sitting in the sunshine, the glorious sunshine, stitching the head together.
half a bunny, with whiskers.
liberty of london scraps for her dress.
rosy cheeks and a pink nose.
at the last minute, i gathered her sleeves at the wrists.
so many fun places to play…on the threshold of the hoop house, amongst the daffodils, hanging on the clothesline and scoping out the raised beds.
…and sitting on the garden bench with a pal.
Well friends, sometimes we just need some fun, am I right? Thought you might enjoy seeing what I made for a certain someone who turns two this week.
Do you know Alicia Paulson’s delightful blog Posie Gets Cozy? I think Alicia’s was one of the very first blogs I started following years ago. I ordered a bunny kit from her and stitched it up for myself, the pattern is here. Then I went on the make a fox for Gretta, a cat for Dawn and a bunny for my Mumsie
It seemed like it was time to make another critter, and I’m hoping little grand daughter Flora with enjoy finding this latest version on her doorstep soon. All of my daughters are fans of Liberty of London fabric and whenever we use this precious fabric in a project, we are sure to save every little bit of leftover scrap. I had made a sun bonnet for Maggie when she was a toddler and saved the leftovers. Now her cousin will have a bunny dressed in that very same fabric. xo
“toot toots” made by batman for the birthday girl. (sailing on watery linen, hand dyed with home grown indigo.)
Lindsey has an app on her phone that allows her to see which freighters will be passing along the Detroit River each day. She and Flora will sometimes go to a playground along the river and wait for a big ship to pass. Flora points her finger and says “toot toot” as it chugs by. When I was there in April, we actually saw a pilot boat in action. It came along the river in the opposite direction of the freighter, turned around midstream and pulled up along the freighter matching its speed. The pilot grabbed a ladder and swung himself up onto the freighter. At that point, he took over the piloting of the ship, as he knew the local waters better than the captain of the freighter. How cool is that? (Maybe you already knew how that works, but it was a fun new piece of learning for me.) :-)
Today is what I call “Crayola crayon Spring Green Day.” When we woke up, the birches down at the bottom of our meadow were nearly bare. This afternoon, the leaves have begun to pop out and you can watch the explosion of color happen from hour to hour. There’s a day each year that feels this way, that spring has finally spring for real. It’s 87 degrees up here on the ridge…a crazy blast of heat that will last for a few days. Then, blessedly, temperatures will return to normal.
Yesterday we drove up and over the mountains to Shoreham, where my friend Pauline has been growing indigo seedlings. Golden Russet Farm sits on emerald green swaths of farmland near Lake Champlain. I was delighted to catch up with Pauline, and buy some seedlings from her. I also bought a generous handful of asparagus cut from their fields that morning. It was a glorious day to be traveling in Vermont, and I must confess that we had maple creemees for supper.
Finding joy and happiness and hope is an act of resistance friends, may we all flex our gratitude muscles and carry on.
Where are you finding loveliness and beauty and gratitude, friends? Let me know in the comments, below.
xo