All day rain

Summer hasn't been particularly kind to us in the UP this year. Actually, it's not just us. But it's been a rainy and cold and not very lake-enticing summer. It IS a bumper berry season. The blueberries and huckleberries are STILL going, there are more raspberries every day, and the blackberries finally shot off. So last weekend we donned some slickers and some rain boots (O's are 2 sizes too big, he'll grow into them!) and hit the bushes.

Not too many made it past Oliver into the bucket, but that was fun too.

Fitting it in

I love making things from other things. And yesterday was a seemingly long day, with no real end in sight. So I figured I would somehow squeeze more into the day (what happened to my New Year's Resolution: Less is More!) and, while Brian was putting Oliver to bed, I grabbed a pillowcase I had been saving for just such and occasion, grabbed Oliver's gusseted Kate Quinn Straight Leg Pants (that gusset rocks for puffy cloth diapered bums) and cut out a pair of pants. I had them sewn up in about 3 minutes and I'm thrilled. Super super fast project and I love the results. It's a good start - trying to fit creativity into each day can be difficult and little bits make me feel awesome!

It's refreshing to see re-use sewing in the mainstream. It might be making it a little harder for me to find my favorite materials at the thrift store, but the UP was never a bastion of style. When we made Erin & Tony's wool blanket, it took us months to collect enough wool sweaters that didn't have Green Bay Packer logos on them.

Anyway, there are some other folks doing things with recycled and thrifted materials that I really like. I tried to get Betz White's Sewing Green book from the library for months (darn you interlibrary loan restrictions!) before I finally saw it in our local bookstore. It is full of cool ideas and some great resources, so I decided to buy it. My neighbor Jods, who is a super crafty lady herself, finds all kinds of neat homemade stuff on blogs and Etsy. She found this pair of pants made by Molly who took an Amy Butler pattern for lounge pants and made it out of sheets with great trim. Yeah, not so lucky finding beautiful vintage sheets here in da U.P. but we do have a steady stream of flannel and plaid and thus, Oliver's pillowcase pants. Actually, Molly's blog Foothill Home Companion is really cool - she does lots of re-use projects. She also makes T-shirt bags! Speaking of T-shirt bags, the Marquette Food Coop is still selling my T-shirt bags and that's been pretty fun.

My neighbor also turned me on to the Soule Mama blog, which I have really come to love. I always wanted to hate blogs because they seemed so self-serving to me (who wants to read all of my mental vomit?), but there are some out there that are actually pretty fun to read. Good writers, good topics, good vibes. Soule Mama is one of them.

So you're probably wondering why I bothered to start a blog myself? Good question, and I've really thought about it. But that's a topic for another post.

Everyone needs a first post

Everyone needs a first post, right? Well here we are. Oliver with a tape seems like as good a place as any to start.

I've got some stuff on my plate. Designing a semi eco-groovy house on a parcel of land should be my first priority, but I couldn't muster it today. So I think this photo sums it up pretty well. I can get all calculated and engineering-y to be sure. Darling likes to describe me as "Type A". Oh. But I can also be convinced that unrolling the whole measuring tape while donning an impish grin, was simply a more fun way to spend the afternoon. And that's what happened today: Life. I had big ideas, but in the end it came down to a giggle fest on the futon. The house plans lay untouched. Yup.