mamaroots

if these stitches could talk

The tug and pull that I felt yesterday to stop by the thrift store on the way to pick up the boys from school. What I had planned for was a bonus 30 minutes of knit time in the warm sunshine rays in the old subaru.  But instead I listened to the nagging voice that said I should stop by just for a look see.

There is was- the handmade stitches, the upper cable pattern contrasted with the simple stockinette stitches.  A cardigan, the only type of sweater I live in during the winter, and just as pink as could be. It shined in the glory of the flourescent lights of the shop.  A lady with a purse dog was pushing past me heading for the sweater section.  Luckily the dog barked and she stopped to take care of it.  Yep definitley the Universe and this wee dog wanted me to have this sweater.

You know what is so great now that I am (err I think I can say) a knitter is that I can start to recognize the stitches, patterns and dare say start to understand how it is put together.  Mark my words, in 1 year I will knit my first sweater!  

But I stray from what was the marvelous sight inside the sweater.  Just a sweet little tag that said it was from a shop in my town called Loucilles Yarns Fabrics.  I checked out along some vintage sheets in pink, Fiesta ware, and other vintage linens and even the lady at the checkout admired my sweater I have affectionately named Loucille.  I went home to research and found out that Loucilles was a shop in the 60's and 70's in one of my favorite old buildings in downtown that was built as a publishing building, was a Italian eatery, and is now empty when it is not being used as the ticket spot for our pretty popular upcoming film festival.

Yep this sweater wanted to be with me, I can only wonder who made it, was it sold in the yarn shop, did someone love her as much as me, why did she end up in the thrift shop?  I may not ever know the answer to these questions, but I am pretty sure that I am just starting to learn to language of wool and yarn and I am so glad it told me to go to the thrift shop yesterday!

add a quilt to the beds

Cold snap and time to add a quilt to all three beds this weekend.  As I went around changing sheets and adding the extra quilts it reminded me how much I loved just a few little things we did to our bedroom this summer and had not posted yet about it.

I am not sure if you are like me, but it seems like out of all the rooms in the house our bedroom never got the proper fix up.  We just moved in, hung a couple things on the walls and called it good.  It also seems to be the last room to get cleaned.  It was also the last room with the make me go crazy linen color our house was painted in.  So a warm "foxtail" brown/orange color went on the walls and slowly our bedroom became a warm lovely room.  

For our bed I actually threw on this old quilt that we had picked up when we were first married at a antique mall.  I must say normally I am all about natural fibers in my clothes and surroundings.  But there is something about these old funky polyester patchwork quilts that appeals to us.  It must be calling to my hubby's 60's childhood and my 70"s childhood!  Complete with mis-matched vintage sheets and it fits right in with my late 50's ranch house!

I will tell you though, they are so durable and actually pretty warm.  I like the splash of color on our old antique bed.  I found one for Colene that stays in her as well, it seemed like the right match.  So don't pass these up when you come by them.  They are usually cheap and will last a while, that darn old polyester!

Not to forget to mention the other patchy polyester puppy- I found one for each of the boys at a garage sale when they were itty bitty, and they are still one of their favorite pillows.  So be on the watch for these often overlooked polyester treasures!  Here are a couple of spots I found if you want to make your own both here and here and here for a quilt- hope you stay warm too!  

free to be

Sometimes the rock hard ground and triple digit temps leave you free to be and chill on Independence Day. As the hubby did a morning 100 mile ride at the temps hit 100 the boys and I hit the antique mall. Just a few little decorative addition to July 4th was all we needed.  An old piece of a quilt and what I think might be a swanky swig?  How do you know for sure?  I feel some research coming on!

Not much from the yard to add to the jar except a couple of fern fronds and some coneflower- everything else is bone daddy dry!

Jasper and I made a no-bake desert, a frozen lemonade pie.  The fresh berries were a must and though I was not as crazy about it at first, it was not really set up yet, it has been a tasty little treat at night as we are nearing hopefully our last day of extreme heat before the cold front cools it back down to at least the 90's!  

Stay cool and eat some pie- how about you do you have any swanky swigs? I think they are adorable!

why blue?

My mother in law, Oma stopped by this week for a visit while she was in town for quilt show with friends. I was able to give them a little quilt show of my own to get their expertise on aging a recent quilt that I got. One of the many tender moments from my 40th b-day from a couple months ago was the sweet gifts given to me by friends and family.  As if the surprise party and love was not enough they all showered me with such thoughtful gifts.  My crafty friends had gotten me a gift certificate to one of my most favorite antique spots.  Now you would think a place I frequent often, have no trouble finding goodies I would be able to narrow it down, but there I was and with big thoughts of it had to be something really special since it was from my tribe- my craft tribe of friends.

