afternoon tea

the year of curtains

I finally put up the last , well almost, curtain in the house. These in a way symbolize my year of sewing too. My mom bought me an old singer for my birthday last year and I put it to work. Sheepishly calling friends in the middle of a tension crisis. Now when I look around my home, windows cleaned for the year, I see more of my personality on every window. what's next on the list??

Fall attire

I cleaned up the flip flops, sun-hats and sunscreen today, put them in their appropriate bins for next year. This is what our hooks look like now, old flannel, new Pendleton, Handmade sweater and a big boy vest. As I head into the fall my need to bake and preserve all the food that comes into my kitchen becomes a joy. A way to warm up in the afternoon by turning on the oven or stove.
So I ask you, what are your favorite bread recipes??

( I'd love a grainy, chewy, sweet sandwich bread. )

time off

Big big sigh. I just returned from a quick weekend trip ( solo) up to my cabin. Meeting friends in the woods is the most therapeutic thing I have done in a while. Dark starry nights, long mornings on a lookout, laughing until my guts hurt. Thankful to my husband for taking the boys and the long drive up there with an old friend. back to real life, but with a restored spirit. what's next??

New Kneedles

My new knitting needle case. I needed to make this one fast, my mother in law gave me about a million knitting needles, all sorts and sizes, bells and the whistles! What great incentive for organization. I made this out of the remnants of some denim and Amy Butler fabric ( which I LOVE and can't get enough of. ) My favorite detail is the pocket shown on the picture above. I'm feeling the crafty juices beginning to flow again, yeah fall .

trash picked wallpaper

trash picked wallpaper
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

not sure what to do with this loot yet, any ideas?

Big Bite

We're here already!?!?!
It's been a while since I posted anything ( sorry for the two people who read this). Vacation up north, taken without the memory card for the camera, back to school, life, work and on and on. So here we are. I'm finally feeling actually present, here, today, rite now. I feel as though I'm still trying to sort out yesterday for a while. Big Birthday last week left me with some FANTASTIC new fabric, a lovely meal and cake, fiddle lessons and fancy new pants. A great way to spend the last year of my twenties. So onto this year eh!
The girls came over last night and got me all revved up for this falls crafty projects:
my optimistic ( kids will nap at the same time every day) list.
Finish the big guys sweater
Make curtains out of a table cloth for the dining room, with some crewel work perhaps?
Pillows for the big and little guy
Log bolsters

This is a truly big bite.

Gearing up for my first sweater project for my big guy. It looks perfect for fall romper, with a huge front pocket to keep your mits warm. We'll see if I finish it, I'll most definitely enlist the help of my talented friend. My family is heading up to our cabin in northern wisconsin My sister and brother are coming in for our annual trip into the woods. Hopefully I'll have time to paint, knit with these little ones at my heals.

party pants

Finally an occasion to put these super cute pants on my boys.
Made specially for this odd couple by the ever talented
elsie marley . I love the sizes too, sure to fit them for
parties to come.

fancy pants.

fancy pants.
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

linens

While this looks like a typical summer scene in everyones backyard, but this us actually a travesty. You have them too, your grandma's linens, your mother in laws old really cool vintage dishtowels, trim and second hand finds. The pile that you keep under your sewing table in the basement in a cardboard box, just waiting for that perfect project. Well that's where my stash was, and now it's moldy, damp and musty. What to do???? A tiny bit of bleach, borox, lemon juice? what's the answer, what's worked for you?

squint or you'll miss them

Toddler camera time, not bad I think. Read a more interesting tale below



So I got an email late Monday afternoon from the etsy press team saying that they were sending some of my stuff to a Good Morning America show on wednesday. Heart Beat racing......what the hell?!?!?! The awesome Etsy publicity folks bought some sets a while back to use for press purposes, I guess the GMA thing is typical. So what did I do??? Called my mom of course. I had to answer a few questions and find a flattering photo ( unfortunately it was pre-children) and than wait until this morning. While fighting with the big buy's cartoons, flipping back and fourth I finally heard the segment. Staying home and making money - or something of that nature-, there's Diane Sawyer in front of a table of etsy art, including a tiny set of dolls. While my dolls were not featured I can say that they were on Good Morning America, for what it's worth.

Matching Game

Thinking about a matching game for my etsy shop. Large wooden circles hand painted with little illustrations of ........things. I haven't been in my studio all week so I have a backlog of work, custom, sewing, orders and such, the perfect time for an idea huh? Than my ol'man busted his foot so he's layed up for a while, sighhh. There's some great summer festivals this weekend so we'll be distracted, but I hope to get some work done SOMETIME SOON!!! no no, I'm not feeling sorry for myself at all.

have a good weekend, hope you can catch some live music too.

Bunt Tomatoes

Our first 2 tomatoes out of the garden looked suspiciously like my bunt pan don't you think? With an optimistic start, unfortunately our tomato plants are all dying. Sadly we're trying one more trick to try to save them, epsom salts, compost and more straw. But, even if we only get a few, if they're as beautiful as this I'll be happy.

pressing flowers

Even though our projects together have a 5 min. time span this one was pretty fun. Although I couldn't quite answer his question " why are we pressing flowers mama? " I'm not sure actually. Any ideas for pressed flower projects?

Clickity Clack

double decker train !
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

Our family outing this weekend took us to a train & bluegrass festival with FREE TRAIN RIDES. The big guy was thrilled and a little scared by an actual train.

upper car

upper car
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

Sell

Off you go
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

This weekend was a whirlwind, daddeo was gone playing old time music in the woods somewhere so I was solo with my 2 littles. Lot's planned, a local art fair and music festival, birthday party and I needed to get these little guys off to the toy store. Even though it was a lot of work , juggling the kids, asking for help and working, I'm really proud. My buddies at Capitol Kids really liked them, I hope to do business with them in the future.
Even though I got through the weekend with both kids in tow, I'm excited to have my big guy back. Hopefully refreshed and full of new tunes to play to the boys.

