july = hot

As many of our family and friends were (or still are) without power, you will not hear me complaining about the heat.  It was an extremely hot weekend that made the outdoors seem very unwelcoming.  Even worse, if you ask me, than an extremely cold weekend.  But it was totally manageable. 

We headed up to Davidson to drop off bags and bags of finished products.  Exciting! 

Then we celebrated with a brunch date.  I love brunch foods! 

We used our time inside to tackle a few household projects and dream up at least six additional future projects.  Oh, the dangers of weekends. 

Last night, we spent an hour watching the sky turn golden, then pink, then dark blue.  There were storms all around us, but it wasn't raining here yet and the breeze was wonderful.  Later, we fell asleep to the sound of the rain on the roof- one of my favorite things. 

It's back to the sewing table for me today and I'm working extra hard to be able to take a few days off this holiday week.  I'm making red beans and rice* for dinner and loving the smell of the beans as they simmer.  I can't wait to show you the project we've been working on- I'll have a post up with pictures of the whole process on Wednesday. 

 

*Here's the red beans and rice recipe, if you're interested:

 

1 medium onion, chopped

5 celery stalks, diced

3 cloves minced garlic

1 green pepper, diced

2 bay leaves

3 Tbsp. Creole seasoning

1 lb. dried red beans, rinsed and drained

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. hot sauce

6 cups water

 

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high for 8 hours.  Serve with hot cooked rice.  Garnish ideas: shredded white cheddar, sliced green onions

 

sanctuary

There are lots of exciting things afoot around here.  I've shown you the awesome tags and mentioned the finished products covering every piece of furniture and half of the floor.  Well, today each tag is attached to an item and I am filling shopping bags with products so that we can sit on our sofa once again. 

 

The reason for all the fuss?  I'm going retail. 

 

I love (LOVE) having an online shop, but it has always been my dream to sell my products in a retail store as well.  So I'm very excited to report that as of July 1st, Plumfield Shop merchandise will be carried by Sanctuary of Davidson! 

 

If you haven't read about it in my previous posts about Davidson, it is a sweet little town a bit north of here.  Sanctuary is in downtown Davidson, surrounded by other cute shops and restaurants.  I knew from the moment I walked in that it would be a great fit and am just thrilled that they want to carry my work. 

 

I've been working on lots of new items to send to the store, but I'll be taking some from my Etsy shop as well, so it may look a little sparse next week.  But never fear- I've made lots of new items for the online shop too!  All I have to do is photograph them, which can take a lot longer than it sounds like, but I do plan to have the shop fully restocked over the next few weeks. 

 

The restock will include: over a dozen new zipper pouches, a new fabric bunting, and more throw pillows, to name a few.  And, if you can believe it, I'm already planning for fall.  I found some cotton voile this week that I am dying to turn into scarves!  And if I can think about scarves when it's due to be 104 today, you know they must be lovely. 

 

Hope you have a lovely weekend and are able to stay cool!

happy hour

A day that started out a little bleh with eye doctor appointments for the both of us looks a bit brighter through the lens of happy hour at Sonic.  Real fruit slushes for $.60?  Yes, please. 

Surfaces are filling up with finished products.  Many of them will have traveled off to one place or another by the end of next week and I'm wondering what we'll do with all the space.  For instance, what to do with the dining room table when it's not covered up with sewing machines and zipper pouches?  Eat dinner?  Seems a little too predictable, if you ask me. 

If you're keeping track of these things, we're up to episode five of Downton Abbey and our paint and plywood project is going smashingly.  It's been a busy week, but we're squeezing in the important things. 

The temperatures are supposed to climb over 100 here by the end of the week.  Friday may find me blogging from our pool. 

summertime and the livin' is easy

Well, the first official weekend of summer was H.O.T.  We spent mornings and evenings in the yard and saved our air-conditioned activities for the middle of the day.  We're not big on television, but there is something about oppressive heat that makes me want to sit still for a few minutes, inside.  We signed up for a free one week Hulu Plus trial and are plowing our way through season one of Downton Abbey before it runs out. 

Yesterday we spent a delightful afternoon with Sara, my college roommate, and her family.  For lunch, we went to Mert's Heart and Soul Restaurant and ate food that made me proud to be a southerner.  Our table was loaded with cornbread, red beans and rice, chopped barbecue, okra, and collard greens.  I don't even like collard greens and I was eating these like they were my last meal. 

Sara and I were not just roommates in the traditional sense.  You may be picturing a cookie-cutter college apartment with several bedrooms and thinking that we each lived in one and saw each other in the hallway or kitchen from time to time.  No, pumpkin, no. 

