Insta-sista

 

All the sisters are together in Burbank, CA this weekend! As per usual, whenever they visit we away to Disneyland.
Here's a brief look at our visit, instagram style... 

DIY: Paper Chain Countdown

I've been thinking real hard about how much I loved making paper chains in elementary school (I'm not even kidding, I think about that)...

Home & Away: Tacoma

It just so happens, Tacoma counts as both home and away. As I've said before and I'll say again and again until I move back to the west side of the state, my poor little heart is split in half when it comes to Spokane vs. Tacoma. I've got one chamber assigned to the west and one assigned to the east. So here are a few of my favorite things from Tacoma...

Purls and Peanut: Vogue Wrap Complete!

I have finished the #21 Vogue Lace Shawl! Behold the glory!

Make: Merit Badges

Do you long for the days when after you completed a fun feat you got to sew on a badge of honor to display your accomplishment? I wanted to revisit those days in my adult life and award some badges to others for their merits...

Book Report: Jane Eyre

My first introduction to the Brontë's legacy was in high school when my favorite teacher proclaimed:  The Brontë girls were entirely too silly. They had no sense about men whatsoever. Being that I was in my dark times (Who didn't have those in high school?), the thought of reading a couple novels penned by silly girls was about the most unappealing thing I could imagine. I was all like: I'll just take this Dean Koontz paperback up to the treehouse, thank you very much. Boy, was I ever wrong... 

Insta-sista

Genevieve posed for my first picture on my new iPhone. I would say she was an outstanding model!

DIY: Trash into Treasure

I finished my little ombré trash necklace this week. Wait. What?  Yes, I said trash. Here's the scoop: I'm calling it a trash necklace because the ombré bits are actually made from trash. OK, that might not require the extensive explanation I had planned. Still, when I say trash, I'm not talking about trash I dug out of the dump pile exactly (though that'd be pretty excellent, too)...this is actually something I'd previously tossed without a thought. And then one fateful day, I started wondering if maybe I could find a use for this particular bit of refuse. Turns out, I could. Without further ado, I give you the secret of the ombré trash necklace...

Home & Away: Back to the Future, the house.

On occasion my Ben loves to surprise me by sweeping me off to fun places on the scooter. Well, on this occasion we headed to Pasadena: our final destination was the Gamble House (built in 1908 by Charles and Henry Greene, for David and Mary Gamble, of the Proctor and Gamble Co.). Most famous for being an ingenious architectural delight, this national historic landmark was featured in the Back to the Future movies as the home of Dr. Emmett Brown...

(Bad) Peanut and Purls!

I devoted lots of time to my current knitting project in the last week, which is a good thing since I needed something to distract me from the worst cat in Olympia...

Succulents and Cacti, never too many.

So, I recently acquired some more little succulents and cacti, and I was so displeased to be forced to find yet
another home for them...and even more upset to have to throw up some curtains and hang some pictures to
dress their new home. (Obviously I am being completely facetious, decorating for succulents is a heavenly treat...)

Book Report: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Yes, I've talked about We Have Always Lived in the Castle several times, but I'm really feeling it lately. WHALC so supremely embodies the hyper-isolated sister experience I long for. Secret bower in the woods? Check. Wise cat? Check. Library books? Check. Magic words? Check, check, check. Don't freak out, sisters, but I just may want to poison ancillary people and live in a mansion in the woods with you. Maybe don't let me prepare any meals for a while. I hope I didn't give too much away... 

insta-sista

Much of my life in the past couple weeks has consisted of watching Matilda sit in sunny windows. I think,
like me, Matilda has noticed the change in the weather and is trying to soak up as much of the late
summer sun as felinely possible. Valiant effort, girly. Keep up the good work...

DIY: You're in my favor.

I don't know if you remember my lovely friend Dawn and her plans to wed in the summertime in Washington, but if you do you may recall that she had some aspiring plans for a wedding of whimsy and sweet sentiment. She wanted small cloth tea napkins with hand embroidered images befitting a backyard wedding, all on the night of a nautical full moon. I gladly volunteered to hand embroider napkins to dress her wedding tables, and here's how it went...

Fall is coming...

It's starting to feel like the sunny days won't be around for much longer. My succulents and garden still look very green (as evidenced by the miniature horses above sitting in my rockery), but soon everything will start to turn brown...

How to entertain your bad cat...all the time

Peanut is notorious for being bad. I think part of the problem is she's super attached to us and gets so excited when we get home. She'll wait by the window for us to get off work and when we do, she demands constant attention...

MARRY ME!

Dreamboat, Billy Browne, and his cat, Rufus, have just entered my life in a major way. Thanks to Kat of   That Kind of Woman for making this moment possible. It's become quite apparent to me that I'm watching far too few cat-related videos on YouTube. Remedy immediately!

dream come true

Here's Mt. Pillow in it's place of honor on my bed. I've always dreamed of hugging a mountain. Thanks, Catherine!

blue as can be

I finally finished the other set of curtains I forced Mom to sew for me. And by finished I mean that I dip-dyed them with Dylon Ocean Blue fabric dye. Remember that other set? The one Mom made while I was napping? Well, she made this one, too. I basically just shoved fabric at her and went to sleep for a couple hours. When I finally awoke, it was because she was standing over me saying my name. Apparently, she wasn't aware how terrified I'd be to awake with someone looming over me. I yelped and about fell out of bed. Man, afternoon naps are so disorienting. As for these curtains, with the underwatery light they spread about my bedroom...well, they're dreamy, not disorienting...

centennial

Our grandparents on their wedding day. 

Received an email from Mom tonight. 

Hello,  Just thought I'd pass on to you that today is my Dad's Birthday and he would have been 100 years old. 
I remember when Mom told me it was her Dad's 100th Birthday.  Now her own 100th is coming up soon too. Love, Mom

little friends

One of Those Days

Totally dig these prints by Portland, OR artist, Ashley Goldberg. I love the grumpy, serious, petulant, skeptical,
sad expressions. Makes total sense because those are my main expressions. And I love her etsy profile!
Here's a quote, so you can love her, too. 

I strongly believe in what you're happiest doing at five is what you will be happiest doing your entire life.
Growing up, I endlessly drew and embroidered onto washcloths that my grandma gave me little creatures
and animals that I desperately wanted to live in the woods of my backyard.

Oh, Ashley, how I wish you had been a part of our sister cadre! We could have played pioneers in the woods together.
Take a stroll through her prints...

airplane obsession

I do tend to get a tad obsessive about sky travel. For starters, you're in the sky. THE SKY. How is it even possible?
I still don't quite understand the physics of the whole thing. Quick, somebody find me an aerospace specialist.
I need to know how all this works...

Mt. Pillow

Take a look at those pillows! Now, all the pillows are fantastic in their own way, but the point of this post is to showcase the monumental mountain pillow. I handcrafted that puppy from scratch, and I'm tickled pink as to how it turned out. I wanted to make something else for Christine's birthday but I wasn't sure what. I had been thinking about a knit mountain pillow, but I didn't have a pattern, so I made one...

Brief Musical Interlude: Willy Moon

Oh, Willy Moon. Why you so amazing?
Get a little more Moon via Vogue.

Lately in my life...

**According to instagram

Dead crow outside my house

award winning alpacas

When Catherine and Nicholas visited and we went to Green Bluff to see the alpacas at Supersuris Ranch, I took these photos of all the amazing ribbons. I can't get enough of the colors.