Gehring Road

sunday stash and new quilt in progress

 New fabrics for a new quilt in the works...

 

I'll have to apologize for the smokey-dreamy quality of the photos in this post.  It just so happens they match my own feelings when it comes to my own fabric but really unintentionally this was captured on film.  The loft, or my creative space, is exceptionally sunny today (I'm a lucky, lucky girl!). 

I'm still plugging away on my Hope Valley Patchwork Style quilt... planning and plotting and procrastinating some might say, but I'm really wanting this quilt to be well thought out. Some new fabrics for a quick mid-winter quilt were pulled this weekend, and though I thought it would be a little more chaotic in terms of color choice (I really just wanted to use fabrics I'm loving at the moment) the fabrics I chose are mostly green, grey, yellow and orange.  A really nice combination, but it does make me a bit apprehensive.  I tend to love color, but get a little tired of some combinations quite quickly. Grey and yellow will be a perennial love, so I'm safe there... but I did go through a very unfortunate pastel phase not long ago. Shudder. 

The charcoal grey at the top is Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks Voile in River, and I love, love, love it. It has replaced Kona Coal as my favorite solid. I'm thinking the quilt will be primarily made up of this fabric and the rest will just accent.  I found a fantastic pattern for a simple patchwork quilt at Alicia Paulson's blog and think it will be easy enough to get done by the end of vacation... famous last words. 

Some more dreamy shots for you, and some dreamy fabric? Maybe?  Hope this weekend finds you dreaming and plotting and planning and even procrastinating if need be.  So long for now...

 

 

 

window out

I know this is the scene for many on the East Coast this weekend... I love the sounds of the fire and dinner being prepared in the background! We're lucky in that our 10 degrees is accompanied by the sun at least.  This was taken just a few minutes after the pictures from yesterday's post... how quickly things change! There are many little changes (mostly organizational) happening here and some big changes in the lives of people I love too... change seems to be a constant.  Hope you're weathering all of the changes of the season, whatever that may mean for you and yours.  Happy weekend (again) to all.

a refusal...

I'm refusing to give in to the middle of winter feelings... you know the ones. Up here in these parts winter has a way of testing even the most hearty of New Englanders. Yesterday, we had both thunder and lightening while it snowed. Our weatherman actually said the words "twenty below" tonight during his forecast.  Give in to the desire for sand and huts the likes of which an unnamed blogger (ok, me) has been obsessively looking at and finding ways to go here? I refuse. Instead, we ventured out yesterday just after a period of snow and just before a period of snow to snap some really lovely shots of what's outside. 

 

Gehring Road Stream

 

On the mailbox... 

 

...and the littlest one is not so in love with this season...   

And so even though these shots were taken a mere moments before the snow started to fall again, this time much heavier and accompanied by claps of thunder, I love this season... so here's to the moody rain, the biting cold, the thundersnow... I will so miss this in August! Have the best of weekends... we'll be in front of the fire. 

window in :: 11

 

 

window in :: 10

 

... right now is all about new spaces, new fabric, new students and some old but lovely favorites. 

etsy finds tuesday

 

 Vintage Tea and Biscuits Tins from JourneyandLandscape Etsy Shop 

My list of things I'm on the hunt for at the next Brimfield Show keeps growing and growing.  Lately, I've spied some tins on Etsy that are really lovely.  Weathered...of course, in need of some cleaning...most likely, but a sweet way to hold most anything. Here are some of my favorites...

 

Vintage Milady Seahorse Tin, diantiques Etsy Shop 

 

Vintage Metal Strawberry Picnic Basket, ImSoVintage Etsy Shop

 

Farmhouse Cake Tin, PrairieAntiques Etsy Shop

 

 Vintage Metal Lunch Box, PomPomPurses Etsy Shop 

 

 Lucky Strike Tin, Macho Machismo (love that name!) Etsy Shop 

And that last one has me missing Mad Men (and summer for that matter)I've spent the better part of the last few weeks trying to organize the loft (pictures soon, I promise), and eradicated most of the plastic containers upstairs. I'll be on the look out for some tins for trims and buttons come this Spring, and again, I'm having trouble being patient for Spring... in the meantime, I hope this post finds you looking forward to all that is down the road, with all it's twists and turns and tins. 

i love mondays...

Flowers... I love flowers, they're such a part of our home here.  Those beautiful roses snapped above are hanging out brightening our living room on days like today - cold, rainy, thunderstorming... ahh, New England. Whether it is flowers brought in from the plants outside, or home from the farmer's market or even just from the grocery store, I love to have flowers around, just because.  

