what luck!

I found a 4-leaf clover in the most pleasant way. Just glanced to the side while sitting in the backyard near busy daughters and there it was!

chickies for my baby chick!

 My baby girl turned 1 today. For her birthday I sewed up a Henny Penny with her six little baby chickies from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby. I am not going to claim that I "whipped them" up as there was much more head-scratching, improvising, internet-consulting, tutorial-watching, and just plain winging it involved.

I did manage to learn how to do a French knot for the eyes of the mama hen. For a beginner sewer like  me it was very confusing to read the instructions that started with the thread emerging from the chicken. How does that happen to a fully formed stuffed animal? I ended up knotting the end and going in through a seam, very carefully pulling the knot through, and working the needle through some of the stuffing so the end would get stuck. Then I poked the needle out where the eye should be. This online video saved the day for me. A special thank you to Mary Corbet of Needle 'n' Thread.

I never did figure out how it would have worked if I had "stay stitched" shut the opening (is this the same as basting stitch?). If it was sewn shut, even loosely, I am not understanding how it would have been possible to turn the creature inside out. So I just skipped all that stay stitch business. I am also not sure what a "blind stitch" is and I imagine it would have been tidier than my improvised version of sewing the chickens shut. However, they are done in time for the birthday and that's what mattered to me!

In case you are wondering about the wings – the mama hen has strips of velcro under her wings. The velcro wings on the baby chicks will stick to her so they can all tuck up underneath. Very cute.

terrific tiles for a fresh front

 The new, custom house number tiles are installed (thanks, handy husband)! Tah-dah! It's like they are a preview of all the crazy bright colors you will find inside my house.

I heartily recommend the artists – J and R Designs – whom I found on etsy.com. You get a preview of your tile and the option to make changes (which I did, had to have my purple in there) before it is finalized. They were friendly and easy to work with and the tile arrived safe and sound.

Before:

After:

Just another note on how fabulous the "after" is – the black mailbox and light match the black railings. The little curl on the top of the light mirrors the curl on the railings. The numbers are also black with a slight curl detail as well (you can't see this because I hid it in the photo).

And if you're curious about the front yard garden project or the purple glass garden art that shows up in the photo hop on back to these previous posts!

beautiful baby pinecones

 Or at least that's what I think this natural treasure is. I admit I am no expert on evergreens and the mysterious ways in which baby evergreens are created (seeds, pollen, how many biology classes have receded to the murky depths of my brain?) but my daughter and I found this near some pinecones beneath an evergreen tree. It was flexible and smooth and moist, not hard like the dry brown pinecones we usually find. And what gorgeous colors – mauve melting into green with hints of gold. Be inspired for dressing your home or yourself!

Sum-sum-sum-summertime!

I have the pleasure of always being mentally ahead a few months at work so even though we're in the midst of somewhat chilly spring weather I am right smack in the middle of preparing for summer events at the library.

I've recently designed posters for two of our big summer events: BookFest, a one-day event in conjunction with Grand Rapids' Festival of the Arts, and GR Reads, which is our adult summer reading program running June through August.

I have a set color palette derived from our logo (dark blue, bright green, orange, purple) with one additional light blue that I use as the background shade on brand pieces. When it comes time to do event specific pieces I often will narrow that palette down and pick a few of those colors to use. For both of these posters I removed the darkest colors and used our logo in solid white. What is left is a bright, airy, set of colors that shouts summer fun.

The BookFest poster needed to give people an idea of what to expect on our stage, especially considering this is a new program for us. I liked the way the images were integrated into the vertical spaces. There were too many in too many different styles to use them any larger. I was also able to play with scale and emphasize the bigger names.

I love and adore the GR Reads poster. The theme gets changed up every year so it is always a good creative challenge for me. All the details are yet to be revealed so I can't explain the design too thoroughly yet. I will say there is a reason for the arrows. They're not just for pretty.