handmade home :: my first project

it's been so long since my last post! i'm having some blogging blues, i think. partly because of blogger being so hard to deal with. partly because i have mixed feelings about my blog lately. and partly because i have been so busy! more on all of that later. in case anyone is actually reading this.

on to more fun topics :: SEWING!!!

i'm totally loving amanda soule's new book Handmade Home.

here's my first project from it. i made these for my niece and nephew for their birthdays while we spent time together at the beach last week.

they put them to use immediately which was so very satisfying!

they were easier than i thought, thankfully and i had everything i needed already on the premises. it's funny, i have had this extra screen from when we put a new screen in our front door. for 2 years i have been saying i'll make something with it. and finally, here was the perfect home for it!

next project from HH :: mail pouches!

rainy day fun :: fake cakes

*note :: this post was written a week or so ago. blogger simply wouldn't let me post! i'm so moving to wordpress this fall**

there's been far too many indoor activities going on around here this summer. and though the last few days have been nice we've had to come up with interesting things to do indoors a lot.

this is not fair to the stay-at-home mom who lives in new england. winter is soooooo looooooong. we need our summer to stay sane! i should not be pulling out my bag of "how to survive February" tricks in july. it's just not okay.

here is a little project my kids LOVE to do. i don't do it much because it is a tad on the wa

steful side, but maybe twice a winter i let them have at it.

i give them bowls of rice, cornmeal, flour, beans, pasta and lots of spoons and little pie plates. then i break out the good stuff. . . sprinkles! anything i had leftover from last christmas, they shook and sprinkled onto their "fake cakes." no liquid is allowed for obvious reasons, but sometimes we throw a little play-dough in there. it's great for helping candles stay up in a fake cake.

i do feel badly about wasting food, but they have so much fun doing this, that it seems to out-weigh the guilt. especially on a rainy day when it's rained for 3 days.

what's a mama to do!?

impromptu summer picnic

finally, a gorgeous rain-free day! can it be?

we spent most of the day at the beach and then settled in to the late afternoon backyard blanket for some quiet time.

i love it when there are moments where we are all together and quietly, busily working in our own space on something creative. it's divine. with an active toddler this can sometimes be hard to find, but lately we seem to find it more and more.

today we sat on a blanket and had some family drawing/coloring time.

it's restorative for me to sit and draw my little flowery doodles, so imagine it is for them, too.

when my son asked, "mommy, can we eat outside tonight?"

how could i say anything but "absolutely!" given how little we have been able to do so, it'd be a crime not to. so, we looked at our table on the deck. then we looked at the picnic table in the grass. and decided the picnic blanket was the place to be. so a picnic dinner it was!

fish, potatoes, zucchini and mushrooms. all done on the grill. and so very yummy!

(i come from alabama with a blessing on my knee. . .)

for dessert :: peach crisp.

the recipe can be found in this fabulous book :: Feeding The Whole Family (see sidebar). LOVE it. great ideas, great recipes and i love the tone of the book. serious about eating well and eating whole, but a playful style. go get a copy! i have to return mine to the library, so i'll be off to order one, too.

sadly, it's supposed to rain tomorrow. . . i wonder what we'll do. . .