Portabellopixie

Lavender

This spring, I was overjoyed when I found a gigantic bush of lavender cropping up in the flower garden. Yesterday, I harvested it all, and made little posy bouquet's for gift giving this holiday season. Not quite sure how to sustain their life the best.. for now, they are just hanging to dry on the kids easel.

Eliza is learning cursive handwriting - I was pretty distressed to find out they aren't teaching it in schools anymore.  I found that laminated chart for .25 cents and a garage sale and so we're off on that adventure.

I'm quite convinced that lavender is a gift from Heaven.  My hands still smell lavender-icious and they are gorgeous just hanging there. 

Tips on prolonging thier life?  Will they just need to be rejuvinated with a bit of essential oil come gift giving time?  What do you guys do with lavender?  Tell me please, I still have more out there to pick!

After I made these, Eliza wanted to make a little bouquet for herself.  She went out into the garden, and picked the flowers of her choice.  With a little help wrapping them from dad (how sweet is that?) she now has a few of her own little posy's to share with friends.  These flowers won't last very long, but she enjoyed picking them and wrapping them, so it was definitely worth the 20 minutes it took for the activity.  :)

Hit me with your lavender ideas, I'm all ears!

xo

Sandi

River Therapy

Did you know that the colors of a mountain river are not blue?  Honestly, I was surprised.

Serpentine, Jade, all shades of grey, ruddy red and caramel brown.  Even a little butter yellow.

SO.

I haven't blogged in a week and half. Not once!  I've been on a pretty regular schedule lately, which has felt really nice, and I missed being in this space to jot down my thoughts.

So here's what you missed.  I been' sick.  :)

I hinted to it here and there, but I've been under the weather lately.  It's the heat - I can't think straight, it has been making me all kinds of nauseous, and I lost nine pounds in four days for not being able to keep anything down.  Which, let's face it - I know, I live in Montana and temperature wise, I've got it easy.  The weight loss was the last straw for me (not the losing nine pounds, honestly, I'd be ok with that - but I don't want to lose it for not being able to keep anything in my stomach.) I went to the doctor, confirmed not one, but two cases of heat stroke in the last 9 months and got a few prescriptions to help me through the rest of the summer with the nausea and migraines, and I can finally somewhat concentrate again.

Putting two colors together (I'm working on Henna Garden pitches - it's TWO colors for pete's sake..) was literally like trying to put together a 5000 piece puzzle.  So threw my hands up in the air last week and put everything on hold. 

We took off to the river one day, and waded through the nice cold mountain water.  It was pretty blissful, I have to say.  So much so, that we went two days in a row.

We packed up my new big bag (project is in my next book!  I am loving it) with art supplies, books on river eco-systems, snacks, water, sunscreen - ya know, stuff..  and just enjoyed the shade and cool water.

One of the days we were there, I set myself up with some watercolor pencils, and sketch / painted for about an hour.  That was nice.  Just the cool breeze, a nice spot of shade in the mountain sand and some art supplies. 

Thanks for everyone that has been checking in on me, I'm doing better and thankfully have three fantastic employees to keep things running for me when I completely crash.  :)

I'll be back much sooner, I hope you all are enjoying our Indian Summer.

xo

Sandi

Eggs

We've got eggs.  Coming out the wazoo.  (my sister and I had a conversation about the proper spelling of wazoo, and decided the word check would have a hizzy fit over it anyway, and that made me all the more willing to use it. However, spell check accepted wazoo, but not hizzy.  Just so ya know.)

So anyhow, eggs.  All over the place.

Partly from the chickens:

Eggs..  our eggs runneth over.  We're collecting about 4-6 eggs a day right now and only half of our flock is laying at the moment.  When they are all laying, we should be collecting 8-16 eggs a day.  We have a flock of (ahem) 25 chickens at the moment.  Because chickens are addicting.  They are pretty much free range on our 1.5 acre of land and have their coop that they trot back to when they need to lay, or cool off from the heat.  What can I say about these birds?  We love them.  The tv is hardly on anymore, the family spends so much time outside playing chicken-chase and the hens are now putting themselves to bed.  The chicken poo is the best garden fertilizer imaginable.  I really have no complaints.  Love 'em.

The family favorite - Licorice: a Plymouth Barred Rock hen.  She makes this honking sound that sounds more like..  I dunno know - but its cute.  She's cuddly and soft and affectionate.

To add to the chickens - over the last few weeks I have seen Mr. Robin constructing this:

And then yesterday, I found Eliza doing this:

And then, I went to inspect and found this!