Then I saw this recently and knew that was it.  You will notice that fabulous turquoise teal primary blue color and alll the random feedsack fabrics with plenty of red.  I have really been adoring this color.  Could I really resist?  So my special blue quilt is essentially from my friends- just right!

When I asked Oma and her friends for their opinion on date, they all said 40's.  It is good to know that even though turquoise blue, teals, and reds are trending in our DIY/Shabby Chic world- it is really just cycling back!  

So cheers to whatever lovely tribe created this quilt in the 40's that was a gift from my tribe for turning 40- I like to think I will cuddle up under it when I am old(er)!

redo shroom

I have been losing myself in the making of my own little spot of enchanted forest and glen.  I threw myself head strong into my woods that I have been working on for a couple years a few feet at a time.  This year I put on the boxing gloves on and with the help of friends with trailers and my devoted hubby and sons the remaining honeysuckle went down.  And don't you worry my honeysuckle friends waiting to show your ugly heads, I have an arsenal of my long handled loopers, my short feisty snippers, and sorry but yes also a single bottle of round up reserved just for you.  They are super handy in my outhouse garden shed- consider yourself warned!

So I have been enjoying creating beautiful little planting spaces and just starting to relax in the comfort of this little magical spot- heck it is not often you get this right in the central urban part of my town.  I realized I am pretty darn thankful for that.

I had seen several great options to make cutie pie outside furniture that looks mushrooms.  I was set on trying to find the right stool or other upcycled piece to use as a small table.  I could not find anything that would be right.  Then I realized it was right there all along.  An old rusted outside small table my husband had picked up a couple years ago and put in storage in case we need a project someday.  He often hates to see things go to the trash.

Bingo- perfect for a little shroom redo!  A bit of sand paper, rust stop spray paint, and there it is, the perfect addition to the woods- all for under $6!  I am pretty thrilled- I will have to look and see what else is hiding out underneath our deck that I might be able to redo!  

getting ready

The warmer days are coming and as we find our selves outside more on these midwest days I am starting to think about getting ready for the upcoming summer.  A couple of things that I glad to add to the mix this year is a soap I spied at the market the other day.  It is called Summer Soap by a a local Missouri soap company called Prairie Soap Company.  What caught my eye is that is has some essential oils that is undesirable to the local birds we call mosquitoes.  This year is already proving to be a blood loss year!  So I am excited to give this soap a try!  A good summer soap to have on hand too if you can find it is Jewel Weed soap- Jewel weed works great to fight off the affects of poison ivy- it just so happens to grow next to it usually in the wild!

I am working on my knitting still and am hoping to have a set of washclothes ready for my mama for mother's day shhhh!  I think she would like some of this soap too!

The other fun (I don't care how I look) item I found was an old vintage sun bonnet.  I have a hard time with hats because I wear my hair up in a bun often and they do not fit into hats easily- go ahead call me Laura Ingalls Wilder- at least my face and neck will be less red this year!

Now I am ready to tackle setting the foundation for my outhouse/garden shed, plant some more elderberry, and woodland spiderwort.  I am torn on what to plant in a little area next to the outhouse- tempted to do strawberries and rhubarb!  

Speaking of planting- the winner for the Herbal Roots Zine for May is lucky #4- Carol.  I will e-mail you the May issue tonight- enjoy.  You can still stop by Herbal Roots and buy a copy of this month's issue from Kristine- May is all about catnip.  I had bought some catnip to plant and did not get to it fast enough before my cat Escher found it first- nothing but dirt left!  

green review

 

I set out to do a product review for you on Cuppow, and then realized there was quickly a "green" theme developing!  So going with the flow, and enthusiastically looking forward to green coming back with the spring here we go!

Have you heard of Cuppow?  It basically is a nifty little invention by a couple fellas that allows you to turn your Mason Jar into a travel mug.  For us Mason Jar lovers this was intriguing.  I don't really like the standard travel mugs, tried the insulated ceramic mugs (too small) and have been using regular ceramic mugs which always run the risk of spilling my precious tea on my early morning drives to work.

So this seemed ideal!  I put in my order in and it took a couple weeks, but there my Cuppow arrived safely with a nicely done simple letterpressed packaging.  I gave it a test run yesterday and the verdict is good.  It is BPA free, uses minimal packaging and let's me use my loved mason jar on the go.  

One thing I did discover though for us tea drinkers that if you are like me and like to steep your tea a while, if you bring your string outside of the lid it will leak when you tip to drink.  So keep the strings inside.  

