Karla's Cottage

Painting with thread on black

Once the puppies were living in their new homes in November, I found myself at a loss on what to do with my time.   Those babies were pretty much a 24 hour a day job for me for months. Those guys needed so much care they really kept me hopping and I had no time for creativity.

Molly just did not understand when I went from Puppy Servant back to my own life, she had only known me as the lady who spent every waking hour (and some during the night) catering to the needs of her and her fluffy sibs.

Not that she wasn’t still getting plenty of attention, but I was also doing some things just for me too.
 She soon figured out that she could lay on my feet while I stitched.  As long as I was close, she accepted that I wasn’t playing with or petting her.

I am still not completely caught up on sleep, Molasses needs to potty a couple of times during the night, but I have convinced her that 5am wake up calls are not acceptable to me and that she needs to go back into her kennel until at least six.  

Some days, she has even made it to seven, if I put Honey in there with her!

 

She is a very mild mannered, calm girl.  But when she needs to go out at 3am, she is quite insistent.  
While I am not sleeping as much as I wish I was, It is enough that my spark is returning.  I had this shirt to embroider for my sweet, hippie kid who loves flowers.

Since I mailed his gift box to North Carolina, and he surprised us by hiding under the tree and popping out on Christmas Eve, I don’t know if it fit him, or if I got a little too dainty with the flowers.  If it isn’t what he wanted, he can pass the shirt along to Sugarwings and I will stitch another.

It felt good to be working on a project again and I’d enjoy an excuse to do more.  But not a black shirt.  That was more difficult than any other stitchery I have done.  Typically I use a washable marker to draw on the fabric, but on black, none showed up.  I was making it up as I sewed with this one.

I’m sure Molly would be happy to keep me company if I need to work on another shirt.  And I appreciate the warm toes on a cold night when she does.

Natural themed holiday mantle with dried hydrangeas

Earlier this year, my husband helped me gather some vines in the woods to make a wreath.  I’d added a few dried hydrangeas and turkey feathers to it for fall.

When it came time to redo the mantle for Christmas, I was still enjoying the look.  So my changes are minimal.  The feathers were plucked from the wreath, and more dried blooms were tucked into the branches.  Nothing is glued or wired, so redos are as simple as sticking stems into the twisted vines.

The plan was to hang some ornaments on it too, but I decided to keep it simple.

For sparkle, I did add a few ornies to the candle holders next to my Great Aunt Caroline’s clock.

A flocked garland was laid along the oak mantle, and I thought I was done.
But then, I had to figure out a safe place to store all of the hydrangeas I’d dried from the garden and displayed around the house.  I’d taken them down to make way for Christmas trees and didn’t want them to get smashed.

For the twenty plus years we have lived here, I desperately tried to grow hydrangeas.  I have no idea the body count of plants that I killed over the years.  I figured I should just be planting twenty dollar bills and save myself some effort.

Then 2020 rolls around.  The year that sucks for the entire world.  Everyone but the hydrangeas in my garden!

My harvest was gorgeous and plentiful.  And I am happy to have the mantle focused on one bright spot of this year.

Goodbye to the Garden

After what felt like endless days of bleak, cold weather, feeling like I am ankle deep in puppy pee, we are getting some sunshine!  Yay, pups will get to run outside and have fun, I can thoroughly clean their living quarters and air it out.

The countdown to freezing cold has us getting done as much outside as we can.  My husband and Guncle Randy cleared the garden of tomato cages and stepping stones, then set the chickens free in it to scratch and salvage.  

Earlier, I dried a lot of marigold seeds to plant next year, and I think that the hens are helping spread some that will grow later on their own.  Maybe a tomato or two also.  

This photo is from summer’s heyday.

With the garden in its lushness.  I had a bell pepper plant taller than me this year and it was a constant producer of sweet, yellow peppers.

This was one of our best garden years, ever at this house.

I guess 2020 had a good point or two after all?

This is the view from Ryan’s patio, we redid an over grown bed in the center of the garden and made the parking area bigger.

It made an excellent spot to park the camper.

I think for what we have spent on replenishing layer upon layer of gravel for 28 years, we could have paid for some really nice concrete.

But isn’t fresh gravel pretty?

 

An all natural fall wreath from gathered pieces

Years ago, when my son was working at the Renfest, he planted a magic wand tree in my yard for future projects.  It’s about as tall as I am now, and since he is no longer making wands, I decided to harvest a few of its curly branches.

Aren’t they cool?  

Great curves and twirls!

My husband went for a walk in the woods and clipped the other vines for me, then helped as I wound them up together and twisted them into a wreath.

Usually, I cover my bluebird and rose topiary painting for Christmas time, since the picture is so springy.  This year, I thought I’d get an early start and give it a fall treatment with burlap and a wreath.

