Published!

I'm so excited! I just picked up this new book from one of this year's showhouse coordinators. It's called "Showhouse Review" by Tina Skinner, and its subtitle is "An Expose of Interior Decorating Events." It has a picture of the showhouse nursery that I did last year. What's killing me, is that this is my LEAST favorite of all of my showhouse rooms, but it's the only one that got submitted to this publisher, because the picture was taken by a pro.

I had big dreams for this room...I was going to make tall twiggy willow chairs painted white for the little tea table...and a hand made book display case for the wall...but my mother died in the midst of the whole thing, and I just didn't have time. Overall, I'm happy with the way the room came out, but I still have the visions in my head of the way it was SUPPOSED to be. Sigh. I guess I can't have TOO many regrets, right?--I mean, my room is published in a hardcover coffee table book! Woo hoo! Click here to find it on Amazon.com

If you want to see more pictures of that room--some of which I think are better than the shot in the book, you can head over to Rate My Space on HGTV.com, where I have uploaded my nursery pics, as well as pictures of my last two showhouse rooms. Go take a look--and feel free to sign in and "Rate My Space!" Hee!

Easter Felt

Some weekends you just get to do something fun with friends, and the bonus is when you get to take something tangible home with you, besides the glow of friendship. This was one of those weekends. I spent most of Sunday at my friend Jennifer's house with about 12 other ladies (and young ladies), a big bowl of colorful hand-dyed wool roving, some felting needles, and our imaginations. Jen's mother Pat (http://www.decadentfibers.com/ )was there to guide us, and the above picture is some of the fruits of our labors. Aren't we good?!

This little chick in a basket was Nancy's creation--she has sons, and doesn't get to do "girly" stuff very often. This was her first time trying needle felting, as it was for many of us. She was VERY enthusiastic about the whole thing--as you can see by her creation. Fantastic!

Needle felting consists of a barbed needle, some wool roving, and a piece of foam. You punch and stab your wool with the needle until it holds together in any shape you wish. Obviously, we were working on an egg theme. It was very interesting to see what everyone decided to do with their eggs. Some of us decided on flowers, while others went for bunnies, chicks, and butterflies.
This one's mine--a blue egg with 3-D flowers, which I felted separately, then applied to the egg.

Kathleen felted a bunny directly onto her egg. I was very impressed with the perspective/pose she used. The kid's got talent!

And of course, there was a bunch of food, including a blueberry buckle that Jennifer made, that I could just NOT stop eating. I grabbed the recipe from her, and I'm going to share it with you...as soon as I can put my hands on it! I know it's here somewhere.....in the mean time, how about a picture of it--just to get your mouth watering? :)

That crunchy topping was to DIE for. Yum! Needless to say, BF was extremely disappointed at not being invited to this little shindig...he had to stay home and do "boy stuff"....lol...I'm SO sure he was crying in my absence. :P To make it up to him, I harangued him into cutting 8 pieces of plywood for me later that night. With his tools at work, we were done in 10 minutes. If I had had to do it myself with a jigsaw or something, it would have taken me 10 times longer. Thanks, BF! ;) (Ya' gotta love a man with power tools.)

UPDATE 3/2/08 Recipe for Blueberry Buckle

350* oven for 45-50 minutes for 9x9x2" greased pan

Sift together:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Beat together in a bowl:

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and bead vigorously for about 2 minutes.
Stir in 2 cups of blueberries. Spread batter in pan. Sprinkle topping (see below) over this, and pop it in the oven.

Topping: (mix together until crumbly)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup soft butter (NOT melted)

Let me know if you try out this recipe, and if you like it!!

Good Night, Moon

As I was headed to the movies tonight (saw "Jumper"--it was good!), the moon was rising, and looked large and luminous. I had to stop at the end of my street and take a picture. THEN, as I was driving home, the eclipse was taking place, so I pulled over and shut off my lights. It was beautiful. Out of the 20 or so pictures I took, the one below is the best I got. I was wishing I had my tripod with me. This one was taken with the camera propped on the top of my car.

Seeing the moon like this reminds me of summers as a teen, when I'd lay out in the grass with my boyfriend, and we'd just stare up at the moon and talk for hours. He knew a lot more about the constellations than I did, too. When I think about it too hard, it makes me realize how small we all are. If I can make an imprint on one person's life, just half the size of the moon's imprint on me, I'll call it good.

Good night, Moon.

The Big Apple

Kathleen is off to NYC this week with my brother-in-law, and her cousin Madeline. They are headed to Long Island to visit Matt's family, and then into the city to see the sights. The kids are VERY excited. They've been counting change (found in couch cushions, and in various bowls around the house...lol) and have accumulated $150 for spending money. What they will buy with that money remains to be seen. Dang....I should have told her I wanted a Rolex! I think they're going for about $15 on the street! Hee!

Have any of you ever skated at Rockefeller Center? I have! That's me up there, in all my second-grade glory, knee-socks and all, skating at the rink. What a trip that was....me falling flat on my butt, whacking my head on the ice, seeing stars...some stranger helping me up....then we're all on the subway, and some big woman who was taller (and tougher) than me shoved ahead of me when we were getting off, and the doors were shutting, and my father threw himself between the doors so I could get off--AcK! I was so shy back then, too. Scary, man. Of course, we then had to have the whole discussion about "what happens if you get stuck on the subway car." You ride it to the next stop, get off, and WAIT. Oy. Glad that never happened. I don't know if any of you remember NYC in 1974, but the homeless people were EVERYwhere, and talk about DIRTY. There was trash everywhere, and it was smelly and scary. It's a different universe down there now.

