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Spring in the South

We have had Spring all winter here in Charlottesville it seems, there were cherry trees blooming in November! But now it is really truly spring and everything has burst - the trees outside our house were white dreams until a rain storm took down the last petals, now they wear the vibrant green new leaves.

I am appreciating the new sights and smells of spring here - there are maybe more variations of flowering trees than we had in Vermont? I don't know, but they are certainly different. And somewhat more lush, more tropical almost. The magnolia in particular.



And of course there are the dogwood, the state flower of Virginia, blooming now in the woods with their delicate flowers stained with a spot of red.



I am ready to burst this spring as well. Baby will be here in about a month. Is there any better time of year to be born?!

Our Front Door

It's about time to take down our holiday wreath. All through February, until this past Sunday afternoon, I was this close to putting up something spring-y and fresh. And then we had a snowstorm! Our very first real snow this year and pretty much the only winter we've experienced. It was lovely and cozy and gave me a good opportunity to snicker about how Southerners don't know how to drive in the snow (meanwhile, my own foray out into the blizzard was no more than 25mph the entire way, white knuckled on the steering wheel... ahem). Now, though, that excitement is over and it really is time to move on, door decoration-wise.


First though, allow me to share.

I made this wreath using a foam form and cutout paper flower-ish shapes. The vintage Christmas sheet music is from the Graphics Fairy website and printed on cardstock. Then they were put through the silhouette cutter to make the shapes.


Each flower was crumpled/folded a bit so the "petals" sort of bent up, and then they were all hot-glued to the foam. Only one finger was burned in the process. Great success.


I really like this wreath. It makes me happy whenever I walk in the door. Who knows if it will last until next year, but at least we got a good long season from it this time around!

Baby Hats

At 26 weeks I am getting in the making mood... so far we have a growing collection of very small hats.


The two crocheted ones were actually made during the Christmas holidays. The brimmed one was following a pattern of sorts (this one from ravelry) though I think I used the wrong yarn size/hook size combo because my results look very different from the adorable pictures. And I think I made it shorter because it just seemed to want to go on and on... It may be that I am just a bad pattern-follower. Actually, we can just consider that a fact.

The other crocheted one was from this pattern, most likely with some adjustments as well. And I added the little flower.


These two were made from two old knit shirts of mine. The stripes was an Eddie Bauer long sleeve t - so soft! I actually made three of these from that shirt, two using the bottom hem and one from the sleeves. Pattern is here from SouleMama.

The ruffle cap was from this tutorial on Tao of Craft. I just eyeballed the cut, and for the ruffle I just cut a strip straight across the t-shirt - so it was a big loop - and ruffled that. Then I matched the side seams to the side seams on the hat and sewed it on using a small zigzag stitch so the bottom of the hat would still be stretchy. I have the pieces for another one, a tiny bit bigger, that will have lots of ruffles. Too cute.

Love

Another little print I did a few days ago, using handmade recycled paper and a small hand carved heart stamp. This evening I machine-stitched "Love" in black thread.

I like how these little pieces on the handmade paper look when they are framed in a sort of shadow-box - they are naturally warped so neat shadows appear, and the rough texture looks so nice set against a crisp background and a simple frame.

This one is also listed for sale.

AEDM #9

Just a little sketch.

AEDM #10

Prints! I (finally) cleaned up my desk enough to bring out the printing ink.

I have a good supply of handmade recycled paper remaining from our wedding invitation preparation; the pink paper in particular had been waiting for a suitable project. I made some prints using vintage Indian wooden blocks (possibly used originally for fabric printing?), but neglected to take photos.

These diamond pattern prints were made with a small carved stamp. I like the repeating pattern and the variations of the ink on the handmade paper.


-- This print (above) is available for sale, others will be listed soon --





No two are alike! Printmaking is so much fun.