staying in

 it's been rainy and gray outdoors

and a good day to stay in

one of my birthday gifts was a stack of hexagon quilt squares

made from vintage fabrics and handstitched

... they were just waiting for me to come along

I've set aside some of the squares that aren't being included in a mini quilt I'm working on

 they make darling little mug rugs

- the perfect thing to work on when it's so dreary outdoors -

making rainbows in spite of the weather

:)

frost here, fog there

this morning we woke up to a coating of frost on everything

I was out with my camera as soon as there was enough daylight

and then after the early morning drop offs at school and the bus stop

I went out to the valley to see the fog

fog gives everything a softness

and what little color there is

is laid gently against a canvas of mist

in my home

there has been lots of thankfulness these last five days

and now this particular mom is thankful for the return of our regular routine

(exclamation point)

orange craving

if you have been reading my blog for a while

you already know that right about this time of year I get a big orange caving

I dry slices in the oven

.... and then use them to make stuff (of course!)

how I dry my orange slices:

slice the oranges relatively thinly - about 1/4 inch thick I guess

lay out on wax paper on a cookie sheet

bake at 200 degrees (f)

check every hour - flipping the slices over is a good idea too

do this until dry (about 3 hours?)

... and save the end bits!

drop them into a saucepan with a cinnamon stick and some water

simmer and smell .... my, oh my, it's like heaven

and then comes the fun part

... making stuff!

like these ornaments

ornament DIY ingredients:

dried orange slice

hot glue pieces of lichen in the middle

hot glue a deconstructed pinecone on top of that 

(or some other kind of bead, button or bauble)

dip in melted beeswax 

(beeswax: a fantastic preservative - and it smells great too)

 .... here's a link to the wreath I made last year ....

handwork

I've been thinking a lot lately about passing along the art of handwork for the next generation

sometimes I fear that such things will vanish in the fog of the glowing screen of Kindles and iPads

my own kids see me working with my hands constantly

sewing, knitting, painting, cooking

and I'm always so grateful when they express an interest

but it's a constant battle to get them to turn off the devices and open up a book

or better yet, learn a skill

*

but this was the scene today

we began work on a stitch sampler

and while we worked we talked about how I learned and who I learned it from

and how many generations have gone before us

and perhaps will follow

*

it was a good day to do the slow sew

photo transfer on glass

I tried something new today

have you seen my old tried and true photo transfer technique that I use on watercolor paper?

(click here for the tutorial)

well, I thought it might work on some of my beach glass

it actually works better on beach glass than it does on paper

the two pieces pictured below are from my outing on the trail a couple of days ago:

here you can see how different they all look depending on the thickness of the glass:

the pieces I chose were pretty clear - the roughest one being the one on the far right

the glass was very weathered and gives the image a foggy look to it

but if you flip it over it's really quite visible:

I am so pleased with these results!

I will definitely be making lots more of these!

inspiration

a recent conversation posed the question,

what do you do when you're needing inspiration?

my answer was 

getting out in nature

today, it was a 30 minute walk on the trail

and I took my camera

so, if I were to revisit that original conversation,

the more complete answer would be

getting out in nature with my camera

life has been 

T O O

hectic lately

time to slow down and take time to see