I remember our biggest complaint ("we" being myself and my three sisters) was that we were wearing sneakers with our dresses and white knitted ponchos. We were horrified. We had never worn sneakers with dresses. Dresses were for Sundays at church, and you always wore your "dress" shoes. Well, not in NYC you don't. You wear your white sneakers, so that you can walk for miles without complaint. Nice try, Mom and Dad. Oh, and I had to visit just about every bathroom in NY. If I had been my parents, I would have lost my mind. Seriously. I have a nervous bladder. I think I peed 4 times during the Rockettes and the movie "Mame" at Radio City Music Hall. My mother should have been sainted.

I hope Kathleen is spared the stress of wardrobe issues and knocks on the head, and doesn't get lost on the Subway. If she can avoid all that, she should really enjoy herself! They brought a video camera and a digital camera with them--can't wait to see THOSE movies! They'll be back Friday evening. Meanwhile, I have work to do.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How cool is this collection of heart shaped rocks? This was a table set up by an aquaintance of mine on last year's garden tour in New Baltimore, NY. She has the quirkiest, most interesting house EVER. I should ask her if she'd mind if I posted some pics on here. These rocks are fairly anonymous, though, so I don't mind posting them. :) They're very Valentine-y, and I keep thinking that I should start collecting heart shaped rocks! It's sweet!

So...who got breakfast in bed this morning?! Heh. Me neither. I guess I'll have to wait a few more years til Valentine's Day falls on a weekend. Kathleen sent me a little movie message on my cell phone, though. We've been catching that commercial with the guy who is frosting a cake, and he's leaving a message for his significant other--have you seen it?--He says "Hi honey. I've baked you a cake. It's burned, but that's because you're a HOTTY from HOTTINGHAM." LOL. We crack up every time we see it. So...she made her own kid version, and sent it to me. Too darn funny.

I'll leave you with these beautiful crepe paper roses from Martha Stewart.com. They're on my list of "projects to complete before I die."

Have a great Valentine's Day. I hope you get something special from the ones you love!

Double Digits

My niece Madeline turned 10 this weekend. It's hard to believe she's already into double digits! She's still just as cute as ever. She had told her mother that she wanted a cupcake tower instead of a cake--you know--the kind they have at weddings these days? So my sister told me that and I volunteered to do it for her. This is what I came up with! Not bad, eh? :) This is a picture of it on the dinner table at my sister's house last night. Madeline loved it. I think her new jewelry box from her mother was the big hit of the night, though. The giant makeup extravaganza from Kathleen came in a close third to the cash from her great aunt Susan. ;) Even at 10, they know the value of a buck! Kids! Can you tell I asked her to pretend to blow out the candles for a photo op? Heh...I kill me...and I love that she plays along. You should see all of her poses with her presents. She cracks me up.
My sister sets a pretty table!
I tried to get a picture of the girls with Kathleen's eyes open. This is what I got. It's funny how the more pictures I took, the more hilarious it all became. So the last picture in the series is where I said "Ok, now FORCE your eyes to stay open, Tat!" Hence the strained/pained grin. Too funny.

Valentine Displays at Bolt

Valentine's Day displays have been put up at Bolt. Rosemary (one of the owners) loves to do displays, so she did these up. I especially love the "lady in the chair" down below. She saw this idea in a magazine ad for some high end fabric--I can't remember what it was. She ran with it, and I think it came out great. It really does look like a woman sitting there, doesn't it?
We are running low on accessories. I think we should go to the gift show in NYC and buy some new stuff. But we still have a bunch of antique majolica, which is very pretty.

I'm trying to think of something sweet and clever to get for Kathleen for Valentine's Day. Last year I gave her a pretty necklace. I'm thinking maybe a new shirt or something this year. hmmm...any suggestions?

Valentine Jewels

I just listed another necklace on Etsy! I'm on a roll, I tell ya'! I really don't have time for a "real" post here today, so I'll just leave you with my latest:

Fiddleheadstudios

Wow, has it really been eight days since I've blogged?! I can't believe it. How 'bout those Giants, eh? Ha! What a great game that was last night. BF (who still isn't home yet, mind you) was shocked that I had watched the game. He's all "but you don't LIKE football" and I'm all "but it's the SUPER BOWL, and the GIANTS!" Hee. The poor guy has an eight hour flight from Seattle to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Albany ahead of him today. It'll be good to have him home. Of course, we're supposed to get snow and sleet tonight. That should make for an interesting ride to the airport. :-O

How do you like my latest creation? It's limey green freshwater pearls with rainbow jade focal beads, spaced with lime jade rounds. It feels very girly to me. I love it! And of course, it has Valentine's Day gift written ALL over it. I'm going to list it on Etsy as soon as I'm done here.

I took Kathleen and my lovely niece Madeline bowling this weekend. What a riot. You should have seen Madeline's dance moves after each throw of the bowling ball. The kid was cracking me up. I could kick myself for not having my camera with me. The girl's got MOVES! I kicked both of their butts handily, though. Too bad, so sad for them...lol.

Saturday night I went to see "Michael Clayton" with my friend Kelly. GREAT movie. Gotta love that George Clooney. The eyeliner was a tad distracting though. What's up with that? Kelly swears it wasn't eyeliner. She thinks he got it TATOOED on there. WTF? Who tatoos their under eye lids? Hmm? Maybe George will stop by here and set the record straight. I think I'll start holding my breath...NOW. Heh. At any rate, you should really go see the movie before they take it out of the theatres again. Now I have to go see "No Country for Old Men." I think that's the last one on my list that I haven't seen yet. Have you all seen any good ones lately? Any must-sees?