.  There were many to be found, and Nora came home with a box of 'em.  Yup, that's what this house needs:  More rocks!  Nora has been especially interested in the trilobites and has them proudly displayed throughout the house.  David is abundantly happy that she shares his love for archeology.

Being Independence Day and considering that it's been years (yes, plural) that I've been on the sailboat, I finally got my chance!  Unfortunately, before we even got out of the mooring, David untied a sail, hit me in the face with it, and my sunglasses sailed in the air and landed in the water.  For a moment of insanity, he considered diving in for them.  But alas, they are gone.  I like to imagine that there is some sturgeon under there who is now wearing them and can more easily see her fishy world as they were, of course, prescription.  But it was one of those moments when it's quickly clear that there's nothing to be done (with the exception of a bit of squinting) and it was far too beautiful a day to complain.  It was a glorious sail!

My favorite part of Independence Day (besides the freedoms that we still enjoy) is the fireworks!  We saw a glorious display at the Burlington waterfront which curiously happens on the third.  That allowed us to see more on the fourth from my parents' back deck.  Sadly, they lost a large tree in the yard last year, but it really opened the sky to view.  The fireworks were set off in the neighboring town, and I was still able to capture some great images.

We took yet another trip to the Shelburne Museum.  Nora wanted to visit Nora, the blacksmith, who we've seen the past couple of years.  She wasn't working, but the blacksmith who was shared copious information about horseshoes...and bees!  It turns out that he is a well-known beekeeper and after reflecting on it, we realized that we had seen him before at the Fair parading with a bee smoker.  He was easy to remember as he's a long-gray-bearded-blacksmith-looking-guy: everything you want in a beekeeper!  He talked about his teaching style -who knew there were different beekeeping teaching styles?!  I totally want to take a workshop with him.  He warned me that I'd have to learn quickly and keep up.  Oh yeah, I like this guy!  Seriously, I do want to keep bees.  I think it would be smart to take a year to study the subject and start the bees when we're settled into a more permanent house.  (we're getting there!)

There is a new exhibit at the museum called Lock, Stock, and Barrel.  There were some beautiful firearms.  I especially liked the concealed guns including carriage rifles and a cane gun likely used by poachers!  The furniture was lovely, and Nora must have been looking very carefully as she spotted a little patch box on the side of a rifle with a rabbit on it!  I didn't mention that it was most likely a hunting rifle.

Did I mention that this man likes naps?!! 

Castleton jail built 1890

By far, my very favorite exhibit was In Fashion: High Style: 1690-2011.  Click on the link and check out the gallery.  There was an actual dress by Christian Siriano of Project Runway! Fierce!  I loved seeing so much history in the gallery.  I played at determining when each dress was created.  My big "oops" was the Oscar de la Renta dress.  I thought it was old.  It wasn't! 

Eleanor was enchanted by this velvet Emile Pingat and in a voice similar to Veruca Salt informed me that she wants one for Christmas!  Hmmm.  I'm not sure if that's in the budget this year, dear.   Though, like a crazy person, I did look at the sewing patterns at Joann's: maybe if I use a pirate costume here and that steampunk pattern there...  Maybe by Christmas.

 So far, it has been a great summer especially because these are the only leeches that we've seen so far.

Okay, till tomorrow or some time in Autumn... we'll see.

Snow Day!

Last night

A month ago

Two simple but magical words:  snow day.  We have our rituals to make it happen:  sleeping with pajamas inside out, snow dances, staying up reeeealy late hoping that the news will announce our school.  Not only did I have one day off, but two!  Nora didn't.  Poor dear had to go to school today.  But yesterday, we had a  day full of games, dressing up in play silks, dancing, reading, watching the Muppet Show, knitting, and making snow ice cream.  We really wanted to get out to go sledding or at least build a snowman, but the snow is deep.  24 inches, I think.  When David ventured outdoors, it took a considerable amount of effort just to open the door-- and that's the porch door!  Short of layering on those play silks (we were fairies), we pretty much just stayed in our jammies: as it should be on a snow day.

 

We were really enthusiastic about making snow ice cream.  It turned out to be delicious, but I was hasty.  I scooped the snow and used it fresh.  You really need to pop it into the freezer first or else it melts just about immediately.

Snow Ice Cream

Freeze a big ol' bowl of scooped (not packed) fresh snow

Freeze about half an hour

While your waiting, mix:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

until sugar disolves

Add snow, a cup at a time until it's the consistancy of ice cream.

