Lola in the City

I am all a-flutter with excitement this morning! I am packing my weekend bag and driving up the road to Seattle to attend my dear friend Tif Fussel's, Dottie Angel Book Launch! I'll be going solo, staying at a hotel and certainly having a lovely time.

If you happen to be around those parts, please stop in and say hello! It is being held at Assemble at 6 p.m.

I will be back next week and I promise to finally get back to The Lumberjack's harrowing tale!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Grateful

That little curly headed baby is my grandpa, Douglas. I called him Papa.

He was born in 1909.

He was a good man, a very good man.Last week he passed away at the age of 101. He lived a long and happy life. I am incredibly grateful that he was my grandfather, that I had him in my life for so long. He was so very dear to me.
D.D. Moore
1909 - 2011
Gone Fishin'

xo

pause

My apologies to those of you waiting anxiously for the continued saga of our dear Lumberjack, the telling has been postponed.

I am going to be taking a couple of personal days. I will see you soon and return to our epic tale.

Until then be safe, be well.

Welcome Home! The Harrowing Tale of a lost Lumberjack - Part 1

If you are somewhat new to my shiny place here, you may be wondering what in the world is this all about. Well, this is about a long lost lumberjack who was missing for quite some time. Oh yes, missing indeed! If you would like to get all caught up on The Lumberjack's history you can do so HERE.

For those of you familiar with The Lumberjack, you may have wondered from time to time just what he was up too. You may have even asked, "Where O where has that lumberjack been?" Well friends, perhaps it was wrong of me not to mention anything when he first went missing, but I didn't want needlessly worry you. I mean we all know how he's a wanderer, often gone on his journeys for months at a time. Still, he usually says goodbye and at the very least packs a knapsack. As time went on, we began to worry, more time passed without a word and we feared the worst.

Then the other day, I heard the faintest knock on the front door of the little green cottage. When I opened the door there he was, out of the blue, returned to us The Lumberjack! It has taken some time to pry the details of his harrowing tale and I don't think we will ever truly know the whole story. I will share with you what I have learned.

It all began on blustery fall Sunday last year. The Lumberjack was in the back yard raking leaves and letting his thoughts drift when suddenly, a giant beast attacked out of nowhere! The giant beast had slobbery jaws and horrible sharp teeth, LJ particularly remembers the terrible stench of his breath! The beast lunged, the beast chomped and that is the last thing The Lumberjack recalls until he woke up in a daze - nearly falling into the black abyss of an unknown storm drain.

Not knowing where he was nor how he got there, LJ leaned on his lumberjack skills climbing the nearest tallest tree (which happened to be a telephone pole) to get a birds-eye view and perhaps spot a familiar landmark.

Though he climbed ever higher and looked out over the land, he did not recognize anything at all. There was not even a single soul in sight to ask!

He began walking. He walked for an entire day not knowing what direction he was traveling, just hoping to find some people who might be able to shed some light on this most perplexing situation. As darkness started to fall, he found an old piece of canvas in a ditch, he searched his pockets for the length of string he always carried with him and made a makeshift camp in a dirt field where he spent a cold and fitful night.

In the small moments of sleep he was able to manage, he dreamed of terrifying beasts and a table full of flapjacks with real maple syrup. He was startled awake by a ferocious growling, but realized it was only his empty stomach.

Hungry, dejected and damp, he set out at first light eventually coming to an overgrown and long disused logging road, he followed the road hacking at the underbrush with a heavy stick. It was slow going and many miles later he wondered if he would ever make it to civilization, or breakfast. He sustained himself by drinking the dew from leaves and eating the last of the bramble-berries on the bushes. He kept on.

This is where I must leave off for today. I promise to continue The Lumberjack's compelling story in Part 2 on Wednesday. Stay tuned, you really don't want to miss it!

Pretty Patchy Paper Lanterns

Oh hooray, it's a happy how-to! Today I will be showing you how to make some very simple Pretty Patchy Paper Lanterns, my that is a mouthful isn't it? These are just the thing to brighten up a drab corner, to add a festive air to a dull day, to use as decoration for a party, or to make just because they are so darn sweet! As is often the case with my tutorials, this is a project that works wonderfully using up your odds and ends, bits and bobs, and scraps of many sizes.

