Beginning to End

My first shibori commission. Thanks, Carlene!

sisters

All kinds of weather

We stick together

The same in the rain or sun

Two diff'rent faces

But in tight places

We think and we act as one

eric totally looks like a creeper... i swear he's not.

climbing

the night before, we celebrated eric's and his dad's birthday at dinner with his family. they bake fresh cookies there and even put sparklers in ours!

Market

Going to the farmer's market, whether it's Northville, Ann Arbor or Canton, is one of my favorite things about the summer.

you can get beautiful lettuce like this

and amazing, sweet, little onions like these. i was dubious, but they were delicious!

and fresh mixed greens for you and your lizard

i was so excited about these snap peas. but, they weren't good. not sweet at all. then, i was sad.

these eggs were the biggest, heaviest dozen i've gotten so far! i think i'll stick with these people

and i made cooked strawberry rhubarb jam! it's good. but, i still like the freshness of freezer jam better... too bad freezer jam has to be refrigerated, otherwise i could ship it.

and i've been getting strawberries every week and freezing them, so i can make jam with them later in the summer. blueberries will be especially delicious!

222

Sorry I've been so absent lately. I've been busy and my sister was in town this week. Most of my time was spend with her, which was really nice! I have lots of pictures, so stay tuned. Hopefully this weekend will give me more opportunities to post them all. We went to the beach today for Eric's birthday and had a blast. We swam and played frisbee and lounged in the sun. Now we're off to have Middle Eastern food for his birthday dinner. I'll bring leftovers.

the village part i

Part I is for those of you who are interested in textiles :) I was thinking of you as I walked through the village, finding little nooks of fabric interest and delight. Enjoy:

This house, the Firestone Farm, was our first stop. If you read my blog often, this is probably rather predictable :) We stepped into the family room, as opposed to the parlor (i always hate the parlors) and I gasped. The entire room was carpeted, yes carpeted, almost wall to wall in long strips of rag rug weavings all sewn together and laid down. Amazing. I never would have thought to carpet an entire room in, essentially, big long rugs! I'm seeing this as a really cool way to do a kid's room. Oh, and isn't that little nook so sweet?

Look at all of the colors!

This is the village's jacquard loom. Well, not the loom itself, but the cards by which it operates. I've only seen modern computer controlled jacquards, so this was pretty cool.

I would love to know what kind of weaving pattern this is (Susan?). Up close, it's very geometric and intense, but from far away it kind of blends together. I think it would be beautiful in subtle shades, like unbleached linen and white linen or cotton.

Isn't this the coolest knitting machine? I love all of the tiny tiny needles. And the little knitting. I can't believe they have an intact piece.

Eric and I really liked this house. It was a plantation house and so it had the obligatory parlor and fancy dining room, which I glanced in, saw a couple neat things and moved on. But this room and the kitchen were, as is usual in these old houses, what really caught me. The dressed-up person in this room was working on hand sewing a quilt. She was pretty cool. I think these squares were waiting for the next quilt, because the one she was working on was already basted onto the batting and the squares/strips were all sewn together.

This little basket of hand dyed (with natural dyes, of course) yarn was in the same house. I love the light from this window falling on the wooden table (which was really beautiful in person) and the fibers. They are handspun, too.

Eric and I bought a membership to the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village. It's an incredible deal! So, you'll probably be seeing more of these places. I'll try not to get fascinated on all the same things each time! Tomorrow, I'll post the photos from all of the other things. Many from the same houses as these are from, but not with any textile interest.

So, I now am determined that I will become a guide here. I would love to sit in the farmhouse or the little plantation house and iron/quilt/plant in the garden/talk to people all day. And get paid to do it! I talked to a woman there and she said that they recruit mostly in the fall. Presumably so they can train you during the couple months they're closed in the winter. So, come this fall...

as promised...

my week in photos, part ii

i made strawberry jam yesterday! chelsea and i had some tonight and man, it is good. in fact, i think i'll have some right now. think people would buy this on etsy? it's fun to make!

flea market treasures. vintage ball jars for cheaper than i've ever seen them. coca-cola bottle opener for on the wall. embroidered pillow. antique wooden ironing board! i'm so excited about this. it fold up, too! i'll take a picture of the mechanism and the legs tomorrow in the light!

my new china! well, new to me. isn't it beautiful? these are the perfect plates.

china and some vintage photos. well, the one on the bottom is an antique, it's from 1913!

table runner! i love this. it's linen embroidered with wool floss. it looks so nice on my table!

herbs and veggie plants at the ann arbor farmer's market. i'll take some produce photos next time!

delicious maple fudge and other candies from the House of Fudge in downtown plymouth. the owner, kristin, is really cool. we talked for almost 45 minutes!

my second batch of oatmeal cookies. this time with butterscotch! so good. a little too sweet for me though...

my week in photos, part i

yup, all from one heron. it was like rain.

field of clover on my way to work. i love walking to work.

rose bush in downtown plymouth. oh, it smells so good.

lettuce from the northville farmer's market.

super delicious strawberry from the same market.

strawberries!

we're grilling.

chelsea & grace blow bubbles at chelsea's.