felted wool animals

I'd been saving up some old wool sweaters for just this very thing...felting them (washing and drying on hot) and making this cute little wooly lamb I'd seen awhile back in one of my holiday Martha magazines.  This year was finally the year to try it out and I have to say that I love sewing up old sweaters.  It's really fun!  They don't look like much as you're going, but once you turn them right-side out at the very end, its like magic!!!  After I made my first periwinkle cable knit lamb, I altered the pattern to try to make a little deer just by switching up the tail and ears. (That pattern could still use some tweaking!)  Then I added some french knots made out of yarn to the deer and a tiny hand knitted scarf to the lamb.  With lots of babies in our family and friends having babies, I can't wait to make up more of these cute little creatures to have on hand for gifts.  I have so many more ideas and sweaters waiting to be sewn!  Happy crafting!  :)

half...

Half-ironed shirts, half-finished colds, half-finished projects all over the place, half-read magazines piling up, half-clean house, halfway decent nights' sleep...Trying to learn how to be content with all the half-finished things of late!  I'm not quite there yet but I remind myself that everything always gets done eventually, somehow!

oh where, oh where...

...has my little blog gone?  Oh where, oh where can it be?  

(Yep, I have a toddler now and we listen to songs like that on vinyl a lot.  I've enjoyed re-learning these old children's nursery songs...they were stuck way back in my memory somewhere and its fun to have them be a part of my life again!)  But really, I miss my blog too.  Or blogging rather.  I've been a little overwhelmed these days by: 1-taking care of a busy toddler/baby, and 2-getting an iPhone.  Hub recently made the leap for both of us (we were holdouts until he lost his phone somewhere in New Mexico on a business trip) and now I've become a little obsessed with it and with instagram.  I never thought I'd want one, but now that I have one I really really like it.  And instagram seems to me like a nice, quick, micro-blogging sort of format...which is perfect and about all that I can manage for my busy life right now.  (Although most everyone can't see those photos so its a little bit pointless except for the personal satisfaction I get from it right now!)  It's such a quick, easy way to capture little wonderful life moments...which have seemed to multiply since having this amazing little boy.  At 15+ months, everything is new and fun now.  Going to the apple orchard, taking him on a little Fall hike, playing with cousins, going on a picnic, holding a color crayon!  Everything is a new adventure for him, and therefore for me too!  We've been enjoying the last bits of nice weather and spending as much time as we possibly can outside before the long winter months hit...making things with homegrown tomatoes (a lot of things! salsa, sauces, soups, oh my!)...taking little trips (up the shore, to the Cities)...and I've been trying to feed my creative side when I have a few moments (knitting in the car, making homemade cards in the evening).  Life is so full and good right now.  I feel so thankful to spend each day with my little guy, and I know that although some days seem entirely too long, each one, each week goes by entirely too fast.  So prioritizing what I need to do/what needs to get done is more important than ever now.  Being present for him in each moment, soaking in all his little boy wonder, and tending to my family...which is such a gift, such a blessing...are top priorities for me. So in the meantime, while my blog lays a little dormant, thought I'd share some of my instagram photos to fill in the gaps.

making, doing lately...

...decanting whole tea leaves into cute chalkboard-labeled container (sitting on the table where we see it makes us use & enjoy more often now!)

...sprucing up a mirror with a pretty Shanna Murray decal

...making sweet baby photobooks on Shutterfly (this is a little addicting and fun!)

...making cards & celebrating our 10th (oh wow, I can't believe it) anniversary last weekend!!!

...framing pressed plants to spruce up the walls

...painting...getting into painting again...trying some abstract...the photo above shows a painting in the very beginning stages!  I really don't know what I'm doing for certain but its fun and a little stress-relieving!

late August...

 August is just zipping by, as it usually does...my garden is waning, many flowers are now turning to interesting seed pods, and I'm still a little mesmerized by these silly little violets, still going strong, that decided to grow not only in the rocks but also in the wood pile.  My mini fairy gardens did so-so...the moss mostly died but the hen & chicks thrived!  And ohh our pretty pipestone plums!!!  The plum tree that we planted a few years ago, mainly for its beautiful spring blossoms, grew plums for the first time this year.  We never really intended to ever get plums since we didn't have another tree to cross-pollinate it with (or whatever its called?)  but something did pollinate it this spring and we've just been starting to enjoy these sweet juicy plums!  A nice late summer surprise!

early August...

Early August so far...
A rare date night, eating lefse filled with egg, asparagus, & jarlsberg for the first time, running and laughing our way underneath the clothes on the line with the little one, bountiful basil, pretty tiny violets blooming in random places, little itty bitty shoes by the back door...love seeing this. So far so good.

berry season

Summer seems to be marked and measured, at least in part for me, by the passing of various berry seasons.  Strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries, and finally blackberries.  Blackberries being picked the latest near the end of August along the dirt road by the cabin.  The each have their moment.  Their associated memories.  And new memories made each year.  Like the first time Hub and I went strawberry picking together.  Or when I discovered currants and gooseberries on our property.  Various trips hunting for wild blueberries (like the first time we took our brand new baby) and blueberry picking at a nearby farm in the country...this one we just did as a family on Saturday.  The morning was gorgeous, the light beautiful.  We picked the plentiful blueberries with ease and even little Bub got out of the stroller for awhile and began picking and eating too.