Calling Sara my "roommate" is something akin to calling another soldier in your platoon your "buddy".  We spent two years together in a basement apartment, sharing both a bedroom and a bathroom.  Not just the two of us, either.  We had a third cohort, sharing the same rooms as well.  We battled floods, freezes, animals that sneak inside, bugs that can leap three feat in a single bound, mold, a leaky water heater, and there may have been more than one occasion where we snuck out a window. 

Needless to say, we've formed a lifelong bond.  It was so great to see her. 

At Mert's, the waitstaff parade around with cakes on platters, making you wish you'd eaten a little less barbecue.  Or had a bigger stomach. 

Steve and I managed to resist the cake in favor of the dessert waiting for us at home later- homemade cream cheese ice cream with berries.  It looked like the fourth of July and tasted like a birthday.  We scraped our bowls clean during episode three and declared the weekend a success. 

I'm feeling energized to get back to work this morning, which is a darn good thing.  After congratulating myself on completing 38 zipper pouches last week, today I find that I need to make 25 more.  When it rains, it pours!









tag, you're it

Sometimes, when people come to visit, we put them to work.  You know- thank you for coming, now help me get this bird's nest out of the attic, let's pick out 17 silver frames from 8 different stores, we need to turn 100 little cards into tags with grommets and string, type work. 

Lucky Mom, she got to tie the strings.  She became quite good at it too. 

Steve set the grommets (a very loud process involving much hammering) and Mom attached the string and I was in charge of choosing the colors of both. 

The cards are MiniCards from moo.com.  Aren't they sweet?  The paper quality is amazing- nice and sturdy with a smooth finish.  You can print your message on one side and then have up to 100 different colors or pictures on the other!  MOO has so many cool business card and printing options that I know I'll be using them again- plus my cards arrived five days after I ordered them!  If you're interested in trying anything from MOO, click here for a 10% off coupon. 

Now that I have so many tags, I have been hard at work on the products to attach them too.  Yesterday I glued myself to the sewing machine and today will look very much the same.  I'm trying to finish everything by tonight so that we can enjoy a relaxing weekend.  On the agenda: haircut, homemade pizza, visiting old friends, and potentially an ambitious craft project involving plywood and paint.  Hope your weekend is equally fun! 









summer mantle

Saturday's fun with the newest party banner got me in the mood to decorate the house for summertime.  Even though I feel like I'm "late", summer officially starts this week, so I'd say I'm right on time, yes?  (The Easter eggs in the dining room could have something to do with my feelings of seasonal incorrectness.)

Normally it takes me close to a week to work up a mantle design that I feel happy with, but yesterday I found some amazing summer mantle inspiration at The Lettered Cottage and got straight to work. 

My theme colors were red, white, and blue (duh), so I did my usual "shop the house" for anything in those colors that I could use.  I came up with a stack of books, some red and white candles, and a red glass pitcher and bowl. 

And then, of course, I wanted a summer vacation feel, so I pulled out the seashells that we found at the beach, some garden twine, the remaining burlap, and a few striped fabric scraps.  I also plugged in the hot glue gun, because I'm pretty sure that hot glue is the solution to almost any decorating question. 

The part that I am the most proud of though is the sailboat.  After looking at lots of other mantle pictures and seeing cool sailboats, I decided I had what it took to make my own.  I used some sticks from the yard and hot glued them together, then cut the fabric to fit and glued it to the back of the sticks.  It probably only took me about half an hour, total. 

Now that the mantle is done, I'm itching to make a wreath for the front door.  I'm thinking something like this one. 

Tonight is the first summer sewing class session and I can hardly wait for everyone to get here! 

we'll decorate for your wedding, even if you don't ask us to

We had the loveliest weekend with my mom.  The weather couldn't have been better and we spent 90% of our waking hours outside.  We took Mom to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens for the first time and I think she loved it as much as we hoped she would. 

As no trip to the gardens is complete without a party banner, we brought the newest one along with us.  The White Garden (our favorite spot) happened to be set up for a wedding, so we got some super cool pictures there.  A man walked by and asked if we were part of the wedding, (a legitimate question, since we were actually decorating the space at the time) and we said no.  He seemed a little confused. 

Steve and I always get really inspired to work on our own yard when we visit a big garden and it affected Mom the same way.  It's so pleasant there, you just want to take it home with you. 

I mean, literally, I wanted to take it home with me.  I kept wishing there was a (legal) way that I could take cuttings from some of their plants and root them at home.  You know I've been having great luck with rooting cuttings and they had so many varieties of flowers that I can't find in a store!

The whole weekend went by in a blur of flowers and coconut macaroons and sitting on the patio and frozen yogurt.  It was over way too fast. 

Today, among other tasks, I am making room in the cabinets for my birthday gift from Mom- a beautiful set of monogrammed glasses, plus a matching pitcher. 

Later this week I'll show you pictures of the project that the three of us worked on over the weekend- some new product tags!  They are so cute that I am tempted to start tagging everything in the house, just for fun.