Gehring Road

it's a date

Beautiful Quilts from Denyse Schmidt's website

I've decided to make a jaunt down to Bridgeport on November 13th for a little glimpse into all things Denyse Schmidt... I'm going to the Sample Sale. Ashley went last year and came away with some glimpses of Denyse, a Heather Ross sighting and some studio fabric... I'd be happy to do the same. Anyone else planning to go? 

So a treat for me planned during a god-awful week for us.  Our little lady might have a slipped disk (her symptoms are unclear and she isn't acting much different than her normal self) and so we've had to old-lady-dog-proof our home.  Pillows are everywhere to cushion her jumps and movements... (the 3:30 am pee break has become, let's say interesting) and we're just plain anxious about how this will all turn out. I'm realizing my anxieties about this little love run deep, and her well being is one of the most important responsibilities I've ever had.  A lot to take in.  Anyway, I leave you with our little lady, who didn't feel so well yesterday but now seems just fine... keep your fingers crossed!

i love mondays... especially when it brings fabric!

Liberty of London Winter Stem B 

Oh I love coming home on a Monday to mail... and this mail day was quite the thing I tell you... it brought Liberty! That absolutely stunning fabric from Liberty's seasonal collection was a little splurge and purchased here. To say I love that fabric is a gross mischaracterization of love... I adore that fabric and was thrilled to find it for a reasonable price, it was actually much cheaper than I would have paid here. Score! And that's not all...

... a charm pack of City Weekend arrived... I'm loving that teal and red fabric and am going to buy a bit to make a cover for my sewing machine finally... and...

... some Mono Pez in black made it's way into my stash. I love this fabric and am hoping to find more. Nice way to ease into the week I say.  Hope this Monday finds you enjoying all the expected and unexpected in your day!  

loving...

Spooled Candles from Anthropologie 

Right now, I'm just loving the absolute quiet of a Sunday morning, a warm fire and a sleepy (and dreaming! I have to get her dreaming on film, it is just way to sweet for words) Jack Russell Terrier. In my Internet prowlings, I'm finding a few other loves like those amazing spool candles from Anthropolgie...

        * Too early for this advent calendar? It's oh so cute...

        * This amazingly stylish blog... 

        * Calling Scotland "wilderness" and the idea of a vacation... 

        * Fair Isle Rugs as above vacation idea is neither feasible nor practical... 

        * These beautiful and transportive illustrations...

... time to go convince Rob that my comment "I don't want to go anywhere today" comment actually meant let's go get Storm no Coventry Grey no Storm paint and tackle the bedroom. Hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend. 

he loves me

This bread pudding should come with a warning... "You will be tempted to eat your weight in bread pudding after tasting this bread pudding" or "You will dream about eating bread pudding even when not eating bread pudding after tasting this bread pudding" too complicated? Totally necessary as I have first hand experience! But really it was just my guy making this delicious and heavenly bread pudding because he loves me. Simple as that. This is the ultimate comfort food, it was so delicious... after a week spent uncomfortable, unwell, disappointed in and hurt by various people in my life, frustrated and sleepy, Rob came up with a winner. Did I mention this was so good? It was... throughout all of it's transformations...

another face plant into the food! I wish you could smell this... as a matter of fact, I wish we could smell this again. Rob used egg bread or if you can find it Challah bread.  Lots of egg yokes, a little sugar and some cinnamon and we were in heaven. I absolutely love when Rob reminds me, in the many ways he does that despite it all, I'm a very, very lucky lady.  Happy weekend friends. 

small bits of sewing

This bronchitis that I've come down with is really throwing me for a loop and though I'm home from work today, I've been doing little besides sleeping, coughing, taking cough medicine and holding off nausea from the antibiotic I've been given.  How I hate being sick, how I hate medication. But... there really isn't anything like a stack of fabric loveliness to raise the spirits, and encourage one to stay awake for a very little while... My small little bundle of Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush was just the thing, and came this week, making me long to get back to my machine and some small bits of sewing that I really need to have done... as in yesterday. A group of women from a Flickr group I frequent and I shared a yard set of this, each getting a FQ of the stack.  Even better! 

Besides the occasional fabric fix, I have been doing a bit of sewing for the 3X6 Sampler Bee... I'm so late, our blocks were due at the beginning of the month... luckily I've found myself in good and patient company, we're all behind. Here's my block pattern, and stacks of chosen fabrics that will hopefully be transformed this weekend...

That large orange stack is actually for me... I've decided to make a block each round for myself. So I also have a string block to make up for... Is it worrying that another round has begun? Nah... I'm thinking of the perfect block for Quarter 4, and looking forward to a change in under-the-weatherness that has been this eager sewist's last few weeks. Wishing you all a healthy and crafty wednesday! 

etsy finds tuesday

Vintage British Postmark Print from Scarlet Beautiful Etsy Shop

Oh, how I loved that long weekend... here's hoping you had one also!  Now on to a week that hopefully will bring some much needed color and calm into my life.  It has been raining frustration as of late, and these Etsy finds are happy little mix of some vibrant and bold things I keep coming back to.  Another visual feast you might say... 

