Summer Sunday

Today was just lovely. It started off with coffee out watching the chickens (the best!).

We went to the farmer's market in the morning to get berries for

pie!

felted bowls drying in the sun

Tonight it's off to dinner at a friend's where I will pick raspberries until the sun goes down.

Craft Sale

Just a quick note to let you know that I'll be selling at a craft show/food drive tomorrow (Saturday the 27th) at Urban Outfitters in NW Portland.
Stop by and say hello!

Coffee

I'm waiting for the second pot of coffee of the day to brew so I thought I'd share some thoughts on coffee.
Coffee is good. Stumptown coffee is very very good.
My favorite way to brew coffee is in a stovetop espresso pot. I use a French press sometimes, but the stovetop pot, brews good strong coffee really fast, which is important.
I made some new coffee cup (or tea if you're so inclined) cozies.
I forgot how satisfying these are to make. They're a quick project and great way to use up sweater and fabric scraps. These are in the shop. Which, by the way, now has over 400 items! I can't believe it.



On another note, the weather has been positively dreary here in Portland. The chickens don't care for it one bit. As you can, see it's best to stay close to the coop in case of a downpour.

Now I feel that donuts are in order. Yes, coffee and donuts.
Happy Weekend!

Prints

I have been going through some of my sketchbooks trying to sort through and pull out ideas I like or drawings to use for embroideries or prints. It's always interesting to look back at older work and see how my art has changed and improved. Some of the older drawings are so crude, but I remember just being happy they resembled what I had in mind.

These prints are in the shop. They're my first new prints since we got our new printer (which is awesome). I'm really happy with the results. Yay for good printers!

Elephants!

The shop has just had a delivery of elephants!
I have had this elephant stamp that I carved a few years ago and today I decided she needed a bow. Then it became clear that a banner was in order. So here's the new and improved elephant design. I'm thinking these would make sweet baby shower invitations or maybe first birthday party. Fun!

Chickens, Gardening and Notecards

The title should give some insight as to what's been on my mind lately. Our chickens are growing big and are hilarious! It's so nice to look out the window and see a flock of little chickens pecking and digging and chasing each other. I love that having chickens gets me outside so much more. I can keep a close eye on the garden progress that way.



the coop is almost done, it just needs the roof and run attached


Miss Millie waiting for some yummy worms


Millie and Honey in the herb garden

There are several short videos of chicken antics here, if you're so inclined. We have one blue egg layer, which I'm so excited about. Blue eggs! It's hard to imagine that soon I'll have my own egg supply right in the back yard. I'm expecting the 2 older hens to start laying around September and the others in October.

I've got some new block printed notecard sets in the shop. I'm anxiously waiting for my hydrangeas to bloom, so I thought I'd carve a stamp in the meantime.