Upcycled Wool Sweater Cottages

My latest creations: sweet little soft sculpture cottages made from repurposed
wool sweaters. (Some come with bunting pennant flags hung along their facades.)
These look great propped alone on a shelf - all pert and winking at you. Even better,
they love nestling all in a row as a stylish little village (many, many winks).The colors
and wool patterns were great fun to put together. They are hand-stitched, stuffed
with carded sheep's wool, and have a tiny Maine beach stone embedded inside.

Plush softie abodes for your eco-home pleasure:

Another lovely handcrafted-in-Maine company to indulge in:  Pleasant River Soap Company.
With scents like: Fennel Poppy, Lemongrass, Lime Rosemary, and Maine Woods,
I can't decide which of these all natural soaps I want to try first!
Gorgeous branding / packaging design... (can't help noticing that.)

Celebrate Maine and get clean while you're at it! Well, get dirty first. It's that time of year, lots of gardening going on: hands and knees not quite spic and span these days, right?

Down on our beach for spring...

It's so wonderful to be all together on our lovely beach with baby G in the spring.

All the familiar bits of the beach are there as usual, 

and yet the scene is altered in that wonderful way 

that only the shifting tides can create: Sand drifts 

are shaped anew, and rocks and washed-up logs 

have stationed themselves with new dynamics. 

There's bright sea glass poking out from the grey 

shale to collect, and new flat rocks for Punky Rowan 

to paint. Can't wait now for warmer weather for swimming 

and to bask in the sultry sun-drenched sand by the 

dappled aqua water and get into some serious seaside 

day dreaming.... 

Darling Gwyneth is 6 months old

Here is the 6-month-old birthday girl with 

lovable Calamity "Clamcakes" as we call her - 

our 15-year-old tuxedo cat.

Punky Rowan got a new kitten for Easter. 

She named her Sukie. Adorable:

URBAN PANTRY

You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces -

just good food, from fresh ingredients.
   -Julia Child

Soon I hope to own this book:

Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchen

The author Amy Pennington buys everything in bulk and stores them in glass jars. This is my goal too; little by little I hope to turn all my pantry shelves into bulk storage and canning jar havens. I would use these awesome Weck jars too.

MORE MOOMIN MADNESS

Here at House of Rowan we're all mad about the
Moomins and we cherish every one of Swedish-Finnish
novelist Tove Jansson's delightful books. But it doesn't stop with
just reading MoominTales, no, we love to collect Moomintrolls!

And I just found these Moomin kitchen tea towels, hurrah!

You can browse them all here.

(I especially love Little My and Snuffkin) :

CUTIE EASTER CHICKS

 Punky Rowan and I have been sewing quirky little 

chicks for Easter with upcycled wool sweaters and 

stuffed with wool scraps. We got the how-to from this 

book: The Sweater Chop Shop, by Crispina Ffrench.

So many to make though! But fun!

Happy Easter! 

this may be of interest...

With more and more families determined to bringing self-sufficiency and living off the land

into their lives, here's a smart-looking series of books dedicated to Homemade Living:

ILLUSTRATOR SARA FANELLI

I LOVE Sara Fanelli. She is an illustrator of children's books living 

in London who uses collage and inventive printmaking to express 

her quirky sense of humor, creative imagination, and her passion 

for literature and theater — all sent into a whirl by her adoration 

of all things cute and slightly sinister. She is the author of  Sometimes
I think, Sometimes I am (its a book I hope to prop on my bookshelf

                            with a wink of pride one of these fine days.)

Selections of Sara Fanelli's artwork:

 

 

WAXING NOSTALGIC OVER THE ICONIC RED CROSS AND SWISS CROSS

I am fascinated with the graphic and iconic emblem the Red Cross: 

With its striking simplicity of design, this non-religious, equilateral 

red cross conjures (for me) heart-warming (sometimes heart-rending) 

stories of help and safety in times of crisis and war; of volunteerism, 

and associations of hope and peace, comfort, healing, protection, 

                              cleanliness, and care.

And the four-armed Red Cross, though a representation of the international 
humanitarian organization that provides relief to victims of war or natural  
disaster, has also become a stylish design and fashion statement. 
(click on images for links)

I have an odd fascination with WWII, especially for stories of the 

French Resistance and the alliances between the English and French. 

Idealistic and nostalgic I know, but I imagine myself during wartime (in 

a near-past life perhaps) as a driver of an army-green Red Cross medic 

truck rushing across battle grounds to the aid of the sick and wounded. 

 

Many WWII women were defense workers and did drive medic 
trucks — go girls — as I write this I’m imagining “Rosie the Riveter”:

These brave Red Cross women did many, many amazing 
and creative tasks to help their country, just as they do today.

When I look at the clothes Red Cross women donned during wartime 

I can’t helping nodding with satisfaction — Yes, this army look was/is 

fabulous: it’s industrial; it’s smart; its Vintage as well as Modern; it’s 

independent; it’s an emblem of pride, bravery; protection, and tolerance.

I don’t buy clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch, however did you know 

that the company has been around since 1892? Here is a fabulous women’s 

WWI American Red Cross outfit, and the tunic is an Abercrombie. 

This is a complete women's Foreign Service uniform. ( I really dig the hat — want it!)

My favorite of the two emblems is the SWISS CROSS.

It is the flag of Switzerland. And like the Red Cross emblem, 

the Swiss Cross is an awesome fashion and design statement:

 

In the 1990s when I was twenty-something, I remember 

shopping at Portland’s Army Navy Store for vintage army-

green trousers and rolling up the cuffs. That’s where we bought 

our camping gear too, like our Swiss Army knives — who doesn’t 

love theirs? — not just for the gadgety utility of the multi-purpose 

knife, but for the simple intrigue of the white on red emblem it bears. 

Yep, I've got these beauties at home:

  

 And I think these are the bees' knees:

 

 

 

My heart and thanks goes out to the International Federation of 

Red Cross volunteers helping Japan at this time. And thank you to the brave 

men and women assisting people and animals in need throughout the globe.

 (If you would like to volunteer your time or give to the Red Cross, please visit here.)