Where am I?

I found this bank of tiles when I was out and about this weekend.  I love the combination of the clear glass, the frosted glass and the picture tiles.

Any guesses where this was? 

Keeping track...

In some part of my mind, I’ve always wanted to keep a journal - record my history, thoughts, feelings, general goings-on. I think really I just like blank books with pretty covers. In the end though, I’m too busy living life and then going on to the next thing to record every detail, or even a summary of it or a haiku about it. In fact the only time I successfully kept a journal was when I worked at Pinewoods, and even then, it was only the first summer I was there, and half of the journal consists of copies of letters I wrote to Susie. But to this day, there’s a part of me that still wants to record things.

And then it finally occurred to me that I actually DO keep a journal. I just have to adjust my definition of the idea...



I’m an inveterate list-maker. I need to write things down so I don't forget them. Finally, a number of years ago it occurred to me to buy a notebook and keep that as the central repository for all information and a replacement for all of the tiny pieces of paper that held my lists and then disappeared. Suddenly, I had a journal.

Because I am a creature of habit, I am particular about the notebook I use. I’ve settled on:

-spiral-bound
-5 x 7
-lined white paper, perforated so it can tear out neatly
-plastic covers (front and back, if I can find it, but at least front) to keep it from getting wet.
-80-100 pages
-pockets to hold the random pieces of paper that still persist

I start a new notebook every year, on or about September 1st (yes, still on the academic calendar), and go on the odyssey every year in August when school supplies come out to find just the right one. For some reason, Walmart (not Staples, CVS, Target, or any other place) has exactly what I want, and last year I bought four books with covers in different colors to keep me going for a while.

A quick scan of the books contains my life:

-Dance lists and dance programs
-Packing lists for weekends away
-Recipes copied out of books and magazines
-Gift ideas/holiday shopping lists
-Party menus
-Books to read
-Music to purchase
-Plants to buy for the garden
-Class plans
-Sketches and plans for cards to make
-Etc.

and of course

-To-do lists

Stay tuned for the latest journal excerpt - Summer Projects. Which will be compiled right after I get through the latest to-do list...

Deaccessioning...

Maybe it's something to do with my longing for spring that's brought about this urge to clean house. Not scrubbing, mind you. Though I do that from time to time, I never have the longing to...

In my never ending process of de-cluttering and actually putting things away from the places where I've dropped them, I will suddenly come across an object I no longer want or need. Without hesitating (lest I have second thoughts) I try and put the items in one particular place - my outbox, to borrow a term from Apartment Therapy. They sit there until the next chance I have for a thrift store run. And almost always, once they are in the outbox, I really never think of them again.

This weekend, I had a chance to get several bags of stuff out of my house, including:

-clothes I was given but couldn't use
-clothes I never wore
-VCR tapes I replaced with DVDs
-some CDs I listened to and hated
-4-5 random mugs
-some fuzzy critters from my distant youth or not so distant past (it's tough, but slowly I am able to let go of ~5 per year)
-rubber stamps (gasp! But not that many - maybe 10 - I will hardly notice...)
-plastic bags taken to recycling in the grocery store (I know, how could I. But not to worry, I still have more than enough.)

And, of course, I had no sooner returned home when I found, in my kitchen cabinets, the next pile of things to get rid of. Thus the cycle starts again...

Looking for shelf space...

As a lover of books I can find it way too easy to acquire them. As a result, bookshelf space in my house is always scarce. For this reason, I am a huge fan of the public library; you borrow books, and then you give them back! And it's free (yes, my taxes at work, but still...). But from time to time, I can't resist the lure of the book store, Amazon, etc., and/or present time comes around, and books just seem to be a natural choice for me. So here I sit, surrounded by 13 new books! And I don't have to give them back!

Tea Books - Some chance finds from Borders, and gifts that, by chance, I didn't already have!

The Perfect Afternoon Tea Book byAntony Wild

Crumpets and Scones by Iris Ihde Frey - a gift upon completion of the semester at Swarthmore

Tastefully Small Finger Sandwiches by Kim Hendrickson

The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook by Mary Lou and Robert J. Heiss

The World in Your Teacup by Lisa Boalt Richardson

A Passion for Tea by Hattie Ellis

Other Food/Entertaining type books - all purchased from used book dealers through Amazon. I believe the shipping for each of these cost more than the actual book did...