The frame of the painting is half of a Victorian door, and is so heavy, it has been bolted to the wall.  The only way I can change up the look is to insert a piece of covered foam core board over the glass.  I like having the option to change things up for the season, and this has worked out pretty good for me.

The heavy mirror is also bolted down, so I hang items over it, for now a bird print.

This year might have sucked for many, many reasons, but 2020 has had a couple bright spots.

One is that it has been the year of hydrangeas that I always dreamed of!  I’ve gathered and dried armloads.  Some got tucked into the vines of the wreath along with feathers from a wild turkey, shot by my friend, Karen Hillman (she also treated me to some of the juicy, turkey breast and it was just the best).

With all the puppy activity around here, it was relaxing to have a quick redo to work on.  The wreath itself was simple as can be, just twisting and tucking, no wire or glue.

I might take the dried blooms and feathers out for Christmas and add ornaments when the time comes.  This wreath will be very versatile since nothing is permanently attached. 

And now that I think about it, that magic wand tree is going to be good to have around too.  Maybe I should craft some witchy wands for Halloween.

 

Bringing a Taste of Autumn to the Cottage

Kindnesses sparked redos

While my friends and I have gotten to be pretty good at meeting up for walks, socially distant porch parties, and other safe activities where we can visit in ventilated places somewhat apart from each other, we haven’t figured out how to do a Mosaic Day together.

We used to gather most Thursdays in Shan’s basement studio, catch up on each other’s happenings, and glue glass bits from the vast bins of colors Shanna had for us to dig through, onto all sorts of items.

Over a year ago, I started this pot, and since I couldn’t make it there every week, or sometimes brought a pressing work project from home instead, it took a long time to progress.  But just as I was getting excited about completion, Covid hit and all production halted.

Then recently, my sweet and talented friend offered finish the pot for me and I was thrilled!  My design was done, the background and grout were all that was left, and she was going to help with the grout anyway.  
Plus, this way, I could call the pot a collaboration with a master stain glass artist!

(See the stunning piece hanging behind her? Also, please notice the beautiful doodle, one of Sugar’s babies, Shan’s home is full of pretty creations.)

How generous of her to do this for me.

When Ryan died, we received a planter jam packed with greenery.  It has been a couple of months now, and while I’m slightly sure I could’ve kept them alive as is, I  was relieved to have something larger to transplant them into.

While I was at it, I repotted some other plants and spread the arrangement into some extra pots too.

Then, while picking up supplies at Hobby Lobby, I saw these blue coffee pots on clearance and got one to go along with the refreshing of the kitchen I’d started with the new plantings.

Cheerful, right?

And cheery is very much appreciated right now.  Missing Ryan is a constant with me, and I know always will be.  I write notes to him, talk to him on my walks, sit in the gazebo and listen to his wind chimes.  I think of all the boring little details in my life that he would have listened to me telling him about.  And how he honestly would be interested in hearing them.

For the first few weeks, it seemed like we had so much going on, kids to entertain and feed, places to go, chores to do, projects to work on. Dinners to cook, shopping to do.  I complained to myself that I just wanted to be left alone.  

That I wanted to crawl into bed and not get out.

That I wanted to be alone to be sad and not do anything at all. 

Looking back, I wonder if I was doing it right all along, by just keeping going.  Not just keeping busy, but being active and part of the world around me.  Which isn’t easy to do in the Age of Corona. And it isn’t easy to do when I am sad.  But for me, it probably was the best thing I could do.

Heart break will always be with me.  But it also makes me realize that the good that surrounds me might not always be with with me.  I work to treasure my blessings, appreciate what I have, and to keep my home as much of a pretty, and peaceful sanctuary as I can.  To reach out to friends and family that I love.  

To not curl up in the darkness.

 

 

 

A place to hold hands and reminisce for our 35th anniversary

For our 35th anniversary on Monday, I wanted to find a meaningful gift for my husband.

Since Ryan died, we have spent a lot of time sitting in our gazebo, listening to the wind chimes and thinking about our boy.

We watch the chickens play in the sprinkler, talk to the dogs, and hold hands. It has become our place to remember Ryan, and to be together.  
Oh, and drink some wine, too.

So when it came to picking out a gift, I figured that a matching set of  cozy rockers to sit in together would be ideal.  I searched online for something just right and wasn’t having the best of luck.  Then, I saw this set (on clearance, too) at TJMax and knew they were just what I had been looking for.

When we remodeled Ryan’s apartment for his 40th birthday, he chose everything in the rooms, and had gone with a lot of grays in a kind of modern, farmhouse style (he watched a lot of TV decorating shows for ideas).

These rocking chairs would look equally good with Ryan’s color scheme as they do in our garden.

I think he would approve of them.

Once I set them in the spot, I realized that rocks aren’t great for rockers... so I went back online and found a matching, outdoor rug. From Walmart, and it seems to be of a nice quality and looks pretty good there.

