a number of things

gift bags

As I was wrapping last year's gifts with our dwindling supply of sale purchased Christmas wrap, I resolved to make 2011 the year we made the switch to cloth gift bags. Beginning in January, I kept my eye out for any (on-sale) red and white fabrics (because I like red & white) and slowly built a little stash.

I am sewing three different sizes (small, medium & large) using end-attached wrap-around ribbons, as well as side attached "bag tie" ribbons (Very much like these.) The "ribbons" I am using are simply twill tape ordered from here for another project (that never happened), but what I am most excited about are the beautiful branch tags! (*ETA - Tonya's family also makes some lovely birch tags that we are going to add to our collection.) Now I know we probably could have made something similar to these, but I have so many other things on my make-it list, that I couldn't resist. They will be stashed away after Christmas with the gift bags and re-used year after year.

Happy Christmas crafting!

 

P.S. ~ Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragement for Anna and her herbs! :)

 

Anna & her art

As you might have noticed, Anna has her own style. She loves to sew, craft & create as well as draw. Almost, I dare say, more than I did at her age (which is saying quite a bit). I love her simple, relaxed style and the way she loves to experiment.

So when she volunteered to draw all of the pictures for a 2012 freebie calendar, I took her up on it very quickly (before she had much time to think about doing 12 new drawings).

We decided on a theme of herbs (which is a great interest of ours), and she went to work. Anna has done some watercolors, but is not really fond of them. Her preferred medium is pen and ink, so for a bit of added color I showed her how to "paint" her drawings digitally after we scanned them in.

So far she has 8 herbs completed, and 4 to go. I am doing the layout, calendar pages, moon phases, etc. and we have great hopes to be finished by the first of December. We hope you will like them!

a peek inside the office

The little cabinet was found at the thrift store for $15 and given a bit of a face-lift and new hardware. The chairs are from around our dining room table because we have yet to locate just the right (and rightly priced) client chairs. (The prints are Rick Beerhorst wood cut prints.)

Chip's desk / work table was built following these wonderful directions with the only difference being we added additional 2" flanges to the base of the legs. We love it! The flooring is simple 6" wide tongue-in-groove pine boards finished clear.

The interior is not quite totally finished and the exterior is a loooong way from done, but he is moved in and settled and that is what matters.

Happy Tuesday!

 

June

  The Asian green bean arch with the cukes and sunflowers behind.

Wow. What a month. Round about the end of May, Chip decided that we didn't need to pay more than one more month's rent on his little office space in town, and that we could finish (the interior at least) the office we have been working on by the end of June. Now, keep in mind that at this point the building was little more than a roof and walls, with only naked studding inside. I knew it would be work, but I am always up for a ridiculous self-inflicted deadline, so I said "let's do it!".

Tomatoes in front & Rattle Snake pole beans in back.

On top of the garden / mini-farm work that we were doing (mainly watering everything to try and keep it all alive in this horrid drought), Chip's parents flew in for the first week in June which was followed by a week of swimming lessons for most of the kids. These things slowed us down a little, but Chip was all the while plugging away with insulation, wiring and then walls on the weekends. As soon as the walls were up, however, it was my turn to come in and start priming, caulking, painting and trimming.

Lilly with zinnias.

So that is where I have been for the last two weeks. Nearly non-stop. Coming in for a quick peanut butter & maple syrup sandwich and a glass of water and letting the older kids watch the younger for the most part. (Thank goodness this is not school time!) At the end of the 95 degree days, I am tired, so very tired. But grateful. Grateful for the cooperation and real help from the kids. Grateful for the past learning experiences of adding onto our little house... 3 times in 12 years! (When we bought it and plunked it down on our patch of dirt it was a old, tiny little cypress structure (with good "bones") of only 750 square feet. That first addition was before we moved in, and by adding two bedrooms we brought it up to a whopping 980 square feet. Subsequent rooms got us to 1,300 and then 1,680 square feet... where we are now.)

Scrumptious Juliet's & a few Roma's.

I am also grateful for the beautiful abundance of the gardens. There is always a bowl of tomatoes on the kitchen island not to mention the endless cucumbers, yummy beans and sweet cantaloupe. Someone we know once looked at our gardens and some project or another we had going on and pronounced, "You all work too hard. That is why you have no life."  Excuse me? Ha! Apparently you have failed to notice that we most certainly do, and we indeed love this little life of ours! We work hard, but we play equally so. Even the teenagers, when hearing Chip relate the above conversation to me later, said indignantly, "What's wrong with our life?!"