Supermarket Confidential by Joanna Pruess - I wanted this one especially because it gives you tips on how to navigate the jungle that is your grocery store

Simple Flower Style by Paige Gilchrist - because someday I will have the money to have fresh flowers at all times, and the time to go fetch them.

The Epicurean Collector by Patrick Dunne - to help me learn the difference between a teaspoon and a coffee spoon

Other Books

Serendipity - Fried de Metz Herman's last collection of dances

Good Mail Day by Jennie Hinchcliff - a book about mail art, a craft I love

Tiaras Past and Present by Geoffrey Munn - not my only book about tiaras, I'll have you know

...and finally

Extraordinary Chickens by Stephen Green-Armytage - a gift from Susie, of course. And they are!!!

What were your recent book purchases you couldn't resist??

Just another quiet weekend...

This past weekend, Valentine’s weekend, President’s weekend, I wasn’t planning on going to NY State for the Dance Flurry, nor NYC for the Sword Ale, but in the opposite direction, to VA to visit my friend Susie. But Mother Nature played her part, with the City of Philadelphia right beside, and I decided that it was a better idea, and safer to stay put. My car was clear, but still pretty stuck, and the streets in my neighborhood don’t get plowed. It would be folly to attempt it.

Last Friday it was finally back to work after the storm. I mailed off my valentines and started planning the now free weekend. Friday I would treat myself, run over to Borders after work, and then catch a movie at the Ritz. If I caught the 8:30 train home, fine, if I had to wait for an hour, I would run up to Chinatown for a quick dinner first. Sounds like a plan...

But no. I sprinted out of the movie, not even catching the ending credits, and onto the subway so I could make the train. And I likely would have made it. Had the trains been running. But due to the ever-mysterious signal problems, not only were the trains not running on schedule, there was no notion of how often and when they would be running. And the Septa employees either didn’t know, or weren’t allowed to say. So I waited. I had a book, so I was okay. And waited. Did I mention that I was standing up the whole time? And waited. Finally after more than an hour of waiting and watching trains that were not the Chestnut Hill trains come and go, I decided to expand my horizons: I would take the bus. The 23 goes into Chestnut Hill and stops on 11th street, right outside Market East Station. Armed with a schedule and a supposed 5-minute wait time, I head outside. And wait.

A clump of us are on the corner, waiting for the bus, when a woman bustles across the street, small child in tow (it’s now 10PM), and tells us that the bus has been rerouted and is now running up Broad Street. I’m annoyed about not knowing, but fine; Broad Street is really only a few blocks west. Off I go.

Now, I don’t take buses very often. I grew to hate them back when I lived in a 2-fare zone in NYC and spent what felt like half a lifetime waiting for the Q13. But apparently, there are rules about buses in Philadelphia that I don’t understand. Like when a bus runs along Broad Street, even if it’s been rerouted there, not every bus stops at every stop. So there I am, waiting for the bus at the first bus stop on Broad Street. It’s late and dark and cold. But, the bus comes! I’m excited! The driver sees me. It’s a red light. And he won’t stop and open the door to let me in. He goes on. I give chase. At the next light, I catch up with the bus and knock on the door. The driver won’t let me in. Finally, at the next light, two women see me and stand in the doorway of the bus so it won’t leave me behind while I catch up and run around the snow bank and finally achieve a way home.

Starting out at 8:30, I made it home by 11:45pm. And this is only Friday night!

Saturday seemed more promising. I met a friend for breakfast, and he not only generously took me to the grocery store afterwards, but then helped me free my car from the grips of the snow. So while I still wasn’t going anywhere by car because of the condition of my street, it was nice to be free. My plan for the rest of the day included a lovely concert downtown, followed by a dinner out. I had to take a chance that Septa would get me there and back, but I made sure to bring a book against the inevitable waiting times.

