February's Find of the Month (in Forks!)

Two weeks ago we visited Forks for the long weekend - our first getaway as a family since Willa was born (what?!? way too long). It was a great, mostly relaxing weekend. The beaches were amazingly blustery - we watched as the foam flew horizontally well beyond the beach borders, and we took a beautiful hike through the Hoh rainforest. Being in Forks was a trip, especially in the winter. So much was closed, but I could picture what the summer must be like for Twilight fans. Although very sleepy this particular weekend, the people we did run into were all moms with their daughters (I assume), taking pictures next to the characters' cardboard cutouts and buying Forks shirts, necklaces, etc.

At one point I took a walk into "town" (really just a block away) looking for a thrift store. The only one I found was closed for the weekend, but as I walked I realized that many of the stores on the main strip very advertising "collectibles." I checked a few out and ended up buying a $3 pitcher (above) and a bread box for my craft area (to hold my current projects and misc. supplies). Two weeks later, I took the pitcher to clean and noticed it's a Dansk Kobenstyle, which sounded intriguing. I looked it up and easily found the same pitchers being sold on etsy and ebay for between $32-$95. Not bad. I love it and am excited to add it to my living room!

I want these!

valentines

Well, the Fun-A-Day project lost steam before half of the month was through. I felt OK about it, actually. I decided to make some things for Valentines, and to focus on some other parts of life, like the people in it.

The weird thing about that project was that I was recording all of these words - these things that I wanted to bring into my life, but I was more focused on making something to hang on the wall, and less on appreciating those things in my life.

Anyway, I made a banner for the living room, then made a wall-hanging (not quite done in this picture). It's been fun!

December craft party

Craft Party #2! I had a few more folks over this time and almost finished a new project (just a bit more to do..). It was so fun to get some quality time with friends, with the bonus of learning some new crafts. Thanks to everyone who joined me!

Kate's giant felted stocking!

my stockings made of leather - we'll see how it works out

Cristopher joins in!

Laura's smart phone mittens - beautiful!
(Laura, I love this picture of you! If only it didn't cut off your eyes...)

my first craft brunch - finally!

After years of wanting to pull something together, I finally hosted my first craft party! Here are some pictures from the day. I am so excited to finally have a space to work with friends, and can't wait for the next one.

Joy's felted mushroom

My so-ugly-it's-perfect curtain

embroidery hoop decor idea

So pretty!
http://luziapimpinella.blogspot.com/

den idea

I love this room. We have a den/family room adjoining the kitchen now, and we were given two small butter-yellow couches that we put there with the tv. The walls are split with cream and putty walls. The room needs a major splash of color! This gives me some great ideas.

I find the picture on this blog.

starburst clock

We just moved three weeks ago to a rambler and I'm more obsessed than ever with mid-century decor. Should I buy this? $50.

dining chairs revisited

I have had this idea for years and have always wanted to one day find a great fabric and a few more older chairs to reupholster. I love the idea of having all different chairs come together with the same paint and/or fabric. I found this picture tonight - green gingham, no less!

mid-century modern mania

My hobbies have shifted! I've found that having a newborn has lead me to find new interests. Well, not new, but more specific. I've appreciated a certain style of design for quite a while, but suddenly (over the past couple of months), I've become a bit obsessed over all things mid-century modern. I think about my grandma's amazing starburst clock (that I thought was over the top when I was younger, yet clearly left an impression), or some of my mom's things that were just given away quickly before they moved out here. If I could, I'd be stalking ebay, thrift stores, and estate sales every day. I kind of already do, thanks to a new smartphone and all the notifications I get for all the sales around me. Even esty has an app!

I believe it all started because I have a beautiful mid-century coffee table that I ended up with after a breakup. The top is in desperate need of a sanding and restaining, which I hope to do (and post before and after pics) soon!

In the meantime, I have found several websites to dive into, one is which is mid2mod, where this picture of a room divider came from. Isn't it beautiful?

We're moving in two weeks to a new place, where I'm hoping to have a resurgence in interest to refinish some of my furniture. It's a decent sized house where we can have a creative space (a sewing room!) along with workshop space in the garage. I'm so excited to move!

In the meantime, my recent favorite sites to stalk:

http://retrorenovation.com/
http://mistermodtomic.blogspot.com/
http://mid2mod.blogspot.com/

mantel idea

How did I just now discover www.decor8.com?

purple and orange baby room?

Two months to go and I only last week made some decisions about the baby room. I originally thought I'd just leave it white and make the rest of the room cute with colorful accessories. I always hesitate to alter the rentals I live in for fear that I won't stay long, but the nesting must have hit full force last weekend when I got back from two weeks away. One week later and I've made some strides in the room that has been primarily a dumping ground since we moved in in April.

We moved the crib to an an inside wall, and the dresser closer to the outlet (where the crib had temporarily been placed). We bought some wooden shelves from Fred Meyer, and some really cute drapery fabric with the light-blocking fabric ($2.50/yard!) to go with it. I also decided last week that I would indeed paint the room, so I've been getting paint swatches and looking up color schemes.

I'm pretty set on painting the walls a light orange - not too peachy or yellow, which turns out to be a hard thing! I found this website today giving examples of orange room designs - this is just one (by Maria Killam) of many beautiful photos:



I like knowing the meaning & emotions some folks associate with particular colors, so I checked out orange and found the following:

"Orange, being the combination of red and yellow...exudes warmth, acts as an appetite stimulant and spreads exuberance. ...it gives an emotional uplift."