I shall begin with an ingredient list:

* Aforementioned odds and ends of pretty fabrics. For my examples I have used mostly vintage cut offs from my scrap pile.

* Bits and bobs of lace, ribbon, trim, old hankies, what-nots and etcetera

* 2 pieces of standard A4 card stock

* Embroidery Floss and large embroidery needle

* Lengths of yarn

* Scissors, thread, glue, tape

Alright then, the first lantern I'll be showing you is the plump roundy one with all the patches. Let's get started then shall we?

Start by gathering up a bunch of scraps that you think might play nicely together. Grab your 2 pieces of card stock and begin arranging your scraps on the papers. You might like to do this over a cup of tea or coffee. Just keep at it until the space is filled and you are pleased with the results.

Now you may want to use just a spot of glue to keep everything in place. If you do use glue, please only use a small amount and wait for it to dry because we are about to take this over to the sewing machine and we don't want any goopy glue to muck up the works, that would be a bummer!

Take your fabric festooned card stock over to your trusty sewing machine and just begin stitching your fabric to the paper. Use a straight stitch around the edges of your scraps, or use a fancy stitch across one part and another across a different part...do what you like just as long as all of the fabric is secured to the card stock.

Ok, that was fun. Now take your 2 pieces and put them end to end with about a 1/2 inch of overlap and it's back to the sewing machine to stitch the 2 pieces together to make one long piece.

Next, we turn our patchy card stock into a tube, overlap the ends by a half inch and tape in place on the inside.

When you stand it up, it's gonna look a little wonky, but don't worry we're gonna fix it. Get out your embroidery floss and your big needle, starting from the inside of the tube, poke your threaded needle through both layers of the paper and fabric and begin stitching that flap down.

Ack! excuse the blurry photo wont you!
You can simply stitch all the way down using a giant running stitch, cross hatches, etc...whatever you have the patience for really. I myself did not have a great deal of patience, so it came out a little crazy. For example...

All that is left now is to add something so you can hang it up. I used some yarn, whatever length suits your particular needs. Poke a hole about a half an inch from the top of the lantern at any spot you choose. Now poke another hole directly across from the first hole and thread your yarn through the holes and tie off. Like so...

Find a spot that needs a little happy and hang up your lantern!

For the other lanterns, you start by placing your 2 pieces of card stock side by side with a half inch overlap and sew them together.

For this example I chose a piece of fabric and cut it just slightly larger than the paper. I then used some spray adhesive (you could use regular glue as well) and smoothed the fabric over the card stock.

I then used a glue stick to fold over the edges of the fabric and stick them to the back.

I added a wee doily to the lantern and stitched it in place.

Your lantern is now ready to be finished in the same way as the first example!
Go ahead, make a few...you know you want to!


As always, if you are inspired to try your hand at these Pretty Patchy Paper Lanterns, I would be most pleased if you would share your creations on the Lola Nova Flickr group!

Edited to add: These lanterns are meant to be decorative and not for use with lights or bulbs.

Have a truly wonderful weekend my friends!

Harvest

Today I had intended to share a story about a long lost wandering soul who has recently returned to the bosom of the the family here in the little green cottage. It seems though, that I am still ferreting out the details of this epic tale and will have to save it for another time.

So today you get tomatoes. A great big heaping helping of tomatoes!

Did I say BIG?

2011 turned out to be a pretty good year for the tomatoes, the best we've had in about 3 - 4 years. That last little burst of hot weather kicked it into full gear. Of course even with sharing some with neighbors and eating plenty ourselves, we still had a small mountain of them.

So...on one of the hottest days of the year, in a very steamy and also very tiny kitchen, I began to blanch and peel and prep.

Normally I would can the whole toms, or turn them into a basic sauce, but this year I decided on Salsa!
In the pot went: onions, garlic, sweet peppers from the garden, jalapeños, cilantro, cumin, pickling salt, sugar (just a pinch), and a combo of red wine vinegar and cider vinegar.
It cooked down just gorgeous! Now we are set with salsa for many months to come. I love putting up food (ok I didn't love how hot it was, or how my fingers were made raw with all the prep, but it's totally satisfying and worth it!)