All started well. I got downtown. The concert and the dinner were lovely. I walked across the river to 30th Street to wait for the train, happy that I hadn’t missed the last train home. I grabbed a coffee and sat down to wait. At one minute to train time, I went up to the platform. The group of us up there watched the train come into the station, and pass us by, stopping only at the very end of the platform, as if it missed. A few folks went down to investigate, but that wasn’t our train apparently. Our train was, in fact, no longer listed on the schedule, as if it had come and gone, but yet we were all still waiting. Did I mention that was the last train home?

So we troop down to the Septa desk, where the slightly belligerent employee does make a call to find out what happened. She tells us to go back to the platform (again, late and cold) or we will miss the train. She will not answer my question about when the train is due. We go up. No train, no train posted. Finally, the train makes an appearance on the schedule as 20 minutes late. And then 14 minutes late. Finally more than 14 minutes late, it comes, and I get home. It’s 12:45am.

Sunday. Valentine’s Day. A day I love. The day my car and I will escape Mt. Airy. And I do! I get the car out, manage to get down my street and Devon Street, which are both covered in snow and ice, and pitted and uneven and horrible drives. I drive out, eager to go anywhere. I go to Lowe’s to buy a boot tray for the entry and leave with $20 in peonies, ranunculus and lilies of the valley bulbs. All is once again right with the world. I am free!

I get into Mt. Airy at about 4pm, tea time. I avoid Durham Street, not wanting to push my luck, make it up the slight incline of Devon, turn around in the train station lot and aim to park in the lovely clear spot on the corner of Devon and Durham, which is luckily not full of trash cans or lawn chairs. Failure. I can’t get in. I get stuck. I attempt to remain calm.

I run back to the house for the shovel and the salt and start digging. I examine the situation, make a new plan, get back in the car. And get stuck again. Repeat. I am no longer calm. I am frustrated, sore, and embarrassed by my lack of snow-conquering abilities. Over an hour later, after several rounds of shoveling and moving the car by inches, I get out. And look for another spot. There really aren’t any unguarded. Finally, I spy something, not remotely close to the house, but off a corner, mostly legal, that I think I can get into and out of. I snag it and make my way home.

For me the weekend is officially over. I go home and get into bed at about 5:30pm and stay there.

And there’s more snow predicted for today and tomorrow. Wake me when it’s April.

A scary amount of rubber stamp geekiness...

This past weekend as I was preparing for this year's valentine-making party (that never got off the ground due to the 700 inches of snow that fell this weekend) and puttering around in the craft room, I decided to find space for the new stamps I'd acquired over the last year. As I began fitting stamps into the new sets of drawers seen in the photo below I pondered a stamp organization problem...



Fitting the stamps in drawers and then noting down in my catalog which stamps are in which drawer is great, but occasions like the valentine party present another challenge: what happens when a drawerful of stamps gets dumped out, and the same stamps just won't fit neatly in the drawer again. The puzzle has become undone.

Enter the digital camera! It suddenly hit me that I can now photograph the contents of each drawer, print the photos, and not only have a catalogue of stamp images, but also a record of how precisely they are stored.

Photographing all of the drawers, which each have 2 or three layers of stamps, will take forever, but here are my first shots:




Drawer 5 - Valentine stamps, mostly



Drawer 31, Layer 1 - Moose



Drawer 31 - Layer 2 - more moose

Can you guess what my valentines look like??

On another spree...

One of my winter break projects was going through the mountains of paper that accumulate in my house. As a result, I finally got around to hanging more things on the walls. This is along the same lines as never does the kitchen floor need scrubbing more than when there's a chore you least want to do.

Here are some highlights of the new decor:



A million years ago there was a candle store at the King of Prussia mall called Illuminations. It was my favorite thing to go there just after a major holiday and sccop up all kinds of stuff on sale. Alas, they went out of business, but not before I bought these two wall sconces, which have been boxed up. I had an inspiration and finally hung the mirror on the wall in the entry, instead of keeping it propped, and hung the sconces on either side. They look great with candles going.



Next up, the dining room closet, now complete with two tiles by Wendy Costa and a fairy-dancer-type figure. While coming up with this arrangement was easy, hanging it up was not. I don't know what they put in the door when they took the glass out, but it does not want to take nails of any kind. It will be great when I can restore the glass here and in the corner cabinet.