So why on earth am I sitting here typing this silly ramble and not out painting baseboards? Because it is actually raining! Blessed rain! We have been so dry for so long. It is not that great a thing for painting plans, but the plants and trees are desperate for it.

Have a fabulous day!

 

wordless Wednesday :: office progress

 

elderflower

The short window of time to make elderflower tincture is once again here.

 

I have accumulated many herbal medicine-making books over the years since I took my first herb class in 1993, but my two current favorites are Making Plant Medicine and The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook. Without getting to technical, I basically use the folk method but with a bit more measuring (My favorite source for bottles.). We are nearly out of last year's batch, but it will likely hold out for the six weeks it will take to finish this year's. This time I am making a double batch in a quart jar instead of a pint. Now to start a batch of lemon balm tincture.

Happy early summer!

 

spring cleaning

Pea pods... not long now!

My goodness. I can see why Tasha Tudor always put away her brushes during spring and early summer. Not that I am even remotely trying to compare myself to her, but trying to find time to do all the garden work (along with house work, school work, office work, etc) and still have time for drawing (or virtually any other creative outlet) is simply impossible.

This is really just a quick note to let you know that I will be doing a bit of spring cleaning on this little blog over the next few days (weeks? hopefully not.), so if you see something totally out of wack or broken, know that it is probably being worked on. :)

Have a fantastic day!

 

weekending

 

 

We are so excited to be working on an office for Chip so that he can soon work from home! This has been a dream for our family since he left the accounting firm he was with in 2007 to become a self proclaimed one man CPA band. Chip and Noah started the construction about three weeks ago and they have been working hard every weekend since. (Yes, I know working barefooted is not a good idea. He usually has on shoes but was playing frisbee with his brothers when called in to help for a quick minute.)

In other news, the flowers are blooming and the garden is shaping up nicely. I am really focusing on the herb garden this year, and made my first batch of compost tea last weekend (the 5 gallon bucket with air stones method... similar to this). We are still dreaming of bees one day soon and are most likely going to go with top bar hives. Can't wait for that!

Just wanted to pop in and say hello!
Have a wonderful Sunday!

 

break taking

(Rosie's new doll from this pattern.)

I'll be taking a break from blogging for a bit as we plug through the beginning of this second half of the school year. That coupled with the traditional (for me anyway) January organizing and cleaning thing, trying to plan the spring garden (and early seed starting!), and working on a few sewing projects (things for the little girls mostly) has left me with little extra computer time. I had resolved (among other things) to spend less time in front of this screen this year, and uploading the new things to the Gardens of Grace site seems to be using up my self allotted time each day for now. (No doubt I'll be popping in here and there with a photo or two, however. :))

Have a wonderful day!

 

yarn along

This is one of the few gifts that we have in progress that I can actually mention here. It is a hat I am crocheting for my father-in-law, who I don't think has ever seen this blog. I am using some City Tweed (in Chipmunk) from Knit Picks and it is so incredibly soft. The hook is a Brittany that I got about three years back and cannot decide whether or not I like. I love the feel (and look) of the wood, but I prefer the way the metal ones work. I think.

For the read, we have been rediscovering the Foxfire series lately. We used to regularly check them out of the local library when we lived in Tennessee, but had all but forgotten them until a few months ago. The stories and people in these books is the culture that Chip grew up with in Appalachia, and we are enjoying passing bits of it along to the kids and revisiting it ourselves.

For more stitching and reading, hop on over to Ginny's blog for her weekly Yarn Along!

 

wip Wednesday :: decorations & preparations

We dipped leaves in beeswax (per Ginny's directions) this morning. Mostly tallow and maple leaves, but amazing nonetheless. The autumnal glow coupled with the honey scented beeswax is so very festive.

We have been busy here, making Christmas gifts of all shapes and sizes. We committed this year to do only handmade (using mostly what we already have) gifts for friends and extended family (Our kids will get a few non-handmade's, such as books). I'll tell you one thing, it's quite a bit more of a challenge that I anticipated. But so very fun! Everyone is getting into the act and making or helping to make something. I know I talk a lot about making things here, but this is really the first year that we are crafting Christmas on such a large scale. Somehow it just feels right.

A Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving to All!

 

yarn along

 

The lovely Ginny from small things has started a yarn along in which we are encouraged to share our in-progress knitting or crochet project along with a current read. Or in this case, read aloud. Yesterday I started reading the Brambly Hedge stories to Rosie (and whoever else plops down to listen) and continued working on a little collection of coasters out of some simple Lion cotton. This is going to be such fun... I can't wait to see what everyone is creating and reading!