More Lambs + Sneak Peeks from Crafting a Colorful Home
Good Afternoon Colorful Friends!
This morning we were surprised to hear that there may be a blizzard coming our way on Monday evening. I really hope it misses us. Today we are scurrying around, bringing wood in for the furnace, getting the sheep barns ready, and making sure we have what we need if it does happen. Good luck everyone if you are in the path of the storm.
This week we have had lots of new lambs born. It is slowing down a bit (thank goodness) but we expect to be having new babies through May when last year's ewe lambs will give birth. I've been putting photos on Instagram and Facebook. Here is a link to a cute little Instagram video.I love the look of these two cross-bred lambs. They look like their mama who is very protective and barely lets them leave her side.
This past Tuesday was launch day for Crafting A Colorful Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to Personalizing Your Space with Color. It was just like any other day here at the farm. I helped with sheep chores in the morning and then went to the post office to ship many books. Our little local post office let me in during the lunch hour and they did all the processing so that I didn't hold up customers during regular hours. You have got to love a post office like that!
I'm shipping books in the order I received them. If you ordered on the 18th (last Sunday) or earlier, your book has been processed and will go to the post office at lunchtime tomorrow. I have another order of books coming from the warehouse on Monday which will be sufficient to fill all current orders with extra stock for future orders. If you haven't received your book yet, please be patient. It will be worth the wait, I promise.
Above and below I have included 6 sneak peeks from Crafting A Colorful Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to Personalizing Your Space with Color. There are 21 projects in the book and 12 DIY techniques which are more home dec/DIY based. You can still purchase a signed copy of Crafting a Colorful Home from me on my website. I am offering free shipping, a Kristin designed gouache bookplate, and a set of my photo postcards (while supplies last!) all for $27.95. Here is the link. We really appreciate all the orders we have received - buying direct from any author is one way they can keep writing.
Here are some interesting things I have found on the web this week.
• My friend Louise Cady Fernandez writes a blog called Lines Of Beauty: A Blog about Aging Naturally, One Wrinkle At A Time. If you are the age I am, you may enjoy her bits of wisdom.
• Do you know the Cookbooks 365 blog? It is written by Fran Brennan (a knitter!) and Shelley Peppel. These lovely ladies review cookbooks 5 days a week and feature a recipe and photograph from each cookbook. You can subscribe to it on their sidebar. This week, this Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Cookies recipe looks great. This Coconut Macaroon recipe is another "must try." (I'm a big-time coconut macaroon lover - I usually use this recipe from Nigella Lawson but I have no prob trying another.
• I discovered a show on the BBC called Edwardian Farm which is on YouTube for Educational Uses. Three people live on a manor farm for a year - doing everything the way it would have been done in the Edwardian Era (1901-1910). I'm only on Show 1 and I can't imagine how anyone ate back then.
• My friend Susan Anderson is running a "Shawl Knitalong." Looks like fun if you like joining in with other knitters on a project. Check it out here.
• Julia Dellacroce is a well-known cookbook author. She wrote a very interesting article on polenta and the Italian traditions of making it. I love polenta in the winter. Here's a recipe from our Leyden Glen Lamb recipes for a Braised Lamb Shank which would be awesome on top of Julia' polenta recipe.
Thank you for reading and supporting my work in craft and color. Have a great Sunday and week everyone.
With best wishes from the busy farm!
Kristin Nicholas
The Squiggles Pillow is a combination project using fabric paint and embroidery. The squiggles were painted and then edged with backstich. A very fun project that is quick to make. You could put your own spin on it with different shapes - circles, squares, or freeform blobby shapes. Here is a close-up of the embroidery.
In the opening chapter entitled "The Studio", I give you lots and lots of information about the paints I use and all the tools I use for decorating, sewing, stitching, printing, and crafting.
There is a large section on working with colors - in your home and general life. There are also exercises for developing your own color styles and palettes.
This project is called a Toran. It is made out of multi-colored pom poms and bells from India. A Toran is a decorative hanging common in India. Sometimes they are made of fabric, sometimes of flowers, and sometimes embroidered panels. It is a great project for using up your scraps of yarn.
This is one of the paint techniques I used in our Living Room. It is called dragging and I give you the instructions to do it yourself. You can see my "dragged walls in the photo below and in the photo header at the top of the page.
The chartreuse walls were done with the "dragging" technique of decorative painting.
Here's one of my PDF Instant Download Knitting Patterns for the home. It's a sunflower pillow with added embroidered details. Available for $6.00 from my website here or on Ravelry here.
This pillow design is called Field of Diamonds and it is knit in the Fair Isle Technique in two colors. The extra shades are added later in duplicate stitch. It appeared in an issue of House and Garden Magazine. You can find the pattern on my website here for $6.00 or on Ravelry here.
My Turkish Leaves Pillow Design was also featured in House and Garden Magazine. It is also knit in the Fair Isle Technique with added embroidered trims. You can purchase it on my website here for $6.00 or on Ravelry here.