Below are the tiles in situ:



The last wall project involves my new greatest love - picture ledges. These are available, of course, at Ikea. I hit upon the idea of using them after laying out all of the items I wanted to hang up. Among these are a collection of tiles, the Wendy Costa tiles above, Motawi tiles, Suzanne Crane tiles, and tiles from the Moravian Tile Works in Doylestown. Rather than hanging them, I thought a ledge might be the perfect solution to my fear of their falling (I'm missing a tile - did it fall and break some time? I can't remember.).





Now I see picture ledges, at least this kind, which are fairly wide for picture ledges, as the solution to everything. I want to hand some to display my posy vases annd other vases. I want to hang more in the office to hold my candle holders. The two that I hund don't hold all of my tiles, so more to come!

The other things I hung up don't photograph as well at night, so stay tuned for the next installment: Window Dressing...

Craftiness...

It never fails. Every time I undertake a large-scale craft project, say, making holiday cards, I look around my craft room, shake my head at the sheer volume of stuff there, and vow that for this project, I will use only what I have and not buy anything new. Good theory, no? Somehow it never quite works that way. Take this year's cards, for example (just finished tonight! hooray!):



I knew I wanted to do something with an embossed element. I had no ideas beyond that. Then in looking for something else a week or so ago, I came across these tags I've had since who-knows-when. The design sprang from that. I played with it, selected some stamps, made a prototype, made a plan, and I was good to go.

I tend toward dark blue or green card stock for a base. I had a bunch of navy duplex stock (a different color on each side, lue and white in this case) that was no longer flat despite laying flat continuously. Sure enough, I didn't have enough. No problem - I had some red to use up as well. Next supply: tags. I ended up having only half as many as I needed. This led to the first trip to the store, a package of 100 tags, and now as many, if not more left over than I had to start with!

I'd overlooked the fact that the tags I already had had no string or ribbon on them. But I have a drawer full of ribbon. No issues, right? Wrong. I never have enough of the right color or quality. But I had almost enough of the white organza ribbon I wanted so I was content to improvise on the last five or so. Luckily all of the new tags come complete with string already attached.

Inks are always a dicey proposition for me. I have a ton of them, but they don't, in fact, last forever. I never know which ink pads will be extant when I sit down. Luckily, though not all of the inks worked out as I had hoped, I was able to regroup and not purchase anything new.

Last element - the sentiment. I tend to be minimalist in the sentiment on my cards at holiday time, not wanting them to be Christmas cards, but more generic. This year's sentiment is very brief: Joy. I tried creating the word with alphabet stamps, but none I had were the right font and size. Then in looking through my word stamps, I came across a quote that included the word. I was in business - stamp out the quote, cut out the word. Alas, that left me with a small bit of paper to adhere to the card - difficult, but not impossible, though possibly time consuming.

I'm a fan of dry adhesives, preferring them to the messy and not quick enough to dry glues out there. Double-face tape is my friend and constant companion in the craft room. But no tape I own is narrow enough for these tiny pieces of paper. Last year I had a similar issue and used a product called Glue Dots, which were perfect for sticking small pieces of paper to each other, etc. And, I had some left! But of course, the dots I had were too big for my one brief word. Another trip to the store, this time the dangerous craft store, for, yes, micro glue dots! (That's all I bought. Really.) They were perfect.

Finally, tonight, all supplies in place, all elements complete, all address labels printed and postage stamps purchased, all that is left is to write a million notes and pop them in the mail!

Every time it rains, it rains...

As my version of the stuff-it-in-the-mattress savings plan, I've been saving all of my loose change for the better part of a year. I guess it started when the fabric wall of the change pocket of my wallet tore, and I started keeping any change I got during the course of the day in my pocket. From there, I would unload it into a glass jar every night. I wasn't attempting to not spend it during the day, just putting aside the remainders to feed my dreams of colored walls and warm rooms, and maybe even a linen closet.


I counted the coins at some point over the summer and had about $75. After my gigantic craft room re-organization, I found a bag full of pennies (why I had them, I'll never know), and added them to the growing number of jars on my bookshelf.

