Rusted and Collaged...

Last night, I couldn't sleep...so I sat down and stitched up a little (a wee 3" tall) journal cover.  It looks like it could double as a rosary pouch as well.

More rusted goodness handstitched.  This is the journal cover open...now to decide on the pages...and what will it be?

Another project I've started is a black and white journal to collect all my scrappy bits.  I'm an awkward collager, maybe because I'm particular...it takes me a long time to be pleased with a layout.  

These pages will be sewn into another fabric journal yet to be made.  I'm thinking of making it from fabric dyed with pear tree branches...they tend to leave cool black spots on fabric.  Lovely!

Little handmade rusty book...

This tiny bookbinding project gave me fits.  Why I decided to work this small is beyond me for small and fragile is not my forte...unless you're talking about humans.  I can handle a tiny newborn, but this book lost two "body parts" in the making.

This was my first attempt at the sewn over tapes, exposed spine binding technique with kettle stitches on the ends.  As I would tighten each thread, I would pull it too tightly and rip the signature from one hole to another.

What started out having 8 signatures...ending up having 6.  And there were choice grumblings at each blunder.  Good thing it's just a "blank" book with no real rhyme or reason, and that my children were outside and didn't hear their mom verbally berating this petite livre!

Rusted pages...marks left by steel and thread.  Why?  Because it's purdy...

...or at least I think so.  Next time, I'll work a little bigger.  It's good to be reminded sometimes of what you're NOT good at!

Sewing, Rusting and Brick Laying...

It's been a creative week so far with more in store.  I've been sewing, dying, rusting...and laying bricks.

For years I've daydreamed about putting a rock or brick pathway from our back door to the driveway. When it rains, it's a mud hole.  It's been on my ever growing "priority list of things to do later".  And later finally came!  It was not premeditated, I just started digging...

I spent a few hours digging the trench and setting the bricks, and of course they had to be set perfectly tight and level, as perfect as old bricks could perform!  My two construction assistants brought gravel and drove the dumpers and loaders back and forth across the piles to simulate serious work going on.  Then we "broke for lunch".

In contrast to bricklaying, this Alabama Chanin wrap project has jumped to the top of the project list as well.  (It's folded, only 1/4 of the thing shows here!)

It's 100% hand stitched, a technique she calls "random ruffle".  She being Natalie Chanin, an artistic hero of mine.  Her 100% organic, American handmade "Wal-mart antithesis" really speaks to me.  I've bought all her books, and dream of sewing my own wardrobe based on her patterns and then taking my old clothes to Savers!  (Back, to Savers...ha!)

This wrap was started a year ago.  I've a tendency to start many projects at once, leave them for dead, and return to them one at a time...slowly!  It seems that other projects always cut in line, like candle painting, birthday gifts, and toddler craft!

These are papers I rusted a while back that I was saving for "that perfect project".  I realized that it's silly to roost on some rusted paper because I can make more easily, they're not gold or rare antique pieces!  So I cut them in half.  Now they're sitting on my work table as I stare at them, turn them this way and that, and try to learn what they want to become.

There's a time to just jump into things, and there's a time to wait.  I'll move onto the next project until inspiration strikes!

Garden update...

If you've ever read "Home for a Bunny" you know that the story starts..."Spring, spring, spring!!"  Birds and flowers are bursting out, the frost is gone and here comes the rain.  Soon we'll be mowing grass and swatting at mosquitoes but before that time comes....there's gardening to be done.

I've started broccoli, which I've never grown before.  I've got enough cucumber plants to produce sour dills for the whole block!  I'm turning our yard into a yarden in hopes of producing more food than we can handle.  I like to share.  Also, the flavorless "import organics" have become seriously tiresome! 

Here are pots of mesclun lettuce that I'm trying to save from the squirrels.  They think they might have hidden their walnuts in them so they dig and dig!  Or it could be the pesky robins looking for worms.  You should see them gather on the fence when I turn the compost..like I'm filling up the buffet and they're waiting for me to leave so they can feast!

A little sprout that I'm most proud if this Cherokee purple tomato.  I saved the seeds by fermentation method, tried planting a few and they sprouted!  I'm still gaining faith in my gardening skills...for the longest time, I killed every plant I touched.

This cardinal nest came from our 5' tall pine tree...the bird placed it in full toddler reach.  First, an egg fell to curiosity...and in turn that scared the mama away from the other egg for good.  She did make creative use of all the trash that blows into our yard.  Our neighborhood produces high volumes of wandering trash from cigarettes and fast food. 

Lovely.

"Line ups"...as Bashi calls them.  They're waiting for a good mud puddle so excavation can begin again!  As I was taking this picture, one of the bulldozers started making noise.  When it rains on them they short circuit and make really creepy noises!

Peeps...nailed it...

Well?  I never really liked the actual Peeps anyway...so to compare these to them would just be insulting to the bunnies.

I used a healthy marshmallow recipe here at Urban Poser...Homemade Marshmallows.

These melt like a dream over hot chocolate and I plan to roast them on top of sweet potatoes too.

The pink color comes from beet powder and tapioca starch.  Yes, they taste like beet-mallow, but I'm fond of that flavor.  The eyes are Enjoy Life mini-chips adhered with drops of honey.  It's the new normal, folks!

One more day...

Yesterday my husband said something bewildering to me...here's what he said. 

"The days are just waiting periods between coffees".  This is a man truly converted...for he used to sniff my lattes, give them a small sip and then make "the yukky face"!

An equally amazing thing is that tomorrow is Easter.  And now I must go, for the day before Easter I do what I call "penitential baking"...I bake and cook and don't let myself eat any of it!  

This year my quest is...PEEPS.  I will make those foamy Easter candies healthy so my kids can experience the wonder that is the Peep!

One more day...(we played with the panoramic feature on the camera for this one...)