All Kinds Of Things

Hello Friends!
All kinds of things are going on lately.
I'm still unemployed but interviewing and painting and keeping busy with Egg-A-Go-Go for sure.

Thanksgiving was yesterday. I'm still full.

Curtis and I went to NH to spend time with my mom's side of the family.





We ate so much good food and took a few good walks.





My folks' new house is a short stroll from downtown Portsmouth but they have a little backyard and a HUGE back non-yard (traintracks and woods) full of trees. Lots of birds came to visit their back porch in the short time we were visiting... Downy Woodpecker, Purple Finch, Blue Jay, Crow, Sparrow, Nuthatch - all such cuties!

As soon as we got back to our neighborhood (via bus and train and a stop at the airport to deliver my brother and his lady to their plane to Baltimore) a friendly cat came down off his porch to say hello. "Welcome Home!" My own cats seemed pleased enough to see me as well.



xo
Sarah

Oh, hello there.

Hi Internet! I just got back from a restful weekend in New Hampshire visiting with my family. The folks are moving soon so my brother flew up from Baltimore and we spent a couple of days just hanging out. We saw their new 'hood and ate some amazing food. The new place will be wonderful and cozy but I'm going to miss the window-filled house surrounded by trees they've been in for the past 18 years.




Anyway, now I'm back here and back to reality. We have a Bazaar Bizarre meeting tonight for final discussions prior to Union Made coming up and a short few weeks. Then tomorrow I'm spending the day with my beloved Ryan. The rest of the week needs to involve some after-work-painting and other planning.

Here's a dress..

And some yarn-in-progress...

And look at the garden! (I need to get back there this week to see how the downpours we've been having lately have been treating my seedlings.)



I love that place so much!

In shoppy news, I bought myself an assortment of things from Jen Collins's Etsy shop. So many good things. As you know, I'm a fiend for illustrated travels and these three zines are a wonderful addition to my growing collection of travel writing. HIGHLY recommended. (This terrible nighttime photo doesn't do the prints any justice so go look in her shop.)



That's just about everything over here. How are things with you?
xo
Sarah

Our Very First Quilt

A couple of weeks ago I posted about going up to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday but I didn't show you his present!

We made a quilt! Neither Curtis nor I had ever made one before (though I will admit that I started one for my brother years ago and still haven't finished it). It wasn't TOO ambitious, we made a plan with big blocks and smaller dimensions (a 60" x 60" throw) so as not to get in too far over our heads.



The plan was hatched only a couple of weeks before the special day in question so we kept shopping local. We went to JP Knit and Stitch which is just up the street from our house. It was their birthday too so we got a great deal on the fabrics we ended up choosing (after hemming and hawing for a long time. I think we considered three drastically different palettes before settling on the choices above).

When we got home I made a color mock-up of our plan so I could attempt to keep the patterns oriented properly - I was about 80% successful once we were all finished.



We spent the evenings after work cutting and sewing (Curtis did the cutting, I did the machine sewing) and then we hand quilted the whole thing together.




One fabric choice was very deliberate...the herons! Down the road from my dad's house there is a swamp where herons live. When my brother and I were growing up, every time we drove by he would slow down and we would peer out the window looking for leggy birds on high-up nests.

The stitches are crooked and things don't line up perfectly but I really like it - and I think he did too!




I can't wait to make another FOR MYSELF! ...Maybe I should finish my brother's first.
xo
Sarah

Up in the Woods...for a birthday!

Sunday was my dad's 70th birthday!
Curtis and I drove up to see him and to have brunch with him and some more family. My dad and aunt/uncle live in Barrington, New Hampshire.

My Dad's house:




My Aunt Jenny and Uncle Gary's house:




Me and my dad & Pa with his special custom Thimblewinder birthday ribbon:




And I made sure to wear my pig-u-corn pin that my dad made me way back when:


He also made the giant feather hanging in one of the photos above. He's an awesome coppersmith but doesn't get into the shop very often these days. I hope he gets in there soon!

It was a nice, cozy day. We ate good food and had good laughs (my aunts are a HOOT). Family. :)

xo
Sarah

So many good things.

Many holidays down, one to go.



Christmas was really nice. Everything was organized and laid back. We went to New Hampshire where we lazed about and I drank many many cups of tea. My brother Jack was there with his girlfriend Kristin. We had a big xmas eve afternoon brunch (I hope this becomes a new tradition!) and then went out to my dad's for a visit with him and my aunts/uncles.




(Cousins & Siblings!)

Sidenote: when we first arrived in NH we had pasta dinner and Jack's sweater magically matched the FiestaWare plate he used.

Christmas Miracle!

Christmas morning brought present exchange and driving back to MA to see Curtis's families.




After the festivities were over on Sunday, I was officially in post-holiday-recovery mode. I had Monday - Wednesday off to catch up on sleep and cat-patting and non-business-related errands.



We spend some quality time at City Feed.


I mailed some stuff.


I made myself big breakfasts and did some doodly watercolor painting just for me.





We went to Ryan's where she fed us amazing homemade pot pies and let us lounge on her giant couch.

It was a nice little mini vacation. So now two days of work and then BACK on vacation as we welcome in the new year! Next week is the beginning of my new 4-day-workweek. I can't wait. More about that later.

Happy Post Christmas!
xo
Sarah

Christmas is coming.

In the past few years, my teen through adult-ish years, I haven't been HUGE into Christmas. I think it comes from the overwhelming consumerism push that comes along with it and the fact that growing up we had lots of different families to visit in a couple of short days. It just seems like a big hurried stressful time that people seem to cherish for the wrong reasons.



Don't get me wrong, I have always loved parts of it (giving gifts, the lights, the food, wrapping presents, general goodwill) and the cozy quiet moments that happen during the season.

But I'm trying to love Christmas more. It's hard to see everyone and it's hard to not feel crazy now and then but I'm trying.



This year we are having a very green and brown Christmas. No snow on the ground or in the forecast. I always want a white Christmas for my mom. But she seems to be out of luck this year so I'll just bring her an avalanche of presents.



We are off to New Hampshire for a couple of days then back to Boston on Christmas Day to see C's family. Egg-A-Go-Go is closed for the rest of the year (well, the shop is open but nothing's shipping until 2012).

I think I'll make a classic Happy New Year Resolution post. Not right now though.
xo
Sarah