Weekend Update

Hello!

It's been a very quick week. Matt heads in to surgery this coming Wednesday, so we've been sort of mentally prepping for that, plus the weather has been perfect for gardening (except for the wind we've had the last few days!) so there hasn't been a ton of crafting going on.

Norman and the Begonia

I'm still working on some malas, my beads arrived this week and they are gorgeous and perfect for my vision. Of course I had to clear the board of Matt's Kunzite mala that was waiting in line...so now that I've finished that (as of last night) I've got room on the board for the custom orders that came in. 

I had another custom order this week for cat toys, and I am in love with the idea of them! Small balls, 1.5" across, made with my scrap wool in vibrant colors. I'm stuffing them with raw wool and catnip just like their bigger friends. I'll be selling them in three packs in the Etsy shop when I get some made up for spec. 

While I do have a ridiculous amount of indoor crafting that needs to be done, as I mentioned before, the weather has been perfect for gardening, and my plants needed some attention. My flowers are all where they will be for the season (except for two shasta daisies, because I have no idea where I want to plant those.) I've got all my tomatoes and tomatillos in the ground and in their bucket homes. Yesterday I got about half of my peppers in their homes, but I need to clear the greenhouse of all the extra plants before I can finish that task. Which may take some time - the raised beds I was meant to plant the basil in are still waiting to be built.....  

Enjoy your weekends, tomorrow is the beginning of June! :)

Etsy Weekends - For the Walls

We are still working out our wall style, but until we actually decide on something, and then actually put it on the wall, I will favorite all the wall hangings!! Here is one that would look great in our home, or my classroom...someday.

READ from Cherry Tree Gallery

Holiday Weekend Fun

Hello!

It is now day two of our Memorial Day Weekend festivities. Yesterday consisted of movie watching, cat toy crocheting, and ice cream eating. It was rainy and cold all day, so we didn't do much. Today we've already cleaned the floors, the bathrooms, and started laundry. It's still raining today, but tomorrow should be pretty and sunny.


Memorial Day weekend is usually the time set aside for planting outdoors here in Montana, but the last couple of years have been tough on that - June 10th 2018 gave us a killing frost, and last spring was cold and dreary right up until the middle of June. This year we might be safe - so I'm thinking about planting some things this afternoon when the rain cuts out.


Matt is getting ready for his second hip surgery in a week and a half, so we've been busy prepping for that. I've got a meal plan written out for about three weeks, with a focus on simple and healthy meals that won't require a ton of prep. I had a meal plan for the first hip as well - but was not prepared for the energy toll required for post-surgery care, and ended up buying some pretty naughty freezer meals a few days in. I'll be making some foods this weekend that I can toss in the freezer for added ease. We bought an air fryer at Christmas-time and that thing has come in super handy! We've got a couple of recipes that can go straight from freezer to air fryer to table in 15 minutes or less.

This was a thinking week for crafting. We've got an order for two mala and earring sets, so we did some research into stones, and the customers, and made up a plan for both. Of course we needed to buy a few supplies, so now we just have to sit on the plans until our beads come in. I'm super excited to put them together though, they are going to be very different from each other, and *hopefully* perfect for each recipient.

I've also been putting work into making cat toy balls, the cat toys are a never ending project since they are our most popular product. Several co-workers and some folks on Etsy purchased most of my colorful cotton balls, so I've been focused on those. I would love to get some mice put together too, but time - it slips away.

We hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend! Being part of a military family means that Memorial Day has always been a pretty important one for us. Dad always plays Taps, and takes part in the services at the cemetery, while Mom always helps the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW hand out poppies and place flowers on graves. This year has been difficult emotionally given that Grandpa B passed shortly after Memorial Day last year, and COVID-19 has set aside most of the ceremonial plans for the holiday. But we are still celebrating and memorializing as best we can this year, with high hopes for the celebrations next year, and all the years to come after.