For some reason, this past weekend became the moment to do a big counting. I armed myself with coin rolls, settled myself in the glow of the Halloween tableau on my mantle (which the camera could not capture, you'll just have to come visit), and got to work.

The verdict: over $160, including enough pennies that I had to buy a second bag of assorted coin rolls to package them up.

And now comes the fun of pondering what to do with that cash... I fear it will go into something unromantic like columns to support the sagging kitchen walls, but what all of those pennies brought to mind is the image I posted way back in January...

http://festiveyettasteful.blogspot.com/2009/01/flooring-of-future.html

So, what do you think I should do with my change?

Treasured tines...

For some reason, probably having to do with my lifelong love of my mother's Spode dessert set, which we only dusted, but never used, I am attracted to tableware of all sorts, and especially tea accoutrements and interesting flatware. Several years ago now the Cooper Hewitt in New York ran a fabulous exhibit called, "Feeding Desire," which traced the history of eating utensils from 1500 to the present.



The exhibit was illuminating and reinforced my love of naturalistic silverware - Susie's twig utensils, and others like the piece pictured on the cover of the exhibit catalog, and the huge, Victorian sets where one place setting could possibly contain 50-100 pieces.

Then just last week Design*Sponge contained a post about forks! It reiterated much of what was in the Cooper Hewitt exhibit, but was a fun read.



The image above is from the post, a drawing by Julia Rothman that shows all of the forks you should have in your silver service.

I now have the urge to go to flea markets and antique stores and rummage for treasures in silver. And yes, in fact, I do want strawberry forks and bonbon spoons.

The complete lack of moose...

So I go to Maine, almost desperate to see a real, live moose, and what did I see, a million moose items in tourist shops. What did I buy, none of it. I think all of the moose must be summering in northern Ontario.

But here's what every house needs - a living room moose:

Image: Apartment Therapy

It's been a while...

Wow, it really has been a bit since I wrote anything. But I will merely pretend that it's been a day or two or five. Stick with me here.

My main distraction (or my Maine distraction):



Behold the view from the porch of the cabin off Indian Point in Maine. This was my home for a brief jaunt with the boys from the neighborhood. And yes, that is the ocean right outside the back door. It was amazing just to be there.

In many ways, going to Maine was like going to camp: bring your own linens, deal with mosquitoes, cool nights, forever-damp towels. I knew just what to pack, minus the zillion dance dresses. But it was so different being on a non-dance vacation without that structure of classes to go to (or to skip), meals served at specific times, and over a hundred people who want to do just what you want to do, when you want to do it. Is this what other people do all the time when they travel? Have to plan their days, meals, naps?

I would go back in a heartbeat, if my schedule permitted, and if I'm invited back. It will be better next time, as most things are, now that I know what to expect, where to go, and what it's like being with a different and small group for days.

Plan the trip around the local dances. It's the only way...

Birthday presents for myself...

This weekend I indulged in some shopping. My excuse? Well, my birthday!

Here's what I came away with:



Not exactly en route, but as I was driving from Lynn to Amherst this weekend, I took a side journey to greater downtown Topsfield, MA, home of Absolutely Everything, a rubber stamp and scrapbooking store. I think that their selection was wide and fabulous, but it's a bit hard to know as we no longer have independent craft stores in this little village of Philadelphia. I indulged in some stamps from my favorite company, Stamper's Anonymous, a few other bits and pieces and especially, some acryllic blocks to use with unmounted, cling stamps. Yes, she's finally joining the modern era of stampers. Maybe it's good that I don't live near this shop...



My next stop was Brattleboro, VT, home to many cute shops including Dragonfly Drygoods, one of the few even remotely local distributors of Emma Bridgewater pottery. I do want everything in the Black Toast line, but I settled for the pieces above.



Okay, not related to my birthday or to recent shopping, but still undocumented purchases, these pieces are from the very retired Dansk Floating Leaves line. Ebay is my friend. The plate is one of a set of four dessert plates. Now will she dive in and get the sugar bowl??? I wonder if there's a teapot? Maybe these are things I don't need to know...