Buy

New Hat
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

Or actually trade. One of my favorite things all summer is to help my friend sell hats at our local art fair. This is what I came away with this year. I love the ric rac and the color. I'm trying to get her to start selling on etsy.

first beet harvest

first beet harvest
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

sweety stopped by the garden plot to thin out the beets and came home with THIS crop! what to do, what to do. any good beet recipes? besides pickled beets, how can I put them up?

A dozen dolls

A dozen dolls
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

Almost finished with my first wholesale order ! These 12 ( plus some more) are going to head off into the world very soon. The good people at Capitol Kids were kind enough to give me a change. It's really made me get me chops in order. I ordered tags from Moo, started labeling the bottoms and am thinking about display. Is the egg carton cool ( cut down and painted ??) or is it too silly ?
This has been an insane week with potty training the big guy, growth spurt with the little guy and guests coming and going, I'm surprised I got time to paint at all. I'm actually looking forward to Monday.

sweet baby

sweet baby
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

I forgot about this stage in the life with a baby. The cooing, sweet mellow happy time, usually followed by a fussy feeding frenzy. His need for attention is so simple, a smile, a babababa, a dance. I'm trying to soak all of this in for my second child, my first was too shocking to remember anything.

toes

toes
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

His outhouse

Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

Our monday morning art project was a custom cardboard outhouse for my potty training guy. There's a half moon on the door, a cup of markers inside if he wants to linger and a stack of books outside the window for me to read if he gets lonely. Keep it up kiddo.

See more shots at my flicker site.

tiles for our tea

tiles for our tea
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

Aren't these sweet ! Just bought them at the summer craftacular in our town. These were made by the very talented glitter workshop gal .
They're tiles with decoupaged images from storybooks on them. Of course I couldn't resist the Max coaster and the Gnome mama reminded me of someone.

A few spoons

A few spoons
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

My son is a drummer, the neighbors know this, my daycare provider knows this, even my dog knows this, YET it has taken me at least 2 months before it sunk in with me. So, in an effort to understand and empower my little tito puente, I found a few simple wooden spoons at the thrift shop.
My thought was to make a few sets of "boomers" or "drumming sticks" as he calls them. So after naps, we added some paint and after a drying period of about 10 minutes he started whacking away. I hope I saved at least a few kitchen utensils in the process

a little paint

a little paint
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

as usual my art projects last about...... five minutes before all interest is lost. He did get a load of paint on them. Good Job Felix !

wack away !!!

wack away !!!
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

whew, it's like trying to harness a wild horse sometimes. At least he drums on the porch or outside.

A quiet moment

A quiet moment
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

A rare moment. Thinking about blogging, man o man, how do you all do it? Where do you find the time?? To take stellr photo's, do projects with your kids, look beautiful AND post it all? I may not be cut out for this.

The " finished " studio

The " finished " studio
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

A studio is a work in progress, I know I know. But here's my latest attempt. I tried to have a workspace for every outlet I have, painting, collecting, printmaking, framing, drawing and sewing. Centered is a my wooden table that I just inherited. I hope that in any spare moments, or on the way to the laundry room, I can prep, paint or sew something. See details at my flickr site. www.flickr.com/photos/tenfingerworkshop/

the vacation shirt

the vacation shirt
Originally uploaded by lilyhoyer

I was terrified, I've wanted to sew clothes for myself for such a long time and I finally did it. Thanks to lots of support, I took my time and actually finished my shirt on time to take it on vacation. Whoa.

The summer collection

My cheap summer clothes for the big guy. A friend gave me a bunch of RIT dyes, add a few Hanes T's and finish with some appliqued details. There are more in a blue dye bath now. I'm so discouraged by the graphics that are on boys clothes ( from big box stores), if it isn't army derived it's another aggressive image. So, I'm postponing the inevitable for one more year, maintaining an 'innocent' toddler.

what a mess

In what seems to be a post-baby nesting phase I decided to rearrange my studio last weekend. 1/2 my family was out of town, perfect timing rite?!?! Well, I'll say it's better than this ( which happened in the first hour after they left town ) . The after photo's to follow, someday.

Cops and Robbers

When it hits me I go with it, only after this set was painted, shellac'd and posted did I think to myself......is this really a good set to sell to children? The values? What if you're on the robbers side, it is 3 : 1 . I thought, no guns, no handcuffs, just street smarts ya know. I wanted an older, more innocent set, one with values attached to it ya know.
well let me know.

Rhubarb Jam

The boys and I took a walk this week and picked almost 8 lbs of Rhubarb. A spring treat that I can't seem to get my fill of. So this year I canned as much as I could, to use for those all important ice cream treats, waffles or over granola.

Rhubarb Jam : ( from www.thatsmyhome.com )
2lbs rhubarb stalks
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 TBS lemon juice

Wash, peel & cut rhubarb. Toss with sugar & cinnamon sticks, leave on counter top for an hour and than set aside overnight in fridge. Strain Rhubarb and pour juice into pan. Heat juice over medium heat and dissolve the sugar & bring to a boil. Add rhubarb and cinnamon sticks, bring back to a boil & reduce heat. Low boil for 20 min. Add lemon juice. Test on a cool plate. Ladle into clean, hot canning jars. Seal in boiling water bath ( water needs to be above the lids ) 5 min.

note: if you've never canned before this book is a good start
the Big Book of Preserving the Harvest
by Carol W. Costenbader


Hopefully this is the beginning of my attempts to preserve, can, freeze and root cellar a bunch of food this year from our garden. One recipe at a time.