Etsy Weekends - Gorgeous Goblets

Since I was a small child I have admired these gorgeous depression era glasses that lived in my Grandfather's china cupboard. My Dad told me that they were a wedding present for his grandparents (whose maiden name my husband and I took when we married). The whole family has known that when it is time, that set comes to me - as we all knew that the bells would go to my sister. Last summer, the time came, as my Grandfather passed. It was a very difficult time for all of us, and I was unable to help much since I live at such a distance. Adding to the difficulty was knowing that I can't even bring home the glasses that I love so much and that remind me of Grandpa, and family. Someday I will be able to house those objects, but until then, I just have to admire similar pieces from afar. These watermelon colored glasses would look lovely with my darker colored glassware.

Watermelon Glass from YEG Antiques

Weekend Scraps

I headed back to work this week, and it feels like I almost got more done than I did on my week off. (Probably inaccurate, but it FELT that way...lol)

Our business started back in 1999ish, when Mom and I started making mice cat toys from our scrap yarn. That has really shaped who I am as a knitter, as I always try to utilize as much of the yarn as possible. It's also one of the reasons why I struggle so hard with pompoms - which seem to waste a ton of yarn to make one good pom. In the last few years I have started crocheting cat toys, which allows me to use even non-felting yarn scraps.

Anyway - all this is to set up the fact that I have been thinking about scrap knitting a lot this week. I even made a post on Twitter about it, how sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes the end product turns out even better than I anticipated. Over the last two years I've been making a lot of scarves from Scarfie yarn by Lion Brand, which is a non-felting, easy care yarn. I've been keeping all the little scraps, (and sometimes the big scraps!) left over from those projects in a bag, and this week I pulled out that bag and put together a fringed scarf and a hat.

The hat came out better than I imagined it would, although it is a bit large. The scarf was the fun bit, even if the yarn didn't cooperate the way I wanted it to. (I was doing single rows of thicker yarn throughout, and one of the strands ran out before I got to the end of the row. It turned out ok, but not what I had envisioned.) Usually I leave the fringe long and messy, but this time I wanted a cleaner look, so I YouTube'd some techniques for twisting fringe. I love how it came out :)

I also got some flowers planted this weekend, and am headed out again today with Matt to work in the greenhouse building secondary shelves so there is more room for the baby plants.

Hope you all have a great week and we'll see you next time!

Etsy Weekends - Green with Emeralds

I love anklets. There is something about a piece of unassuming jewelry wrapped around an ankle - mostly invisible in colder climates - that just hits me. It's evocative, and makes me feel differently when I wear one. This one struck me recently, and I can't get it out of my mind.

Raw Emerald Anklet from Crystal Minded

Whatcha Doin'?

We've been pretty busy lately. Matt and I have been working on Mala designs, trying to make some affordable options, and some premium options. We've been experimenting with different marker bead styles, and guru bead options. I made one recently with a pearl at the base of the guru bead instead of a tassel, and Matt liked the aesthetic so much that he's planning on using that method with his next personal mala.

Mother's Day is today, so I put together a pair of earrings for my sister who is considering moving several states away from her children in the coming weeks. I used stones to represent each child, and I'm hoping she can wear them when she's feeling far from them.

Knitting has been on the back burner, but I have lots of projects half-baked in my mind. I did cast on an easy-peasy moebius scarf the other day to sort of cleanse my project palate, and I'm loving the color changes in the yarn. It is yarn that was gifted to me by my work place Secret-Santa last year. :)

Thursday morning I spent longer than I would like to admit searching for packaging paper. I still have no idea where it is, and it makes me feel like maybe I have too many hobbies, and too much stuff....but that can't be right...lol.

Hope you all are doing well and enjoying your days - whether they be in quarantine or out, working or not, rainy or sunny. As my Grandpa Arneson, the farmer, used to say - "we could use the rain". So keep looking on the bright side folks. :) 

Etsy Weekends - Cool Weather, Warm Hands

Well. It is May. Which means spring is coming, or at least that's what I keep telling my plants. But - on Thursday morning this week we had snow once more. So all I wanted to do was curl up with a book, a blanket, and a warm mug of tea. This mug looks perfect for that....

Green and Blue Mug from Born of Fire Ceramics