I'll be back on Friday with a happy how-to! See you then.

A Perfectly Peachy Book

The other day as I was returning home from my run-arounds, I saw that our rakishly handsome postman was just leaving our front porch. I waved a hi-ho to him and he in return waved a hi-ho with a double take sideways glance at my mop. I mean my hair, which had suddenly, since the day before become a bright Dark Cherry Red. I gathered up my bundles from the car and made may way to my door. Mr. Postman said in passing, "You have a package today." Ooh, indeedy I did! There is nothing like a nice looking package in the post to make one's heart do a little happy skip. I put away my things and went through the everyday mail first, saving my package for last. After pouring myself an icy tea, I sat down to see what treasure was waiting for me.

Lo and behold! It was the new dottie angel book! From UPPERCASE, the Suitcase Series Vol. II by Tif Fussell. Oh what a thing of beauty! As I opened up it's pages and looked, I welled up with joy and pride, what a magical book by a friend of the utmost kind!

Tif was nice enough to sign my book personally and I couldn't be happier. It truly is the loveliest book I have had in my hands in quite a long while.

If you are familiar with the ramblings of dottie angel, and certainly most of you are, you will find within these pages more of her wonderful words and stories. Hows about I just give you a little peek at the pretty stuff inside.


I am also deeply honored that she asked me to contribute a little page for her 'nice folks' section.

The attention to detail, the stunning images and Tif Fussell's engaging humor and insights make this a book that I will return to many times over the coming years. Surely it will bring a smile to your dial as well. You can get your own copy HERE. If you are in or around the area of Seattle on Sept. 30th, there will be a book launch for the book with the author.

Well, I think this wraps up my book report. Next time I'll have to tell you all about the tomatoes! Take care.

Ghost in the Machine

Well isn't it just the way? Now that I'm back on track and ready to make my weaving way with posts of note and rambles of goodness, there seems to be a hitch in my get-along. Or rather perhaps a ghost in the machine. Hello technology, box of circuits that I have become so very dependent on, interwebs vast and mysterious, hello....hello?

There has been an uneasy amount of troubles 'round these parts concerning such things. I am unable to access my flickr account, so my photos are out of reach. All of my bookmarks have gone up in ether. I have been blocked from important sites... and then there's the spam.

Mayhaps the merry pranksters of cyberspace are playing a bit of a trick on me at the moment. Certainly the spurious "Perceval, Humphry, Dennis, Quintin, Jeffrey and Randolph" have been at me with more spam than 'Spamalot' ever could imagine. One side effect of this Spamathon has been that some honest to goodness comments from real life lovely readers have gone astray. Especially from some of the new folks, so if you have been nice enough to leave a word and thought me rude for not acknowledging you, I am so sorry. Let me say Welcome! now and thank you for stopping by.

This particular annoyance has lead to me making some changes in protocol. Comments will now be moderated. I hated to do it, but it must be done. I will also be making more of an appearance in the comments as well so that I can be sure to take note of every kind soul who drops in for a visit.

I really do have some nice things planned so I'm hoping I can get these ghosties and goblins sorted and sent packing! In the meantime, thank you for your understanding and patience.

Up and coming for next week: A happy how-to, a book report, and the titillating tale of a 'long lost' returning to the fold.

Happy weekending all!

8 is Great!

Perhaps you have been wondering why it's been so quiet over here, or perhaps you have not given it a thought in the slightest. Either way let me explain...life has been busy, really busy! Now that school is back in swing, I'm hoping to get back to a solid routine and once again ramble away on my shiny little spot here in blogland.

I am happy to tell you that today, I can be found having a little ramble over on Whip Up. Many thanks to the lovely Kathreen for inviting me to guest post whilst she and her sweet family are camping under the stars!

But before you go over there, I have something of note to say, it's rather important so please stay with me for a moment.

Today is the anniversary of the day that I said "Hell Yes!" to spending the rest of my days with my best friend, The Engineer. Eight years today! It has been the greatest adventure of my life. I love you truly, madly, deeply. Happy Anniversary Darlin'!

PS. The above photo was taken 9 years ago, goodness we were cute and young!

Thank you for your attention, you may now proceed on over to Whip Up!