Friday Featured Art: The Song of the Lark

The last time that we were at the Art Institute my husband bought me a postcard of this painting. It's The Song of the Lark by Jules Adolphe Breton. It's French, but in many ways it looks like a Midwest scene.

Thursday Tunes: The Great Remember

A couple of weeks ago we heard Steve Martin on the bluegrass channel on XM radio. He played this song called "The Great Remember," and it was lovely.

Bunny Hill Designs

We just returned from a short trip to Utah. While we were there, we visited a fabulous shop in Brigham City called Village Dry Goods. They had rows and rows of great fabric. One line that I really liked was the Lily & Will fabric by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda. So cute.

Silk Poppies

Check out this fun idea from Martha Stewart Crafts: silk poppies. These are so cute and look pretty easy to make. Find the instructions here.

Paperfinger

Another highlight of the latest issue of Real Simple was a gift idea: a custom address stamp from Paperfinger. Their calligraphy options are very beautiful. What a great idea!

Friday Featured Art: Kings, Queens, and Courtiers - Part 2

When we were in Chicago last week, we went to the Art Institute to the Kings, Queens, and Courtiers exhibit (my husband hadn't seen it yet). This piece is called Our Lady of Grace. It's painted limestone, and they had a couple of pieces like this. I really liked them. You can view highlights from the exhibit online here.

Thursday Text: May Day

A lovely springtime poem by Sara Teasdale: May Day.

A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?

Baci Milano Glasses

I checked out the latest copy of Real Simple from the library, and I loved these Baci Milano glasses that they featured. They are plastic tumblers from elizabethbauerdesign.com. Now that I've broken the 7th of a set of 8 glasses, I think I could use some plastic ones!

Rug Hooking

I finished my rug hooking! It was so fun. Now I just have to finish binding and backing it. I am anxious to begin another project.

Lily of the Valley

We went for a walk yesterday and some some beautiful lily of the valley. It was so delicate and smelled heavenly. No wonder it's a tradition in royal bridal bouquets! (I borrowed this picture from Google images.)

Friday Featured Etsy Seller: Patrick Irla Jewelry

I've mentioned before that I love botanical jewelry, and I really do - especially pieces that include hydrangeas. So I was excited to discover the Etsy shop Patrick Irla Jewelry. The pieces are stunning. I just love this necklace - don't you?

Thursday Tunes: Ellie Goulding

I've been sampling Lights by Ellie Goulding, and I really like it. She's British, kind of pop/dance, and kind of in the same vein as Frou Frou. She sang a version of Elton John's Your Song at the royal wedding reception, and it's quite lovely. You can sample her music on her web site.

National Geographic Camera Obscura

Did you see the article in the latest National Geographic on camera obscura? It was fascinating. Abelardo Morell constructed a pinhole camera that projects an image, like this view of the Brooklyn Bridge looking out a window, onto a surface, like this bedroom wall. The images are so intriguing. Check them out.

Yankee Peddler Hooked Rugs

I've been working on a hooked rug from a Yankee Peddler kit that I bought at White Horse Antiques in Rocheport. It's been a fun project, and I think I'd like to do more. Mine is a round one with this same leaping rabbit and some stars. I really like the beehive pattern below. I'll have to post some pictures when I'm finished.

Jelly

Did you see the Martha Stewart Show with Sam Bompas and Harry Parr? I also saw them on the Today Show, and they are fascinating. They're guys from the UK who make incredible jellies, like the ones shown below from their web site. They also have a couple of books out. I'm wondering if it would work to make these from the kind of gelatin that's not made from animals...

Friday Featured Etsy Seller: JCasa

Sara introduced me to the great project blog a quilt is nice. Jennifer Casa made these cute bibs, and she offers the pattern in her Etsy shop: JCasa *handmade.

Thursday Text: She Walks in Beauty

Also at Barnes & Noble the other day, I thumbed through this book. Now I want a copy. It's a collection of poems edited by Caroline Kennedy, and it has some great ones in it.

Zigzag Bunting

I picked up the latest copy of Wedding Flowers, the British floral magazine, from Barnes & Noble the other day. They had a spread showcasing things in duck-egg blue. It was beautiful. (My scanner wasn't cooperating, so I took a picture of the mag's pages.) I really love that light blue with gold accents. (Like the wedding cake from Fortnum & Mason on the right-hand page.) Anyway, one of the cute things was this floral bunting from Zigzag Bunting. It's a fancier version of the fabric garlands that are so popular right now.

Beaded Corsages

Here are some final product pictures of the beaded flowers that I made for Mother's Day. I made them into corsages. The daffodils turned out to be kind of heavy. The little yellow cluster is for my mom - don't tell her!

The Dress

It was a lot of fun to watch the big wedding on Friday. I love that the dress had long sleeves! It was very beautiful. Of course, I also loved the long-sleeved dress that she wore to the engagement announcement. And don't you love the outfit that she wore on their first day as a married couple? {All photos from The Royal Wedding official site.}