A Few of My Favorite Things. . . on Etsy

Otherwise known as things I'm looking at when I really should be working.

From Beadoodles

From DreamsandJewelry

From pdxbeanies - how adorable is this?!? I want to make one.

From marymusic - its so tiny! Isn't it cute?

From starrydesigns

Cake Stands

I was out running errands today and I wanted so see if I couldn't find some fake eggs that weren't neon colors. No luck there. I'm looking for sort of a quail egg look - in either white or blue with brown speckles or maybe both. By the way, did you know there is actually a category for blown eggs on eBay. I discovered that last night - I had no idea. Maybe I can recruit my husband to help me blow a bunch and then paint them. Ugh.

Anyway, I stopped in at JoAnns to see if they would have any and right inside the door were these cute little cake stands 50% off. They were just like a set of cake stands that I bought my Mom several years ago - it was a set of 3 pink cake stands in graduated sizes - only these were cheap. They were only $14.99 and half off, so who cares, right? So I had to have a couple. Never mind that I have no need for more cake stands.

Ferns

One of the places that Mom & I went in the other day was Pottery Barn. I just love all the seashells and natural stuff that they have in there. They had some nests with bird eggs, some lovely faux succulents, lots of white seashells and a lovely nubby table runner that looked fantastic on the dark wood tables. Anyway, I behaved myself and came away with only some faux ferns. I really like them. I've put them up on my mantel for now. I love the touch of green to the wall.

My favorite place to go on vacation is Maine. We've been there a bunch of times, and my husband and I spent our honeymoon up there. I suppose in a way that's what all the seashells make me think of. So I might be stuck in Pittsburgh, but I want to surround myself with things that make me think of the beach. We've been planning another trip to Bar Harbor this fall and I'm already impatient to go.

Spring Flower Show

So my mom came down yesterday and we spent the day shopping, of course. Actually, if we had more time together, I would rather go do other things, but I need Mom to help me shop. So that's what we did. We tried on a bunch of clothes and only bought a few things.

But we did also go to the Spring Flower Show at Phipps Conservatory. It maybe wasn't quite as good as the Christmas show, but it was still pretty and was lovely to be in there when it was pouring down rain outside today. The rooms with the hyacinths in them smelled like, well, spring. Lovely. This was one of my favorites.

Another One Down

I've finished another project! Okay, granted, this one shouldn't have taken that long to begin with, but it is finished. Its a scarf in my favorite color. Unfortunately for me, winter is now officially over and today I am sitting here sweating at my desk. Its warm! Oh well. It is finished, after all, and will not be lying on the floor next to my couch anymore! Hooray!

Now I'm off to play - my mom is finally making a visit!

Back to Crochet

With all the talk of crochet on the various blogs I've been reading, I am finding myself wanting to pick it up again. I learned how when I was rather young and haven't done it much lately. I made a whole bunch of afghans while I was in high school and there was even a picture of me crocheting in one of my yearbooks. Everyone thought it was funny, but it was something to do and could easily be carried around. I spent most of my study halls crocheting or reading.

This afghan is something that I started in college. I was thinking about marriage and wanted to make it for our first home. I had chosen a rather small, lacy stitch and started it out making it as wide as my full-sized bed and planned to make it large enough to cover it. It took forever! I soon discovered that it would take way more yarn than I thought as well and would end up being rather expensive. I got bored with it after awhile. I think that one skein of yarn only ended up producing about 8 rows (only a couple inches tall).

Its been riding around in our car for awhile now. I thought I would work on it on trips. It just hasn't happened. So finally I took it out the other day and quickly used up the last skein of yarn that I know that I have. I tried looking around the house to see if there are any other skeins lurking about and haven't found any yet. It still nowhere near the size of the bed, but its a nice throw size. I think I will call it finished, tie it off, and start cleaning it up. The poor thing needs to be washed now. It has had pop spilled on it at one point and its got some candle wax dripped into it. All of which can be fixed. Its washable wool, so I will have to clean it up and then pop it into the washer. Hopefully it will survive!

Meanwhile, I've dragged out some of my pattern books for crochet and have started thinking about making a lacy ivory baby blanket with a nice brown ribbon weaved on the edges. Oh wait. I'm trying to finish already started projects. Ooops.

I love fluffy white towels

Mom has asked me for a set of towels for her, so I picked some up yesterday and sat down to monogram them this evening. I wouldn't mind some different style monograms, but I haven't found any other fonts that have really struck my fancy yet. I'll have to do some more hunting. But anyway, my husband was quite sure that these ought to have just a single initial monogram on them and Mom was open to anything. So this is what I did. I love the white and slate blue! Its so me! I hope Mom will like them.

Chair Seats

I've been meaning to do this for a little while, but I've just now gotten around to recovering the seat on this chair with my new favorite fabric - the chocolate & ivory damask.

I want to put it everywhere, but for now, I am just planning on recovering an old footstool in it as well. In the meantime, I will be admiring my chair. I love this chair. I picked it up at a garage sale for $5 the year we were first married. I really need to get back out and explore the sales this spring!