Word to Your Mother

Remember in the 80's when the whole recycling movement began gaining momentum? It really was small potatoes back then and the bandwagon had plenty of room for people to sit. I happened to be one of the ones waving a flag and wearing the pins. My friends called me the "Recycle Queen" back in the day and I loved it. Recently I ran across this relic while rummaging through an old jewelry box and promptly fastened it to my knitting bag.


Recycling Couture. Vintage, even!

In honor of Earth Day, I am having a sale in my buttercupbloom etsy shop. You see, many of my sewn creations are made from upcycled materials such as felted wool sweaters, gently worn denim & corduroy jeans, thrifted buttons and remnants from former projects. Take this plush owl for example:


With the exception of the non allergenic poly fiber fill - 100% upcycled materials. My wild carrots were inspired by the most perfect orange corduroy pants and the peaches were sewn from a velour hoodie...both garments were waiting for a new life when I discovered them at a local charity shop*.

Here is the hoodie:


Here are the Golden Peaches:


Earth Day feels like a good opportunity to hold my very first etsy sale, so everything in the shop is discounted! Click here if you'd like to check it out.



*In case you were wondering, I wash every fabric that I use several times in hot water before I sew a single stitch.

More Before and Afta

(How come nobody told me I was developing a mullet?)


Much better.....

I think that Spring is officially here.

Wordless Wednesday

Before and After....

A few weeks ago....


The Horror! (I think that some of those dangling tomatoes could pass as sun dried).

Just before the Texas Trip....


Our weekend goal is that once we fill up the green waste bin - we're donezo. I'm pretty sure just cleaning out the veggie bed filled that sucker at least halfway.

Add a little of this....


I had to include a pic of my new fave tool - the box cutter. Who knew they made cute ones?

Organize the new recruits....


Two cherry & one rainbow tomato, jewel toned chard, buttery lettuces, tiny cucumbers, cilantro, pattypan and our first tomatillo.

Voila........


Yeah, feels pretty darn good. Hope that Spring kissed your weekend, too. xo

A Change of Scenery

Who knew that a weekend trip to the Lone Star State would give this California Girl such rejuvenation?


Folks are really nice in Texas. Like, really nice. Cars pull off to the side of the road to let you speed past when you are racing to the airport, vendors will tell you all about their kids while you shop their antiques and receptionists will kindly guide you to the hotel with a welcoming Southern drawl and an attitude as sweet as the local iced tea. Take Jules for example, she not only left her car for me to pick up at the airport, but directions to her casa and full permission to kick it with her brand new puppy til' she got home several hours after my flight got in! Now that is nice. And, I was humbled.

Why Texas, you ask? Good question. A small gathering of adoption-blog-cyber-friends decided to meet up in Canton, TX to visit this place:


This is the East Entrance to the self-proclaimed "Largest Flea Market in the World" otherwise known as First Monday Trade Days! Who knew?

Jules and Michele organized BobbiJo, Virgina, Angela, Michele's cousin Melissa and I for a full-on shopping extravaganza. There were promises of amazing Chinese Buffets, dirt cheap vintage fabrics and all the funnel cake your heart could possibly desire. Here we are walking in with empty shopping carts and early morning energy:


I wish we would have gotten an "after" picture as the dusty shoes, sore feet and bursting wire carts were a sight to see.

Here is a pic of the coolest thing that I purchased:


A bracelet made from antique tab typewriter keys! How cool is that? The letters spell out "1 Lucky Girl". Jules and I chatted with Andrea, the woman who makes these cool things, and decided that we most definitely would have been friends with her had we known each other in high school. Click here if you'd like to see Andrea's online shop.

Care to guess what Angela & I are drinking here? Milkshakes? Rootbeer Floats? Nope. These are actually cappuccinos. Texas-Style, I suppose. In a HUGE cup and topped off with a LARGE dollop of Ice Cream. We really had no idea what we were getting into. Unfortunately for us, Canton is both a dry county as well as one without Starbux...and we were dying for some caffeine.



All things considered, the flea market shopping at Canton was a'ight. I got a couple interesting things and ate the most delicious 2-inch high funnel cake. Best part for me was the getting away, the being with and the coming home. It was great to come home and that is a good feeling to have. A reminder of how fortunate I am. I'm very thankful for that.

The "being with" that I refer to is all about spending time with other moms waiting in this adoption limbo like me. It is normalizing, grounding and something that I desperately needed. The best part of the weekend was spent with my roadtrip-mates, the compadres that we met up with at Canton and just one on one with ol' Jules. Here she is:


Now this is a woman who LOVES a good monogram. Just take a look at her online shop Pink Polka Dots for proof. I got to see her Big White Machine in action and it was amazing!! Thanks, Jules for making this trip to TX so memorable! It all came at just the right time.

Now that I'm back, I will work at reconnecting. I've been offtrack a bit and way beind in my email/bloglines/phonecalls and etc....more later.

xo