Royal Folderol Uninterrupted

Do you suppose commercials for the Royal Wedding are amazing and costly like those shown during the Superbowl?

What? Commercial-free viewing on the BBC? Isn't it the ads everyone wants to talk about at work the next day? Well, there is the gown we suppose, and the hats, and it is the weekend, so we'll get by. But...

...here's one Brit advert to ease your (our) disappointment.

Spring Beauty

Don't wait too long to go on a wildflower walk. Most of these early Spring delights are ephemeral by nature.




1940



Jack-in-the-Pulpit or Indian Turnip




Dandelion




Violet




Dutchman's breeches and Squirrel Corn




Mayapple




Bloodroot




Wild Ginger




Trillium or Wake Robin

2011 Button Display

A perennial favorite.




Just a few days left to see it.

Best if Used By

Sugar flowers purchased 19 years ago on a 10th anniversary trip to London were too pretty to eat. Now, while still lovely in their faded-to-ecru way, they are too antique to consume, so may become varnished components for collage or other crafts.






For fresh and fun baking supplies and decorations visit Lovely Little Parties or Bake it Pretty.

Johnny Jump Up

First to pop up in the spring garden, Johnny Jump Up is a cheerful little fellow.

Happy Easter

Enjoy the day.

Bags in the Wild

Earth Day is upon us. Be on the lookout for these wild creatures and, please, for their own protection, reduce, reuse or recyle them when found.




Releasing them into the wild is not a good idea. They really can't fend for themselves after leading protected lives in the safety of the checkout lane.

A Good Browse

And perhaps some inspiration for a weekend project. Enjoy.

Open publication - Free publishing - More accessories

Bejeweled with Buttons

A gift string of green buttons restrung with jewelry elastic made for a really quick St. Patrick's Day bracelet.




Kellie Christie takes much more care to create her fun and funky button jewelry even crafting some of the buttons herself.

Check it out here.

Pretty in Pink Pinwheels

Lavender, green, and yellow too.




Over at Missouri Star Quilt Company we discovered a pinwheel block method that is nothing short of genius. If you don't already know the secret watch the tutorial here.




Sweet is not usually our style. Ask anybody. But there is sweet and then there is sweet. Dandelion puffs, violets, and clover? Sorry. Irresistible.

Free Antiques

Just had a (25 years or so) belated little "aha" moment.

Taking photos of antiques is lots cheaper than buying them.












Takes up less space and no dusting either.

Just Full of Good Ideas

A visit to the Bachman's Spring Ideas House, greenhouse, and happily, a surprise on-site antiques sale made for a lovely day in the city.

So many ideas. Here are a few.








































You can visit the ideas house through April 17, but if you miss it, never fear, Bachman's plans to redecorate for each season. The summer ideas house will open May 26 and stay decorated until June 12.

Eat, Eat, Eat, Then Away They Fly

The larva stage is so very brief and oh, so very hungry.

Grandma Power

There is a baby boomlet going on in the neighborhood which has led to a bumper crop of devoted new grannies (and grandpas), many of whom are making superhuman efforts to be there for their kids and grands no matter the distances between them. Here, from our favorite independent bookstore, Redbery Books, is a lump-in-the-throat inducing book about the strength of a grandma's love.




Bibs embellished with a transportation motif seem like good go-with gifts.




Here you can read an interview with illustrator Julie Paschkis at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Then you can check out her colorful website.




It was just yesterday (and don't try to convince us otherwise) that we waved (between contractions) to some of these new, young mothers and fathers as they passed by the house on their very first day of school, on the very day the first baby was born to this family. Oh my! How time flies.

Shut Up and Put Up

Amazing how sewing productivity goes up when blathering away on the blog goes down.




We're making good headway with the fabric stash busting.




Unfortunately trips to the store for the necessities of quilt finishing often take us right by the new fabric aisle.




Two quilts forward, one quilt back. That's just how it is.