Papa bird was not happy at all about us getting up close to take a peek, but I couldn't help myself.  By the way - do you love the baby wipe that he found somewhere in our yard and incoroporated into the nest?  Dustin and I had a good chuckle about it and then started talking about how we need to incorporate a more frequent trash cleanup in the yard. yep.

Ps- Do you love Eliza's claire / ruffle pants ensemble all decked out in Secret Garden in the first picture?  I do - it was the first time I sewed the Claire pattern in a while and it was nostalgic for me.  We're working on a reprinting of that pattern, and going through any testings.  When I say we, I refer to my trusty assistant seamstress Liesl, and my two fabulous graphic assistants Kristy & Sahra.  If you've used any of our patterns and found any particular steps a bit confusing, or needing extra explanation, would you be so kind to pass it on to us so we can incorporate them into future printings?  We're concentrating on Gracie & Claire right now..  Please send your comments on them to kristy@sandihendersondesign.com and we'll work them into the new printings.  Likewise, we'll be happy to send you a little kickback for your feedback in the way of some free patterns!

Also, thank you for the seasonal-change comments.  I think I might have made it seem that I don't like fall.  In fact, it's my favorite season.  But this year I think I have found that summer is the season that makes the world turn.  When the new life comes forth, food is grown and put away for the rest of the year.  Beauty abounds in flowers growing everywhere.  Just a little sad to see it starting to wrap up.  I also had several emails wondering where in the world I live that is giving chilly mornings already.  Montana, my friends.  August is abundant in hot days and chilly nights here..

xo

Sandi

Sweet Change

I woke up this morning to let the chickens out of their coop.  I went outside at 7, the same time that has been greeting me lately with a dewey freshness in the air.  This morning however, greeted me with an autumnal chill.  Chilly to the point that I had to pull on a jacket to go about my morning chores.  I found myself growing increasingly sad, to the point that I ended up crawling back into bed and taking a nap.

The change of the seasons does this to me for some reason, but I'm determined to make the transition through fall and winter this year a good one.  It caused me to think, why does this get me down?  And I remembered the photos that have sat on my desktop for about 3 weeks without being touched.  Photos of Eliza wearing the clover crown that I made for her while she swam in the backyard.  Photos where she looks so beautiful and grown up, that I haven't been able to touch them - because they give my heart that similar pang that the changing of seasons brings.  Change.

Why does it affect us (me) so?  Because it is unknown.  I find that I am happy to welcome change during times of my life that I'm ready to be done experiencing.  But when I am thoroughly enjoying life, nothankyou, change. 

I'm making two goals over the next few months.  (I don't make new years resolutions, but prefer to make goals throughout the year when the inspiration strikes.)  First, allow in the change.  Change of seasons, change to cooler wardrobe, change to earlier sunsets, changes in the order of our home - I'm letting it in and welcoming it.  Second - I'm going to learn how to knit.  Of all the crafty endeavors I have tackled in my days, I've never tried knitting.  And we have such perfect Montana winters.. a knitters dream!

Change can be good.

But while it's still warm..do you still have a field of clovers?  I highly suggest taking the time to weave a crown, it is a perfectly perfect down time activity.

xo

Sandi

PS - the fabric scrap bags flew out the door, so we made up more and extended free shipping through the rest of the week.  Enter code FREESHIPPING at checkout.  Mwaahh!

How August and I made up.

Spring was fabulous.  Wet and cool and sprinkled with carving out a new garden, attending quilt market and playing with new fabrics.

Summer up to now has been amazing.  Relaxed, busy at the same time, swimming, gardening, getting chickens..  Learning about astronomy with the kids..  bliss.

August came and I have wanted to roll over in bed each morning and cover my head with an invisible (weightless) blanket and never get up.  Because, my friends - it has been hot.  And yes, I realize I am in Montana, with a relatively cool climate, but dang.  It's been hot.  But the heat has brought me to a surprising conclusion that when I passed out last fall, it must have been due to heat exhaustion.  (Close, hot, cramped concert.)  And apparently, once you have had serious heat exhaustion, heat is extra bothersome to you.  I also realized that this winter, I wasn't all that cold, which shocked me because I am one of those people that sleep with a heating pad year round.

Anyhow, I have been unbearable to be around, I am sure.  Whining about the heat, about how I can't EAT because it's too hot and it makes me sick, whining about how I can't think straight because of the heat..  whining about how I can't go into the garden because it is too hot.  WHINE, WHINE, WHINE.. 

This morning I decided to suck it up and stop whining and just deal with it.  I went out to the garden, and LOOK:

And just like that, me and August?  We're pals again.  If heat = bountiful garden, I can deal.

