i love the days when i work in quiet. today i started out with the doors open and the music cranked. but when sheila came by with a coffee and an english muffin for a mid-morning visit, i turned off the music, enjoyed her visit and then worked in silence the rest of the day. words and ideas, thoughts and memories kept my mind busy all day as i built 2 baby quilts. there was the sound of the lawnmower, as tom cut the grass for the first time this season. and the fresh spicy scent of cut grass, weaving through the air and around the garden full of tulips and daffodils and forget-me-nots kept me company. it was a comforting and busy day.

a couple of hours until our sale. i'm up making coffee and getting edgar out for his morning pee. and there are a few last minute things to do at the studio. and i could just keep making letters. i'm a little obsessed. i love the idea of a wall piece with all the names in the family linked together like scrabble. 'the family puzzle' or 'family scrabble'. such a fun kitchen wall. or any wall, really.

if you're in the kingston area, our studio at the little white house at 55 mowat ave in portsmouth village will be open today. the little house is bursting with goodness. we'll be open from 10 until 4. and if you bring some stale bread, you can wander a few steps further to the lake and feed our neighborhood ducks. it's a perfect afternoon outing.

the sun is bright. i'm making coffee. i finally found the time and the energy last night, to clean at least the main floor of my house. there are quilts tumbling around in the washing machine above my head. they will go on the line when they're finished washing. and i have fresh new clothespins waiting to be used, since i left my bag of clothespins on the line over the winter and they are all rotten and moldy. edgar is being neurotic about not lying on his bed because the cover he likes is in the laundry. the sun is making long, early morning shadows across everything. and i'm enjoying the first few hours of being awake.i'll be heading to the studio soon. i'm looking forward to our sale tomorrow. i've been making patchwork letters that make a fun decorative feature in a child's room or kitchen or office. they are quirky, cotton, handcrafted loveliness.
we are also carrying great all natural, locally made skin products. liv's goat's milk soap as well as a lovely beeswax body balm made from the handiwork of local bees. which goes perfectly with tracy's beautiful encaustic paintings.
our sale is tomorrow, sunday, april 29th. we'll be open from 10 - 4. and we have the pleasure of introducing our guest artist, babi sugarman's lovely work. so come down to the village, portsmouth village, that is. the little white house at 55 mowat ave, just up from the lake.

the sun is coming up orange today. instead of gray. i can see ellsworth through the dining room window. he's been sitting upright on the top of the barbecue, facing east and watching the sun color the sky for 1/2 an hour. i'm up early today. hopefully back to my normal schedule. i hope today is the day i'm over this hateful cold. i've been able to do little but sleep for 3 days. every time i thought i could get a little something done, this cold would slam me back again. but this morning looks promising. i'll take it slow. tidy the kitchen and walk edgar. and greet the day.

ooooh, i've been sick. just a cold. but it's knocked me out. i didn't get to the studio once on sunday. and yesterday i was able to get a start on the farmhouse quilts i need to make. it's a lovely pressure free process. i love sewing strips of fabric together, all fabrics i love. some i haven't seen for a while and they feel like old friends. the fabrics hold hands and smile at each other, neighbors and friends and some are family to each other. your can read the relationships and how they blend and merge and marry and love each other. it's one of my favorite things, watching it all come together. but i was way too wiped out to stay long. my head was pounding and i was home by noon with tea and a cozy fire and edgar's warm long body pressed against mine. and i slept most of the day. today i'm feeling more like myself, and although i'm still tired and headachey, i'll be heading to the studio soon. it's my happy place.
and in just a few more days, the studio will be open again, with a new guest artist, babi sugarman, and fresh new items from tracy's studio as well as new offerings in the shop as well. on sunday, april 29th, the little white house at 55 mowat in portsmouth village, will be open from 10 until 4.

i'm excited to introduce a new line we're carrying in the little shop. these gorgeous products are made locally by local beekeepers in tamworth. beeswax body balm and lip balm that leaves your skin and lips perfectly soft, healthy and hydrated.

