It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. . .

The tree has been decorated and the shopping is done.

The gifts have been wrapped and the cookies have been baked.

Here's wishing a
Merry Christmas to All!

A Beautiful Snowy Morning

I went for a brisk early morning walk this morning after a snowy night.

A snowplow had already cleared the street for those heading out early to work.

The heavy wet snow turned the neighborhood landscape into a winter wonderland.

And few had ventered down the snowy path to the local park.

This latest snowfall will insure a white Christmas this weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Being a good person is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside, and scoops out all of the yucky stuff - seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a bright new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.

This was passed on to me by another pumpkin.
Now, it's your turn to pass this on to a pumpkin of your choice!

Wishing you all a safe and Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday America!

Wishing Everyone a happy and safe 4th of July!

Floral Inspiration

I love gardening. The hard work is very well worth the end result - yummy fresh vegetables and beautiful flowers!

My flower garden is my inspiration for my recycled sweater wool flower brooches. Here are a few of my favorites.

bright magenta echinacea, or purple coneflowers

yellow water lillies from our garden pond

fragrant peonies, one of my all time favorite flowers

and elegant roses

My daisies are blooming now, so I have a new inspiration!

Look for daisy felted wool brooches coming soon.

There's Still Time to Enter!

The blog MonsterBites365.com is sponsering a giveaway of one of my felted flower brooches!

Monster Bites brings you 365 days of the latest in DIY fashion, sustainable living & handmade goodness for an enviable life! Each GEM is packed with giveaways, discounts, and DIY projects!

There is also a tutorial for making your own recycled wool sweater flower like the one in the upper right photo.

Enter for your chance to win here. You can enter through June 9.

Outdoor Living

We've been doing some cleaning, sewing, painting, and even a little bit of construction, to spruce up our outdoor living space. Everything on our screened porch always needs a good scrubbing in the spring. And, a little touch up painting keeps everything looking good and protected from weathering.

Our patio of brick pavers had become very uneven due to tree roots that had grown and spread over the years. We had the tree trimmed earlier in the season, so my husband decided it would be safe to trim the tree roots, too. He pulled up the uneven bricks and chopped out the offending roots. He also repaired a drain line to take water away from the house. After adding a little bit of sand for filler and replacing the bricks, the patio is as good as new.

I made new cushion covers for our furniture on the porch and added some comfy pillows for lounging. The pretty tropical print fabric that I found on clearance sale a while back looks great with all our flowers and plants surrounding the porch.

Here is the end result!

A view from inside the porch.

Momma bluebird stopped by to feed the babies while I was taking these photos.

Our cats love to spend time relaxing on the porch.

This is Sabrina in her morning sunbath ritual.

A view from the porch out on to our refurbished patio.
It feels great to have everything clean and refeshed - ready to enjoy all summer!

Feathered Friends

It's nesting season for the birds in my area and everytime I go outside I hear birds singing or chirping. It has been raining a lot lately, so I wasn't too surprised when I came home the other day to find mallard ducks wandering around in my front yard!
Here are a few photos I've taken of some of my feathered friends.

Bluebirds are using the nesting box on our garden fence again this year. This is the female bluebird with a nice bug to feed the kids.

A chipping sparrow has been working on a nest in the vine over the garden trellis.

This baby wren is waiting for a meal from inside his little bird house hanging in a garden tree.

There are four robins crowding this nest. A couple of them were peaking out when I took this photo.

A male cardinal keeping watch.

A young family of Canadian geese going for a swim in the neighborhood park.

Another family of Canadian geese in the neighborhood. These little ones are little older and starting to get darker feathers.

There is an abundance of wildlife even in our suburban neighborhood!

Happy Mother's Day!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our early spring vegetable planting is doing well and we are able to start enjoying fresh from the garden veggies!

There is leaf lettuce, radishes and spring onions.

Radishes are a tasty addition to a salad or serve with sea salt as an appetizer or snack.

Chives and other fresh herbs provide wonderful flavor to so many dishes.

Romaine lettuce plants, almost ready to harvest.

And my favorite, garden fresh asparagus.

Are you planting a vegetable garden this season? How does your garden grow?

Happy Earth Day!

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children.
~Native American Proverb

Shouldn't every day be Earth Day?!

Saturday in the Park

It was sunny, cool and windy when I walked to the park this morning. . . a perfect day for kite flying! April is National Kite Flying Month and families were out to celebrate by having a Kite Fly-In in our little community park.

There were kite building kits for the kids.


And a few demonstrations of large kites by the Hoosier Kitefliers Society.


High flyin!

On down at the lake, these beautiful little sailboats were participating in a model boat regatta.

Powered by the wind, they are controlled remotely from shore and skillfully navigated the course set out on the lake.

It was a lovely Saturday in the park. I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend, too.

A Quick Shop Update. . .

Introducing my new "Carolyn Clutch".

I have several of these cute new clutch style purses now listed in the shop.

These clutches are the perfect size to carry a small wallet, phone, keys and lip gloss. Or put it in the larger bag you carry to work or the gym!

They are all made from felted wool sweaters in bright Spring colors and some have accents of other upcycled wool fabrics. Perfect for the girl on the go!

Check out FeltSewGood on Etsy for all the latest additions to the shop.

Fresh Garden Herbs

I cleaned up my little herb patch in the vegetable garden and it looks like everything survived the snowy winter. I'm usually able to keep picking fresh perennial herbs up until Thanksgiving and then I use mostly dried herbs over the winter. It's such a treat to begin using fresh herbs again in the spring. I made mashed potatoes for dinner just so that I could add fresh chives and a little sour cream. Yum!

My favorite herbs are basil, chives, cilantro, dill, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme. Most of these are perennial, meaning a healthy plant will grow back each spring. Basil and dill can be grown easily from seed. As for the cilantro, we have a sandy patch of soil in the garden and grow cilantro in that same spot each year. Cilantro doesn't seem to like our hot humid summers, so after it flowers and turns to seed, which is coriander, we just let it reseed itself and then we have a new crop when the weather cools a little.

You can find herb seeds or herb plant starts at most garden centers, but if you're looking for something special, The Cook's Garden has a nice selection of herbs to choose from. You can order online or request a free catalog here.

photos from The Cook's Garden website.

Some New Purses and Some New Designs

I took a little break from sewing and blogging last week to finish some other projects. It was good feeling of accomplishment and now I'm ready to work on some new designs for the shop!

I now have several new purses in felted wool listed in the shop.

I'm also working on a new design for a cute clutch purse! If all goes as planned, I should have some of the new clutches listed later this week.

Even though I didn't do much sewing during my little break, I did some thrift store shopping and found quite a few great items to use in making new purses. So there will be lots of "new" in the coming weeks. I'll be sure to share them here!

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a wonderful Spring weekend

and Happy Easter with these vintage French postcards!