A bit of redecorating

 Relaxation and reading area.  I put my fox painting on the wall, and gave her the fox amigurumi I made last year, which it isn't able to be seen, but he is hugging 'A Wrinkle in Time' and protecting it for our next reading session.  I knit the rug on the floor a year or so ago, and it has been through the washing machine numerous times.  It's nice to put your feet on when reading.

Roger the tiger is guarding.
Cookie Rabbit is in the clothes hanger organizer, along with another vibrant pink lion that was a Valentine toy but I don't think ever kept a name.  She has her red ibis (flamingo, it gets called often) that I made up in her bed as a pillow.

A new rug under her desk, star shaped string lights above her bed so she can 'sleep under the stars', and she is actually using the hanger organizer I bought for her closet area - so it was a good investment.  She spent her allowance today on a scented candle and saved allowance on a dragon shaped water fountain.

This is her memory box, which has lots of rocks she has found or gotten from shops or geology kits, and snail shells and shells from the lakes, a suncatcher from Grandma, a tag she wore for Veteran's Day with my father's name on it and a few other things in there. 

We didn't get to go to the park today, it started raining.  We did get the present for the bday party next week and then did all this instead.  Esme begged for kielbasa and peppers, which I made.  We have to wrap the gift and then in a bit our guest is due to arrive for the sleepover!

Cornbread and mirror

We got up this morning and went to the flea market, and Esme sold some of her things.  We only stayed a few hours, as I was getting a headache.  It didn't let up much at home, either.  I made some cornbread (from a box). I had been thinking about cornbread crumbs mashed down into butter with a fork for about a week ... it finally got me and I bought some the other day.  Esme and I brought some tomatoes up to Grandma, and she borrowed me several magazines. 

After a bit with the headache still not letting up I started working on cleaning and painting this mirror.  Mark got it for free a few years ago with our dressers, and it has sat in a corner on the floor near this exact spot for all that time.  It was originally brown wood all the way around, scratched and really needed a cleaning.

 I had decided a few months ago I would probably paint it and also that it would end up red... I just needed to find the right day to tackle it.  It took two coats of paint on everything.

It turned out pretty good!

Much, much better than the way it was, and actually useful now.

Bit by bit I'll keep working on things I can continue to make and fix up for the house.

Later: 

It is 11:30, Esme has long since read her chapter with me and been tucked into bed, and I've still been cleaning for a bit.  The headache is finally gone... worked through it.  The laundry room and the bathroom are nicer for it.  The kitchen got a little bit of it, but there are things to do later.  Still... I really thought, as I scrubbed at a corner of the floor by the bathtub... I'm not just working through the headache, I'm worrying about Esme's school starting in a few weeks and sort of using up that energy elsewhere to keep from expanding on that worry too much.  I do that - I always have, it is a habit I learned from my mother.  At least it is getting some good results and I'm not just fretting idly.   

Baskets from Hardware store rope and twine

 I've been experimenting with what I can find for hardware store jute rope and nylon twine.  I made a tote bag out of the twine a few months ago.  The green basket here is jute rope - and it isn't quite as waterproof (I could take a hose to the other if necessary) it is sturdy and rich looking.  In the basket is a big roll of sisal twine, a bit less cohesive but lighter in weight, as well.  I will see what I can get with that.  Mark thinks plant hangers for a project out of it...

And since Esme was saying she was running out of playdresses and summer is on its way - I made this.  The white paisley fabric is heavy denim, but there wasn't enough of it to do much else with... and the other fabrics were the last bits of scraps that made something that 'sort of' went together.  The lining is a green 'hello my friends' fabric from a Japanese pack long ago, and the blue was from a friend years ago when I made matching dresses for Esme and her daughter.  It is open in the back to halfway down with a button at the back neck.  I hope it will fit for a while. 

 

The picture shows my messy studio space.. but that is part of the process lately.  

We had laid down an old piece of underlayment in the kitchen on the concrete floor to keep it warmer.  I had seen some ideas for 'wood rugs' and wanted to add some life and color to the rug.  Mark said go ahead - and some masking tape and craft paint later we get a little bit of 'different' that may not last forever but it is interesting while it does.

 I had told Mark I wasn't just looking at home dec pictures on Pinterest.. but was actually doing some of it.  So he decided I needed a picture of me doing it.. which turned out pretty good :)  This was a fun project, kittens and all...

Minion and her kitten are confused by it all...there was much shooing off of little feet and even a little bit of cover-up of tiny footprints that found their mark.

I am drawn to pattern... perhaps I am a gypsy?

The striped knitted blanket I've been working on since December, and a patchwork quilt that gets a few rows put on it every few months or so... it's about two or three years old now.  Today I may be finally ready to put the yellow diamond/triangle area onto the square part of the quilt.  It has been in progress for the past month or so and finally got to the proper width.

