Simple Beauty

Not many words are needed to go with this photo. It is the simple beauty of a geranium bud.

Bursting Lilacs

This has been the earliest and warmest spring I've ever seen.

There are many good things that come with it - warm days, cozy evenings, the sweet smell of spring chives, and the multiple shades of green bursting out all over.

There are also some negative things that come with it as well - box-elder bugs, bees sneaking in the house, confusion of the plants, and early back-aches of working in the yard.

Normally blooming at the end of May, I already have lilacs starting to open their wonderful,  sweet fragrant petals. I took a quick snap of a bouquet today with the funky camera option on my new phone. I thought it was quite fun. Go ahead....scratch and sniff.

Scratch and Sniff

I wish you could scratch and sniff these photos. If you could, you'd smell the sweet fragrance of lilac...and purple.

I wonder who named lilacs, lilacs. Was the flower named after the color or the color after the flower? Whichever direction it went - it was right.

 

Give Me Flowers

Slow at coming - but I do believe the blooming season may be upon us.

I believe I will pause a moment and take a peek at some things blooming around my house...

Dreaming Already

Gosh. I hate to say it already...but I'm dreaming of spring and blooming...
    



Winter Flowers

I just finished up a couple pillows this weekend that are a little different than my "normal" style.

I woman had asked me to make a couple throw pillows for her daughter's new apartment. She said they ordered a fun, playful, rug for the living room from company C (Rise and Shine rug) and wanted me to make some pillows that worked with it.

I like how they turned out.  How do you think they'll look?

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

That's what my Grandma and my mom always used to say. Is it true?  I don't know. But I most always believed what they said.

This year for Christmas, I made each of my family members a pair of handwarmers. Just simple little cozies filled with rice to warm in the microwave.  But even if their hands got warmed up - I know they would still have warm hearts!

I made the warmers just the right size to fit into the pockets of their winter jackets on our cold Wisconsin mornings!

Boys - plain. Girls - flowers...of course!

Featured Pillow

I am honored to have a fellow blogger feature one of my flower pillows on her blog yesterday. Check it out here!

Wonder if I should change the name to SPRING Flower Pillow......

Pretty Posy Tutorial

I recently saw some very pretty flowers created with organza and had to try it myself. So, I don't want anyone to think that I made up this technique - because that would be just plain lying if I said I did. :-)

I thought it would be fun to make a little tutorial of my version of the flower. I chose to use recycled fabric that I got from the thrift store some time ago. When I first saw the fabric, I didn't know what I would do with it but figured I could use it for something. Of course it was purple - so it seemed obvious to me that it would come in handy some day. It began its life as the outside layer of a shower curtain.

TUTORIAL
1. Cut 4 different sizes of circles - about 6-8 pieces of each size. A nice thing about this project and is very different from my working with wool, is that the cutting doesn't need to be perfect at all. It's actually kind of nice if they are a bit mis-shaped.

2. Grab and light one of your favorite candles. It helps if the candle matches your fabric. Oh heck, I'm just kidding - but of course MY candle would be purple!

Gently run the edges of all the cut circles through the flame of the fire to softly singe them. You can do it heavier if you like, but do keep in mind that there will be a little black on the edges from the flame. (It only took me the time of one episode of Andy Griffith to do all the tracing, cutting and flaming of the pieces.)

2. Stitch all layers of the circles together starting with the larger circles and working toward ending with the smaller ones on top. I tended to thread my circles onto the needle in a little lopsided manner to give it more character (especially with the smaller circles). In other words, don't worry about putting the needle exactly in the center of each circle.

3. When you have all circles in place, sew some fun coordinated (or mismatched!) beads in the center. The number of beads you use is totally up to you. I think I used about 8 or so. Keep in mind, that you will probably need to use beads with a little larger hole opening in order to get your needle through. (Unless you have special beading needles that are very thin. Then you can use them to sew the smaller seed beads.)

4. Cut a small circle to mount/sew the pin-back to. I used a small piece of wool (using the circle of a spool of thread for a size template.) I felt that using a stronger fabric for this part would help make it more stable. Sew the circle and pin-back in place.

5. WaaLaa! Your pin is done! Enjoy it attached to your favorite jacket, sweater, bag, scarf, hat or anything else that suits your fancy! Or do as I plan on doing - and make several in different colors and have ready for fun, quick gifts for your special friends.

PS. After I made this purple flower, I remembered that I had saved a piece of silky edging from an old yellow wool blanket that I had previously cut up for a pillow. I decided that a fun, springy flower might be a great way to use this. Thank goodness that I saved it! It just goes to show you that it IS important to save everything! I already have a big problem with hanging onto too many things. And I think it keeps getting worse every day...

PSS. The purple fabric in the photos above is all the same fabric. In an attempt to save battery life, I would turn my camera off between steps. I guess I didn't get the settings the same in all photos. Maybe one of these days I'll learn how to control that better. And then again, maybe I won't worry about it at all.

My Sister. My Friend.

Had a fun visit with my sister this weekend.

She came to stay with me for the weekend and brought me Valentine's Day flowers.

So lovely...

Thanks for the flowers.

Thanks for the visit.

Thanks for the laughs.