{this moment}

a wonderful wordless tradition inspired by soulemama:

One image of a lovely moment to remember from our week.

our new dog

Meet Red, the newest addition to our family. My husband has been waiting for three years to replace his two big dogs. A friend of mine introduced us to her aunt, who is a breeder, and she called us with this opportunity a few months ago. We drove down to GR to see her and fell in love. She's an Irish Terrier. She'll be about 30-35 lbs, and her hair is wiry and short, so it's good for people like me with allergies.

She loves her new home! And there are two very happy boys here too.

Here's her "show" shot!

new and improved longer pants!

These aqua pants were just calling my name on one of my thrifting sprees. They were too short, but I bought them anyway b/c I loved them and they fit perfectly up top. The green velvet were great too, but after I washed them, they shrunk! So, I decided to make them into one pair by cutting the bottom hem and a couple inches off the aqua pair and adding about a foot worth of the green ones. It only took a few minutes to sew the two tubes together and I had time to do a little yoga before naptime was over!

{this moment}

a wonderful wordless tradition inspired by soulemama:

One image of a lovely moment to remember from our week.

what does it take to be a used clothing alchemist?

I absolutely love this combination of words, and it's even better as a title! Let me introduce you to the one, the only Crispina Ffrench! She has found a way to make gold from wool sweaters. Well, not gold in the sense of bars and karats, but in a much more practical sense. It's the perfect description of this amazing transformation.

 This little guy is called a ragamuffin. I discovered them on Crispina's shop after falling in love with the rugs. The original ragamuffin was born in 1987 while Ffrench was in college. You can find it in her book. There are many imitators, as is usually the case when something is really, really good. After I wrote this post, I noticed one on another blog, took it off, checked back with Crispina and am now back to give her the credit she deserves for this great idea! Here's "peanut butter cup the potbelly ragamuffin" who is looking for a good home, preferrably moth-free! So cute and I love this photo. My gram used to use the word ragamuffin, and it usually had something to do with a comb and our hair.

Then there are the warm cozy blankets. I love how this one shows the texture of the sweaters and the circle design. Robin's egg blue is one of my favorite colors in our house. Imagine the dreams you would have under a blanket like this!

As we are in the progress of deciding how to refinish our floor which is on a concrete slab, it seems like rugs are going to be essential. I wish I could have a rug to cover my entire living room made like one of these. The color combinations are sublime! Imagine a loom that would make a rug to fit a 16x20 room, the team of people it would take to make it, and the number of sweaters that would need to be felted. It would be huge! Guess I better sign up for one of her workshops so I can get started. Ha. But really, she teaches people how in addition to selling them in her etsy shop.

Here's a great post and photo of the rug in action, featured by on a set by Sundance!!! I love it when cool things like this happen. Congratulations, Crispina!

{this moment}

a wordless ritual inspired by soulemama:

one photo capturing a lovely moment to remember.

hoodie sleeves make the best pants!

While I loved this plaid hoodie, the zipper broke and rather than attempt the challenge of fixing it, I repurposed the sleeves for pants for little f! He loves them.

ahem, yes, that is my overflowing scrap basket. And thankfully you can't see my next 25 projects, which are all piled on the corner of my work table!

{this moment}

a wordless ritual inspired by soulemama:

one photo savoring a lovely moment to remember

seeing red for the first time

Yes, it's happening. We are getting a puppy in three weeks. She is an Irish Terrier and her name is Red. When we arrived, she was standing on the cage so I snapped her photo. Little f walked up and said "hi doggies" and then we each held one. They are on the medium side, about 30 lbs or so and have wiry hair, so they are good for people, like me, who are allergic to dogs. My request was to give her a dog name and not a "people" name, since she is a dog and not another baby. T was so ecstatic, he obliged. She will be a classroom dog for T's kindergarten class next year. He's a dog trainer too, so it's going to be a fun adventure, and hopefully a very well trained dog! Certainly a well-photographed dog if I'm around. Imagine the shots, boy and dog at the river... boy and dog in the orchard... boy and dog running... boy and dog sleeping...