Walnut Valley Festival 2013

 

I've been looking forward to this campout and bluegrass festival all year.  A chance to hang with my good riding and knitting friend, Karen, and her family.  There was good music, good food fixed on the campfire and knitting.  Lots of knitting.  We made bibs for baby Iris, I completed an alpaca/llama cowl from yarn I purchased at Lost City Knits at the festival.  Lots of yarn from Lost City Knits.  Seriously, I am so stocked up for winter knitting.

More Reconstruction

I'm on a roll sewing these reconstructed western shirts lately.  Some for me and some as gifts.  They are so cool, comfy and girly.  Just perfect for the summer that I don't want to let go of.

Mountain Camping

I made another trip to Washington State to see my childhood BFF, Laura, again. I only had a couple days off from work so it was an action packed long weekend. There was a day in Seattle, happy hour(s) at her home, a Jeep road trip for mountain camping in Leavenworth with her husband and a tubing trip down the rapids of the Wenatchee River. LOVE THIS LIFE!

Reconstructed Western Shirt

Cool temperatures and rainy days has me spending a little free time in my sewing room. I found inspiration in a reconstructed western shirt tie top I purchased in Canton Texas and then I made my own from one of my grandfather's snap shirts.

Flea Market Basket/Cart Liner

For $2 in two large burlap coffee bean sacks and $8 in two yards of fabric I made a liner for my flea market basket/cart.  You can buy plastic liners but I wanted something more uniquely mine.  I just measured the sides allowing 1/2 inch for seams, added inner pickets, ties at the bottom and tabs for the top.  Now it's ready to hold some great flea finds in style.

A Busy July

July has been passing by quickly.  It's a month with plans every weekend.  The work days have been busy.  I've caught a few rounds of golf on the week days, the top has been off of my Jeep and the warm temperatures have me spending time at the pool working on my tan.  Summer projects have turned to the crochet hook making swimsuit coverups.

And a patriotic crochet Star Spangled Banner bunting for the front porch.

Independence Day (and weekend) was spent shooting fireworks with the neighbors and a block party of sorts stay-cation campout in the front yard.  The kids loved it almost as much as the adults.

Time has passed slowly at the lake(s) with the dogs, friends and my inflatable kayak.

I absolutely LOVE summer!

Milk Painting

I had a houseguest this weekend.  Melanie and I went to the lake, rode around in our Jeeps, to the drive-in to watch zombie and superhero movies and finished our busy weekend with a milk painting class at Absolute Vintage Boutique.  It's a shop packed full of old stuff made new again and they have painting classes on the outdoor patio.  With the right mixutre of the retro milk paint, we painted old, outdated chairs with a base coat, then a second coat of a different color and then sanded until the base coat came through.  I have intentions to repaint some bedroom furniture like I did my chair but all that sanding (even with electric sanders) plum wore me out.  I may just have to tackle one piece of furniture at a time.

Lake Day

Molly & Sheba - Fun in the Sun 2013

Beach Bag

My knitta, Jackie, always inspires me with her cool projects.  We met for breakfast and she was working on a crochet beach bag for her daughter and I had to go straight home and start one for myself.  It's too hot to do much else than sit in the shade anyways.  The bag is stretchy with plenty of holes to allow sand to shake out or carry my yoga clothes to work.  Quick and easy!

Junk Hippy OKC

Girl road trip+Jeep+Teenage friend+Waffle House+Jukebox+Oklahoma City+Junk Hippy Roadshow+Antiques+Boutiques+Junk+Shop+Money Spent+

Lots-a-laughs+Bricktown+Hotel+Room with a view+Ballpark+Thirsty+Bar hop+Cool night breeze+Water walk+Live bands+Coyote Ugly+Shut up and dance+Closing time+Not tired+Full day+Big adventure+Home sweet home
=Lifelong friendships

Wichita River Festival 2013

I miss working downtown, more so now than ever during this year's Riverfest. So I called up a couple former coworkers and we spent the night eating funnel cakes, drinking beer and hooting it up to country outlaws, Montgomery Gentry.  They put on an excellent show and we shared a few old-time laughs.

Beehive Baby Blanket

I found my favorite baby blanket crochet pattern in this book (mine is without stripes) using 4 skeins of Patons Beehive Baby sport yarn in Grey on a #G hook.   I like this bias pattern because I can make a triangle with half the yarn I choose and then decrease for the remainder to make a square blanket that typically measures 36".  I finished it just in time for a coworkers baby shower this weekend.

Oh, Joy!

A very special delivery arrived in the mail today.  I like it when I forget that I order something and then am surprised when I look at the package.  Oh yeah - JOY - it's that Miss Maggie Rabbit kit I've been coveting from posie.   Homemade goodness from the talented Alicia Paulson.  Besides living in a simply magical place (Portland, OR)  she is my most favorite blogger, the best writer, talented beyond any measure sharing little parts of her life with total strangers so effortlessly and genuinely.  I have a couple projects to complete first and then I can't wait to get started on my special little rabbit from the Northwest.

Rocky Mountain High

I (we) needed a getaway.  Time on the road with nothing but the wind in my ears and my own thoughts.  Time to make peace with the stress, worries and disappointments that have filled my days.  As I think through all the issues in my head I take in deep yoga breaths and let them go with each cleansing exhale.  Within a couple hundred miles all my worries are gone and only a favorite song lyric comes to mind.  It's amazing how a long weekend traveling on the road with good friends can put things back into perspective.

We have a cozy A-frame cabin on the creek, great meals, small town shopping in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs all the while surrounded by a snowy Pikes Peak mountain.  The priceless kind of therapy professionals and/or medications just can't provide.

Shakedown

The weather has warmed and a busy summer riding season is upon us.  We like to take a short shakedown run to make sure the bikes are running well prior to making a longer trip.  I suggested my favorite BBQ joint in Pawhuska, OK, Bad Brad's Bar-B-Q for ribs and cowboy beans.  The meal was good as always, the bikes are running well and we came home exhausted.  Even riding a motorcyle is something you need to condition your body into for those longer rides.

Leather Carving

I've been wanting to learn leather work for quite a long time.  Embossed leather is my favorite so I decided to take a leather carving class at Tandy Leather.  I even talked my good friend, Melanie into going with me.  We found it's not as easy as it looks.  It will take skill to have just the right tap on the tools to get a uniform design but I think it's something I can do with practice.  If only had the time to devote to another hobby...

Spring Outdoor Market

Mom and I headed out early to Benton for The Red Barn Outdoor Market.  It's held out in a field scattered with antique vendors, handmades, shopping, food and music.  It was a muddy mess, overcast and cold but we still had a very good time.

Decoden iPhone Cases

I'm on a roll embellishing iPhone cases with charms, beads and rhinestones.  Doing just one led to four with the purple one a gift for a good friend.

Antique Chandelier Earrings

The knitting needles continue to sit on the sidelines while I find inspiration in making other things for a change.  I found inspiration in some chandelier-type earrings that I saw on Pinterest and made them my own.

Austin Inspired

Travel inspires me.  I can go to a place, take it all in and feel a vibe.  Then I bring ideas home and make something that reminds me of my trip.  This time, with the artistic help of embroidery designs by an Austin artist, Sublime Stitching, I was able to recreate a day spent in Austin, Texas on South Congress Avenue (SoCo).  From the hip strip of eclectic shops with Dia De Los Muertos art, western flair at Allens Boots, reconstructed rockabilly clothing boutiques to the largest urban (Mexican free-tailed) bat colony that departs nightly from under the SoCo bridge. 

This hand embroidered western shirt captures it all.