"real" sewing

I went to the fabric store Friday night. And discovered how much fun it is to pick out fabric, even on a Friday night. Or perhaps especially on a Friday night as it was so nice and quiet there. And I got excited at all the possibilities a pretty piece of fabric holds. For quite some time now, I've been wanting to make a simple curtain for a little bathroom window. I finally dug in and did it this weekend...my first "real" sewing project.

I've used my sewing machine for tiny tiny little things, mostly sewing on paper, so I was quite intimidated to begin a project like this. Sure, I made a hideous, royal blue sweatshirt in 7th grade Home Ec class. But I've long since lost any sewing skills I may have had at one time.

So I began with the fun part...picking out the fabric: a pretty pale robin egg's blue sort of color fabric with a white design. (Of course I couldn't help but buy some other sweet fabrics too...not sure for what exactly...maybe a pillow?)

And after only 14 calls or so to my mum over the course of 2 days with various sewing/curtain-related questions...I almost, almost have a finished curtain! I just can't decide if I want it to have a lace trim along the bottom or not. Once I do, expect a finished curtain photo to follow soon!

P.S. Our pale pink roses are enjoying their second bloom, their final hurrah of summer...so I keep cutting more & more to bring inside to enjoy them while I can...and I love how they look in this pale pink glass vase. Its always the little things...

~xo, L

garden to table

For dinner the other night, I wasn't sure what to make. And then I remembered the bush of basil we have growing along the side of our house. So I walked outside with the plastic insert bowl of my salad spinner thing and clipped a bunch of basil and picked all the ripe cherry tomatoes. I love being able to walk outside my door and pluck fresh ingredients to throw together a quick, fresh dinner. No need to run to the grocery store. I made a basil pesto pasta dish with the tomatoes sauteed in some garlic, and topped with generous shavings of parmesan cheese. It was simple yes, but also so delicious. So delicious in fact that I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish.

Oh how I wish this moment, this late summer season where the days are still warm and sun-filled, the nights are cool with the windows open, the knitting projects are just beginning, and a cup of hot tea is comforting each night that is a bit cooler...I wish this season would last for a long, long time.

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P.S. Here's the basil recipe I use, previously posted.

sweets...

...for my Sweet.

We celebrated Hub's birthday this past weekend and it involved indulging in quite a few sweets. Multiple homemade cupcakes with buttercream frosting were consumed. (The same kind I made last year but it was much easier because since then I've become the owner of a fabulous new KitchenAid stand mixer. I love that thing and using it makes me feel tres professional!)

We also shared a very fancy dessert at Scenic...profiteroles with chocolate ice cream, ganache, and crushed pistachios. Mmm!
A lot of sweets...but sometimes you have to do that when its your hubby's special day, oui?

new cake toppers...

Just a couple new things I made recently ~ in between blueberry-picking and triathlon-training... ;)

A sweet peppermint/seafoam-colored deer couple cake topper, now available in the shop here...

And a mama & baby bird cake topper duo, requested by an Etsy customer for a baby shower cake (more photos here) that will be placed in a nest. I love this idea she came up with to have the mama bird giving the baby bird her heart! Oh, and a couple photos of the packaging/special label I made for this order too...I really like how the label turned out!

whirlwind...

{mara mi}

{mara mi}

{mara mi} {Triathlon, pre-race}

{fuzzy yellow caterpillar}

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Last weekend was a serious whirlwind...and I think I'm still recovering just a bit. A fun whirlwind just the same. Hub and I went down to the Cities for the weekend...and on Saturday morning, I woke up bright & early at 5 AM to participate in a Triathlon...I should qualify that and say it was a relay Triathlon...so I just had to run a little over 5 miles (no swimming or biking for me ~thank goodness!). I always love the race atmosphere where there seems to be so much energy and excitement in the air. Plus it was fun to do a team event with my lovely sister-in-law who provided me with heaps of encouragement and tips all summer long as we were getting ready for this race (she is an experienced Triathlete and this was my first one!)

After I recovered a bit from the race, then I got another much-needed knitting lesson from my aunt (I'm still working on learning how to knit these socks!) and was surprised to see my sweet cousin there too who I hadn't seen in ages. I think I got the hang of it now and may just have A finished sock by this Fall...only a year later!

