• Blog - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: Winter garden edition

    January 11, 2016 - By 

    Welcome to a chilly edition of T stands for Tuesday!

    T stands for Tuesday

    All summer I had been giving you garden updates so today I thought I’d show you my winter garden. Maybe I should rephrase that….my garden in winter.

    Last week before the temps dropped into the negative°F, we had a little snow that gave everything a lovely coat of white. Since I had to go out to shovel anyway, I grabbed the camera for a little photo tour.

    winter garden

    You can see my rosemary, sage and horseradish covered in snow. I have no idea of the herbs will make it but I’m not terribly concerned. I harvested a bunch for smudge sticks late in the season.
    winter garden

    I love how the snow rests on the fencing and flags.

    winter garden

    I decided to leave the flags up this year as they are quite faded and worn. I want to replace them next summer.

    winter garden

    winter garden
    How do you think the worms are doing in their tower? I hope they dug deep enough to survive the winter. Only time will tell.

    winter garden tea

    As for me…I’m drinking lots of hot tea trying to keep warm. The cocoa is for Mr. G…he’s taking a vacation day. Good day to do it too when it’s so dang cold! Especially since he works both inside and out.

    What are you doing today?

  • Art - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: two posts collide edition

    January 5, 2016 - By 

    It’s a two for one deal here at Halle’s Hobbies… I’m linking up with both Art Journal Journey and T stands for Tuesday today.

    Why you say? I decided to embrace my word of the year and enjoy the meeting of two worlds instead of stressing over it.  Technically they’ve met. 🙂 This is one of the things about the blogging community that I really enjoy. So much crossover and one blog leads to another and soon you’ve went down the rabbit hole but learned so much along the way.

    The Winter wonderland theme this month on AJJ gave me the opportunity to play with a new supply.

    Winter Wonderland supply | Halle's Hobbies

    It came in a box of paint from a garage sale. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever use it. Since I was using my sturdy board book heART journal, I knew it would hold up to the weight and wetness factor of the paste.

    Winter Wonderland art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    I am certainly glad I kept it. Look at the texture it provides. And the sparkle! The photo capture of the sparkle is nothing compared to the real deal. It really does look like snow glistening in the sunlight on a crisp Winter day.

    Winter Wonderland art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    Winter Wonderland art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    I used this stencil with a palette knife to create the snowman.

    Winter Wonderland supply | Halle's Hobbies

    Winter Wonderland art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    I wish you could feel this page. So much texture on the background and the snow is soft. A really unexpected result for me even with the jars claim.

    Winter Wonderland art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

     I hope my T stands for Tuesday friends have enjoyed my latest journal page.

    In keeping with the rules spirit of T day, I’m sharing my beverage as well as the healthy breakfast I enjoyed yesterday.

    T Tuesday enjoying healthy breakfast | Halle's Hobbies

    What else does the day have in store?

    T Tuesday | Halle's Hobbies

    For starters, the transfer of important dates from one calendar to the next. Sometimes I wonder why I continue to keep a paper calendar since most everything is kept electronically now. But a hard copy is always good. When I rely on technology, that’s when it fails me.

    I’m also going to tackle taking down Christmas decor, get in a little exercise and sort paperwork for taxes. I actually started our taxes yesterday. I hate waiting on this. I really like to know where we stand.

    What are you doing today?

  • Around home - Blog - Crafts

    A second look: My favorite quilt

    January 2, 2016 - By 

    To start out the year we are looking back…wait…didn’t I say I was looking ahead in the previous post?

    Secondlook

    We are looking back because it’s Second on the 2nd hosted my my dear friend Elizabeth. Each month on the second she asks that we dig into our blog and reshare a post that deserves a second look.

    Sewing is a passion of mine as well as recycling. In this post from August 2008 I share my favorite quilt and a little about it’s creation.

    We still use the quilt today. It’s now 15 years old and is very well loved.

    Take a look…

    eyes

    This denim quilt was my very first large scale recycling project.

    I carry it in my van for picnics, beach days, a stop at the park or one of those dreaded winter emergencies. After the latest trip to the beach I hung it on the deck rail to dry. I was taken aback by how many memories this quilt holds for me. I love how it has frayed over time. Maybe others would think of this as a flaw but to me, it shows it has been throughly loved.

    I made it when my first born was an infant. Oh, to have that much time on my hands again! I wanted to make something that he could lay and play on, that would be durable, washable, textural and colorful.

    I had a ton of jeans that were never going to fit again plus my hubby’s worn out ones to cut into circles. I used a plate to trace each and every circle by hand then carefully trim with scissors.


    The colorful squares (trust me there are squares under there) were from a stash of fabric I had gotten as a teen when my “grandma” across the street moved from her home to her daughters in CA. She knew I loved sewing and crafting more than her own granddaughter.

    My mom had somehow collected tons of small spools of thread in various colors, not sure why since she didn’t sew but did own a machine. Maybe just wishful thinking on her part. Anyway, I figured that I could make the quilt even more colorful by using different spools of thread throughout the quilt. Generally the bobbin thread and the spool didn’t match as I sewed.

    If you’re curious how I made it check out this tutorial. I think I got my instructions from a magazine but the tutorial has excellent instructions.