at the lake.

A few pictures from our trip to SD a couple of weeks ago.  This rocky beach was one of the highlights.....and many of these rocks found themselves transplanted back into the water as Thelma is trying to learn to skip them, and Esther tries to do everything her sister does! 

Okay, but seriously....I am posting because I need to post....something, ANYTHING!  Sorry so much time has passed, once again.  Can someone give me a blogger lesson next time I'm in St Paul?  It would make it a lot easier to accomplish this task. 

Heading to yet another lake tomorrow eve, somewhere around Spooner, WI.  We're spending the week with my mom, dad, Adam, Sarah, Benji and Lucy.  Should be fun.

Anyone want to go to pizza on the farm before the end of the month?  Wait....is this an e-mail or a blog.  I'm confused.  Very late....must sleep now.  Love you all.

spring days filled with....

lilacs and may day crowns...
















 slugs peeled off the stucco wall...








ladyslippers in the woods...















wet on wet watercolor paints....

cows.













kittens....with their eyes barely open.....

....story time in the tent with friends...

 ...and lilies of the valley, always on the table.


Hope you're having a lovely spring as well!

studio tour

Vintage ironing board........not used at all for ironing, but pressing, rather.  I've always disliked ironing, so such a relief to find out that "pressing" a garment you're in the midst of making is a completely different thing.  Feels more like putting on the finishing touches.  (brown linen skirt, cut on the bias.....love the way it drapes.)

Textile and fiber stash, thread......sewing patterns and books.

I re-potted this kangaroo succulent last night in an amazing Bauer Pottery planter that Delip pulled out of the garbage at the local auction house.  It has one little chip, but is perfect, otherwise, and I love the color next to my orange scissor pot.  This yellow cabinet was a find at last year's Gold Rush, and is the perfect height for cutting.



















See the empty cabinet at the left of the picture?  I'm still waiting for you to come and sew with me!  Bring your own machine, or we can pull out the old Singer.  Come for dinner and an overnight and we can sew in peace and drink wine 'til the wee hours of the morning.  I'd really like that. 

bells and whistles.

So.....I know I've spoken to at least a few of you about how I adore my vintage sewing machine(s).  I love them, I really do.............BUT, I've been feeling for awhile that my skills are quite limited by their capabilities.  My first dear Singer, the one my handed down by my Grandma Flo, doesn't even have a built in zig-zag stitch.  It sews beautiful, perfect straight stitches, but I've acquired 4(!) additional machines at garage sales, in hope that I would find one that would perfectly fill the technical gap.  I've been doing a lot of research in the past few months, and after reading and hearing what so many other proud owners have to say, I decided to go for it last Sunday.  Meet my new Bernina Activa 230.

She (of course, she's a she.), is blowing my mind.  It's hard for me to believe that this is what Bernina has to offer in it's base line of machines.  She has 70 practical and decorative stitches, and the buttonholes are automatic.  As in, it remembers the size of the first one, so they're all exactly the same size. This, in addition to threading the needle for me, and a hands free foot release system.  Apparently my sewing machine ignorance worked in my favor for years as I had no idea what I was missing.  I can't imagine wanting much more than this. 

I've also moved and redesigned my sewing space.  Pictures of the complete room to come soon! 

Oh, and I have Mr. Obama to thank for the fantastic tax return that made this possible!  Also......Delip got a truck.  A 1986 Dodge Ram.  It's huge, but he's quite pleased, and I can't help but be happy, seeing that smile on his face!

to school or not to school.

so, I've been reading maybe a bit too much of this guy named John Taylor Gatto.  He is a former NY state teacher of the year who decided to give up his career because he came to the conclusion that schooling is actually doing more harm than good.  In conclusion of his work, he claims that the lessons he actually taught were confusion, class position, indifference, emotional dependency, intellectual dependency, provisional self-esteem, and finally.....ONE CAN'T HIDE.  and though they all hit home with me in one way or another, it's that final one that I fear the most for my kids.  Being under constant surveillance, not having enough private time or space....the meaning being that no one can be trusted and that privacy is not legitimate.  I want my daughters to grow up marching to the beat of their own drummer.  and it seems to me that's kind of hard to do when everyone else is always telling you what to learn, watch, hear....and especially when there's a blaring bell signaling you to march from one room to the next, or else.  Or else, what?  Follow their lead....provide the materials and opportunities for them to embark on their own journey.  With freedom from time restraints, potentially discriminating educators and media absorbed peers. With freedom to find their own perfect learning environment, that will most certainly not be enclosed within four walls, a floor and a ceiling.

18 months....a little game of who's who.

winter musings, 8 days past imbolc

i'm all cracked lips, dry scalp and unshaven legs. i simply don't have any time for myself, and you can see it easily at first glance of this picture my mom took during last week's imbolc snow shoeing trip at Quarry Hill. and yet, this nursing, teething toddler and my precocious four year old are my greatest gifts in life, no doubt. right now, getting these two bundled up and outside seems to be my biggest mission, and it's one i am challenged with daily. i love winter, i really do. but i can barely stand the forcing of mittens on little hands, and that says nothing for getting them to stay on once we're out. the temptation to touch that beautiful, white, sparkly, fluffy stuff with one's bare fingers is just too much, for esther, especially. so that, even though she jumps up and down at the prospect of going out, after 10 minutes, her little fingers are so cold that she's begging to go back inside. thelma, on the other hand, could stay out for hours. but it's not the active adventure she's after. she loves to sit and dig in, build with, shovel, and roll around in the snow. when i do talk her into a winter hike, i feel i've hardly gotten started before she's complaining about how much her legs hurt. i can usually keep her moving for a bit, but i try not to push her past her limit, as i know this will surely turn my beloved walks in the woods into a chore for her.

the thought has crossed my mind, i tell you, that it would be quite wonderful to have a mother's helper in my home a couple of hours each day. to give me the time to walk through the woods in silence, or maybe even pluck my eye brows. (and of course there's that Y membership that's sitting dormant.) but, who am i kidding? there is not a line in the budget for a mother's helper, and i doubt my dear husband would be supportive of such an expenditure if there was. i guess we'll just carry on with things, the bundling, the whining at the bundling, and the glorious exclamations and marveling at such a simply exquisite white world that make it all worth it.