JCasa *handmade

winter + white

ever since i saw this, i haven't been able to get pompoms off my mind.  enter a mama + two littles who love to craft and you can guess what we were doing this past weekend.

since we have a dark front door, i wanted it white - and every kind of white, from snow to sparkly to creamy - and white it is.  and looking especially lovely, if i do say so myself. although the tutorial is fabulous - as is her blog, oh my - we just kind of winged it using a wire wreath form + about 6 balls of misc. acrylic blend white yarns (including one of the vanna sparkly stuff - say no more). it was a bit time consuming, but so worth it - about 3 days each with several hours snipping time to give you a ballpark. i think i even have an official pompom callous.

best of all, it was SO much fun for my girlys + me.  and all winter long, as they see our front door, they'll know we made it : together.  - xoxo

and so the decking begins

for a few years, i have been one of those people who had the tree up the very day after thanksgiving.  this year, i've decided the tree can wait - until the first of december.  in the meantime, we've been decorating a wee bit each day.  i had bought a bundle of michael miller funky Christmas fat quarters last year (ahem) and FINALLY got around to playing with them.  we've hung up two flag garlands - a small one above the front window and another between the dining + living rooms.  i love the double-sided thing so no matter where you are, you get a peek of holiday cheer.

as clear as memories of lawrence welk, the charleston and butterscotch candies, i could hear my nana's voice calling "waste not want not".  she was green before green was the new black.  who knew?  so i took the leftover notches cut from those flags and whipped up some mini garland and currently have a long strand of it running around an inspiration board in my wee studio.  i confess, we've never been garland/bunting people, but ever since i made the ones in the girls' room i am smitten, i tell you!

and there are even a few more projects in various stages of completion - will they make the december 1st deadline?  doubtful.  do they make me happy nonetheless?  indeed!

and guess what... i made a few extra of both the flag garlands + mini-garlands.  if it makes you happy and you'd like to deck your own halls a bit, hop on over to the shop and have a look.

happy monday, friends!  xoxo
 

happy thanks

snapshots taken throughout this most lovely day, from some early morning alone time through all the makings and happy good things, and ending with yet a few more quiet moments alone.

from me to you + from our home to yours, sending warm wishes for a most happy day of thanks.  life is good.  celebrate.  where ever + when ever + how ever you feel like it.  enjoy it.  xoxo

just another day

this morning i ran 4 miles.  and then later this afternoon, i got a really good upperbody workout - i turned this:

into this:

and when it was all done and i changed out of what had become very dirty clothes, i finally sat down in front of this.

for my next trick...  any guesses?
hope you had a great day, as well!  xoxo

a few good things

her sense of style

her sense of humor

their bond

daddy's influence on proper supergirl flying moves

other good (and great) things ::
all the neighborly love these past few weeks, my space being featured on modish, and my work featured on sewmamasew twice in the past week, and a few new + very exciting opportunities (and that's all i'll say about that).

also loving this scarf, all things tortillagirl, la fuji mama's nutella cookies, stefanie japel making t-shirt yarn, lucy and her gorgeous new design, gretelie's oh so pretty wool wristwarmers, wisecraft's brilliant removable quilt design wall, and halloween candy.  oh yes, let's share a piece with mama, please.

what's making you happy on this gorgeous first day of november?  xoxo

tidy

i couldn't help myself, everything looked so pretty.

reframing and arranging favorite prints, photos, textiles and ceramics. and placing much needed tools at my fingertips.

a new configuration of inspiration boards in the form of ikea cutting boards + a shimandsons pinstrip.  inspired by rachel to use something non-traditional.

removing completed projects from my bulletin board, in turn creating space for what is yet to come.  me thinks cleaning out a creative space is a good thing.

:

i have a few things to wrap up this month - that quilt up there tops the list - so i'll be popping in and out with photos of our days along the way. and of course, a good recipe or two. and maybe a craft project here and there. and some very cool news. wait a minute, how is that stepping back from blogging for a short while?
enjoy your days!  xoxo

hello, Fall.

oh, Autumn.  you are my favorite and my best.  singing songs about the colors turning at every corner, telling tales and endless giggles under piles of quilts, falling in love with puzzles again and again, the baking for baking's sake, and the wool.

i hope you are finding special ways to welcome the turn of the season into your world.  xoxo

home.

after a most wonderful week away, it is nice to be back in our space.

this is the third year our little foursome has made a summer trip to the sea and each time it is more magical.  and easier.  i am sure some of you can appreciate "easier" as one delicious slice of progress.  we've learned to pack less, simplify our plans with each new day and just soak it all in.  imagine being simultaneously filled with inspiration + completely relaxed.  good stuff.

i hope our girls will cherish these memories just as i fondly remember each of my childhood summers spent in the adirondacks. as a mother, i now appreciate the simplicity of those summer vacations on a different level - away from our everyday lives and how those experiences are shared as a family.  very good stuff, indeed.

and now that we are back in our home, gently easing back into things and bracing ourselves for a new even busier routine, looking forward to all that lies ahead... i am making a concerted effort to hold onto what a memorable getaway can bring to my everyday life.  xoxo

::

many many thanks to near hundred (wow!) of you who contacted me about being pattern testers!  i will be formatting the pattern over the next week or so and then contacting each of you with more information.  xoxo

good morning.

as the littles trickled in next to me this morning, one of the first requests was for fresh strawberries.  and blueberry pancakes.
oh, all right.

i had thought the local strawberries were all gone, but that resourceful corn fairy gifted us a pint from the Amish farm market earlier in the week.  into a small saucepan went a handful each of blueberries + strawberries plus a splash of water and it all simmered over low heat while the batter was mixed with more blueberries and the remaining strawberries were nibbled.  fast forward about 10 minutes and wishes are granted.

a good morning - and day - to you.  xoxo

the shuffle

one thing i love about knitting is that you can do it pretty much anywhere.  but sewing + making requires a bit more of a designated space to house all of the ideas and inspiration and works in progress along the way.  working in a small space means things can - if you let them (cough cough) - get quite cluttered rather quickly.  shuffling back and forth between knitting and sewing is a big part of who i am, and all those many projects need a place to land en route to completion.  so you can imagine that my little work space has been known to suffer from system overload.

enter mother nature :: thanks to a very rainy day this weekend, i was able to do a major cleanout and regain my footing, by emptying out the room entirely and only inviting back that which is needed.  the result is more breathing room than i thought i had, a big bag for donation and rather impressive pile of fabrics to be shared (yes, that means giveaway - more on that soon enough).  one would imagine i could have sewn a bit this weekend...

alas, there was no time for sewing with the wonderful busyness of life happening.  but with some fluffy malabrigo (for my purple-loving girly) and a lovely pattern in hand, there was knitting - in the car.  i do hope swiss miss wasn't offended when she was asked to share her sunny window spot with my swift + ball winder.  it was just for a short while, after all.  xoxo