the sweet life

this:

is a good start to a saturday...


...
and even if you get skunked by the waves

beating the boys to shore
means an over-sized fleece is waiting
...

and life,
is good.

wiped.

just back from a few days in NYC
and chaperoning the fresh air fund bus
loaded with city kids headed to cape cod
for a summer vacation...

adventures to come.

school's out for summer!

my sewing girls finished up a couple of weeks ago
just in time to go off to camp
in new outfits
completely designed and sewn by themselves!

it was a multi-week process
project runway - style
starting with drawings, a trip to the fabric store, muslin prototypes, label design and a photoshoot
the finished products were so impressive and the girls extremely proud- rightly so!

a few other spring projects to catch up on...

hand-sewn snails
(using a wee wonderfuls pattern)


patchwork pillows
for mother's day!




bunting banners
using the triangular fabric scrape left over from the floor pouf project!



it's been a productive spring for these little ladies!

words for the week

and with that...
i head to the salvation army
with a car-load of donations.

amen.


quote

quilted coasters

really, i promise
it didn't take me 4 months
to finish this project:

just 4 months wrap, gift and then photograph.

this weekend, in little compton for father's day
gave me the perfect opportunity to snap some photos
of the quilted coasters
i made for my mother-in-law's birthday gift

and, i have to say,
they look just as lovely as i'd imagined they would
in their home by the marsh.

one set for the living room


another for the kitchen/dining room

...
i was inspired by the coasters in denise schmidt quilts
but mine ended up being totally free hand... for better or worse.
i used a combination of quilting and upholstery weight fabrics
and am now totally obsessed with robert kaufman's quilter's tweeds...

words for the week

after boiling heat and rain
today
is a PERFECT spring day:

light breezes, warm sun, clear blue sky, bright green grass and happily chirping birds

enjoy it!

laura george

...
i just had the most delightful little picnic parfait lunch
under the shade of my cherry tree
iced pomegranate green tea was the perfect accompaniment

nellie, of course, licked the bowl.

glass, glee and girlfriends

last week
i met one of my very best friends, amanda
for a girl's day in boston...

our first stop was the MFA
for the Chihuly exhibit

my fave: the persian ceiling

i was literally blown away-
(no pun intended, i promise)
the detail, scale and symmetry
left me with a whole new appreciation for the art of glass blowing.



these enormous chandeliers
designed to hang at eye level
have my wheels turning for a piece in my dining room...


glass "baskets"
shown with the native american pieces that were the inspiration

...
we left the MFA, hoped the train to newbury
and thanks to a quick facebook shout-out for recommendations
grabbed lunch at parish cafe
YUM.

afterwards we (mostly) window shopped
until
meeting up with a like-minded blogger, blair
for mac and cheese, street-side

slightly obsessed with the up-cycling here of tomato can to wine bucket

and i just have to get in a word about how amazing this whole "blogging world" thing is...
being able to share our lives, inspirations and obsessions with a virtual set of "friends"
is even cooler when you meet those people in real life
and fall into conversations as easy as with your nearest and dearest
pretty. awesome.

(girls, let's please set a date for more...)
...
high-on-life after dinner
we reverted back to our dorky high-school selves
and belted our hearts out
at
glee: live!

no, we had no shame asking the 12-year-old behind us to snap our photo

kurt singing single ladies
the warblers- he-ll-OH! version of teenage dream...

AH-mazing.

and then
i needed a week to recover.

hello,
i'm back.