I can say I am drawn to the 'Bohemian' pattern and decorating style.   When I search through home decorating catalogs and websites I always end up saving the things that are full of intricate pattern and color.   It really isn't a surprise.  We live in the middle of the woods with ten dogs, live close to the land all summer and make as much of what we own as I can.  I am always telling Esme we can make that - or do something like that... and she also appreciates how much of the house has been made by 'us'.

Everything I make ends up being so brightly colored, unique and full of pattern and details that sometimes take much longer than anyone else would spend on them..... I get bored with one pattern in something - I start another.. and it all seems to fall together.  My art is like this, as well - intricate pen drawings that curl and squiggle and burst into color here and there...telling stories with animals and flowers and geometries that blend into each other as they move from one side of the page, to another.  Layers on layers of meaning... histories... time and thought encapsulated into craft.

Oh, and I wove more on the rug last night, added several more color bands.  Esme said it would be her rug - as the one she had in her room (that was made on the loom last year) was trashed in the water incident in January.  I had been planning to make a chair cushion cover out of it... but I think it is probably about the right size for her room in front of her bed.

Also, because of the weaving I felt like I was beaten this morning - had forgotten how much my arms and shoulder muscles - and back and hip muscles as well - used to hurt from the sitting upright, balancing the loom and moving the yarn back and forth again and again... it is a workout these muscles aren't used to anymore...

//note for later
Esme is outgrowing everything again.  I need to patch a few pairs of pants that have now become capris (highwater by two inches or more!) and go through the fabric stash to see what is available to make her some more.  measurements 25ch, 22w with 24 inch outer hip-ankle measurement - hemmed pants to 26 inch total length from Simplicity 8717 size 6.

Neon pillows should be sewn while wearing sunglasses

Finally, another day off, and I am getting to the next step.  This requires tacking little stitches into the interior rounds to keep the pillow straight and centered while I begin the reducing rounds around the outside of the pillow, essentially crocheting the rest of the project with the 'removable insert' inside.  If it ever needed to be washed, it could be - with some careful snipping of about eight little tack stitches.  This one is going to turn out just a smidge smaller than the other two that are on our bed - but that is okay, since it is for Esme's room and she is smaller, right?  There were some quilting rags that were in a bag waiting for a project and they went inside it with the stuffing to give it some heft and keep the corners filled.

Not much else, reading, scrapbooking some fabric pattern and other decorating and art ideas... reading the Fifth Elephant, drinking coffee, folding laundry and scratching a puppy behind the ears every once in a while.  I'd like to add another skirt onto my wish list for crafting.. and a pair of pajama pants although I've been telling myself that one for a year and haven't made another pair, yet (but, three skirts - so that is something).  Esme will be at home in an hour, so, I'm glad I've made some progress today besides sleeping in and lounging over some frozen waffles and maple syrup.  The winter cold has made lounging quite desirable, especially with feet tucked underneath knitted blankets.

Esme and her new pillow

after which she spent many minutes stacking them all up on the bed and claiming they were hamburgers or pancakes and we needed to have dinner.

Painting : Bunnies in an airship

I sketched this up after looking at a black and white drawing of a sailor rowing his airship across the sky and the airship had an eye to look out ahead.. In this decorating slideshow, picture 10  And I thought the basic overall shape was very inspiring - but I wanted to do something more childlike.

I might work more on the theme - but this was fun for last night.  I also decided I need a new detail brush as doing the little black linings with the edge of the larger brush was very difficult.  Mixed craft acrylic paints on paper -probably destined to be taped up in Esme's room.

Handmade art by Mom for Esme's room

I still get my paintbrush out once in a while -although not for anything as elaborate as I used to make.  Here is a pirate painting for Esme's room and also some animals I painted on her new closet doors.

Pirate dreams painting - details asked for Esme are the scene on the left with the treasure island and the dreaming pirate, and the stars, and a 'whale' which I made an attempt at by the sunset/sunrise.

Once the closet was in place in her room the doors looked a little plain.  So, I grabbed a paintbrush and freehanded some animals onto it - I had intended two giraffes facing each other and instead made a tiger in pants and shoes, and a giraffe with a coat on :) 

We already have some dresses hung up on hangers inside and I am trying to get her to keep her boots and shoes in here at the bottom - socks and loose thins in the shelf above.  She has taken the dresses on hangers out and played with them saying it is dress up time - is this too small - is this just right?  Try this on, won't you?  I need to get more hangers - and looking at her clothes I know that August is just a little ways off.. I will need to get sewing if she is going to have something in decent condition for school every day. 

I just haven't had a lot of time for sewing since that last coat.. and even that took me weeks from cutout to finish.  Note to self:  Need pants too, have one pair cut out but they are summer length - and now that she requires nearly a full two yards for a pair of pants, they have gotten more expensive - not as much as jeans, though... still have to think if we might have her try on some jeans to see how they fit, and compare the investment now that she has grown so much.

 Esme with her horse pretending the pirate ship is a castle and she is a 'knight girl with the armor'

This is where the painting is in her room, by her sleeping light on the shelf.