it turned into a beautiful surprise, yesterday. sheila came to the studio with the boys for a rainy saturday visit. the boys watched some star wars while we tried on tunics and talked and drank our coffee. and then all four of us wandered around the studio house, where they had lived until flynn was almost 2. he loves to hear the stories even if he doesn't remember living there. we chatted, looked at art, jee acted out imaginary school scenarios (he goes to school in september and has taken to raising his hand to ask questions or point out interesting tidbits). an hour or so into the visit flynn said 'i'm getting hungry but i'm afraid to say anything because i don't want to leave'. he's 9 1/2. we have a special love. he stayed with me during the days when sheila worked, from the time he was 2 months old until school started. she would hand him over the fence and we would have blissfully fun days together. and now he's big, but the bond is strong. so we all marched through the rainy yard in the back kitchen door at our house. there was maki i made the night before and i had pasta and cucumbers and fruit. we slapped together a lunch. but when it was time to go, flynn was still loathe to leave. so he spent the rest of the afternoon with me and what i thought would be a studio day, turned into my favorite thing in the world.....a flynn day. chatting. running errands. just enjoying being in each others atmosphere. and when we were leaving to take him home, i explained that now as he was getting bigger, i didn't want to push myself into his world. that i will always love our time together, but as he gets bigger, he might not find it as fun, and he'll need to tell me when he feels like one of our days.   he thought for a second and then said, 'well you can know for sure that for the next year at least, i'll still find it fun'. ah, flynn!

we went to a movie last night. just the two of us. a cheesy and juvenile movie that is the 4th or maybe 5th sequel of a movie we saw the first few months we were dating. we had popcorn and coke and sat in the very back row in the middle beneath the projection booth. it was just nice. a couple of hours without thinking of all the crap i need to do. laughing too loudly. holding hands. spilling popcorn. tom's right, we don't do those things often enough. it's those simple little times that keep the happiness on the surface.

here is dear little crabby, coming in from a job. a thieving job. her heist is complete and she's very proud of herself. and tonight, i made her a blog of her own. i'm taking photos of all the crap she steals and posting them on her blog. so, if you want to take part in the craziness she hauls into our yard everyday, this is your chance. crabapple the thief. enjoy!!!!

remember crabby? our cat who is a thief and is always having some sort of crisis? she is back in form again and driving me nuts as well as making me giggle. our yard is littered in trails coming from different directions and leading to our back porch. there is trash, all sorts of different varieties of trash.....newspaper, envelopes, frozen peas bag, to name just a few. but there are also some pieces of camping gear of some sort....a velcro cushion, canvas bags. and a mini football emblazoned with the word 'canada' and a red maple leaf. there is a stuffed animal or two. and there is a scarf, still on a hanger, with a pricetag on it. this cat is magnificent in her madness. she fills our yard with her treasures and it doesn't end.

a foggy morning, with mist lifting off the lake. our little studio is waiting to show you all the goodness it stores inside.
you'll find us at the little white house at 55 mowat ave in portsmouth village. today, sunday, april 15th. and we'll be open from 10 until 4. come down for a stroll. bring the kiddos and feed the ducks. skip stones in the lake. and find some treasures on the beach and at our little studio.

a sunny saturday morning full of birdsong and hanging laundry. the cats are getting used to a new one amongst them, for we are keeping my parents cat while they are away. it's really my cat who stayed behind with my parents when i left their house for the second time, so she's comfortable with me, but not so much my menagerie. i'm making the guest room her domain for her stay with us.
i wake up thinking about liv's goats. they are intoxicating. their expressions. the way they communicate with a gaze. there will be more goat photos here, i'm sure.
but the day is in full gear. i need to finish last nights dishes and make magdalena feel at home here with the other cats. and then over to the studio.
our sale is tomorrow. sunday april 15th. the little white house at 55 mowat ave in portsmouth village. we'll be there from 10 - 4. it will be a lovely day, i'm certain of it.

