A Midsummer's Fairie Dream

O list' you children, open your hearts to hear;
In the garden faerie voices sing,
in the aire, a beating wing,
and laughter on the wind!
The world is more full of wonders,
Dear One,
than you or I could know.
Through the dream-filled days of midsummer
to the nights abright from star-glow.
Where the wild thyme blows
and violets grow,
down the path where the faerie Queen goes!

- Paula Arndt 2006

So many yards, so little time...

OK, I know I'm not the only one who goes a little crazy when they walk into a fabric store. Even though I may not have a specific project I'm working on that needs fabric, or even have the room in my budget at that time to buy some yardage, if I somehow find my truck veering off the road into the parking lot of a fabric store, I will not leave that store unless I have yard or two of (usually blue and white) fabric for some future project.

There was a time when I loved to sew aprons - kept a few of them which I wear all the time. I used to buy a yard of every cute fabric I saw. Usually little flowers, old-fashioned - or stripes and toiles.

I have a Jane Austen era-style dress which I "grew out of" a few years back and ever since I have had it in my mind to sew up a larger sized dress so I can join the Jane Austen Society here in Seattle and go in costume. I have several yards of a particular pattern that would work well for that dress. Never got it done.

I have always dreamed of sewing up a quilt of simple, old-fashioned squares in a myriad of blue tones and patterns - so I have many single yards for that. Haven't gotten to it yet. I dream of a sofa or window seat scattered with a myriad of throw pillows - have tons of fabrics for those too. Yet to sew them up...

Any who - point is, I (we?) end up with storage bins full of fabrics that I love so much I refuse to get rid of and am determined to keep for those future projects. But they are like art - and when you stack them up in front of you, they seem even more appealing. If I had to clean house, I'd rather toss half my clothes then get rid of these fabrics!

So, confession time - here is a small portion of the yardage I have collected. Most of it is deep inside the storage closet under the eaves off my bedroom - it was too hot upstairs to go digging for it this past week so I photographed what I could easily get at. What kind of fabrics do you usually collect? What future projects are they in storage waiting for?

Spoon Maker

My boyfriend Scott is a carpenter, and a darned good one. He's actually a guy who has been in the contracting business for 20 years now and can build a home from the ground up. One of his favorite past times is carving wooden spoons and spatulas. He loves to cook, is darned good at it and has more kitchen tools then our tiny kitchen can hold. A favorite tool of his is a wooden mixing/serving/stirring spoon and he tends to carve his own so he gets the right feel for his big hands. Here he is with his latest - half of these carved within the last week!

He is experimenting with handle designs - you can tell his early carving because it's very straight and simple. The new spoons have great handles using the wood's natural defects and waves. I made him sit for these photos yesterday afternoon when he got home from work - still scruffy and dusty from a day of carpentry work.