And just recently too, a favorite "berry memory" in the making has been afternoons spent picking wild raspberries around our yard with my little Bub.  I hold a tiny bowl, as there is only a handful ripe at a time each day.  My little boy follows closely behind me with baby steps that are getting surer every day.  I'm reminded then of a mama duck with her little ducklings following closely behind.  Every once in awhile he catches up and I grab onto one of his little hands and we walk together, my heart soaring, my mind memorizing this new milestone.  Being able to hold just one hand and walk together, side by side, now that he is more stable on his feet.  He babbles for the tiny red gems in my bowl as I pick them.  I give him one, still soft and warm from the sun.  He walks away from me just a step or two to enjoy it, and then just as quickly he toddles after me calling out "mmm, mummum, mmm, mammma, mmmum!"  Is he calling for more, for mama?  Probably for both as I hand him another and he rewards me with his sweet baby grin.  Pure delight to both of us.  Oh sweet summery, berry days...stay awhile!

making lately...

 Last week I finished up a pair of large (about 3" tall) custom birdy wedding cake toppers for a wedding this Saturday.  And before that, a tiny knitted pouch for a sweet little niece of mine who recently turned 7.  Its almost coin purse-sized, but I managed to find a little tin of Hello Kitty lip gloss to tuck inside.  

While my LillyBonBon shop has been dormant all summer, I'm still trying to squeeze in some creating here and there when I have a moment.  In this busy time of life, it feels so good and calming to continue to make things with my hands when I have a chance.  So what's next?  I have soo many ideas, just need more time!

little moments

A few little weekend things:  

It seems right now, when time to myself is rarer than ever, I try to find enjoyment in the little moments, the little things...the time I had before and took for granted now is precious and appreciated more than ever...like having a moment to clip some flowers from the garden.  I picked these tiny Violets that had seeded themselves from last summer...the only "vase" little enough I could find to put them in was a tiny glass salt shaker...and a favorite flower that is now blooming, the beautiful blue Delphinium. 

We also took a little (unsuccessful) blueberry-searching, hot hike high above the lake on Saturday which little Bub seemed to love.  And on Sunday we had some guests over for brunch.  I served egg bake...my new favorite thing.  Pre-baby I used to make quiche a lot.  Now its egg bakes.  But I love egg bakes and could eat them every single day...with a just few drops of Sriracha on top.  Perfect!

on homemade pizza...

Last weekend I was up to my elbows in dough for a good portion of it.  (And I didn't mind in the least.)  We got Little Bub to bed early on Friday evening and then Hub and I spent some time together in the kitchen making a few delicious pizzas.  If I had to choose a favorite piece of kitchen equipment, the pizza stone may just be it.  It makes homemade pizza and bread so much better, so amazing!  There is nothing quite like homemade pizza dough (which really is very simple...this is the recipe I use except I only do half) baked on a pizza stone...the flavor, the crispness, the texture...can't be matched!  I get a little dramatic when we make homemade pizza.  I rave on and on between bites.  And I say things like every Friday night should be "homemade pizza night!"  (But it is that good!)

After making pizzas from scratch several times now, we've learned a few things and we have our method down pretty good.  (Our first few times were full of messy/frustrating/marriage-testing moments.)  This time I realized that I've never actually read the recipe for "baking the pizzas" beyond just "making the dough" part.  That is where Hub comes in.  He controls the oven, how long to bake them, everything from that point on.  And so he's never actually read the recipe before that point.  My job is to get the dough ready and on the peel.  He comes in next with the toppings.  And I take it from there to get the pizza into the oven.  He sets the timer, controls the heat, and keeps a close eye on when he thinks its done.  Combined I guess we make a pretty good team because the pizzas turn out wonderful.  We've learned along the way not to make the pizzas too big or too loaded or we have trouble sliding them off the pizza peel  (we like this peel).  And we've learned to leave a little bit of pizza dough hanging off the edge of the peel to grip onto the stone for a smoother transfer.  And we've also learned to experiment and try crazy things on this pizza dough.

The first kind of pizza we made was a margarita-style pizza (first photo) topped with fresh basil from the garden.  It was fresh and delicious, if not a little bit basic.  The other kind was a new pizza we made (inspired by one we've had here):  a BBQ chicken pizza with banana peppers.  That's the one Hub is seen making here.  I admit, I was extremely skeptical at first when Hub first ordered this pizza.  But a little bite here and there won me over.  And our homemade version was even better!  We topped it with fresh arugula from the garden which added a nice little bite.  

Then, I woke up bright and early Saturday morning with little baby and decided to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.  Apparently I hadn't yet spent enough time with flour on my hands from the night before.  But these are truly worth it.  Yum!  And to me, the weekends are for slowing down a bit and enjoying really good food with those I love!

on summer lately...

Black raspberry tart, whip cream on anything we can find to put it on (with the iSi whip cream maker, a delicious birthday gift I got a few months back), new gooseberry plants discovered, garden blueberries starting to ripen, my "garden in the woods" flowers blooming, a profusion of pink flowers (this Stonecrop) that I'm really loving, and a sweet little baby boy hanging out with my garden gnomes...that is a little of my summer, lately.