these are a couple pieces from our guest artist on sunday. tina roeder makes incredible sterling silver jewelry, taking personal drawings and handwriting to make amazing pieces to be treasured for a lifetime. i think these would make the most lovely and touching gift for a mom....and mother's day is just around the corner. but her work isn't limited to mom gifts. she covers sterling cuffs with song lyrics, pendants with illuminated initials, and then my faves.....anatomy drawings transferred to sterling pendants and charms.
we're setting up for a fresh new look on sunday. i have been making tunics for spring, as well as new lightweight eternity scarves, aprons, and of course, quilts and napkins and all my regular fare. tracy has been branching into new areas and i'm excited to see what comes from her in the weeks to come.
so, come see it all on sunday. the little whte house at 55 mowat will be busting at the seams with gorgeous-ness. sunday april 15, from 10 until 4.

i fell in love today. she claimed me. and i was smitten. the insistent gaze of a goat named sharon stole my heart.
tracy and i headed out to liv's early this morning. out to her beautiful little farm with the lavender doors. we were looking forward to a visit with liv, buying soap, and finally meeting the goats and their five little babies. we floated through the morning with the goats and their babies, a magical little herd of 20. and i've come home with my heart full of goat love and my shop full of beautiful goat's milk soap.
come on sunday april 15 to the little white house at 55 mowat and share the beauty. i'm carrying liv's soaps, her lovely goat's milk soap. and tina roeder with her etched sterling jewelry will be our guest artist, ready with beautiful mother's day gifts.

i made demie's ice cream on the weekend. my parents came. meagan and naomi were over. sunday dinner was smooth and relaxed. afterwards my dad stretched out in the comfy chair and tom sat on the couch with edgar as they watched the last couple hours of the masters. meagan was at the dining room table with her laptop doing stuff for her new job. naomi and my mother lounging around the fire in the dining room, looking at books. naomi had hours of fun drawing portraits on the whiteboards that sit on the kitchen counter for messages.
and then we had homemade ice cream. a while ago, demie posted on her lovely blog 'my paraphernalia' that her mother had come from greece with a simple homemade ice cream recipe. simply whipping cream and condensed milk. beat them together for a minute or so and pop it in the freezer over night. i've been planning to make it ever since. and i'm so glad i did. it is wonderful. i added a container of liberte mediteranean lemon yogurt and fresh blackberries. and it was perfect ice cream after being in the freezer only 5 hours. and it made a special weekend even better.

and i'll start reminding you all that this coming sunday, april 15th, we are having a studio sale. tina roeder is our guest for that sale. her work is etched sterling jewelry which is simply amazing. the little white house at 55 mowat in portsmouth village. we'll be there from 10 until 4.

cats are sprawled in the sun, one in each room. and a couple on the porch. i'm cleaning the floors and getting ready to start making easter dinner. my parents will be here soon. naomi is playing basketball with tom in the yard. and she just came running in to go to the bathroom. i told her to be careful on the wet kitchen floor. she bounced through and stopped in the dining room and looked at me. "it smells so good in here". she was staring, trying to figure out what she was smelling, why it was familiar and why it made her happy. and then...."it smells like POOL. it's the pool..." she was hopelessly happy at being taken to the pool with the scent of my watered down bleach concoction i use on the kitchen floor.

the sun is bright. the light holiday feeling is in the air. we've opened our yard to summer. the porchswing has been unwrapped. the barbecue is fired up. friends are dropping by. children chasing cats through the yard. the tire swing is once more the cause of giggles and shrieks. the house feels open. i puttered around cleaning and doing the extra little things like wiping down the baseboards. the sun shows me just where i've missed some winter dust. edgar is happy on his outdoor bed in the sun. it won't be long before tom has the horseshoes out.
tonight we have all the rowdy boys over on the porch to start the summer off the right way! and then tomorrow a family dinner for easter with my parents. the sun and the bright crisp air coats everything in a layer of ease.

i haven't been ignoring you.....it's just i can't find the moments of quiet to spend at the computer lately. and this morning i'm at the studio yet again, but i decided to open the doors and put out the open sign. afterall you may want something to pretty up the house for easter. or a new tunic dress. or a little easter gift.
so come by.....the little white house at 55 mowat ave in portsmouth village. i'll be open from 11 this morning, until 5 or 6 this afternoon.