Under a blue moon

Frame revisted

Everyone remember this frame?  I finally finished painting it.  I stuck with the red. 

My son gave me a framed antique seed packet for Mother's Day.  It is one of my favorite flowers, sweet peas, but the frame it came in was a rather rustic affair and not the least bit fitting to the delicate sweetness of the sweet pea.

So I finished painting the frame and put the seed packet into its new home.  I love the juxtaposition of the grandeur of the frame against the simple charm of the packet. 

Okay now I think I need to go cut out some fabric or I am going to be mighty red-faced come August 1st.

New project

Is it a good idea to start a new project when one should be cracking on an already started (if by started we mean has repeatedly taken the fabrics out of their storage box and petted them and not much else) project?  A project one has COMMITTED to doing with a deadline?  Live on the edge, I say.

I got an email from my friend Connie (oooh am I ever being presumptious since we haven't met in real life - only over email.  But you can never have too many friends, right?) asking me about a certain embroidery pattern that I had on this blog last year. 

I had totally forgotten about it.  I pulled it out of my complex and effecient pattern storage system (brown paper bag) and took a look at it.  The pattern is called "He Loves Me" and is from Lace Tales.

I am going to make another pillow and use the palest pastel shades.  Have a nice frothy white ruffle around it.  I do like having an embroidery project going on. 

He Loves Me,
He Loves Me Not
It Matters Little,
I'm What He's Got

Curiouser and curiouser

I have been working on this bit of altered art for a few months.  I wanted to make an Alice in Wonderland themed collage for my nephew who is a huge fan of Lewis Carrol.

As with most of my projects I learn as I go and this was no exception.  The lesson was a little longer than most as I kept putting it away when it wasn't totally cooperating.

I started with a microscope slide holder (ooooh - the possibilities are endless....) and I knew I wanted to have a chess board vibe.  Hence the black and red theme.

 

I'm working on my soldering skills (non-existent).  In fact this afternoon I was working on the slides, hoping that I could add a soldered edge to them.  I have the copper tape.  I have the solder.  I have the soldering iron.  But it turns out one needs flux to get it all come together.  At first I painted over the copper tape with black acrylic hoping it would give an aged effect.  The copper coming through just wasn't cutting it though.  So I peeled off the copper tape and found some electical tape to bind off the slides.

When Rick came home he noted with some alarm the electical tape out on the counter.  And then noticed the soldering iron.  I told him not to turn on any lights while he was showering, just to be on the safe side. 

I do love toying with him.

My nephew is hard at work at Cal Poly, working on his Masters.  I am going to send this to him and hope that it adds a little levity to his day and remind him that life isn't all tsch and algorithms.

"We're all mad here."

Paint

 

We have a big, blank expanse of wall in our kitchen eating area.   I was toying with the idea of big chalkboard with a fancy gilded frame but that seemed a little too Pottery Barn circa 1998.  I've been keeping my eye out for an oversized print or poster that would work in the space but most of the oversized ones tend to be of the vintage Cinzano ilk.  A little bolder and more graphic than is our style.

See?  That is one big, blank wall.

I miss those white chairs too.  We were just caring for them while my neice was getting settled into her adult life.  She's settled now and my her chairs are now in So. California.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Homegoods, just browsing and I found three pressed metal decorative square thingies.  The color was completely wrong but I never let that stop me.  That's what paint is for.  Forgive the blurry picture, I was over excited about my find.

A little primer, a little paint and there you have it.  Excellent way to break up a big wall.  All for less than $45.

Thank goodness for the internet

 

Weeeeeee ~ Typepad is all different.  This should be fun.  I composed an entire post and went to do a final edit on a picture and it crashed my browser and I lost everything.  And now my pictures and text keep posting all wonky.  I don't think I like this.  Someone may be resistant to change....

Did you all see the picture of my backyard on the last Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion? 

Okay so not really my garden but it should be.  It's how I picture my backyard to look, right down to the scattered rose petals.

I love everything about it and I just poured over the article.  Most of the article in on the interior of the house (which is lovely) but I wanted to see more of the garden and particularly the table setting.

I am totally coveting the stemware on the table.  Unfortunately the product guide doesn't give any information on them

So I got out my trusty google and searched away.

I found these glasses at Ballard Design.  The shape is right and I love the short stem (great for tossing into the dishwasher) but I'm not sure how I feel about insects on my stemware.  I love bees in person but maybe not on something I am going to be pressing against my lips.

It's a tie between the next two - I keep going back and forth.  I love the etching on the Sur La Table glasses below.  The shape isn't as appealing to me as the Ballard Design ones (which have a flatter bottom to the bowl part of the glass). 

But the etching on the last glass, from  Pierre Deux , is a little more delicate.   At the moment they are my favorite.  Come on by and we'll sit under the pergola sipping pink lemonade and smelling the roses.

Speaking of glasses - I made PW's Pots de Creme mainly because I thought they looked so pretty served in the wine and champagne glasses.  I modified the recipe a bit - using scalded half and half rather than coffee (since I'm not a coffee drinker and didn't have any in the house) and I used less chocolate because someone might have gotten into the bag last night and eaten some.

Two color quilt challenge

In what can only be described as a moment of utter lunacy I signed up for my sister Nicole's two color quilt challenge.   Maybe I misread the guidelines but I'm pretty sure I read that the finished quilts were to be unveiled on August 1st.  I just didn't realize that meant THIS YEAR.

