What I Love About the Weekends...

I absolutely love all the delicious food I prepare (and eat) on the weekends. Portabella mushroom, spinach and provolone cheese paninis for lunch brings a sense of calm to my days. My Polish-Italian upbringing instilled in me a great love for food and preparing food for people. I find myself most happy in the kitchen.

M husband loves papaya. I've never tried it until he bought one. Apparently the seeds can be eaten in salads but I find them to be too strong in flavor. Hubby had me try one and I immediately spit it out, wiped my tongue and ate a piece of sweet mango to recover. Oh, Mango....how I adore you. The fruit salads above have mango, grapes and papaya. Delicious!

What yummy weekend foods do you adore?

Factory Mill End Finds!

Have you ever used mill end yarns? These are yarns left over when the mill finishes packaging a certain color (either the end of the dye lot, the extra yarn that was not wound into skeins, or there could have been a problem with the way the skein was wound....it could be anything really). Most craft stores (such as Michael's or AC Moore) have a bin of this with a variety of colors. I make a habit of it to check these bins. Most of the time I do not find anything spectacular...its usually plain acrylic yarn that is often too dull for my taste. However, there are those "oh my!" moments.

This beautiful, satin shimmering pink-purple-cream yarn was a find last week. All the yarn in the photo was only $5.99! What a find! I love working with it and am making it into a scarf. It seems to be a wool-acrylic mix.

Mill-end yarns are great for small projects like scarfs, teapot cozies, hats, gloves, etc. As you can see in the photo you get about 1 pound of yarn and it comes to you in 4-5, multi-sized balls. Some do not think it is worth the hassle but I totally think it is!

Kindly,
Pam

Hand-Sewn Organic Catnip Sachets

This is one of my new hand-sewn, hand-decorated, organic herb sachets! This past summer I planted a catnip bush that was very successful. I was able to harvest a couple small jars of catnip leaves from the one bush. I used some of the herb for cat toys and some for sachets like these.

This sachet is the first of my (hopeful) series of herb sachets. I chose a very thin muslin fabric in a natural canvas tone for maximum airflow through the herb to enhance the fragrance.

I am looking forward to another successful gardening season and these sachets are inspiring me to plant more herbs. My husband and I grow an English cottage style, organic garden. We enjoy a yard full of organic herbs, vegetables, flowers, fruit bushes and (soon) fruit trees (cherry to be exact)!

My catnip sachets will be for sale in my Etsy shop (coming very soon)!

Sachet Pockets!

This afternoon I finished a sachet pocket! These are hand knitted using 100% cotton. A hand drawn, partridge-shaped patch in a muslin fabric is sewn onto the front. The pocket was designed to be placed in a decorative basket or hung on the wall. A satin ribbon bow attached to the top of the pocket allows for wall hanging. The pocket is designed to hold a 4.5" by 6.5" fragrant sachet.

These sachet pockets can be machine washed on the gentle/handwash cycle. I suggest placing them in a sweater bag for extra protection while being washed.



This one and others will soon be for sale in my Etsy shop.

Completed Sketchbook

We did it! My husband and I completed our sketchbooks for The Sketchbook Project. Now they will be cataloged, go on tour to various museums and galleries and then find their permanent home in the Brooklyn Art Library. To see the pages from my book visit my flicker page or visit it at the Brooklyn Art Library!

Up and Running!

After months of being used as a storage space for furniture, new kitchen cabinets and kitchen appliances, my studio space is finally up and running! I changed the layout, yet again, so that it functions as a studio and as an office for my Etsy business. Hubby and his brother will soon be delivering a new filing cabinet that I will paint a fun, inspiring color.



I was even able to have a separate table for sewing! The only table I had for this was a folding metal and plastic table. I am looking for an antique wooden desk to use instead. Other than a new table, the next addition will be a chalk board or bulletin board near my desk for notes, ideas, etc. I would love to use moulding to create a frame, paint it a shimmering gold and paint the wall inside the frame with chalk board paint!



Plans for studio production in the next month include: more fabric flower broaches, knitted sachet holders, handmade paper, drawings and prints! Today's goal is to do more research on shipping for my items and preparing stationary (thank you cards to be sent with purchases, tags for items, etc.).