Dove Love

We have a family of mourning doves (a.k.a. turtle doves) living in our yard. The mommy and daddy, seen above perched on our old garage, coo dolefully every morning. Just yesterday, to my surprise, I spotted these two babies hiding under a shrub in the back yard... Under a shrub, I say!

I must have gone past them 6 or 7 times before even noticing them. And then they didn't budge when I inspected them more closely. They were the sweetest and most trusting little things!

I took their picture and left them alone so as not to scare them off. But this morning the babies are no longer there. They've been moved. However, the mommy and daddy are still hanging about so I know the babes cannot be far off.

I just pray they are safe.

Isn't wildlife beautiful?

♥M

Party Origami by Jessica Okui

I received a copy of a sweet booklet in the mail the other day, and I thought I'd share a little bit of it with you today. Let me just say that I'm acquainted with the author, Jessica Okui, of the blog Zakka Life, and as a result, am totally biased about the book!

Jessica's book is called "Party Origami: Paper and Instructions for 14 Party Decorations". And it is exactly that. I keep calling it a book but it's actually a kit.

It contains 75 sheets of gorgeous paper and step-by-step instructions for preparing 14 paper party pretties. Here's a small sampling of some of the papers included.

The Boy and I tried several of the book's projects. We made the bow napkin rings - I just love these - and the bird placecard holders (see photos above), among others. The Boy got his choice of papers to use and he took his sweet time picking out just the right ones, I must say.

Jessica's instructions are clear and no-nonsense. And I, like The Boy, was in heaven leafing through all the delicious papers she included. We haven't yet had the chance to use our projects in an actual party setting, but oh we will.

Congratulations for creating this elegant origami kit Jessica, and thank you for allowing us to test drive it!

♥M

DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of "Party Origami: Paper and Instructions for 14 Party Decorations" for review. The above opinions and statements are my own.

Small Design Quandary

We're sprucing up our tiny side entrance. This weekend I painted the walls and ceiling, and Lo and I added a few bits of trim which still need a final coat of paint. We're also waiting on the cute light fixture we ordered online. We haven't had an actual fixture there for ages, just a cold and lonely compact fluorescent. The change will be ever so nice!

But the final touch will be a small "Welcome" scene painted directly on the wall adjacent the door. I'm working on that design right now. I'm going for a colourful, and hopefully warm, folk-arty feel. Here's what I've got so far...

Can I ask your opinion about it? I love the birds and the "welcome" but I'm wondering about the flowers... Are they too much? Should I move them around? Do I need more? Should I nix them altogether? What does your excellent brain think?

Thanks so much for any help!

♥M

The Flock Block

Hi there.

How are things with you? Well, I hope.

Guess what?

I have returned.

I had such a great August Break. Oh so nice... And I will tell you about it later but for today I'm easing back into work with a short little post.

My blog friend Amy is having a cool contest called "Texting While Sewing" and I'm squeaking in at the veeeerrry last minute with this wee quilt block I designed. The goal of the contest is, in Amy's words, to use text fabric creatively in a 12" quilt block. This idea sounded like such a hoot to me, I could NOT not take part. My only issue? I didn't own a single stitch of texted fabric. This meant of course that I HAD to go out shopping. Woe is me, eh?

Despite the apparent popularity of texted fabrics (and there are some really beautiful ones out there) my little hick town fabric stores are mostly allergic to them from what I can gather. Hrmph. Among the stores I travelled to, I found a grand total of four texted fabrics. Four! And two of those were too ugly for words. No pun. Anyway, so I bought the other two.

Truth: You know your life is pretty darn sweet when all you're complaining about is the lack of texted fabric. 

So here's my block. I call it The Flock Block. See? It is puzzle of pieced birds with some playful word embroidery for good measure. The birdies fly blissfully round and round one another.  An ornithological merry-go-round, if you will.

I still have some work to do on the design. However my hope is to, one day, make it available as a pattern in the shop. I'm thinking it would be cute in a baby quilt and all solid colours... Comments, suggestions?

♥M

♥M

The August Break is explained here!