It is a peaceful place that has become very special to us.  I can see us sitting there together, holding hands and reminiscing throughout our next 35 years with each other.

Stitching my world back together

 

The day Ryan died, I was in the middle of making this flower I had crafted to stitch together a hole in a favorite shirt.

I was waiting for him to come downstairs for our planned walk. As I worked on the shirt,  I texted him a couple of times to ask if he was okay, since he was running so late.

After the shock of finding his body, and dealing with the dozens of emergency personnel that go along with a tragedy like that, I found myself back at the table, numbly stitching away on this flannel.

Over the next few weeks, while I still could not bear to speak to many people, and my chest twisted up into shards of pain with every breath I took, I found myself still stitching.

The creations were an outlet for me, my mind could wander with memories of my boy, as my hands stayed busy.  

I have never been into sewing, but embroidery seems different.  I call it “painting with thread”.  After surgery, early in March, while Covid was amping up, I could be creative while elevating and icing my knee.
So luckily, I was already immersed in the hobby and had a selection of supplies out, when I really needed them.  

Having these shirts to keep me occupied, didn’t take my mind off of Ryan, but sewing them did give me quiet time to think about him and I could feel myself being stitched back together a tiny bit with each flower.

I can’t say that embroidery has brought me peace, because I feel like breathing will always be painful now.

But I think it has helped me along towards peacefulness by the repetitive and simple process of pulling the needle in and out of the fabric and by choosing pretty colors to put together.

Ideally, it is best to be working on these flowers while listening to wind chimes in the gazebo.  And after a long walk on the trails Ryan and I had walked together on over and over.

The walks can be tough, each step reminds me of a laugh or something he said as we passed in that exact spot.  I have learned to never go on a walk without wearing pants with pockets and filling those pockets with tissues.

And to never waste tissues on tears.  Tears can drop on my feet, or on the sidewalk, but snot really shouldn’t.  And I am a snotty cryer.

I save the tissues for nose blowing and let the tears go wherever they want.

Maybe I will be able to do some artwork in the studio soon.  I have cleaned it top to bottom and rearranged it a bit too.  I am easing myself back into my old life, making myself ready to be artistic again.

For now, I’ll keep stitching, and trying to hold myself together as much as I can.

May baskets, that may be a bit late

 
It might be closer to June than May, but little peat pot baskets are nice any time of year, right?

I didn’t get them delivered by May Day either. 

My buddies and I met up for a socially distant walk on a trail, and I brought each a baggie of home made body scrub/bath salts (it can be used either way). I made it with Epsom salts, sugar, coconut oil, and a drop or two essential oil for scent.  No measuring, I simply stir with my hands til it feels good, then try it out in the sink to see if it needs a little more of something or another.  

The peat pots have pipe cleaner handles inserted into a hole punched on each side of the pot with the ends twisted into place.  Flowers were twisted onto the wires.

I glued a bit of ephemera to the front each pot.  Then crumpled up some dyed coffee filters and used those as a liner for the bags of salts.  

Don’t the filters look like roses blooming in the pots? And, seriously, it is simply three coffee filters rumpled and stuffed into a peat pot.  The prettiness just happens on its own, no skill needed.  

I keep dyed filters on hand because of their many uses.  And the fact that they come in packs of 100, so when I dye them, I do a lot!  I have used Rit dye, Fiber reactive dye, watercolor, or just plain old food coloring, whatever is handy.  I dip them in and hang them to dry, then stack them up and store in the studio.  I love to have different colors on hand to ruffle up and use in craft projects or like this, to line gift packages, instead of tissue paper.  

 

Birthday Party Decor Without a Trip to the Store

There are many things that social distancing has made more complicated.  And hosting a birthday party was one of them.  Sugarwings spends time between our household and her mom’s, so our two groups have been able to mingle, but sadly, we could not have other family members over to celebrate with us.

We also couldn’t pop into a store for last minute items, like the balloons that Sugarwings wanted for the table.  She loves planning our family parties, and is the one who set this up.

We did have one last package of water balloons leftover from last summer, the kind that come in a big bunch, that you hook up directly to a faucet to fill up.

She could have taken each off its stem and blown it up, but we decided balloons filled with water could be extra fun.  We floated them in clear glass bowls and used them as a centerpiece.  

There were some banner pieces packed away, but not anything personal, so the Grand Fairy printed some dragons to hang onto the banners.  And we agreed that the colorful dragons tied in the color of the balloons to the banners.

But the best part of the meal was the dolce de leche cheesecake that our Hippy Chick spent all afternoon working on.  She came over to our house to bake it, and that added to the festive feel of putting a party together.

We missed the rest of our big family, but know that staying away, and staying healthy now means we will be celebrating with them later when all of this ends.