The other thoughts I had was concerning was 2 issues, 1- glass does not conduct heat as well as ceramic for hot beverage drinking, and 2-initially it is hot to hold.  Thus I tracked down a wool Mason Jar cozy from A Yellow Kitchen.  

I liked the cozy from A Yellow Kitchen since it had a bottom as well as sides and I thought it would insulate more and not slip off so easily.  This wool green cozy was just the thing.  I could hold my tea and it was still warm after an hour.  

Just when you think the green review is done, the tea I was drinking was Caribou brand Green Tea with a hint of citrus- yum.  And I spent the afternoon browsing my 1000 Fruit Jars book by Bill Sschroeder to further indulge my senses in Mason Jar love.  The icon that the Mason Jar has become always makes me happy.  Now it also honors my traveling tea as well! I am on the hunt for a "Root" blue mason from the early 1900's in case you see one out there wink wink!

Cuppow, umm I mean Kuppow! That is probably just about enough brand product endorsement for a while here- back to some books and toys shall we?

serving

I have been on the hunt for a snack service set for a while.  It takes me back to my childhood.  Though I was born in the mountains, I was raised in rural midwest farm country.  When I was little I remember my mama getting together with other women in our little community.  They would rotate houses, the hostess would make tea.  This usually consisted of tea, coffee, and punch along with an assortment of sandwiches and desserts.  Ugh the palmento sandwiches though!  I remember the serving snack sets- everyone seemed to have sets that were brought out. 

After tea and visiting the women would set up almost an assembly line scenario where they were creating bed pads for the elderly at a local nursing home.  It was made of newspaper and old sheets that were sewn together.  

As girls, my sisters and I would go with my mama, enjoy the punch and other treats including those chalky mints, and then sit and watch the women as they worked.  I am not quite sure when the women stopped gathering, but I have always remembered those days when I see the snack sets out in the fleas/antique shops.  I am reminded of the simple service these women did.  

I tracked down my first set, I love the leaf pattern!  I served my boys with some snacks to break it in and today we will be finding a service to do for our community to celebrate MLK Day.  Since our temps have melt the snow and it will be almost 50 I think it will involve trash picking up at a park.  

Thanks mama for all that great influence growing up, you are always my best teacher!  Next time I will remember the chalky mints!

linen maybe the new white, but I will take kiwi!

Theory- years ago a governing body of relators got together to conspire a plan to get everyone to paint the insides of their homes a neutral linen color.  The use the guise of "so that the buyer can project their own decorating palet" but secretly I think they want us color loving folks to go crazy.  A sure fire method for me is to put me in a home with all white walls, or in the case of our house all linen color walls.

Granted I have been in my late 50's funky ranch house for 8 years and it has taken me until the last couple of years to figure out what has been causing my craziness, but . . . count down after this weekend to 1 room left in the glorious loved by relators color of linen.

I went a little different than my earthy toned colors with this green for the hallway and single wall in the breakfast area.  I like it with the terra cotta kitchen, the bright yellow dining combination.  Hubby is still out on if he likes it or not, but I for one feel my sanity slowing starting to enter my mind again as I become surrounded by more and more color!  Yep this color is actually called kiwi!

The boys and I did a little "picking" break in between coats of paint yesterday, and today we are putting it back together and enjoying the treasures we found.  Yes I kid you not the boys and I enjoy watching American Pickers together and it seems as though the language has entered our family venicular!  

Our picking locations are a bit more tame, we are flea market pickers scouring for the best deals. The boys went with a budget of $10 from their spending jars.  

Jasper scored on a striking pair of red stilts.  Great choice- some nice physical balancing activity and possibly a future in the circus!

Silas equally scored on a great old Playschool pull along "snoopy" dog.  I can remember my sister toting hers everywhere and the sound of those wheels like it was yesterday.  I won't be surprised if he goes with us to the library and the grocery today!

And what about me you ask?  Well, needless to say I did find a couple goodies that I will share in the next couple of days, but I loved this piece of patched old feedsack fabric that I quickly washed and added a backing fabric to make a fresh table runner.  You might take the country girl out of the country and plop her in a town, but you can't take the country out of the girl.  I just adore these old scraps of pieced feedsack or other old quilt pieces that I try to rescue.

Off to track down some ingredients to make a celebratory dessert for finishing the hall painting this weekend.  It may sound minor, but between mama work, working full-time, running mamaroots and cleaning the house the painting sometimes falls low on the list!

That seems to be our rhythms, one more to check off that perpetual to do list is always a reason for a little party!

Be sure to check back tomorrow, I have a really fun give-away planned to coincide with the release of SouleMama's new book that I am excited to dive into!  Please consider your local bookstores when you are tracking down your own copy, they will love you for it!