Tole Painted Red Canister from The Old White House Etsy Shop 

Antique Turn of the Century Wooden Mail Sorter Station from Ugly Santa Etsy Shop

Large Vintage Thermos in Kelly Green from Comet Wreckage Etsy Shop 

Early 1950s Hardware Store Cabinet from French By Design Etsy Shop 

Vintage Orange Metal Oil Bucket from Comet Wreckage Etsy Shop 

Two Farm Chairs from Place Michel Etsy Shop 

Tomato Crate from Polkadot Home Etsy Shop 

Vintage Yellow Wire Desk Organizer from Foolproofed Etsy Shop 

... hope your week is off to a lovely start, back tomorrow with some sewing! 

i love mondays :: chowdah

This weekend the weather changed just a bit and we had our first frost... a clear sign that soup needed to be made. Around here, soup is synonymous with chowder, pronounced "chowdah" if you really want to get it right. We journeyed off to our local Whole Foods because we absolutely love the fish they stock and were shocked to find the check-out lady prefers Manhattan Clam Chowder... "I'm from New Jersey" she explained, ahhh, we understood perfectly. 

We used (of course we did) a recipe from Cook's Illustrated, which called for 7 lbs of clams, a bit of cream, flour, parsley and thyme. This wasn't one of those really involved recipes, so it cooked up really quickly, a lovely recipe indeed. The broth was absolutely amazing and though Rob will probably add another tablespoon of flour to make it thicker next time we make this (soon, I tell you)... the chowder was so authentically New England and oh, so delicious. There are reasons these photos are so close, I was tempted to face plant into this gorgeous bowl, the smells were fantastic. A little sourdough bread, some oyster crackers and dinner was a welcome sight for this bronchitis sufferer (such is the season). Anyway, feast your eyes if you're not in the vicinity to feast with us... Happy Monday. 

70

Image found at Rolling Stone Magazine Online 

I'm finding it amazing that today that visionary man who is almost frozen in time at the age of only 40 would have turned 70. I wonder what he would have done with more time. I so love his songs, his words and his belief in peace. In celebration, the magicians behind Google doodles have outdone themselves... this is lovely... 

 

So happy birthday to an icon, who just so happens to be one of this blogger's heros.  A very happy and peaceful Friday to you all...

 

on pins and needles

Nobel Literature Medal from Leeds University Online Library

I daylight as a teacher as many of you know, but you might not know that I'm lucky enough to teach a Senior Elective course called Nobel Prize Authors. The kids and I work our way through the very involved process of choosing a Nobel Laureate, the criteria for the prize, American winners in the past such as Toni Morrison, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and John Steinbeck. Lucky I tell you. Tomorrow is a very big day for us, one of those medals is about to be handed down to a new Laureate, and I get giddy this time each year... my students allow me that giddiness without much eye rolling as it turns out... see told you I'm lucky.  Tomorrow, the new Nobel Laureate will be announced. Now, around this time of the year the kids and I make frequent visits to Ladbrokes, a betting site out of the UK that posts odds for the coming prizes. I have no idea what the IT people imagine I'm up to when they see those hits at an off-site betting post in the UK, but one can imagine. Anyway, out of nowhere over the past few days has come odds for Cormac McCarthy, you know, the Rhode Island native who wrote a book that still makes me shiver called The Road.  That Cormac McCarthy. I so hope it's him... I leave you with some fun facts and fun pictures about the Nobel Prize in Literature...

* The Nobel Prize in literature is different than all other literary prizes in that it acknowledges an entire body of work from one writer, not a single achievement (like all the other Nobel Prizes are also)

* Only 41 of more than 500 prizes have been awarded to women (boo... hiss)

* The last American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature was the wonderful Toni Morrison

* The 106 Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded to writers of 25 different languages... 

* The Nobel Laureates (in all disciplines) receive a diploma that contains artwork that has been commissioned to represent their work some of my favorites...

Elfriede Jelinek, 2004 winner 

Doris Lessing, 2007 winner

Dario Fo, 1997 winner

President Obama, 2009 winner for Peace

Happy Nobel Laureate Day... crossing my fingers for a McCarthy or Roth or Atwood (Ladbrokes tells me not to put money on it) win!  

etsy finds tuesday

Vintage Dutch Tin from This Olde Stuff Etsy Shop

It really has been too long since I've shared my Etsy prowlings here on the blog... and my favorites folder is overrun with some fabulous finds, many that are purchased a mere nanosecond after I favorite them... such is my luck! And I love sharing these finds with you, so here are some of the things I'm coveting... sometimes while I eat my lunch in front of the computer at school when I really should be grading papers... but that's between you and I... and our IT men... wonder if they appreciate a vintage crate like I do...

Vintage Large Children's School Desk from Hindsvik Etsy Shop 

Mandolin Buckle from Andes Cruz Etsy Shop 

Antique Parcel Post Scale from Lack Luster Etsy Shop 

Clutch Purse in Woodland Damask from Jennifer Ladd Etsy Shop 

Vintage Snooze Alarm Clock from Scenic Roots Etsy Shop 

Antique Handled Nesting Baskets from Solstice Home Etsy Shop 

Rococo Organic Cotton Knit Shawl from Tickled Pink Knits Etsy Shop 

Antique Wood Soap Box from Solstice Home Etsy Shop 

Myrtle... forever flower garland from Emma Lamb Etsy Shop 

Rustic Natural Edge Oak Bowl from J & L Woodturning Etsy Shop

 

So there you have it, my Etsy finds from the past few weeks.  I'm loving that knit shawl and wishing for some more skills when it comes to knitting.  So far, my knitting has been just some scarves that tend to roll up into a tube because of the tightness of my stitches... not such a triumph! And oh, that crocheted garland... very sweet. Enjoy this Tuesday and all of your own Etsy browsing done wherever the day takes you.