Larsson Fun

ONE WEEK 'TIL CLOSING!! 

We stopped by last week and even in the rain, with just a cursory walk around the front yard, I spotted a little treasure:  a red-wing blackbird nest among the cattails!

I am really eager to relocate.  Because of the delayed closing, I've had plenty of time to obsess over interior design details and plot out massive front gardens.  I've added an extra window, a kitchen island, and a fireplace, all in my mind.  I've torn out carpet, switched out the front door, and slapped on even more wallpaper.  Having exhausted the interior, I've gone outside and uprooted tree stumps, enlarged existing beds, and moved evergreen shrubs around like chess pieces.  If I can't start to act out these plans soon, I'm going to lose my mind!

One positive thing about the delay is my paint epiphany.  After endless agonizing over how to have light and cheerful paint colors in a dim house and finally selecting - a bit uneasily - a light grey, I've ended up tossing out my entire scheme and starting over.  I've been inspired by Carl Larsson's depictions of 19th century Swedish country life for a long time...

...and one near-constant is pale walls and painted trim.  A stroke of genius!  I did some looking around and found other inspiring examples...

...and so I'm going for it, using Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee for the walls...

...and Saybrook Sage for the trim.  Here's that color in exactly the same style I'm copying.

Wanting to start these massive projects has made waiting really difficult.  Even so, it's hard to believe that our relocation is just around the corner.  "This is our last trip to the laundromat!!" I crowed to Todd yesterday.  It's even strayed into the ridiculous, as I contemplated a package at the grocery store and told myself, "This is the LAST package of feta you'll eat at the apartment!  This feta will be GONE by moving day!"  Insert eye roll here!

Exercise has been a huge help in working out some of my excess energy.  I was so jittery yesterday that I convinced Todd to take a quick hike with me, despite our massive to-do list.  It was so nice to get out into the sunshine.  Trees are leafing!

And flowers!!

It's hard to be out of our regular spring hiking schedule, but I know that we'll have plenty of outdoor time soon.  Meanwhile, I'll keep on plotting.

Have a great week!

Knee Highs and Apple Pies

I was out of commission for a little over a week, and didn't go outside much.  Restless inside the house, I turned to a stack of projects to keep me busy until I was up and around again.

First, I finished the embroidered quilt square project...the embroidery part, that is.   

Pretty cute, right?  The rooster is my favorite! 

I decided to go ahead and sew the squares together with some random cotton fabric squares from my stash.  It really didn't take very long to iron and cut them.  Stitching them into strips wasn't as scary as I'd thought it might be...

I felt pretty victorious when I stitched all the strips together.  Sure, I still need to put the quilt batting inside and sew on the backing, but it's almost a little quilt! 

I finished a pair of vintage baby almost-knee socks. 

The pattern is from 1912 and has a nice open weave, although it's harder to see when the socks aren't being stretched by a little leg.

 My FAVORITE project, though, is this Carl Larsson-inspired cross stitch pattern.  I love the shapes and the bold colors.  I am absolutely flying through it.

I'm about a third of the way done.  The original pattern is meant to be an upper curtain panel, but I'm sure I'm going to just frame mine.  I'm enjoying it so much!

Yesterday I was finally feeling like my old self again.  Todd has been taking such good care of me - taking care of meals, doing the laundry and dishes, and helping with my business orders (and surprising me with the soundtrack to Grease 2...score!) - so I decided to thank him with his favorite pie.  Now, I have a standard apple pie recipe, but it calls for quite a bit of butter and sugar.  It's delicious, but I wanted to try a different recipe.  I made my usual pie crust but chose an apple pie recipe that called for a sweet crumble instead of a top crust.

I added a cup of oatmeal to the crumble because I can't imagine a crumble without it, but here's the original recipe. 

I made the mistake of really packing the crumb on the top, instead of sprinkling it.  It formed a pretty solid crust.  It was really good, but next time I think I'll wait until 15 minutes before the pie is done before sprinkling - not packing - it on.

This version is definitely Todd-approved, though!

Have a great week!