The first of May.

Tomorrow is May Day. According to many pre-Christian European pagan cultures that means it is the first day of summer* in the Northern Hemisphere and people celebrate by dancing the Maypole and anonymously leaving baskets filled with flowers at their neighbors' door.

I think everyone should leave a May Day basket for at least one person tomorrow. It can be as simple as tying ribbon around some flowers or you can make a basket by following one of the tutorials below.

List of basket tutorials:
Running with Scissors - Round Slatted Basket
Skip to my Lou - Recycled May Day Basket
The Spotted Sparrow - Mini Paper Basket
Craftzine - Weave a Paper Easter Basket


*What is now recognized as the first day of summer, the summer solstice, was Midsummer.

Week Four.

Finished.

This week's project (and last week's project) was completing these lovely totes. I started these a few years ago. You read that right, YEARS. It sometimes takes me a very long time to finish what I start.

There are three different sets:

These Eat More Fruit totes were already complete; I finished them shortly after starting this project.

Flower Power totes. Finished just this week.

The Take the Scenic Route totes are my favorite. I finished these just this week.

I will be listing these in my etsy shop, but not until next week.

I am gardening this year.

My vegetable garden will be a small container garden. I am growing three types of tomatoes, some different types of lettuce, and some spinach if I can find the seeds that I have misplaced.

I started my tomato seeds last Thursday. I thought I was behind, but according to the Old Farmer's Almanac and my seed packets I am on schedule to transfer my little seedlings to their outdoor home the week of May 24th. That week is the moon favorable planting time and I will also be planting the lettuce and spinach seeds.

Tuesday evening when checking the little guys I noticed that a lot of the seeds have sprouted. Here are my cute seedling tomatoes in their egg carton containers. Grow little seedlings, grow.


Hey, I am on myfolia.com tracking the progress of my plants. My profile.

Week Three.

I did not finish this week's project. I know, I know, I am awful. I don't have an excuse either.

Here is an in progress picture:

Not finishing is sort of good because 1) I had no idea what I was going to make next week and 2) I will be in Hawaii. Don't worry, my vacation will not interfere with posting. Milly and Tilly will remain open on Tuesday and Thursday of next week (with the assistance of scheduled publishing); Tuesday's post will be the completion of this project.

Holga.

I have been caught up in the lomography craze for some time. The images are so dreamy and film photography seems special. I recently purchased a holga camera which makes me giddy with excitement. My camera specs: Holga 120N, Yellow Brick Road.
Lately I love, love, love the color yellow. Not sunshine, bright yellow, but golden, mustard yellow. I can't get enough yellow.

So far I have shot two rolls of 35mm film which I had developed at Walgreens and put on disk. My first roll of film had these large red spots on many of the pictures; I thought it was finger prints from when I was trying to roll up the film in the dark closet, but have since determined that it is a major light leak. With toy cameras you should expect some light leaks, but a big red blob is not appealing to me so I am planning on getting some gaffer tape to try and stop that light leak from mucking up future pictures.

There are a few more pictures on my flickr in the holga set.

I have an idea for my next roll of 35mm film. After each frame only advance the film about halfway so each picture (except the first and last) will have two double exposures, the main exposure centered in the frame and two other exposures on ether side of the frame. It will be a bit crazy and probably confuse the folks developing the roll, but I think it will be kinda awesome. What do you think?

Week Two.

This week's project (another unfinished project) has been in the works for a long time. It's a bit pathetic that I haven't finished them sooner, they have been just sitting in drawer taking up space begging to be complete. Well, their pleas have been answered.
Tree Branch Draft Dodgers!

I realize that the temperatures are now almost nice enough to go out without a jacket and that I should have completed these back in September, but the southern hemisphere is getting a bit chilly and draft dodgers also work in reverse, keeping hot air out so your air conditioner is off a bit more often in the heat of the summer. Draft dodgers are for all year round! Hooray!

These are listed in my etsy shop!Tree Branch Draft Dodgers are offered in the original light, paper birch color and a the new darker, chestnut color. Both colors are sure to keep your drafts (hot or cold) at bay.

I like the pink one.

We dyed eggs last night!
This was just a few of the three dozen eggs we colored.
A few more pictures are on my flickr.

Week One.

This was tougher than I thought it would be. I had such a hard time figuring out what to make for my first project, but finally decided that I should start by finishing some unfinished projects.

Here is my first week's project:

The materials for the above skirt and dress were purchased by my friend/old roommate. I was going to help her sew them, we didn't get very far, then she moved out. I just found them when trying to figure out what to make this week. (It's perfect timing too, her birthday was Friday!)

The skirt is made from button down shirt sleeves. Idea from burda style member anda - link.
The dress is made from a single panel of fabric that has 'built in' gathers.

Easter egg dying is one of my favorite things to do.

Lucky for me Easter is just around the corner.

Last year I thought it would be enjoyable to use 'natural' dyes instead of the store bought PAAS type dyes. I like the muted colors, but they take longer to make and green is [nearly] impossible to get.

Here is a list of colors and some items you can use to get the color:
• red - beets
• orange - annatto
• yellow - turmeric
• green - spinach - did not work at all; probably need to boil a ton of spinach and let the eggs sit overnight
• blue - blueberry pie filling - i did not use, but leave the eggs in overnight and you get a nice color and cute little dots from the blueberries (according to my coworker).
• purple - grape juice
• brown - coffee - it didn't really work for me, needed to make the coffee stronger and let sit overnight.

Mini How To:
1. Mix color with water. Exceptions: blueberry pie filling and grape juice. In the case of beets, spinach, and coffee boil in water to extract the color then strain.
2. Add a bit of vinegar.
3. Dye the eggs.

I am planning my annual egg dying gathering for next week. I will definitely take pictures and post them here.