Seeing Green
March 17, 2012
Here is a celebration of Green for St. Patrick’s Day!
Filed in Bits and Pieces, Handmade Things, Winter
Tags: Bleek, buttons, candy, candy canes, disposable fountain pens, green, kisses, shamrocks, soup, St. Patrick's Day, sugar & creamers, sweaters, thread, watercolor sketches
Seeing Red
February 14, 2012
Here is a celebration of red for Valentine’s Day!
Filed in Bits and Pieces, Handmade Things
Tags: buttons, candy, candy canes, DMC, embroidery, kisses, quilts, red, sewing, thread, Valentine's Day
Handmade Button Bracelet
April 13, 2011
I’ve been admiring my friend B.J.’s button bracelet, which she made several months ago. Then she gave me some cord (it is a special cord with a line of plastic inside) and thread so that I could try to make one of my own. I’m pleased with my first attempt, although I like B.J.’s bracelet better — I think her buttons are positioned closer together for a tighter finished bracelet.
Here are some photos of my bracelet in process, so that you can replicate the bracelet, too.
Art Retreat at Home – Day 1
August 31, 2010
I’m going to try to make this week special by creating art every day, even just a sketch or two. I’ll treat myself to a mini-retreat at my dining room table! Let’s see if I can actually do it. I often don’t take the time to sit down with watercolors and pencils, but whenever I do, I have so much fun. It makes me wonder why I don’t do this more often. I’d like sketching to become a daily practice.
Here are yesterday’s efforts:
Collections You Can Hold in Your Hand
August 15, 2010
I have to chuckle at the title of this poem. It’s obviously a given that one would collect books, but what else?
Besides Books, What Do You Collect?
by Richard Jones
Foreign coins,
skeleton keys,
old French primers,
small tin boxes —
any little thing
I can hold in my hand
that like a prayer says
be attentive
this is the way we live —
bits of blue glass
polished by waves
and saved
in a jar
in a drawer.
Filed in Bits and Pieces, Handmade Things
Tags: blue, buttons, collections, green, jars, marbles, Sanibel Islands, shells, spools, thread
Handmade Garlands
December 6, 2009
My oldest sister passed along this unfinished project from a Primitive Gatherings pattern. I decided to finish it in time to use as a Christmas decoration this holiday season. This year I am not putting out all of the holiday decorations we’ve accumulated over the years. Still, it’s nice to have something new to display.
My sister had already cut out all of the pieces. I just blanket-stitched around the appliques and edges. Then I decided to string the little woolen stockings into a garland. I used fishing line, buttons, and wound paper beads. I like the homespun look of the garland, which I hung from the bottom of a wall quilt by our front door.
Filed in Handmade Things, Winter
Tags: buttons, Christmas, garlands, stockings, woolens
Button Candy
May 7, 2009

Blue and green buttons in a white bowl
“… buttons are like candy for grown-ups.”
— Jane Brocket, The Gentle Art of Domesticity”
I consider Jane Brocket a kindred spirit. I follow her blog at http://www.yarnstorm.blogs.com/, and I love her book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity. We like many of the same things, I think. I especially appreciate the ways she uses color and celebrates the ordinary things in her life.