Also, we've been sample / book sewing up a storm and the scrap bucket was overflowing.  New Scrap Bags in the shop, with bits and pieces of Secret Garden in each one of them.  Also, lots of discontinued bits that we constantly get asked out.  ahem.

  FREE domestic SHIPPING for the next 24 hours!  Enter the code FREESHIPPING at checkout!

"The Proper Care of Loved Ones" through acts of money-free-gifts

So a long post title, but wouldn't that be a great book?  Just ideas of things to share with loved ones without spending a penny?

Here is my first submission to above mentioned, imaginary book.  Canning bottles filled with flowers from the garden and wrapped in a few scraps of fabric.

Yesterday was visiting teaching time, and as everyone knows - you don't visit friends without a treat.  But I had not a cookie in the house, not a funeral potato in sight.  I did however have a garden full of blossoming lavender, poppy pods and daisies.

Oh, the lavender.  What a welcome gift in the flower beds that I didn't plant myself.  A great huge bush of it.  I'm going to pick the rest and hang it in my kitchen to dry.  Then make soap.  Lavender soap mind you..  Want to have a little "soap-along" with me?  That might be kinda fun..

Yes, sharing the gifts that crop up around you in nature is most rewarding.  Free gifts are always better.

*That* Dress (FAQ)

Ever since market, I've been recieving a lot of emails and comments about "that dress."  Will it be a pattern?

Mmm hmm..  working on it.  Not until fall, but yes - it will be a pattern.  Speaking of patterns, our current stock patterns are back up on the website.  Hooray!  If you've been wanting one, you can nab one now.

And that* dress will definitely be in the fall line up.  :)

Tonight, I am pitching the new Henna Garden colors to get them off and to the mills for fall market.  I really appreciated your feedback, (over a thousand people took my little survey, wow - thank you!)  and will be taking the most requested ones to heart!  (I hear you - aqua, gray, deep purple, check. You like the cream flowers best - gotcha.)

Mucho thanks to my gorgeous model.

Moments that Matter: Raspberry Jam

I get the question a lot.  "How do you manage to work from home and organize your time with your family?"  The simple answer is that it's *really* hard.  I get to the point where I think I've got it all figured out, and then I will have a little melt down about not spending enough time with the kids - or on a certain project etc..  It's hard to find the balance.

Saturday found me facing deadlines vs. very ripe raspberries at the U-pick farm in Arlee, a short 20 minute drive away.  I gave in to the berries (aka - time with family) and went and spent the morning in the hot sun, plucking juicy red berries from their stems.  Eliza was especially hot, and we passed the time making up songs about how we weren't hot, and how we love being able to pick our own food, and gather our own eggs etc..  She's quite the little songstress, that one.  Has to sing and draw about everything..  Piano lessons starting soon.

It was a really great morning, and we enjoyed the ride home, discussing what exactly we would do with those berries.  Pies, Jam, Frozen berries for muffins throughout the year.  (One of our common Sunday morning breakfast items.)  We ended up with enough for a little bit of all options.

Jam...  yuuuummm..  For the quick recipe - I always purchase the no-sugar needed pectin.  Measure your fruit (it's usually about 5 cups for one box of pectin) and then sugar to taste.  Because the pectin doesn't actually need to the sugar to jell, you can use way less, and I've never had a failed batch of jam.  I think the no-sugar pectin is much more forgiving also, because I rarely really even measure the amount of fruit / sugar I'm throwing into the pot, and I always end up some how with the perfect consistency of jam.  I don't use thermometers either - just cook it until it looks like a jam consistency.  Hmm.. maybe I need to do a jam post.  My methods are really unorthodox, but I always seem to get really good results.  (That is not a brag.. ok, maybe a little.)

Anyhow, we made jam that afternoon, froze berries, selected out the prettiest ones for a chocolate raspberry tart.  It was a great day.  And then the evening came and I was feeling guilt.  Guilt for not getting everything done in the day that I needed to.  So I went off to my computer to get some work done, and twitter was up on my screen.  I went to close it and saw a tweet that my dear Sarah sent out.  It was a link to this video:

 

I sat there and watched it three times, bawling like a little baby. Dustin happened to walk by and thought there was something seriously wrong.  ;)  Please watch it - you will be so glad you did.  Needless to say, I'm so happy I took the time to make that trip out to the berry farm and then spend the afternoon processing those raspberries with my family.  In the end, it will be the small moments we savor and remember, and I am going to take extra care to make sure I have the time to make them.