"Requires the eye to focus, therefore objects seem closer and larger."

I'll post a before and after picture once I get going on the actual work - we have two great friends visiting soon who've offered to help us paint. I'm really excited - it'll be the first room I've ever designed!



Also, check out this furniture! It makes me realize I could potentially coordinate all of the colors on the paint samples...

back to urban farming

All month I've been working on moving from the apartment I've lived in for the past six years, to a house a bit further north. The house is actually 250 square feet smaller than our current apartment, but is on about 1/3 of an acre. The house was built in 1926 by a woman named Hazel Wolf (not THE well-known Hazel Wolf, but it turns out she was very similar - progressive, also lived to over 100 years old, and was all about working the land and raising goats, chickens, crops, etc), and she lived there for 60 years before her death. It's now owned by her niece, from whom we're renting.

This blog started as a mostly urban homesteading blog, then for many reasons I turned more to crafting. While my plan is to continue with both, I'll be spending lots of my time working the land of this new house to create a more sustainable way of living. I'm totally inspired by what this land once was, and plan to enjoy it to it's fullest. As a renter it's too easy to say that I don't want to put the work in to something I don't own, but as a 36 year old who has always rented, I'm getting really sick of that excuse!

Today I found a great article with some fantastic links to Bay Area resources, but where are these resources in Seattle? I know they're out there...


After some searching, I found this. I'll be looking into more local links, so stay tuned!

More to come - the big move is this weekend and I'll post pictures as we start settling in.

canning experience #1

I had my first canning experience last night. Last week we were in Southern Idaho visiting C's grandma, and while there we picked probably 10 lbs of plums and a full large box of corn. C blanched, cut-off, and froze 12 cups of corn, and we still have probably a dozen ears left...

Then last night I finally got around to making jam. Plum Ginger Lemon jam. Sounds delicious, right? I followed directions, but I doubled the recipe, which I read later isn't a good idea. We boiled the jam a long long time and it would not get over 215 degrees (it's supposed to hit 220), so we finally just filled the jars with half the jam mixture, boiled them and put them aside. We added pectin to the remaining jam, to try to compensate for the low temperature.

This morning we have half plum ginger syrup and half of what may turn out to be jam. Damn.

Regardless of the success (or not), the experience has made me recommit to the idea of buying seasonally. C and I agreed last night to primarily do our shopping on Sundays at the Farmers Market. We also committed to a lower food budget so we'll see if those two things can go hand in hand.

Either way I'm excited to try it out. And I'm hoping to try jam again in the near future. What a bummer to have so much syrup from SO many plums.

kitchenette treasure

I LOVE THIS. There is an antique store by my apartment (Antika) that has an entire room of Kitchenettes and other vintage kitchen treasures. As someone who has always lived in small places with small kitchens, looking at all this compartmentalized storage gets me giddy.

The one in the picture isn't actually the one I would purchase, if I had the money to purchase one. Others in the store have tons more little drawers with labels for sugar, spices, and so many other things. So fun!

old seeds in coffee filters

I hate the idea of throwing away old seeds, but I also dread planting rows of hopeful vegetables just to find that none of them are going to grow.

My earlier project inspired me to find more seeds to plant, but most if not all of my vegetable seeds are several years old. I don't want to waste anytime in our p-patch, and I don't want to use my limited amount of small growing pots. In a moment of recycling genius (not mine - I read about it here), I remembered we have coffee filters for a machine we no longer own, and plenty of ziplocks.

Each bean (I had six different packets) has it's own filter/baggie, then I taped the packet to each and set them up on top of the fridge. Hopefully we'll get some (and not hundreds) of bean plants. Stay tuned!



We should garden like our life depends on it. Because it does.

Sunday 3/22 update: the filters had seemed to dry out this morning, so we opened up the ziplocks to check. They were still a tiny bit damp, but clearly the beans soaked up a lot of the water. Meaning, the beans are probably still living organisms, meaning we may end up with a TON of bean plants. We sprayed a little more water in each and put them back on top of the fridge.

Thursday 3/26 update: I opened up one of the bean bags and it smelled AWFUL. So, I got rid of that one. The peas aren't doing anything and there may be potential for one on the bean bags to do alright. I am no longer feeling like a genius. At least not for this endeavor.

May update: the beans molded and the basil got aphids. So much for that project!

tiny basils and thyme

Earlier I was transplanting some tiny basils and thyme - I've never been able to get them past the leggy baby stage, so this is always a bit of a trying experience. They seem so fragile and unlikely to reroot. I try every year anyway, never changing my methods but hoping that maybe this year is going to be the one.

For the first time I'm utilizing a grow light, of sorts. I found a tray and put them up on the mantel right next to a arm-hinged lamp - it currently only has a full-spectrum light in it but I'm wondering if that'll work...

Then I planted some old cilantro seeds directly into a chipped glass I was wondering what to do with - I want to see for once how much water is actually getting down to through the soil. Plus it'll be fun to watch the roots grow a little bit.

As I was doing all of this it struck me what a delicate job it is to transplant such a vulnerable plant. I loved every minute of it and fell for each of those plants - I'm really going to be disappointed if they don't grow. I am starting new seeds this afternoon though, so I'll have more opportunities to try...

Later: Just added to the mantel (not pictured) - tiny thyme and parsley seeds.