March 2010 – Page 2 – Jennifer Michie

March 15, 2010 / 0 Comments

Put the Kettle On…

Put the kettle on, I’m making scones this morning. I am making The Pioneer Woman’s delicious scones today. However, I have made a few adaptations, there are some things that I can’t get at my local grocery store in Jolly Ole’ England, so when in Rome…

The house smells like a cozy tea room and makes me yearn for the little cottage we stayed at in Cornwall with the sun shining so brightly today it would be perfect for a walk down the coastal path and a stop at Daisy’s for a doorstop sandwich and then some cake and tea.

Oh, I hear my kettle whistling, I wish you were here, you could join me for a spot of tea and a pecan scone….

March 12, 2010 / 0 Comments

Getting Organized

I am trying to get organized in our house this weekend. The Spring Fever Bug has bit me! So today I am cleaning and getting the house ready to go into the weekend, so tomorrow I can tackle the pantry.

The pantry is not only a place for food storage, but living in a little cottage it has taken on the role of having bookshelves packed with books, holding my cleaning supplies and most importantly all my sewing bits and bobs.

It has gotten quite messy at the moment since I have been in the throws of creating bears and bunnies and now when you open the door you just hold your breath. It is like those can of snakes, you pop the lid and they all come shooting out, well, when I open that door, I am waiting for everything to come shooting out at me! (it is not that bad I am being a bit melodramatic, or am I?)

So, I have donned my June Cleaver pearls and I am going to wax my way out the door to go grocery shopping. Tonight we are making bean burritos with queso sauce and making my sister’s guacamole, yumm!

(apron image from Stitch Thru Time)

March 10, 2010 / 0 Comments

Good Morning!

After pulling an all nighter Monday evening to finish up the last of my RosaBlue order, I am very content this morning to munch away on my lucky charms cereal, with the hum of the dryer in the background as I get caught up on laundry and just be!

Oh, Mt. Laundry, I will tackle you today! I will reach the top and wave my banner of accomplishment high! Or at least come close to chipping away at your peaks!

The wind is whistling around the house, so I think a cup of hot chocolate will be the next thing I make as I slowly move into the kitchen with my green shamrock cladded socked feet! Hope you are having a nice morning wherever you are…

March 9, 2010 / 0 Comments

Lavender’s Blue

Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly, lavender’s green,

When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen.

Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?

‘Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.

Lavender’s green, dilly, dilly, Lavender’s blue,

If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.

Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, And the lambs play;

We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm’s way.

This wee ditty played in my head this morning as I tucked some little lavender colored bunnies into pink striped tissue paper to mail to RosaBlue.

I am sure they would have rather hopped, but with the help of the post they should get there faster and their paws will not be tired, there will be plenty of space to hop around the shop…

March 7, 2010 / 0 Comments

Down the Rabbit Hole

It is late, it is very late, after 1am to be exact. I seem to be having another bout of insomnia, coupled with the lovely cold I seem to be getting! It is quiet this time of morning and very very cold so, I have wrapped myself up in one of my quilts. This one is an 1800’s quilt from the American Mid-West with a log cabin pattern.

I always stare at it when it is on me, looking at the fabric, wondering who made this, how long it took them to sew it, how long it took them to save the flour sacks or old dresses to have enough material to make this quilt? Was it the work of a young girl, practicing her hand at quilt making or that of a young woman for her wedding bed? A mother for her child? If only it could speak or was handed down to me from someone who knew its story…

Since, I am up I thought I would share with you a few more pieces of the wonderful Japanese illustrator Katogi Mari’s work. I used one of her illustrations in my Friday Post.

We saw Alice in Wonderland yesterday, it is all still sinking in. It was a kaleidoscope of color, fantastical, imaginative and it is amazing what a computer can create today with the help of many human hands and hours behind it.

I love the colorful yet simple designs, the clean yet detailed and whimsical nature of Katogi Mari’s work. This series sums up the fanciful side of Alice for me. And, I love the 1960’s Japanese-esque of it all.

I feel as if I have fallen down the rabbit hole myself with all the bunnies I am stitching for RosaBlue and my sinuses are making me feel as if I am in a topsy turvy world, I am waiting for cakes with eat me piped onto them and pianos and books and chairs and teapots to come floating by my head. I am now going back to stitch on more marshmallowy bunny tails, so they will have more hopping power to jump into their box when they are all sewn up!

