celebrate independence!

Isn't this flag cool? It's flying on a cottage in the community where I work in the summer. I only saw it yesterday, (probably luckily) too late to make one for our family this year. But what a great idea, especially if it could be made with handprints from every family member. This one is for sure a present and future family heirloom -- it's dated 1991.

We've a full day of community activities, starting with an 8 am flag raising & potluck breakfast, cat and mutt shows, crafts fair and parade. I'll be the cool mom (not!) driving the pickup truck and flatbed trailer for the summer league swim team float! From me, to my family, my community and our nation, for all our flaws, I am deeply grateful for all the unearned gifts we've been given.

Today I will spend some time thinking about the blessings, costs and responsibilities of independence. And then we'll all go watch the fireworks!

why this mama is not a professional model

I whipped up this appliqué t-shirt before heading off to my 25th college reunion (yes - yikes! - I'm that old!) and got a few compliments, which was very nice. It was also very cool to discover the number of women among my classmates who own chickens. We are a pretty amazing bunch.



I think the difficulty in getting good photos of my recent handmades is due in part to Mr. Summer Sun and partly to Mother Nature - he's flying so high in the sky these days that the light comes in at a very high angle, when it comes in directly at all thanks to her wonderful shady leaf coverage around the house. Of all the problems a mama could have, this one is pretty darn insignificant. Photos can wait.

in process

Here's a poorly photographed detail of the upcycled t-shirts designs. You'd think June would be a great time for natural lighting. But isn't the little chick silhouette cute?

On the other hand, this fabric detail from the new coasters in the shop is ok. I do have a weakness for adorable cartoon chickens. Real hens are funny, but I wouldn't exactly call them adorable.


Except maybe Baby Madge. Who is back in the thick of things since I took her off the nest and made her run around the yard for a couple of days, to remind her of the fun things (grass, bugs, kitchen scraps) she'd been missing. Still no tiny eggs, though one of the twins (Lacey & Silver, the Silver Laced Wyandottes) has been laying lots of double-yolked eggs lately. The doubles are so small compared to a regular yolk, though the egg itself is huge. Chickens are amazing critters.

ballerina bear has a new home

I'm a little surprised at the thrill I'm feeling to get the good news! Ballerina Bear, our first Toy Society drop, has found a home. The Toy Society blog posted this message from her new family this morning:

We found the pretty bear @ the Welcome Center;
she now lives in Calvert County Maryland w/a 5yr little girl named Megan.

Hooray! I can't wait to do it again.

and the winner is . . .

Cristin!! I am sending an e-mail, but if you are checking, please send me your mailing info.

Here's how I got the winner -- since nobody entered who is in Central Asia right now, I gave one extra entry to Melissa, who is moving to an unspecified country in Central Asia in December. There were a total of 57 entries, and of all things, the random number generator came up with #2.

I have the very best intentions of putting the prize bib in the mail on June 3 (tomorrow) but I absolutely promise it'll be flying to Christin by the weekend.

Thanks so much to everyone who commented. This was fun, and I hope to hear from you again.

Prize-winning chicken photo by Kate Brown -
Creative Commons licensed photo from Flickr



Late Breaking News --

Christin says:

Awesome! The bib is gorgeous!! My little guy is 7 months old and he will certainly put this to good use:)

As for the something about me...I am a 27 year old SAHM to a 3 year old girl and her little brother and we live near Austin TX. I love blog hopping and attempting anything crafty in my "spare" time:) Thanks so much for hosting this giveaway!!

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

last days for giveaway, and a fat quarter swap to share

I know that the Sew, Mama, Sew May giveaway has officially ended, but since I am often pushing deadlines to the limit (yes, on Saturday I did discover a credit card bill due Saturday -- thank heaven for online bill-pay!), I'm giving everyone an extra day, closing mine tonight. I'll do the random number thing on Tuesday morning. Jump down to the next post to comment and enter. Thanks to everyone who has visited here and commented. Double thanks to the wonderful visitors who browsed around and read other posts, and who visited my Etsy shop. Your comments make my day :-)

Personally, I can't wait to find out if I've won anything. There are SO many talented and creative folks out there, and because of this giveaway I've found lots of new sites to keep up with.

One of my new sites to follow, Two Hippos, is having a Fat Quarter Swap! You have until June 3 to sign up to swap either 2 or 4 fat quarters, so head on over and get the full info.

I participated in Sew, Mama, Sew's winter fattie swap, and it was a lot of fun. I sent out several fattie Qs of favorite patterns, and got some really neat pieces in return. A couple were just perfect for projects I already had underway. How lucky is that? It's a fun and easy way to reach out and connect with other crafty cloth people. Thank you, Two Hippos, for sponsoring a Summer Swap.

may giveaway!

Oh my! I feel far too young in my blogging life to offer a giveaway, but I like to participate and I love Sew, Mama, Sew, so here we go!

I honor of my one and only sale so far on my Etsy shop, I am offering the next edition of that handknit cotton baby bib. It's in a shadow denim cotton yarn, the version that my cousin raves over. Please comment on this blog post, including contact information, and on June 2nd I will do a random number thing (I attended MIT my junior year and love random anythings) to choose the winner. It's so exciting to be a part of this big contest, I'll ship anywhere. And a special clause to the random thing, anybody who comments from anywhere in Central Asia gets an automatic trip to the front of the line.

I confess that I don't have nearly enough chicken-themed choices at the shop, a failing that I plan to remedy over the summer. I've plenty of ideas, though, so by August all should be well on all fronts. Stay tuned!

√ auction bibs

I love this grouping of colors, don't you?


For the past few years I've donated a hand-knit baby cardigan to my school's Financial Aid auction, but this year decided to go for a change. These bibs are 100% cotton Peaches & Creme yarn in a basic garter stitch. The tangerine bib on top is from Ann Shayne & Kay Gardiner's wild and wonderful Mason-Dixon Knitting. I've made a ton of these since the book came out -- must be something in the water around here :-) Lately, though, I've been going off-road, creating my own rendition of a garter-stitched bib with touches I like better. The most fun is the all the great colors of Peaches & Creme (and the Canadian equivalent, Sugar'nCream) "warshrag" yarn.

I hope somebody at the auction likes them as much as my cousin does. She raves about the one I made for her son every time I see them!

blue bunny

Blue Bunny started off as a Christmas present for my niece, Miss A. Over Thanksgiving, she had a major meltdown over her cousin's Blue Bear, which went back to Virginia after the holidays. I have wanted to knit this bunny for some time, after seeing a lovely pink one at the fabulous Knitch in Atlanta's Virginia Highland neighborhood. Yay!



Blue Bunny didn't get started until a little too late to finish for Christmas, but fortunately Miss A.'s birthday is right after New Year's, so there was a second chance! Normally I pay close attention to both occasions (V-boy's birthday is also right after Christmas), but at four, the bundling of gifting days isn't as big a deal.

The pattern is from Knits, Knots, Buttons and Bows: Projects for Babies by Lynda Schar. See the pink bunny on the cover? The pattern calls for a soft wool; instead I used Bernat CottonTots in 'Little Boy Blue.' It's 100% cotton, soft and machine washable/dryable. Stuffing is plain ol' polyfil.

Gauge doesn't really matter in a project like this one, but I did check, and found that this yarn knitted smaller than the pattern. Since some of the directions are given in inches ('continue in stockinette for 6 inches'), and some in rows, I did my best to adjust the row counts so that Blue Bunny's arms and legs wouldn't be strangely out of proportion with his body.

The pattern is pretty straightforward. The feet have turned heels as for socks -- something about the directions didn't look right, so I did fall back on what I know about sock knitting to improvise. Otherwise this is a pretty simple toy to knit. And if you don't want to deal with turning the heel, you could make the legs the same as the arms.

It would be great if Blue Bunny becomes Miss A's favorite cuddly, but even if I end up loving Blue Bunny more than she does, it was worth it. Blue Bunny's a sweetie.