Indulge Your Shelf

With Ben's school year ending last Friday, we are in summer mode! The lilacs have already come and gone, but the state flower, the Columbine, is in full bloom.  I have them in many colors in my garden; with the hot, dry weather we have here it's best to try to be satisfied with what is native, I've found. As I spent most of the Spring sick in bed, I never got around to my usual spring cleaning so over the last few days, as my son sleeps until noon, I've been trying to work on that; I began with clearing off my crowded, side kitchen counter. I also did some re-arranging on the shelves which show off some of my favorite red-themed stuff...at the top of the above photo, my f un new greeting card from Julia , which I have mounted like a print; it proclaims, Her Royal Highness Queen Mum, which is a name I will answer to! I also got busy putting up my seasonal artwork, including this assemblage of the art collages I made at Birdsong Two. I started with this kit...

For the last week or so I've been working on this crazy quilt pillow, and I finished it last night. What I love about this medium is that it's all handwork, so I can sit in my favorite chair and work on it while my son plays with his video games or watches sit coms in the evening. It's almost like being together -- and better than nothing! This pillow is my first attempt at crazy quilting. I had never tried most of the stitches and was also experimenting with color combinations. I used many vintage fabrics and antique trims but also some that are newer. I wish I'd used more solids and less patterns. I also wish I'd taken the extra step of ironing in between each piece so they would lie flatter. In short, I know this pillow isn't a work of perfection, but I like it anyway. Sort of the way I'm satisfied with the kind of family togetherness mentioned above. I guess I'm pretty easy to please in both respects these days!

One of my favorite things is making decorating found objects with broken china to make mosaics. I have a rule: I'll only break a beautiful plate if it is already chipped. I've managed to amass quite a collection of pieces of broken antique and vintage plates! My favorite thing to mosaic is silver platters; my second favorite thing to decorate is birdhouses. I use regular tile adhesive and grout, available from Lowe's home improvement stores. I seal it with grout sealer I bought at Hobby Lobby. Here are some of my creations so far! I gifted this platter to my dear great aunt for Christmas this year! I purchased the focal tile (the large round one in the middle) from someone on eBay last year. This project began with an old chair someone else stenciled. I added a bird house, a nest, more painted accents, some rusty hardware and, of course, the china mosaic! It sits on my front porch in warm weather, and I keep a geranium in the pot (pictured are fake flowers.) This litt...