Etsy front page!

I was super excited to see that a treasury I made a couple of days ago made the Etsy front page! Since none of my own items were in the treasury I can't really brag about my stuff being front page news but cool stuff I picked out was! (Isn't that beetle display peculiarly cute??)

'Muted' by harvestcrafts

Softly, subtly, beautiful.

SALE - cij Cover Up... ellemoss $7.50	Vintage Bandolino S... archiveschicag... $38.00	An Old Friend - fin... HeyZee $40.00	On Sale Vintage 10m... evarose1900 $6.39
Normandy 01 - Origi... YannPendaries $11.00	Silk Ribbons: Sea S... MarshaNealStud... $20.00	THE SEAMS cotton je... EcoShag $26.00	Vintage Spoons - S... honeytree $30.00
Entropy - 8 x 10 - ... misval $19.00	Muted Rainbow bunti... MadeMary $15.00	A Good Book- print ... amberalexander $20.00	BOGO SALE - Love - ... Lori411 $27.00
Chrysina beyeri Lea... REALBUTTERFLYG... $39.99	Muted Colorblock Vi... LoverlyVintage $8.00	vintage Wool Blanke... jessamity $14.00	quilted fabric coas... SewMerry $10.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

I think my clock must be wrong again--it says the weekend is almost over!!

The bounty of Worm Hollow Farm & a Thank me later Thursday



So, awhile back I posted a pic of the barren land that was to be our plot in the brand spankin' new community garden in our neighborhood.  In the meantime, my beau has tirelessly given it lots of TLC this summer (and a little water) and lo and behold, a garden sprang up! He coined our plot Worm Hollow Farm and made a cute sign that says so.

My "Thank Me Later" tip this week (geez, I've been behind on that, haven't I??) is....

• You must download Adele's album "21". I promise, you won't regret it.

A couple o' finished tea towels

It was so hot in Virginia today I had to wait quite awhile once I got the camera outside for the fog to disappear from the lens! Just listed Rapunzel in my etsy shop...

Back in the saddle

Well, it's been awhile since I've been in the sewing seat and today I finally sat for a spell. I can't say that I created anything complex -- I just whipped up some dish towels but hey, it was something. Last week I got some of Heather Ross's latest fabric from "Far Far Away III" and am smitten. I couldn't bring myself to take the scissors to it quite yet so I settled for making some towels with some of her "Far Far Away II" line that I still have on hand.

Now I just need to take some decent pics of the finished towels so I can list them in my etsy shop but it seems the sun went down and the weekend got away from me!

Twenty thousand leagues under the sea and other ramblings

The Nautilus Passengers

Illustration from "20,000 Leagues under the Sea"

by Alphonse Marie de Neuville

It's good to be back in blogland! Hope your summer is relaxing and inspiring. Speaking of inspiration, I just got back from an annual family trip to a coastal island off of South Carolina. We stayed at a rental house where I picked up a copy of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Science fiction isn't really my thing so I've never read it before but I was hooked from the beginning! I can't believe it was written in 1869. If you've never read it, you should do so. Unfortunately I started reading it and wasn't able to finish it before I left (yes, I did think about taking it with me but my conscience won). Upon returning home I searched my usual used book stores but it seems it's required reading for students in these parts and none were left! Next stop: the library.

Anywhoo, reading the book has got me inspired to do some sort of tribute quilt. The imagery described by Verne is so fantastical. It brought back memories of the first times I went snorkeling and scuba diving. It was an epiphany that this other-worldly place exists on earth that I had never seen the likes of. I'm thinking lots of sea-related applique is in order. We'll see.

Oh, Little Rabbit, a seller on Etsy has the most awesome screen-printed flour sack towels with sea themes that evoke those fantastical images from the book, including these lovelies:

Before now, The Old Man and the Sea has always been a staple summer beach read. Last year I added Treasure Island to the list too. Love them both.

Got any favorite books you like to read at the beach or during the summer?

Jamaica

It's good to be back working in Jamaica for a short time. In addition to doing some work, I've been stuffing my face with mango, as predicted in an earlier post as well as other yummy fruit. The house we're staying in has several fruit trees in the yard including a lime, avocado (called pear in Jamaica), two types of  mango (okay, technically not in our yard but limbs from a neighbor's tree hang over into our yard :) and a grapefruit.

On the work front, we've been jointly running an archaeological field school with the University of West Indies and have had good luck locating some sugar plantation buildings we were hunting for using old survey maps. The crew had fun macheting our way through bush in order to uncover some of the overgrown treasures.

All this is providing a little break from the sewing machine and though I find myself twitching a little and sewing in my sleep I think it's probably a good thing :)

Quote Tuesday

I'm participating in Pepper Stitches' "quote Tuesday" this week...

Ten years ago I left my job in Georgia to drive out west to Washington state, stay with some friends and find a new job. It was short lived (I ended up coming back to the east coast in three months) but it was fun nonetheless and I got to drive cross-country twice! A friend in Georgia painted this lovely gourd as a going away gift and wrote the following on the bottom:

Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.       ~Aristotle

It always makes me smile when I turn it over.