WESTSIDE APARTMENT

I was once asked if I would keep designing buildings. Well, yes I think I just might. I do so love a good building.

We spent much of our early married life in a wonderfully charming apartment building, in fact it was an old nunnery that was converted into hodgepodge apartments.

We had most of the first floor and our little suite still held some of the glorious charms leftover from that old mission residence, 12 foot ceilings, oversized rooms with oversized windows, every entry and closet door was a beautiful solid 6 panel with ornate oval keyhole knobs all molded in thick hardwood.

To all this beauty did come some downsides, a tiny shoe horned in kitchen, one in which 2 people could barely slide by each other in passing, an even smaller bath, which was tolerable only because it had a storybook like little door in the wall that led to storage under the stairs, shared walls (we only shared about 8 feet of the kitchen wall with the studio apt that was also on the first floor, but worse we shared our kitchen wall and they shared their bathroom wall,  yep, thankfully all we ever heard was gurgles from the water pipes.

I could go into horror stories of curmudgeonly neighbors, 2nd floor waterbeds and hallway funk, but I wont. Instead I am choosing to remember the wonderful of that place, the place where our family began.

Sunny days chasing the clouds away, find my way to where the air is sweet. You can find my WESTSIDE APARTMENT pdf pattern available for purchase on Ravelry.

APT FOR RENT: Charming, built to suit, close to downtown, parking included. Best of all minimal deposit required! First & last months rent..nah, just provide the utilities & maintenance and all this can be yours !


A homage to home sweet home, be it on the north, south, east or westside.

this year I will be GRAND

I am not one for making resolutions, unless they are kind of generically broad, like “I will do more good, I will be more sweet to myself & others, I will slow myself and enjoy the moment”. I don’t like to feel guilty, disappointed or promote self-loathing, so pushing self-awareness and enlightenment work for me. I’m imperfect & that is perfect.

Just one more thing with regards to 2012, this year I will be GRAND, lets all do that, ok?!

Going through some of my vintage pattern books, I stumbled across an old favorite, Lily book No.59, Potholders & Oven mitts. I love this little house so much! When I first got this booklet it was one of the first thing I made.

Looking back at my Ravelry project page for it, I noticed that I made it almost exactly 1 year ago (1/2/11) I never got a chance to share it then, but I want to now, because it’s just too sweet and if you don’t happen to have the old stinky booklet, no worries it’s available for free right here! (P.S I linked it up on the Ravelry pattern page too :)

Notes: Clever roof construction, you work double roofs & houses and only face the front with the appliqué elements, the little chimney is slipped between when sewing the front and back roofs together, pattern calls for a hidden bone ring in the back, but I worked a chain hang-loop…so kitschy , little gnome hobbit house, the pattern calls for worsted wt for the roof & house and 6 strand floss for the windows and such.

Be good to yourself. Be GRAND in 2012!

secret things

I am always super excited at least a month before the holidays, but once they are over, I AM DONE! I seriously need to tear down this Christmas House & put back up Regular Old House.

But first a few secret things I had been working on as Christmas presents…

A petite shawl for my petite Grandma, just a little hug when ever she needs it. It’s a Japanese pattern from this lovely book & can be found on Ravelry too.

 And for my Sister I stitched up a jewelry frame, she is a collector of vintage jewelry and I thought what a lovely way for her to display her favorite pieces. I loosely based it off this Lion Brand frame. I went with a different stitch and their assembly was a bit bulky for my frame, I didn’t use batting, cardstock or double-sided tape, I just stretched and stapled the crocheted lace over the back & using spray adhesive attached a piece of fabric to the wood backboard. Then pressed it into the frame, it was a really old wood frame covered with a plaster resin so it didn’t have any sort of sensible way to attach the backing board so I just nailed it on.

 I also made her a creepy sweet cicada brooch.

Every fall when we clear out the garden, we notice we’ve lost a few of my handmade markers and every spring we find some of the lost buried deep in the ground, swallowed up with love.

Also for my sis a set of spoon garden markers, I have a deep love for old silverware, I have accumulated such a collection of it and finally have a way to put it to good use. I just love the beauty of the rustic tarnished silver so elegantly detailed, I smashed each flat and then embossed them with blocky type.

EDIT: I would put up a tutorial on how I did these, but there are plenty of great ones already online, like here and here!

May the new year kiss you softly & bring peace everywhere in 2012.