Then, Mum and I bopped down to Stillwater to squeeze in a little shopping and we came upon a hip new shop called Mara Mi that combines paper goods, ribbon, etc with a cafe full of cupcakes, croissants, smoothies, etc... Really, what could be better than that? (Meanwhile, Hub was off golfing in the heat with his brothers.) We met up for dinner again at Mum & Dad's and of course it was fabulous as usual. Even my Grandma was there...a real treat to see her.

Sunday was church with Hub's family, followed by brunch at Tria, and then I took a jaunt across town with my sister-in-law & mother-in-law to Anthropologie. Coming back to my parents' afterward, my sister and her whole family were all over too so I was able to visit with them briefly before we headed back for home! Whew! I can't believe how much we were able to pack into one short weekend but it doesn't get much better than that!

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P.S. I just love a table full of pretty ribbons and trims! Wish I had a craft room big enough to have all my ribbon sprawled out like that (not that I personally have that much ribbon)!

pretty wings & other such natural beauty...

sighting in the yard today (some kind of Admiral according to my butterfly guide, I think?)

chancing upon a tiny songbird feather found in the garden
noticing petite purple wildflowers dotting my woods
waiting, waiting for red...
picking our first bell pepper

(at least some things are meant to be eaten green!)

in the studio {inspiration, sparklers, & a smoothie}

Today I was inspired while working on a special cake topper order...and by the crisp, breezy day. After a bit of a hiatus from my desk this summer, I spent some serious time today working on new things...getting that excited, inspired feeling again. Perhaps it was the crispness to the air, after several days of heat & humidity, that hinted every so slightly at Fall. Sure I've dabbled here & there on different little things this summer, but only occassionally and never for very long periods of time. But inspiration was flowing today and it was one of those things where there just weren't enough hours in the day. It felt so good, so right. I even forgot that I needed to pick Hub up from work. Oops...

I made myself a triple berry pomegranate smoothie & grabbed some chocolate covered almonds (my new craving!) for lunch and continued working. Hopefully I'll have some new, completed things to share soon! I guess you could say I was "feeling aflutter" today with ideas, creativity, inspiration...just as the rippy on my inspiration board says (in the last photo...a snippet of my inspiration board).

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P.S. Another source of inspiration came from the sweet little white & sparkly gold sparkler things that my Mum just got for me. I'm not sure what to call them exactly (see pictures above), but I can see them working very sweetly in some new creations.

~more soon! ~

scenes from a summer visit...

I had some sweet visitors here last week and their visit just so happened to coincide with all the Tall Ships arriving in Duluth (a very big, overly-hyped deal here). They didn't come up to visit in order to see the Tall Ships...but it just so happened that as we were driving up along the North Shore for lunch (here), some of the ships were coming in. So we pulled over and snapped a few photos.

And although I'm always a bit of a skeptic or avoider of big, publicized, crowded events....the ships did actually look pretty neat to me from our vantage point as they were still out aways on Lake Superior, making their way towards the harbor. Something about all those big sails and tall masts on a sea of blue that does sort of take your breath away, just a bit...

That was about all we needed to see though, and then, instead of standing among throngs of people, paying to see old ships (or replicas of old ships) close-up, we spent our time together on a quiet beach looking for agates or seaglass...taking a couple walks/hike in the woods...and eating some great food together!

So now, a few food photos! Above is the blueberry tart I made for our dessert one night. I drizzled some of blueberry jam on top...the jam, by the way, turned out very good! (And this should be the end of my blueberry mentions until next summer...I promise!)

Breakfast, the next morning...homemade strawberry muffins, vanilla yogurt with fresh berries and granola (oops...there are more blueberries!).

And a first-time visit to a sweet country restaurant in a red barn called "Swamp Sisters" where most everything is made from scratch and bison meat is their specialty...it's in almost every dish on the menu. They have a vegetable garden next to the farm (where the lettuce for the salad I ordered came from) and chickens roaming free on the other side. And it really is sisters who run the place...too cute!

Of course I passed on the bison, but they did have some phenomenal caramel pecan rolls!

And I even wore my red clogs for the occasion too. Oh how love these shoes! And my sweet visitors! :)
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Eek! ~ Can you believe its August already?

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P.S. Speaking of ships, isn't this necklace I just happened to stumble upon quite sweet?

xo ~ L