Origami Market Bag Tutorial - On WhipUp

Hey there! Today I have a special tutorial for my Origami Market Bags over at WhipUp!  I am pretty excited about it too!

These roomy over the shoulder bags are perfect for the market, beach, or an overnight get away. They sew up in a snap and make great gifts!

While you are over at WhipUp, be sure to check out the amazing post for pickled radishes and radish leaf pesto by Lindsay of A Wooden Nest !

Happy day to you!

Pony Round Up

On any given day, no matter the weather, both indoors and out, we are surrounded by ponies. No wonder we call our daughter Pony Girl.  At the end of the day, a great pony round up commences, most days. Sometimes the round up happens later, sometimes we forget about all those ponies left outside, in the bathtub, under the couch, in the cupboards...

I decided to document one of those round ups.

There are ponies on the patio table.

Ponies on benches.

Ponies on the lawn.

Ponies on the garden swing.

Ponies under trees.

There are even ponies in the chicken coop!

I know I missed a few, now where could they be?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Suddenly Summer

Oh yes, it's suddenly Summer here in the Pacific Northwest! With the beautiful weather comes the last week of school, friends gathering for barbecues, Popcicle consumption, Farmer's markets, and busy times.
Excuse me if I am a little scarce this week as I will be doing a bit of THIS...

...looking for one of these,

and getting out in the garden to tame the wild,

and apparently taking photos with my phone.

I do want to remind you that I am Guest Editor for the month of June over on WhipUp. There is a great Ebook offering from my friend Nancy Langdon, designer behind studioTANTRUM/Fledge and proceeds go to a really good cause, you can find it HERE. My latest offering is an ode to eating local and our glorious farmer's market HERE. You can also find a couple of great book reviews in the mix, so please head on over to take a look!

Have a beautiful day all!

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway Winner!

Hooray! I am so happy to announce the winner of The Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway!
The winner is Sarah!

Sarah said, "I'm loving all three! Seriously though, the "Snapdragon" would get the most wear. Yay!"

Congratulations Sarah!
Oh and I discovered that Sarah has a sweet blog called Gentle Home you should go check it out. She has Chickens and Bees! I love that!

So Sarah, contact me with your mailing details and the size of the dress you want.

Thanks to everyone who participated and I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Big Talent, Bright Friends

I know we have talked about this before, but it bears saying again; the blogging, making, writing community is a wonder. Many of the people I have "met" on the world wide web since Lola Nova came to be, have become true friends to me, even if I have never shared any "face" time with them. And man oh man do I have some talented friends!

Of course, every once in a while I do get the chance to meet my friends in person, what a grand thing that is! I have found that our conversations come easy, it often feels as if we have really known each other for yonks and that having a chat over tea is something we do on the regular.

I recently had a chance to meet one of those friends (and one of my heroes) in person. Nicole Mallelieu of You Sew Girl, designer extraordinaire of Nicole Mallelieu Design patterns and author of the book You Sew Girl, Your Ultimate Guide to Sewing with Confidence and Style, (mighty big talent indeed!) was in Portland recently for Quilt Market. We made plans to meet up, at the fabric store of course, she with her little and I with my little (our girls are close in age).

During this get together, I was utterly remiss in taking photos, but Nicole took a few and you can read about her Portland adventures HERE and HERE. We had a fine time meandering my two favorite neighborhood sewing shops. Our girls got along, as well as two kids forced together because their mums happen to sew and write blogs about it, can. Funny thing, both of our girls just had to buy some fabric for their own personal projects even though both mums were well stocked with the stuff. I wonder where in the world they could have picked that up? We had some dinner together and chatted away. Nicole was just as stylish, smart, warm and lovely as I thought she would be. I do hope she can forgive me for dropping her off at the wrong train station in the pouring rain.

I am often struck by what a gift I have received in the people I have met through starting Lola Nova and this blog business. The opportunities that have availed themselves and the community that inspires me have truly been a wonder! I am so grateful.

Oh and speaking of grateful; Nicole gifted me with a couple of her marvelous patterns!

The trick is deciding which to make first! 

Hello Monday - In Bloom

I am starting the week with a clear head, a fairly clean house and no stressful deadlines. Wow! That hardly ever happens. I thought a little celebration was in order. Nothing big, in fact, I wanted more than anything to relish the little things. This morning after I came home from school drop off, I lingered over my coffee, I took a stroll through the garden to see what was in bloom. I looked past the ridiculous amount of weeds, the lettuce garden decimation by my hens and practiced selective viewing. Turns out there is quite a lot in bloom.

A double columbine

The tail end of the Elderberry flowers

The last Peony

I nearly trampled a tiny delicate mushroom. No idea what it is, but I let it be.

Lavender

Oh and look! The Hydrangea is beginning to bloom. Such a nostalgic flower for me. Amazing that when this flower head is at it's peak, it will be a dark purpley blue color!

What is blooming in your neck of the woods?

Oh, and I want to share with you that I have the immense honor of being Editor for the month of June over on the wonderful WhipUp. I am sharing some posts from lovely bloggers and makers, as well as contributing posts of my own. The theme for the month is Make it Local, there will be recipes, tutorials and some really lovely reading. Please come by and say hello. You can find my Introductory post HERE.

Have a stellar day!

Shabby Apple Dress giveaway!

You have heard of Shabby Apple right? They are the company behind a whole lot of vintage clothing style prettiness. Oh so many lovely dresses! I am rather fond of a pretty vintage style dress, yes I am. So, imagine my excitement when the folks at Shabby Apple contacted me and asked if I would like to host a giveaway of one of their dresses to my dear readers. Yes I would indeed!

Now for the dress, actually, there are three styles to choose from! Click on the link under the pictures to see more info and pictures.

At first sight

Snapdragon

Grand National

All you have to do to have a chance to win one of these dresses is to leave a comment on this post telling me which one of these dresses is your favorite. (Giveaway only open to United States residents)

For an extra entry to win, "like" both Shabby Apple AND Lola Nova Facebook pages and come back here to let me know you have done so.

Best of luck to everyone and have a sweet weekend!

Edited: Oh me! I forgot to say that the giveaway is open until Thursday, June 6th at midnight. I will announce the winner Friday, June 7th!

It's not you, it's me.

Whoops, slipped away there for a bit. Completely unintentional you know. I am in an utter state of shock that the year is almost half over and school will be out in a couple of weeks! How, I ask you, how in the world did that happen? I am going to make an effort to spend more time around here, because I miss you!

I did want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your wonderful comments on my last post. What a bunch of lovely readers you are. There has been no luck as of yet in finding our new home, but we are patient enough to wait for just the right place.

Not finding a house hasn't stopped me from day dreaming of decorating or imagining more storage! In fact, I accidentally popped over to Pinterest the other day, oh my! So many gorgeous ideas to see! Not the ideal thing to go looking at when you have a list of chores as long as your arm. I did that thing, you know the one, where you tell yourself "just a few minutes" and then an hour later you look up to see it's time for school pick up. Yes, that happened and I'm going to have be more careful in the future.

Well, I do have more to share, but I will save a little something for later.
Have a happy day!