what a mom wants.

oh. my. goodness.

just got this little beauty from the library. and that simply won't due. must own this book. it's so packed with ideas, designs, techniques and *beautiful* photography. i'm just drooling all over it.

hubby, if you are reading this look no further for a mother's day gift. add a yard of fabric and i'm over the moon.

our mother's days around here usually center on working in the garden or doing some project around the house (or really in the yard) that i've been wanting to do. but this year, i think all i want is to be alone with this book and a few yards of fabric. for a whole day. did i mention the CD full of printable pdf's? my heart is literally a'flutter.

ooooh what i could do!

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

Birdies, build your nest;

Weave together straw and heather,

Doing each your best.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

Flowers are coming, too;

Pansies, lilies, daffodils

Now are coming through.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

All around is fair; Shimmer and glimmer on the river,

Joy is everywhere.

for the last few weeks we've all been singing this song around here a whole lot. my son learned it at school. it's one of my favorite things about Waldorf schools--the celebration around the seasons. i loved it when he came home singing "winter is here forever and ever, we will not get warm no not ever!" in late February/early March it really does feel that way around these parts. but then spring arrives and the rain and the green and the robins come back. you can feel the relief in the air!

to our surprise, we found a bird nest nestled in between the beams of our deck. the top of the deck was like a roof over it, so we could not see inside. but we were so curious. was there anyone in there? eggs? babies? and if so, what kind? i grabbed our crappy little camera, held it over the nest and took a few pictures. we were SO delighted to find these beautiful little eggs in there. aren't they perfect??? 4 beautiful blue perfect little eggs. right there. i love them. today we went outside to play and scared momma bird away. but i'm sure she's back now right were she belongs warming those precious treasures. i can't wait to see who hatches.

happy earth day :: new ideas at the CPC blog

i'm so happy to be in full-swing spring. isn't it so good? sunshiney days and lawnmowers a whir out in the 'hood. i love it.

you might have noticed the logo over there. that's right. i'm up to fun food blog mischief again.

my long-time blogger pal, beth over at Total Mom Haircut and i are teaming up. beth is someone i have never met, but i totally consider her a friend. she is the person in the blogosphere i have known the longest. she knew me back in the days of my first blog called Peeping Moms. i'm so very psyched to be playing with her on this project.

we are both finding ourselves more and more dedicated to a lifestyle of eating local foods. she's a fab home gardener who can inspire anyone to grow in their own yards, boxes, barrels or whatever you got. i'm an avid CSA and Farmer's Market goer who loves food and cooking. we're both busy moms of 2 just trying to make a difference in how our families eat. we want our children to know where their food comes from. we want to support our local growers. and so From Dirt To Dinner was born.

every other Friday we'll post about either a meal we've each made with a common ingredient that will be entirely (if we can pull it off) local. on the other Fridays we'll be posting interviews with each other full of ideas on how to cook, grow, shop, find local resources, get kids involved in their food and anything else fun we can think of on the topic.

and you can join us, too--the more the merrier! for the Meal posts, we'll add a Mr. Linky so that you can post your meal, too. the first posting date will be MAY 7th. i'll be hosting so come here to add your link if you decide to play. and the ingredient we'll use for this first meal is ASPARAGUS! yay for spring veg! i'm super excited and so grateful to beth for doing this with me.

repurposing

i wish i had process pictures of this one. this is a baby gift i gave to a friend at her shower a couple months back (she has since had her beautiful baby girl) but could not post about it because of blogger's issues. and now i'm wishing i had more photos of it in progress.

i took 2 old, but still in good shape wool sweaters--a pink and purple. both of which i loved, but accidentally shrunk. we've all been there. i cut them in to pieces and made a bit of a patchworky type thing. added some fringe to make it like a taggie and put some super soft flannel on the back. my hope was that it would be a nice little spot for tummy time or for changing a diaper or anything at all, really.

then i found that i had a matching purple t-shirt, so i used soulemama's baby cap pattern and made a little cap to go with it.

it was a fun little project. it feels so good to make things for little ones. it's slightly addictive, really.

summer in april

April had barely begun to show itself when suddenly here in New England we were seeing temperatures in the 80s. wrong wrong wrong. i love summer! but, please, not in April. we had to dig out our shorts, flip-flops and picnic blanket from the attic and fill up our sand box.

it's all good and fine. who can argue with sunshine and backyard snacks? we decided to whip up our one of our favorites. Graham Crackers. i've blogged about them before and included the recipe if you are interested. this time we added Orange-Honey Cream Cheese on top. big big hit, i'm happy to say!

sundresses in april!we just brought the whole cooling rack outside. why not?

Orange-Honey Cream Cheese :: mix up some organic cream cheese with a bit of honey (sweet it up to your liking), add some orange zest and a little squeeze of juice. that's all you need. good for dipping apples, too.

well, today it's back to rainy skies and 50 degrees. so long, summer. . . for now.

needle felting project :: playscape

i've fallen in love with needle felting. it's so totally satisfying!

several years ago i really tried to get into knitting. i loved the idea of it--making a baby blanket for my yet-to-be-born girl (she's now 2 and a half and i've never made a blanket or anything wearable) and even the action of doing it--knit, purl, knit, purl. therapeutic!

the problems were; losing my place, dropping stitches and not having any clue how to fix mistakes. this combined with how l o n g it takes to finish anything made me a bad knitter. i realized i needed quicker results than that. maybe i can take up knitting when the kids get a little older and i can focus better? this is what i tell myself, anyway.

felting, like sewing, is sort of instant gratification. it takes no time to make something--even just something small, like a little apple or pumpkin. and if it looks not quite right, you just needle a bit more here and a bit more there until the shape starts to come together.

after doing lots of looking on Etsy (couldn't you spend hours just looking at all the cool stuff people made?) for felted playscapes around the holidays, i decided to make one. there's a lot of beautiful ones out there with amazing detailing. i decided to take a sort of "waldorfy approach" to it and to adopt the "the more formed it is, the less the child can imagine" way of thinking about it. less is more. let the child fill in the details. so, here it is. a simple, first little playscape for fall or early springtime play.

we often add special stones or marbles to it. outside last weekend we did a lot of burning of yard brush and leaves and things. "just like the gnomes in the cave, mommy!" yes. i was very proud of my felted logs and fire in the corner there.

a little nest with purple eggs. we don't know who it belongs to, but maybe a little bird will have to come visit soon and show us.
there's always little parties going in here. pine cones, "dudes" and special stones.
the addition of play silks has been new. sometimes a little log or piece of wood becomes another home for someone or other.
someday, maybe an Etsy shop of my own.