I better pick up the pace.  We are supposed to post our progress on the first day of each month so I have just under two weeks to do what?  Does pulling the fabric out and piling up on my dining room table count as progress?

I've decided to do a pale blue and cream two color quilt.  I think I may take out the fabrics with a lot of coral in them - I'll wait and see how it's shaping up when I get the pieces cut out and a block made. 

And for full disclosure I will be making a quilted tabletopper - not a full sized quilt.  My attention span can only handle crib sized quilts and tabletoppers.

I love that Acorn Quilt pattern.  I hope it's not too ambitious for me.

This fabric has been curing for a couple of years now.  I'm going to have to try to find a few more fat quarters of pale blue fabrics to round it out a bit more.

Haunted strawberry house

We have driven past this house hundreds of times over the years.  The kids in the family called it the haunted strawberry house because it was surrounded by strawberry fields and there is a strawberry stand just a few hundred feet to the right. 

It's actually called the Redman House.  It was built in the 1890's for a man named James Redman.  In the 1930's the house and surrounding property was sold to a prominant Japanese family.

During a very ugly, never talked about phase in our American history the family was shipped off to internment camps.  They somehow managed to hang onto the house and returned to it after WW II.

I don't know when it fell into such disrepair.  It was red tagged by the county after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake but a group of investors bought the house and land and have had plans ever since to restore it.  They aren't making very quick progress.

I'm always a little surprised to see it still standing when I drive by.

I was trying to get a shot of the Castroville sign without a port-a-potty in the picture but the traffic was heavy because of the yearly artichoke festival.  If you love artichokes thank a Castrovillian.

We had a really fine day of driving through Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.  We wanted to check out an area called Corralitos.   We just drove semi aimlessly.  Where ever the road took us. 

We ended up Nicki's house were she had an absolutely divine dinner.  I can't wait to recreate it myself.  She served grilled chicken with buffalo wing type marinade, served with a blue cheese sauce and salad made with fresh, grilled corn, tomatoes and avocado.  It was very Summery and delicious.

She could have just rested on her laurels at that point but she finished the meal with a lemon icebox pie that we ate out on the patio, watching the stars come out.   

It really was a perfect weekend.

Roadtrip

Rick and I decided to escape the heat and take a weekend drive near the shore.  We are going to head out early on Saturday morning (alas - not in the car pictured above.  That belongs to my brother in law Doug.  We'll be in my standard issue, very boring Honda) and go over the Santa Cruz mountains and wend our way behind Freedom and Watonsville in an area called Corralitos. 

We are still on the prowl for areas to live closer to the ocean and our loved ones.  Of course the housing market decided to be uncooperative so we've delayed our plans a bit but we are still looking, getting the lay of the land, so to speak.

This is where I hope to have lunch:

This is the view from the outside eating area at Seascape.

After our drive (and perhaps a stop or two at some favorite shops) we are going to head over to my sister's house where we will have a wonderful meal and spend the night.  Maybe sit outside and look at the stars.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 

Links

I've decided to make a change on how I manage my links on the sidebar. 

When I first started this blog I used my list of links more like my own personal favorites (like you have with your browser) rather than a way to share other sites with anyone visiting here.  I have found that lately there are many blogs that I visit regularly that haven't made it to my list - mostly because I'm too lazy to update it regularly. 

I remember how thrilled and validated I felt the first time I saw my own blog listed on another blogger's list of links.  I must have gone to her site ten times a day just to see my little blog name in print.  Imagine my chagrin when after about two days she removed it.  Talk about deflated. 

What I am going to do is list reciprocal links.  If you give me the honor of listing my blog on your list of links then I want to return the favor. 

The links listed now are the ones I know about - if you have me listed and you don't see your blog listed please leave me a comment or drop me an email and I'll add you.  I find that I discover some great new blogs (to me anyway) from comments left here.

I have them broken out it categories that are pretty self-explanatory.  Bon Vivants is where I put blogs like mine - that cover a multitude of topics.  And look at Gourmands - poor Mimi must be pretty lonely out there, all by herself.  If you have a food oriented blog let me know!

I think there are a ton of wonderful, lesser known blogs out there that we are missing out on.  I'm hoping that this will shine a little light on them.

Beach glass

Seaglass always gives off an aura of its watery origins; cool, calm colors, undefined edges.  Scoop up a handful and hold it up next to your ear and you can almost hear the gentle lapping of waves.

My youngest likes to take off by himself and head to a secret spot somewhere north of Santa Cruz and south of Half Moon Bay and spend a few, solitary hours in the meditative process of gathering seaglass.

He has quite a collection of it - it would probably fill a half gallon milk carton.  I keep urging him to experiment with jewelry making but for now he is content just to gather and admire.

In the meantime, while I wait for his creative spark to fire (or for him to get tired of me going on about it), I've discovered one of my online friends has an Etsy shop, KahiliCreations with designs, while not made from seaglass, evoke the same calm, cool, watery essence.

Her work stands on its own but she has gone one step further and given each a name, in Hawaiian, that perfectly descibes the piece.

Can't you practically feel the sand between your toes?

Edited to add:  Whoops!  My bad - I posted a link to a contest that was over long ago in March.  I thought it was May.   I need to slow down....