The Indispensable Etsy Guide

Had to share this fantastic site, even though I found it late. One woman's list of 100 great etsy artists, compiled in 2008, including this fantastic artist Matte Stephens: It's a wonderful place to lose some time!

The Table Gets Dressed Up

The queen anne table runner is complete! And, no drama this time. I just plain like it and I like how it looks on the table. Linen is so satisfying in how it drapes and seems so alive with its subtle wrinkles. The embroidery was addicting and the perfect thing to work on while chatting with the husband or watching Glee or The Office on TV.
The creamer and sugar bowl were a birthday gift from my sister. She snuck onto my etsy favorites and bought something I had marked, isn't that clever of her? It is mikasa and vintage and such a lovely lilac color, I'm using it at every possible excuse.

A Thing

I have to come to terms with the fact that I just have a thing for table runners. Despite this debacle I'm back at it, making another one. I do like this one alot more, however. And, it's construction is happening the way I prefer it to happen. No real plan, no pattern. Just starting with one portion, then setting it down, mulling it over, and starting with the next.
The green linen bits are vintage from beautiful living on etsy. They are 4 X 6 inches and have little whispers of queen anne's lace peeking in on them...a stem here, a flower there. I should say they were my true inspiration for this. I bought them on a whim and it was pondering what to do with them. I threw in the bits and pieces of luscious natural linen I have and then I ran across this free pdf on Sew Mama Sew for embroidery of a Queen Anne's Lace, it was great timing. But the image didn't quite fit right and wasn't long enough and that is when I realized...embroidery is little more than stitching up an image in embroidery floss. It doesn't have to be a prescribed image. So, I drew my own with inspiration from SMS. That wasn't the hard part. The actual embroidery is trickier (for me, as a beginner). So, I'm stitching and stitching now.
But, it's a happy stitching. I feel like I've been following other people's patterns and designs alot this summer and I kind of missed just going with my own idea, even if it ends up imperfect. And, the stitching seems a great way to greet autumn. I should probably learn to appreciate summer more but I'm always truly happy to see August pack it up and to feel chilly winds start to blow. Happy September.

Speaking of changes, in a distant way at least, I'm a little tired of my usual crafty blogs. I mostly check Angry Chicken, Soulemama, and Sew Mama Sew's blog and I love them all dearly but are there others that people check on a regular basis that you really like? Send them my way if you get a minute, I'm in need of other blog voices right now.

I should add that I also obsessively check at the end of this row, capers and olives, and ten finger workshop but they already know that!

Little Discoveries

These little discoveries are making me happy today:

The Sunflower Project, get some sunflower seed, plant them (you know next season), grow them and then track the activity of bees around it a little bit every once in a while, report it to this group of researchers trying to understand what is happening with the crazy virus all the bees have.  Projects like this just satisfy the little field researcher in me.

The Small Object's Recipe Review post-it notes, these are just crazy great.  Little post-it notes that you stick into your cookbooks with all your cooking notes so you don't forget next time you go to make it.  Done in the adorable Small Object way, or course.  I'm also dying to get a candle holder and I think the mustache magnet is brilliant. Her 'steno pad' site is fantastic, by the way, and has great do-it-yourself holiday ideas and strengthens my resolve to go 'hand (or artist) made' this holiday.

BuggaBugs felt food: this is the kind of felt food I want to stock in my son's little kitchen.  I did sign up for her newsletter and got the free instructions for making a strawberry and had to make three immediately because they are so fun and easy. 

Elsita's little ride, does it get any better than this for a boy's imagination? I think not. And, her blog is full of imaginative paper cuts, ceramics, and flower people as well as literally alive with imagination and heart.  

This Beach Cruiser Pillowcase is just pure fun.

I have always loved children's literature and especially love the art in children's stories from Ezra Jack Keats to Maurice Sendak.  This etsy shop has a small selection of books: The Art and Book Shop.  But, one of my books on the art of children's literature highlighted this, The Hole Book, and I'm in love with this cover.  So cute.  Apparently, the hole goes straight through the book and fits with the story on each page, including shooting a rabbit.  For this reason, the book isn't so popular anymore. We don't really kill rabbits as much these days I guess.

And, sigh, Saffron Craig.  Saffron is an Australian fabric designer with elegant but whimsical fabrics that make me want to try my hand at winning the lottery so I can spend my days making things with her gorgeous designs. 

The last thing making me happy, and this is making me really happy, my Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule of Soulemama arrived!  I browsed it first, then studied it a bit more carefully, and finally pulled out the post-it notes (the pretty ones) to mark projects for the future. 

And, with all of these good things swimming around in my head, I'm about at tired as little Adelaide right now.  Off to bed for me.

Little Tablecloth for a little Table

We picked up this table and three chairs for little more than nothing at a local yard sale.  The previous owners has covered the table in contact paper to make it easy to clean up and while I relate to the sentiment I do prefer the regular wooden tabletop.  However, when I removed the contact paper it left the top really sticky and despite three rounds of scrubbing at it with goo gone, it wouldn't budge.  So, I used my minny muu fat quarters from my recent trip to Spool to make this little tablecloth.  (The red gingham is from an etsy site Beautiful Living, full of gorgeous, vintage  mysteries! Do take a peek.)

Makes for a sweet little spot for my little guy's adventures on the front porch, which included a rooster that inspired me to pull together a new banner for the site.  I told the husband, "I like this new banner.  Might keep it for a while."  He just laughed because I really just like to move things around.  We'll see. 

I've got the holidays on my mind alot these days, seems the chill in the air and the long shadows of fall get the mind wandering toward December! 

Etsy Assuages my Guilt

I had a real dilemna about whether or not to send holiday cards this year. On the one hand, it isn't particularly envrionmentally responsible and I'm trying to be more conscious of that. One the other hand, I love writing the cards, seeing them all stacked up and ready to go, and I love receiving holiday cards and seeing how other people are doing. In short, I love the tradition of holiday cards especially in such an electronic world. I'm the kind of adult that is really a 13-year old geek...I love getting mail! So, I turned to etsy and sure enough I was able to find handmade holiday cards that made me feel like I could satisfy my card-loving side and support an artist. All of this makes me feel a bit less guilty. (There is very little actual logic in this, I know.)

I got these cards from cicada studio (top left) and nella designs. They are gorgeous in every way and both arrived faster than you can say AMAZON.