hope

"Hope is one of the most important virtues that can be instilled in our soul. Many people think that hope has to do with the future, when in reality it has to do with the past. We develop hope as we experience pain transformed into comfort. When this happens enough, we begin to have faith that our pain will not do us in and that comfort is on its way." 

Cloud & Townsend

 

 Busy mornings and afternoons run into jamb-packed evenings spent with baby and husband. The kitchen sink is overflowing with pots and pans and weeds are peeking up beneath the straw in the garden - but all is well!

 

 Strawberries are appearing too, and tiny bean sprouts that the bunnies like to nibble on. Ten percent of all my garden plants either get trampled by the dog as she gallops for her frisbee or munched on by rabbits in the wee morning hours. That's a pretty good harvest. 

The peonies have blown, but they were gorgeous and fragrant for a stretch of ten days as May turned into June. Pretty rings of colorful fabric are appearing on bed in my studio. Now I need to find a backing and pick out the binding for this little quilt. 

I started a new little sweater made from my mom's yarn. The pattern is: Little Coffee Bean, so far it's an easy and fun knit. The aqua stripes really pop. 

I read this quote on hope earlier this week and it really struck me. It's so very true. 

xo Jill

winter blooms

I lucked out when I brought two geranium plants in from my window boxes this past fall. I was able to keep them alive and get them to bloom again. There's nothing like the splash of bright color in late February to remind you that spring is coming and to keep your hopes up.

I love geraniums. I love how they smell - zesty and alive. I will replant them outside once the weather is tolerable, but I need to be careful to introduce them to the outdoor light slowly. One year I brought my geraniums out and they lost all their leaves and died because the sun zapped them. They weren't ready.

That's how Minnesotans are with spring sun too :)

Flowers on the Windowsill by Carl Larsson

This is a painting by Carl Larsson that always comes to mind when I think about winter time and indoor plants. I would love to have a space in my house to really grow some plants when the snow falls. (Right now my geraniums are tucked away on a north window upstairs where they thrive, but this is not a room that we regularly sit in.) Dreams for someday. See the knitting on the table? Such a cozy image.

The project is a pair of mittens that I started last winter. Then I found out that I was pregnant with Logan and I hijacked some of the yarn to knit a baby sweater. Then I knit a lot of other sweaters and baby things and now I'm just getting back to them as I wrap up those projects and the baby mania subsides. I'm using my mother's yarn again. It's interesting to see how the same yarn knits up differently in other projects. I used the same yarn for the yoke of the first baby sweater Logan wore.

Hope I have enough to still finish the mittens.

I talk about the mittens here and here. It amazing how life can change in a year - how your entire dreams for the future can transform with a baby.

We have been so blessed!

xo Jill

P.S. Linking up with Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm and Keep Crafting On.

hiatus

Hello Dear Friends:

I have been on hiatus from the blog - a first in the six years that I have been posting, but the break was much needed. Over the past few months I've resumed my crafting, cooking and creative explorations, so the need for outreach and sharing - this blog - was an inevitable conclusion.

How else would I be able to keep track of how the garden looked, what the goofy dog was doing and what had found it's way on and off my knitting needles?

Life has been very good to my husband and I in the months that I have been quiet. We are pregnant and I'm 20 weeks along! It feels like a fairytale and a dream - something I don't quite think we ever believed could happen after all that we had been through. 

My knitting projects are now geared very much toward baby. I've finally got the chance to try out all of those patterns that I'd been collecting. This little pattern is called sweet baby cap. I'm making it out of some 2 ply hand spun that I made in 2013. I only had about 150 yards left over from a pair of socks I knit at that time and I was waiting for a very special project.

I will try to catch up with you all now that I am back in form (though it is expanding day by day!)

God has truly taught me how to hope and blessed us beyond belief!

Ever hopeful, 

Jill xo

yellow leaves

This past weekend was crammed full with both work and play. I played around the house on Saturday, tidying some things up and roasting a pumpkin for a spiced pumpkin cake. Bree and I got out for a stroll around the neighborhood. The community garden is showing signs of fall. The zinnias are starting to look frostbitten and faded - yet they still make me smile.

On Saturday the community garden was filled with monarch butterflies. They must be on their annual migration, but a whole mob of them decided to dart down from the sky and enjoy the pretty blossoms of my neighborhood.

I had to work on Sunday, and it's those extra hours that made it possible for me to take the afternoon off today. I plan on making a pot of chili and some corn bread. If Bree plays her cards right we'll head out for a walk. It's a lovely, blustery afternoon. Part clouds and part sunshine. The leaves are skittering across the pavements.

Just perfect.

Have a great day everyone!

Jillian

my sweethearts

Warm woolly socks for winter, hearty stews with lentils and spices, a Sunday pot roast with herbs from the garden and a glass or red wine - my two sweethearts chillin' on the sofa. Fall is here and I'm trying not to miss out on it!

Today has already been a busy day. I've cleaned the house, baked a loaf of banana bread and now I'm sitting in my little studio playing around with words and yarn. I brought most of my house plants inside because the mornings have been chilly around here. Many of them ended up on my desk. The window faces east and they get a good amount of sun in the morning. Hopefully we'll see some pretty flowers come January.

As I write this Bree is in the backyard, nosing around in the fading garden and woofing playfully at people as they walk by. We'll head out for a walk in the early evening. Me, Bree and the hubby. Ever since we got Bree we've been walking together more, and I miss Garrett when he's too busy to head out with us on our evening jaunts. The weather is supposed to be glorious this weekend. I'm on a "stay-cation" here at home. Now that the house is in order I can dig into one of my many projects.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

XOXO

Jillian

summer evening

A shady backyard with
One goofy dog
And a hot grill
Lots of blooming flowers
(Don't look at the weeds!)
One pink frisbee -
Oh, where did it go?
One smiling hubby
Dinner on the patio
Blessed in so many ways
Happy to be here