March 5, 2010 / 0 Comments

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

I feel like Max this morning from “Where the Wild things Are” and I am ready for the wild rumpus of a weekend to start. There are still bears and bunnies to finish, Mother’s Day gifts to buy (they celebrate Mother’s Day early here) and my sweetie pie wants to see the new “Alice in Wonderland” film.

I loved reading the book as a child, what I loved most was that when I finished the first book, I had to turn it upside down to read the 2nd, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”. I am going into this film with my 3D glasses on and an open mind, I am not so sure about, it looks almost too out there, which my cute ginger argues with me is the point, so we shall see.

There is also a menu to be plan. My friends laugh at me, but I plan my menus for two weeks, we don’t have a large grocery store in our town, so it is a ride down the rails for groceries with my hessian bags and red granny cart in hand. I buy a few things to get us through locally as we need them, milk, bread, salad…

I am far from frugal, we eat very well and for the most part very healthy in our house, I don’t cook junk; I just don’t understand how they can randomly walk into a store and just see what they happen to find. One of my friends goes grocery shopping every morning and spends about £30-40 each time, that is insane!! I plan some meals for one nights, some will be leftovers some will have something entirely new made with their leftovers.

There will be a menu discussion in the house tonight, so far Aioli is on the menu one of my favorite pasta dishes and so simple, with oil and garlic and parsley; a mexican night with homemade bean burritoes, queso sauce and homemade guacamole; it is still very cold here so probably a stew maybe with dumplings and mashed potatoes on the side or just a hearty bowl with some buttermilk biscuits. Since we have had our first taste of spring, I really feel like either some homemade banana pudding or Nigella Lawson’s “Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake”. This cake is a favorite in our house, it has been made for many a birthday. Although I do make a few changes, I half the required dark chocolate for the icing and mix it with milk or use all milk chocolate, since I found the dark at times became too bitter. (click on the photo to get the recipe)

But in all this sewing, movie watching, grocery shopping crazy filled weekend we will have, I want to make sure that we carve out a little bit of time to just be. I know sometimes I am guilty of trying to do too much in the space of 48 hours, I just need to remember to sit back and breathe!

What are you doing for your weekend?

(Alice in Wonderland image by: Katogi Mari)

March 3, 2010 / 0 Comments

Blanket Statement

This morning the sun is shining yet again, the little pot of bulbs by my front door are ready to pop open and a rap at my racing green door was opened to find my jolly postman waiting for me with a parcel in his hands.

What was in my delicious parcel? This:

It was written by the lovely Vicki Haninger, who runs the Turkey Feathers Blog and the Pattern Bee web shop where she sells wonderful vintage and retro embroidery designs.

I have been desiring this little book ever since I saw her cute elephant doll, sweetly dressed for a party with a heart bejeweled crown on her head. But you could not get it in England and I could never find it when I went home to visit. So, thank goodness you can now get it through Amazon UK, that makes me 1 very happy camper!

So, sitting down with a steaming cup of tea, I tore into this package like a child on Christmas morning and I flipped through, oohed and aaghed and then I flipped through again and oohed and aaghed some more.

What a sweet treasure this book is and the other ideas it has already started spawning in my head… it is really adorable!

If you can’t wait to get your hands on your own copy, you can already begin making a project from her book. She offers this darling little lambkin pattern on her website. It looks like something straight out of a vintage shop. I can just see the 1950’s little girl it belonged to in her pink coat and matching bonnet with this little lamb tucked under her arm.

I can’t wait to get started making some of the projects out of here. But, first there are bears and bunnies to be made for RosaBlue, so I am busy happily stitching away!

Click on the Lambkin for a pattern and directions:

March 1, 2010 / 0 Comments

Danse avec Moi!

I love this print by Sarah Jane Studios. I have been staring at it for awhile now. Trying to justify its purchase, you know, the wants vs. the needs. But, this print just makes me happy!

Today on the 1st day of March the sun is shining, the sky is a robin’s egg blue, there a few clouds floating by, the air is fresh and as I gazed out this morning, I thought of this print.

We dance a lot in our house, randomly breaking out into dance while cooking dinner, while listening to good music. It is like living in a good 80’s movie. It is just happiness. Even on our first date, taking my hand in his, my husband waltzed me across the street under the moonlight.

So, tonight as we welcome in what feels like the beginning of Spring, even if it is just a teaser, I am going to ask him: “danse moi dans le printemps!” (dance me into spring) and laughing, I know he will oblige me, and taking my hand we will dance.

Visit Sarah Jane’s Blog here: