Just Around the Bend

My brother-in-law, Joseph Alleman, is about to open a one-man show at the Mockingbird Gallery in Bend, Oregon.  It begins on Friday.  These two pieces have already been sold, but aren't they so great?  The top image, "Stand Alone," is a watercolor.  The bottom, "Summer Day," is an oil painting.  It makes me hopeful that summer really will return!

Liberty: British Colour Pattern

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, I have really enjoyed learning more about Liberty - especially since visiting their flagship store last year.  So recently I found this incredible book about the company, Liberty: British Colour Pattern.  It includes information about their history, the Tudor shop, the evolution of the brand, their artists and designers, and so on.  Their web site sells it for 35 pounds, which is about $53.  But it's on Amazon for about $35!  My copy arrived a couple of days ago, and I have been so fascinated.  It's a hardcover book with a slipcover and has lovely photographs and prints and even contains envelope pockets with reproductions of ads and letters and patterns.  Such a great resource for Liberty lovers!

ModBlock Magazine

Are you a fan of the Missouri Star Quilt Co.?  I picked up one of their Block pattern magazines at the Missouri State Fair last summer.  They are great little books in full color.  My sister got a copy of the new special edition, ModBlock.  It has some fantastic patterns, including one called Hexi Gems.  It's a fun way to use the hexagon shape as an accent.

Floral Dress

I've loved seeing floral prints everywhere - especially now that spring is finally here.  This dress from Lands' End is so lovely.  (If only it weren't so expensive...)

Liberty and Wool Projects

The Purl Bee has a couple of fabulous projects using Liberty fabric and wool.  One is a simple blanket using wool and Liberty print bias tape.  You can also back it with Liberty fabric if you choose.  The other is a Liberty and wool lap duvet.  It uses just one yard of wool and one yard of Liberty cotton.  I normally buy small pieces of Liberty, so I'll have to start saving for some yardage!

Timber Valley

I know it's not the time to be thinking about it, but I found some fabric that I think would be fun for Christmas stockings!  Timber Valley from Brambleberry Ridge by Violet Craft is lovely in grey.

Books at K. Hall

We were in St. Louis again last weekend and visited my favorite shop at Plaza Frontenac: K. Hall Designs.  I noticed a couple of fun books there.  One is called Sparkle and Splash and contains recipes for fun sodas.  The other is Preserving by the Pint and has recipes for canning in small batches.  What a great idea!

Domestic Domestic

An item in a recent edition of Sunset magazine introduced me to Domestic Domestic - a great web site selling household goods made in America.  These brightly-colored Field Notes journals are $10 for a set of 3.  I thought that this Sailormade bracelet was so interesting.  And they offer everyday free shipping!

Land Girls

I've been taking a break from blogging since the passing of my dad.  Things that normally appear on my blog seemed a lot less important as I spent time with family.  Thank you to everyone for the well wishes.  I'm going to continue looking for the good and lovely things in this world.

One thing I stumbled across recently was the BBC One show from a few years ago called Land Girls.  (It's on Netflix.)  It's about the girls who worked the farms in Britain during World War II.  I especially like the lovely floral prints of the girls' blouses and dresses.

Chai-Spiced Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Remember when I posted about this cookbook I got at Williams-Sonoma?  Well this weekend I attempted my second ice cream recipe from it.  I made chai-spiced milk chocolate ice cream!  You have to steep the milk and cream with star anise, whole cloves, cardamom pods, peppercorns, and cinnamon sticks.  You also have to chop chocolate to use (I used Ghirardelli).  It turned out to be quite a tasty treat!  I think that the spices made it seem more like a winter treat than a summer one (which was perfect because we're still buried in snow...).