a bad rabbit habit

I ordered an embroidery stand this week and am loving it!  The paddle bottom slides under your leg and you can adjust the height of the arm as needed.  The clamp holds most size frames.  I'm able to work much more quickly this way.  

I'm going to keep making Yumiko Higuchi embroideries, but I'm also interested in trying other kinds, from Tudor-era tapestry work to more contemporary styles, like this embroidery journal.  This particular one was created by Amy Deacon, and the idea is pretty self-evident:  take an event or object from each day and embroider it into your frame. 

photo courtesy of Amy Deacon

It's not quite my style, but an intriguing idea and one that I might try next year.  I like the idea of doing something creative every day, even if it's small.  It's not an uncommon idea in textile circles.  For example, textile artist Ann Wood makes a fabric book every year, with one page added daily, sewn with random scraps and in a random pattern. It's unrefined, of course, but keeps you in a creative mindset.

photo courtesy of Ann Wood Handmade

There is a version of this for painting, of course.  You can paint a suggested theme each day:

photo courtesy of foxandhazel.com

Or, like the embroidery journal, just paint something from your daily life.  I've long been attracted to this idea.  Two books that I've owned and loved for years are Island by Garth and Vicky Waite and The Diary of an Edwardian Lady.  Great examples of older and more contemporary styles of nature journaling in a chronological style.

A selection from Diary of an Edwardian Lady

A selection from Island

I struggle with the focus and the skills needed to commit to a project like this, but I love the idea of daily creativity and am throwing around some simple 5 minutes a day ideas for a future challenge!

More inspiration all around.  We survived the awful storms last week...

...and the rain and warming temperatures have brought out the flowers!  Of course, I'm making as many bouquets as possible...

...and I've been tramping around in the woods behind our fields, looking for spring ephemerals.  Plenty of early growers, like a whole slope of Cut-Leaf Toothwort:

...and some Spring Beauties, too!

Mayapples are up...it must be spring!

I was hoping to get some Columbines in the garden this year.  I had so many at our Indianapolis house, sprouting up from sidewalk cracks and crowding out of multiple garden beds.  But although I've planted many different types, I haven't had too much luck with repeat blooms.  One of the problem is rabbits, especially this year.  I think it's going to be a bad year for them, and I can see where they've nibbled the growing Columbine flower stalks:

As fast as the flowers shoot up, the rabbits mow them down.  Deer, too, might be a problem this year.  I've seen plenty of evidence that they're around, much earlier than normal and closer to the house, too:

deer scat

I know that deer eat daylilies, but I planted clumps of them all around the yard and they've never been bothered by deer...until this year.  They've been eating down the foliage pretty regularly.  It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that we're going to have to fence in the flower beds, and put some kind of strong-smelling deterrent around the hostas and daylilies.  

Meanwhile, the little spring chores continue.  Pruning the roses...

...checking my mini greenhouses regularly...

...and keeping track of all the new green growth outside!

I love it!  Meanwhile, the cats are mostly appreciating our extra hour of daylight:

They're feline fine.  :)  Have a great week!