The two that got away and the four that didn't...

Somehow this weekend was a banner weekend for finding new tea books!

On Saturday I journeyed up to Doylestown to go to the Tile Festival at the Moravian Tileworks. Since the last time I spent any quality time in Doylestown, the persistant rain prevented any significant amount of strolling through town, after my tour of the festival, I parked the car and wandered for a while. Of course, it being me, I parked right in front of the independent book store in town, the Doylestown Bookshop, where I found three tea books:

Tea by Sarina Jacobson



Tea for You by Tracy Stern



Tea; the Essential Companion



Today after work, I spent some quality time in Border's and found yet another tea book: The True History of Tea by Victor B . Mair and Erling Hoh



Despite the riches listed above, at two shops I found two additional tea books, but did not purchase them because I was convinced I had them already. Time to update the tea book database. Time to figure out how to carry that list around without resorting to excess electronics (not possible, I imagine). And time to retrace my steps to find those books again, or simply look forward to the thrill of coming across them in some completely unexpected place.

Not dead...

That's me, and my garden...

Summer begins this week as far as I'm concerned. Free evenings to fill (okay, free evenings that are already filled), time to work on projects, crafts, house, social evenings... Time to marvel at the fact that I didn't kill all of the plants in my garden. In fact, some of them seem quite happy!

Last Thursday evening, after about 75 straight years of rain, the sun came out, and with it my camera to document what was there. The images below were taken then and this evening.

Last summer the City came and planted trees along my street. Since then, I've wondered what kind I have. Now that the tree is in leaf and in flower, I know! It's a crabapple. The blossoms just now are white and lovely. I think at some point, maybe in the fall, I will move the tree to the center of my lawn, and move the lilac that's there to the back (though I hate to hide it).



Isn't it beautiful! It's even more beautiful than the picture let's on. This past weekend I was in Ann Arbor, MI, where it was prime lilac time. And we're not just talking bushes here, but groves of stunning purple flowers that you could just bury your head in and inhale. Mine will be like that soon (once it's a little taller).



I have a second lilac that was quite happy in a pot over the winter. I hope it will be just as happy in the backyard where I planted it. This one is a white lilac variety from Monticello. If it blooms, I'll post a picture.



Last year, Liz gave me a whole bunch of cuttings from things in her garden. The one I know made it is the azalea above. The one thing I didn't know until today was what color it was. As the photo doesn't quite show, it's a pale purple, with large flowers. I'm hoping it will grow and spread to fill that back corner of the yard. And finally...



Susie send me some renegade bulbs from the Netherlands that were specially treated to bloom this year. And what do you know, two of them did. This picture cannot do justice to the beautiful, dark purple blooms. I hope more of them come up next year!

But wait! There's still more. I have a Monticello Apothecary Rose in and leafing nicely. No idea what the bloom will look like, but stay tuned. And today, hidin under a clump of weeds, a hosta.

If I have time this weekend, I may find a few more things to pop in the ground. High on my list at the moment are these flowering shrubs: hydrangea, peonies, viburnum, lantana, and more roses!

Happy Spring!

Craft Room progress report

Warning - this post contains about a million pictures!

This past weekend I finally got some quality time at home, the last such weekend for about a month. I used the time to make progress on my craft room reorganization.

On Satruday morning, after a quick run to Cherry Hill to pick up the last piece of my shelving system from the container store, I got to work making the craft room ready. I moved bookcases, crates, filing cabinets, etc. A bunch of things took up temporary residence in the hallway.



By early afternoon, the future shelving area was clear and ready for what I thought would be the simple job of hanging the single track that all of the shelving hangs from. Silly me...



Because I don't have a lot of experience hanging things that need to be really level unsupervised. I asked a friend to come and help me with that bit. While I waited for his arrival, I put together the drawer frames. One of the beauties of this Elfa system is that it goes together easily. What I like even more though is that the instuctions included with each component are very explicit and easy to follow.