 

 ... Peonies are Spring and our birthdays...

 

...orange roses are my favorite but these from my very first post were all about embracing the new season and fall...

 

...these from the farmer's market were taken on an extremely hot day... 

 

... These were taken at The Bellagio is Las Vegas and form the shell of a snail...

 

 ...love the simplicity of Queen Anne's Lace, and the simplicity of Lotta too...

 

... I love that at this time of year, tulips start to pop up in stores and shops... just a promise of what is to come and the assurance of a new season... 

Happy Monday to all, I hope as this new week starts (wish me luck...) that you are surrounded by that and those that you love.   

sunday stash and fabric run

 Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks Dolby Dots Square Dance in Dusk... that's a mouthful

I did not have a great week... frustrating, confusing, demeaning and failing would be the words I would choose to sum it up.  It was, in short, exhausting. Yes, it had to do with work, and yes it should be left at the "office" but in my line of work, lessons are not always about literature.  

So this weekend I took comfort in some comforting things.  Comforting and quite lovely, I must say. I recently added a panel or two of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks Square Dance (still a mouthful) to my stash.  If you haven't yet had the chance to feel or see this fabric in person, you're in for a treat when you do.  I thought the voile would feel a little unsubstantial, but it just feels amazingly soft and wonderful. Here it is in all of it's glory.

 

 

... mine is being simply hemmed for curtains in the loft, it has been fantastic to work with, save the one or two times I've gotten confused on which is the right side of the fabric (seriously the back is delicious as well)... The thread is Coats and Clark Dolphin and was a fantastic find.  I generally sew with different thread, but the color match with this was perfect.

 

Along with the curtains, I decided to go on a bit of a fabric expedition this weekend.  Making two stops in two very different corners of the state.  My first stop was the much lauded Make and Mingle in Fairfield. A very sweet store, and of course, I love the concept.  I chatted with one of the women who has partnered on this venture while she cut my fabric and the philosophy behind the store is stocking modern designer fabric while focusing on classes and events at the store.  I bought a few small cuts of fabric and a pair of small embroidery scissors that will live by my machine, I'm sure.

 

Anna Maria Horner's Volumes... which will line the inside of my new linen cabinet...

 

... and some more (very little bit) of the Little Folks Voile... it will be used in a quilt for sure.

And finally, after some navigational terror (for those of you from CT - think Frog Hollow) I doubled back and did make it to Sew Inspired Quilt Shop in Simsbury.  Though the staff was being driven utterly insane by a woman from out of state who wanted to replicate a quilt that was on the wall (complete with out of print fabric), I had a welcome conversation with the owner, who told me about the Quilt Market this year (you remember, the one they keep forgetting to invite me to...) and how my favorite yellow and grey combination was everywhere at Market.  I bought a small bit of some Amy Butler fabric and got to thinking...

... I might tackle a patchwork project that incorporates fabrics that I love... a little mid-winter gift for myself.  Something a little chaotic, a little unplanned and very much in keeping with the moment.  Be well, and enjoy what the moment holds... when possible! 

felt

 

Felt Flower Pillows, Purl Bee 

I've been finding, staring at, contemplating, and all but stalking some fantastic pieces made with felt lately.  It makes perfect sense... it's fun and easy to work with yet something I really haven't spent much time with since my girl scout days... and no, I will not date that! I meant to make Molly's felt garland for New Year's and kind of lost steam after a marker mishap (don't use Sharpie on felt) made it a bit messy for the late hour.  It is lovely though...

 

 Molly's Felt Garland, Pearl Bee

... and let me tell you, Molly does some fantastic work with felt, spend some time looking at her sketchbook if you have it.  

 

Felt Garland, Free! Tutorial from Anna Maria Horner  

And so this crazy week has me thinking of projects with ease and comfort.  I have fabric that needs to be cut in the loft, curtains waiting to be made and hung... and all that will come, as will a slower pace at work... soon, soon.  In the meantime, does it look strange to cut felt circles while the kids take their exams?  

window in :: 9

  

I loved this dinner... roasted tomato, mushroom, spinach and poached egg on toast.  Recipe adapted from the latest edition of Real Simple. This fantastic dinner has been a bright spot in an "every time I leave the house bad things happen" and an "am I really going to do this for thirty more years?" kind of week.  Here's to bright spots: perfectly poached eggs and this smile.