She is L-O-V-E-D

Birthday Dress Photo Shoot

It did not start out well. Olive was being stoic, trying to hold back tears already in progress. Then Clover bopped Azure in the face. More tears.

Clover's "I'm sorry" hug. Azure, trying to refuse the apology.

But then everyone wanted a hug from the newly turned 2-year-old.

Once again I used upholstery fabric [just can't stay away] found this time at IKEA [and no, they don't have all the numbers, just 2].

A variation on my ruffled cuff--little jade bubbles bobbing along the crimson ruffle.

Vintage glass buttons--green, of course.

They were all bosom buddies again, by the time we were finished, at least for a minute.

Clover is 2

Clover's birthday menu requests:

Chinese take-out, fresh lychees & marble beverage

Attempting to free the marble 

[Ryan grew me some green Zinnia!]

Yes, you wanted to see a colored picture of Olive's hair-[over]do.  Whoa.

We don't do huge birthdays around here.  Out of the 25 birthdays that we've had for our children, we've had a friend over for 2.  I like to keep expectations low, so when I let them invite two friends over they'll call me the best mom in the whole world.  You see how I work.

Ask Clover how old she is and she'll give you the correct answer, but hold up a whole hand of fingers.  She's bossy, this little person, but I miss her when she naps, eat her up every day and never get full.

She calls them cakecucks.

Happy 2, my sweet Cloves.  Life would be much more dull without you.

Got the Blues?

We went on our 4th annual blueberry picking excursion on Saturday.

Now I appreciate the saying slim pickings.

It was.  Very.

A bunch of sweaty heads and hot little people, and all we managed was 2 pounds.

And then someone stepped on the bag in the car, reducing it to 1.75 lbs.

So, we got super-burning-hot-hashbrowns at a place that starts with a capital M, rhymes with onalds and went swimming.

Good Thing You Know Me.

Anna [pronounced like shawl, not sand] is the winner of the star of her choice!

But I was just informed by the artist, aka my dad, that he is offering 20% off a star of your choice for the month of July!  And guys, these are inexpensive as far as art goes to begin with, so that is really a bargain.  I know because we spent weeks making them one year for Sundance Catalog and I refuse to make any more.  Just mention in the comments to seller that you're one of my readers and he'll refund you 20%!  I think I'm going to get one of Gramma Fae's Custard Yellow that he just added to hang on my chandelier.  She really was a stellar woman.

source

Last Day to Enter Star Giveaway

I'm blushing over here from all your kind comments about my skirt!  I especially liked the comment about taking out the trash in it.  Made me smile.  They all made me smile.  Thank you.  

As for the giveaway, there is one more day to enter, all ye procrastinators.

Choose a favorite here, comment here.

Don't Hate Me Because I Dyed it

A SKIRT!

10 years ago I bid on a big box of trim on ebay.  There weren't any detailed photos of the individual pieces, but I saw a few that I had to have, so I put in my bid.

20 bones won me the box.

With a lot of lace in it.  It was someone's life long collection, some pieces I could tell had been removed from other projects in order to salvage, with remnants of the thread lovingly unpicked.  There are some pieces discernibly handmade.  I love to think of someone careful working with the delicate threads to create such intricate work.  I admit, I'm not really a lace kind of person, but when I was pregnant with Olive, and money was nonexistent tight, I decided to make myself a maternity skirt by sewing the widths of lace together.  I loved it and looked forward to wearing it every time I got pregnant.

So, I decided to make another one.  I envisioned a pale blue one this time and looked up ways to dye the lace naturally.  Cabbage was recommended.  But, alas, it didn't work.  It made my kitchen smell like sauerkraut, but that was it.  Beet juice was another attempt [we had beets 3 days in a row, which Azure will now eat because it was told to her by a very reliable source that eating beets makes your eyes sparkle] but it made for something WAY too pink.

[before]

I ended up using regular old RIT dye.

It was nerve wracking to put all that lace in a pot that would change it forever.  I knew that the varying contents of each piece would accept the dye differently and looked forward to the outcome, so I took the plunge.

It recommended using 1/2 the bottle.  I used 1/4.  It recommended leaving in for 30-60 minutes.  I left it in about 5 minutes and pulled it out, rinsed it and was pleased instantly with the results.  I also died the slip fabric that goes under the skirt.

It shrunk a bit in the hot bath, so it's tighter than I originally planned--thank goodness lace has some give.

This top piece of lace was hand made and stretches a lot.  I love the zig zag of it.

There were three pieces that are blatantly 100% synthetic and accepted none of the dye, but I'm really pleased with the overall affect. 

Ryan wondered if I could walk in it.  Yes.  Sitting down....I have a new appreciation for the give of lace.

Can You Guess

What I'm working on?

I ought to be finished tomorrow.

It's been kind of a trial and error type of project.

Sometimes those are the worst type of projects.  

Sometimes they're the best.

Speaking of Green

A question I frequently get asked:  

What is your countertop [with the follow up question, Do you ever get tired of it?]

When we were getting ready to replace our countertop [out of necessity], Ryan and I went to Lowe's to check out the possibilities.  We wanted something of higher quality than laminate, but not so expensive as marble/granite.  What we found:  Formica Solid Surfacing!

We considered putting in a nice, safe neutral, you know, just in case we moved soon, for resale.  But then Ryan said, "Katy, just get the color you really want."  So, I did.

CITRON ICE

The guy who came to install it said they had been working in the industry for 30 years and had never put this color in anyone's house. 

He said they got a lot of stares as they drove from the store to our house with giant slabs of this green beauty in the back of their truck.

Just last week when we came home from Kissammee [that's only an invitation to Ryan], I walked into the kitchen and thought these exact words, "I'm so glad we put in these countertops.  They make me happy every time I see them."  And I see them a lot.

These are actually "stock" photos, since I was too lazy to take new ones [and clean the kitchen to this degree]. I've since painted the cupboard knobs [again] a more closely matching shade of green, and we have gotten a new all white dishwasher [which not only looks nice, it works like a dream--Ryan thinks it sounds like one of those water features people buy instead of Niagra Falls].  Oh, and we've since eaten all that produce.  Don't worry, it's not sitting there rotting.






[Here are the before photos]