Well, the drawere frames were the easy part of the day... I chose to hang the shelves on an outer wall of my house. No problem, said the nice lady from the Container Store who sold me the screws and anchors for plaster walls (which seemed really strong and sturdy). Problem. The screws are 3". The gap between the plaster and the outside brick is about 2". So, off we went to the hardware store to find shorter screws. Then we couldn't get the fancy anchors all the way in. So we tried different anchors I had in the house. Almost, but now they're not as happy or secure with the screws. We try a few more things. In the end, I made a second trip to Cherry Hill and purchased the screws and anchors meant for dry wall. They're still as strong, but shorter, and therefore, perfect. By about 10:30pm, the top track was up!

I had this notion that I would go to bed as soon as the top track was up, but no, not possible. I started putting up the brackets...

...and the shelves. I liked this spacing, but discovered I didn't leave enough room for the drawer units to fit below. I waited until Sunday to reconfigure.

I spent quality time on the ladder Sunday morning working on shelf spacing. This is what I settled on.

Next, I completed the drawer units and put them in place. As an added bonus, the drawer legs fit neatly over the radiator pipe and don't interfere with the phone jack that's near the floor.

Almost immediately I began filling the drawers. It's so great to have the space to be organized!!!

By the time I stopped working on it tonight, the upper shelves were filled with my fabric (greatly in need of sorting and perhaps storage in bins), and most of the drawers were filled. Imagine, I have a drawer full of nothing else but ribbon! I took advantage of one of the extra shelf brackets to hang ebroidery hoops from (where did I get that many hoops?)

Over the next many days, I hope to keep working on this. Even if I only unpack a few things at a time, that will be enough to keep the momentum going. Stay tuned for more posts as the sorting/rediscovery of stuff I'd forgotten about process continues!

This could take cookie-making to a whole new level...

From Sur La Table, a very dangerous place...

Getting greener...

Spring is still not quite a week off, but it's so close, you can taste it. The snowdrops are up down the street, and all over people are saying that their bulbs are popping up. But I hadn't seen hide nor hair of mine, leading me to the conclusion that they must have been eaten by squirrels. But no! As I was walking to the train this morning, I noticed that their are several things popping up. Thus far, none look to be flowering, but you never know. I also noticed that not only is my potted lilac leafing out great guns, the one in the ground is showing signs of green! Yay!!!

Yesterday, Peter gave me some daffodils (which squirrels don't like, apparently) and daylillies. This evening I planted them in the back yard and noticed there that my azalea from Liz is still alive, and one of the roses that Susie gave me from Monticello made it through! I also noticed something else with a varigated leaf that looks vaguely hosta-like that I may have planted on purpose coming up near the back fence. I can't wait to see what it looks like in a few weeks.

I'm still not a gardener, but it was fun playing in the dirt today.

Snow Day!

Whenever I have periods of free time at home, although I have a vast to-do list, it's amazing how some things always fall to the bottom of the list, like cleaning, taxes, sorting through the mounds of paper that have accumulated to decide what to shred and what to keep, etc. But on this snow day, not only have I managed to shovel, cactch up on dishes and actually relax over a pot of tea, I've also managed to make serious progress in my efforts to hang up pictures on the second floor.

In a previous post I mentioned the picture wall I was creating in my upstairs parlour. Today, the wall is complete, pending additions. Here's a chronicle of the progress:

Where it all started:



A few more added:



And more:



All along the way I was moving and tweaking. The beauty of working with frames all the same size is that as long as the image has the same orientation, it will always fit in the same space. Another thing I began doing was adding small images for filler to make sure that as few of the framed pieces were line up as possible. Here's the final result:



The pictures can't do it justice, so you'll just have to come over and see it yourself.

I hung some additional things in the parlour and below are a few shots of some of the things I hung in the bedroom:





I still have a pile of family pictures to hang. I have my eye on the hallway for those. And the craft room is still a blank slate, but it has more floor space than ever, and those grandiose plans I alluded to earlier.

Maybe I'd better hurry up and do my taxes to see what that refund will really be like...

Inspiration!

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I know what I need to do in my craft room to make it a much more useful space. And yes, this will necessitate a trip to the Container Store. Or more than one. And a free day/weekend to make it all happen. Which means by about May, I should be golden.

If I'm really together, I will take pictures of the progress. For the moment, here's some Container Store inspiration...