Have you ever heard of pineapple mint? Neither had I until about a week ago while visiting my cousin Ginger. The soft, veiny leaf when fresh plucked does indeed carry a dual frangrance of pineapple & mint. I was instantly enchanted (and I must admit very tempted to sneak 

the plant home with me). 

This year, Ginger has taken a decided interest in all things herbal. After extensive experimentation, my cousin has now become quite the herb snob (I mean that in a good way) and happily endowed me with her new found wisdom. For example, unless you have the acreage to form lush raised beds, container gardening is the way to go with herbs. Don't even waste your time mucking about with anything else. Also, certain herbs do better being dried before use while others still are best crushed fresh. Her current experiments are in the area of calming tea infusions. 

I can't wait to find out what Ginger's next discoveries shall be.

Till then, I wish you all peaceful gardening dreams!

Currently Loving

 my polka dotted ceramic-ware

TAZO's Passion Herbal Infusion tea

my red, red living room

honey drizzled on plain yogurt

gingham topped jam jars

fabulous fabric bag scored for under $10 at a local craft store ~ 

perfect for toting current yarn projects.

Here's hoping your day is filled with things that happify your heart!

Strawberry Jam

 

 

 

For the yum-yum-yummy recipe visit here. Isn't the frothy pink foam delicious?

Piles & Piles

 

Something I have noticed since setting up housekeeping is that one is always seeming to deal with piles... 

piles of laundry

piles of dishes

piles of mail

piles of dust

However, this is one type of pile that I don't mind dealing with. 

21 squares down... only 21 more to go on this baby blanket for my cousin's baby girl due this September. The dreamy cotton candy hues and soft, luscious yarn texture are wonderful to work. A soothing activity for tired hands. Hope to share a completed blanket soon!

Till then, happy crocheting!

Vintage Handerkerchiefs

You might say I am obsessed with vintage handkerchiefs. I even love the cheery replicas that are available for 89 cents at the local five and dime. 

Just look at what a pretty picture a stack of these lovelies make! 

For the wedding, I wanted some of the ladies who were helping serve to carry off a vintage Farmchick look; so I designed these aprons for them to wear. No two aprons were the same. I ran out of time before the wedding to create an actual tutorial, but I very simply sewed 4 handkerchiefs together. Lastly, I folded a wide satin ribbon in half over the top, sewed it in place and voila! They are definitely not the sturdiest of aprons, but they sure looked cute at the wedding!

Happy sewing!

never  forget

 to  stop  &

 

  

 smell  the  roses

~sweet summer blessings~

it's a wonderful world

 Wow! These last several months have heralded in a whirlwind of life changes. In the midst of all the beautiful chaos, I have not forgotten my friends in the blogosphere. Technical difficulties and time constraints regrettably forced me into an extended leave of absence. However, all that is happily behind me now and so I look forward with great delight to once again resuming my cozy corner of blog land. As you can see from the picture above, the wedding is now over and done. Incredible how a year's worth of planning goes into one single solitary day. It was all worth it, though. We had the wedding of our dreams and are enjoying our life together as newlyweds. I am looking forward to sharing more pictures of the wedding as well as of the nest feathering process.

Until then, happy living!

P.S. Photo courtesy of Amber Nicole Photo