Around here....

Around here, I've got wrapping, cooking, cleaning, a little bit of shopping, and more anxiety than I'd like. How's it going around there?

Friday, I'm in love....

I love it when Nina Totenberg has to say "Pussy Riot" on the news.

Thinking about: Black, red, cream.

These images and more, here.

Workroom glimpse.

New(ish) work.

There's a new batch of Lavender Tomato Pincushions going into the shop this week. Aren't they nice? I really like them. Can't hide it.

I've been trying to carve out two days a week to work on BananaSaurus Rex - carve them out and be really protective of them and not let housework and texting encroach on that precious time.... And it's not even two whole days - it's two days from 9AM to 2:15PM.
Shouldn't be be so hard, right? HA! ha ha.

Around here: it's beginning to look ever so slightly like Christmas.

Friday, I'm in love....

With the city.ballet. series on AOL. The best!

Thinking about: keeping it simple.

These images and more here.

Aprons on Sale! (And free US shipping.)

There are only two of these beauties left and I know you need to do some baking, my little clove-scented lovelies. These aprons are soft and sturdy, and super-inexpensive right now.
Plus - you really shouldn't wipe your hands on your good pants. That's plenty of incentive! Snap them up while they last!

On the farm.*

Were this an actual farm (* it is not), the frosty weather we've been having would be frightful and devastating and lots of other colorful things I've been saying about it here on the non-farm. But it's not a farm and one of the non-farmers has a broken collarbone and the other is just not stalwart enough to go outside when it's less than 40 degrees. The geraniums will probably come back, and the lettuce certainly will not, and we'll start again in the spring.

Around here....

Around here, I made a quick trip to Colma, California. You might think it's all graveyards, but Colma boasts an old-world charm all its own, from its brick-paved residential streets and ornamental street lamps to its restored historical museum and railroad depot located at its 5,500 square foot Community Center. So they say.
Over 1,400 residents and 1.5 million departed souls. And? Two BART stations. Way. 
The city motto is: It's great to alive in Colma.

Friday, I'm in love....

I'm in love with electoral college reform, fakeisthenewreal.com, and Neil Freeman. How could you not love someone so wonky?

Thinking about: flying geese.

The Materials (and the tools).

There's nothing like the right tool for a job to make me swoon. Especially if the tool is a big mallet. Everything begins to look like it could use a grommet. Or two.

On the farm.

Things are pretty weedy and covered in dead leaves on the farm. And there's a volunteer sweet pea climbing what's left of the serrano peppers. California is so confusing.

Around here....

We went on an adventure to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, which is less like a Museum than it is like walking into the Entomology Department at UC Davis and getting a personal tour from an awesome grad student named Lori. I touched the tarantula, and my friend Laine touched the millipede. Some tiny little brave girls touched everything and my boys touched nothing. In fact, this may have been the first museum they've visited and not manhandled any of the exhibits.

Around here....

Around here, we geeked out at the live Radiolab show. Oh, it was artsy and science-ariffic and pure  NPR candy. If you don't know Radiolab, you should go binge-listen right now and then we can be fan-girls together, want to?

Friday, I'm in love....

I'm in love with Jennifer Lawrence. Can't help it. I'm a fan.

Thinking about: Iceland.

The Materials.

The world of textiles is an imperfect one, filled with imperfect choices - so I thought I'd tell you about some of the fabrics I'm using and why. Fascinating, right? Go get a cup of coffee and come back, I'll wait.
This is Hempcel. It's 55% Hemp and 45% Lyocel. It's a new one for me.
My impressions: light and strong, great feel, easy to work with, washes up with a satisfying line-dried-linen-like crinkle, but slightly silky. Lovely.
Sourced from a Colorado-based company where a rep calls me when they're about to run out of something I like. Good sales technique, probably. Also, nice.
The upside: Hemp is an extremely fast growing crop, producing more fiber yield per acre than any other source. (Fewer resources used.) It is commonly grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides. Lyocell is made from renewable wood pulp (eucalyptus) in a closed-loop system that recycles almost all of the chemicals used.
The downside: Made in China (but, with considerable disclosure about the factory's employee and environmental policies). Lyocell production is energy intensive and involves an iffy petrochemical.

So there you have it - imperfect. Worse than some choices. Better than most. Where's my coffee?

Around here....

Around here, it's fall and we are celebrating by falling ill, one after the other.... Plus, I think I may have adult onset ADD.

Friday, I'm in love....

with Moop. For many reasons, but today mostly this amazing post about the power of making things.

Etsy love!

My Tomatoes are in this gorgeous Holiday Joy treasury! Thank you, Laura!

Workroom glimpse.

Ahhh, look at my newly cleaned and organized workroom! YES - this is what passes for clean around here. And it only took ten days....

On the farm.

On the farm, things are looking a little rough - but that's its own kind of lovely.

Around here....

I'm wishing for a little more light, since daylight savings ended. I like that the sun is coming up at a quarter to seven and I'm not bumping into nocturnal animals on my morning run. But, when it starts getting dark at 4:30? I'm not okay with that.

Friday, I'm in love....

With my kid! Seamus wrote an essay about the American Revolution that is so flinging-flangin awesome and I wish I could share it with you but he says I'm not allowed to discuss it in front of him, or behind his back. Or after he goes to bed. Not a lot of wiggle room there.

No New Work today.

Because I'm cleaning the workroom and possibly building new furniture from IKEA! I know - usually I wait until I'm supposed to be doing my taxes to clean up, but this morning I got the wild idea that maybe we all have allergies because of the dust behind my file cabinet.
It makes no sense, but now I'm on a path and it may take some time to get to the end of it. Or I might see something shiny and leave it half done. You never know.

On the farm.

Hen update: Five hens molting. One non-farmer buying eggs.

Around here....

Do you ever spend your whole entire day cleaning and find your house is still a wreck? Me niether. Because my house is in a constant state of order and tranquility. In fact, you can come over right now and take a picture for the cover of Impossibly Beautiful Homes of Imaginary People Magazine.