About 4-6 cups

Top with chocolate syrup and crushed peppermint sticks left over from Christmas!

 

 

 

Sweet P-jamas

While the case for a Valentines tree and an Easter tree "we could hang eggs on it!" was well argued, the brown branches of our beloved Christmas tree had to go.  I do, however, anticipate sweeping pine needles from the cracks in the floor until Independence Day. 

It was a good tree. It smells like the woods and provided just the right amount of cover for a rabbit.  That bunny watched the whole crazy season lounging beneath the branches.  She's sulking now that it's gone.  Nora insisted that we save a bowl full of needles for some undefined project, but that Sweet Pea would need them.  She's plotting the creation of a cardboard box rabitat with pictures of trees on it.  I can't wait to see it.

It's all about bunnies over here.  So, naturally, the annual Christmas pajamas had to represent.  I found this lovely, thick vintage (?) flannel at a local thrift shop.  Honestly, I wanted to use it for my own selfish self, but that whole "season of giving" thing won over.  I wasn't sure how the large print would work for the applique, but I quite like it.  And in the tradition of my mother, I had to make Jane a matching nightgown.  Super snuggly.

 

 

2011: Fresh and Full of Promise

Today, I am ignoring the fact that the flurry of Christmas passed in a red and white striped swirl and a whiff of gingerbread.  I'm ignoring the fact that I haven't written here in an embarrassingly long time. 

Really, we've had a great couple of *ahem* months and a wonderful Christmas. 

Right now, I'm sitting comfortably, glass of wine at my side, glowing with the knowledge that my sewing room is clean and not even that I'll-just-toss-it-all-into-a-basket-and-deal-with-it-later kind of clean.  No, each drawer is tidied, fabric is folded and arranged by color on the shelf, repairs that have been sitting around since summer are hemmed, darned, and glued. 

And I opened up my laptop.  It's nice to be back to the blog.

Happy New Year.

Welcome, Sweet Pea... finally!

Nora's really into cute.  For the longest time, it was sheep.  No, "lambies."  She likes chipmunks, snails, and squirrels.  For Easter, having given up on the dream of sheep ownership in the suburbs, she wished deep down for a chick or a bunny.  The Easter Bunny gave her a lovely Folkmanis rabbit, but I knew it wasn't quite the pet she was hoping for.  At work, we had incubated eggs that hatched over the weekend before her birthday, and she was absolutely thrilled just to hold one of the chicks.  It was a great gift for her.  But, wow, was she excited when she found out that she would be getting a rabbit.  Yes, a real alive pet for her birthday.  The decision to add a pet to our family wasn't made lightly, but it was made a little late- about a week before Nora's birthday.  The rabbit breeders in the area all seemed to be out of adoptable rabbits. There was a lovely angora on the furthest end of the state, There were no bunnies at the humane society, and we didn't want to go with a pet shop rabbit.  On Craigslist of all places, we found a great rabbit and close by.  The owner, however, was just about to go on vacation so we weren't able to get it in time for the actual day.   So, we wrapped up a gift certificate of sorts along with Rabbits for Dummies (its title is a bit scandalous in this house!) and some bunny stories that we didn't already own. 

 

We didn't think it would take quite this long to get her and now that certificate is dog eared, memorized, and has been shown to everyone, seriously, everyone.  But she is absolutely worth the wait.  So, let me introduce ...Sweet Pea:

Oh, she is so cute! 

She's four years old (an adult) and pretty shy.  That works for our family.  We're pretty mellow ourselves. Sweet Pea will fit right in.  Her previous owner couldn't have been nicer.  She sent Sweet Pea to our home complete with everything that she needed from the cage to a bag of Timothy -even a bit of wood to chew on.  We couldn't be more thankful and honored to be the new family for this truly sweet little bunny. 

Nora is so smitten.  It's taken every bit of her patience not to scoop her right up and cuddle her.  But we've kept our voices quiet because rabbits have sensitive ears and given her space to get used to us. David's showing his soft side today, too.  When he got home late after his weekly sailboat race, there was a lot of cooing over "BunBun."  Oh my!

I keep sneaking into the kitchen to get my fill of her cuteness.  Oh, those big brown eyes, softy fur, those darling ears...  I won't lie.  I didn't think I'd fall for a pet.  I like animals that "earn their keep": chickens, sheep, even bees.  But I guess I like a bit of cute, too.

Did you ever have a bunny?  We'd appreciate any advice that you have for us or any great bunny stories that you would like to share.