Spring is coming. I am already feeling the need to clean out drawers, closets, and cabinets. My husband and I were fortunate to buy our first home last April. Our downtown apartment we rented before buying our home was about 900 square feet. Two tiny bedrooms, 1 bathroom with the added pleasure of banging your knees on the stack-able washer and dryer every time you used the loo, 4 kitchen cabinets for all of our kitchen food and appliances. Ahh...memories... the perks were: our apartment was at the edge of a mountain ( I could literally open the windows in our bedroom and touch the jutting rocks and green moss), we had front row seats to every parade down main street, we lived above a children's boutique and a bath & body store (instant shopping fix), it only took 2 hours to clean the house top to bottom, we enjoyed the church bells from St. Mary's every Sunday. ..

Living in a small space forced us to weed out unnecessary items, make due with what we had, and sometimes deal with things in an odd way. When B was born, we made one of our hall closets the 'nursery'. Now, of course she didn't sleep in the closet or anything like that, but all baby related items and necessities were meticulously organized into that one tiny closet. I loved opening the door and seeing organized perfection.

I love our house now...the children have their own rooms, the fenced in backyard is host to many outdoor adventures, I have more cabinet space than I can fill, I am blessed with my own window lined art studio, but I do miss being forced to live, think, and do things on a small scale. I admit I've become a tad bit lazy with my living simply goals. Now that spring is here, I am ready to begin again.

My first knitted beret! I have never knitted before until now. I used the Purl Beret pattern from the Purl Bee blog. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to knit this hat. I did have to do some background research for certain stitches and at one point there were 5 needles attached to the hat (scary!). I am very proud of this hat and have been wearing it around town all day. Next I believe I will tackle some fingerless gloves!

One of my favorite activities is sneaking into the book sale room of our local library to dig through the children's section. I always find something admirable and lovely. I recently found this Finders Keepers book and loved the 2-3 color schemes on each page. Books like this inspire me to keep up with my block prints.

Tonight I served one of my favorite meals to my family: pot roast, mashed potatoes, lima beans and pear halves. I don't know if the lima beans and pear halve combination is southern or just a family tradition, but they are an odd mix non-the-less. My husband always cringes when I served whole kernel corn with spaghetti. I keep an unusually vivid picture in my mind from age five of my mom, dad, and I sitting on ice chests in the new kitchen of our new home eating spaghetti sandwiches and corn. Strange, I know, but this memory still coaxes me to serve corn with spaghetti on a regular basis. What strange food combinations do you and your family enjoy?

I created this Washer and Dryer Play Set for my children and they loved it. I originally created this as a prototype so that my handy husband could build a play set out of wood. The prototype was such a hit that I never even asked for the other one! I would love to share my instructions with you if you fancy trying to make one. It's quite easy and inexpensive. Just e-mail me, subject line: Play Set and I'll send the instructions your way. Don't forget to tell your friends. Merci!

Our household has enjoyed a lovely lazy Sunday. I sat the children free in the backyard with some washable paints while I tidied up the studio for tonight's printing adventure. Chocolate chip cookies are cooling in the kitchen and I have a date with the laudro-mat at 2pm. You see, I am quite behind on the laundry and I prefer to knock it out in one afternoon rather than play catch up for four days. I must go wake up Miss B from her nap now. I love Sundays.

I'm just arriving home from a birthday celebration. My beautiful mother has turned ?? (I'm sworn to secrecy). In honor of her special day, I sewed her this tea bag wallet using some of the fabric that she bought me on our recent vacation. I hand embroidered her monogram on the front and then covered a button with some blue polka dot fabric. I created my own pattern for this tea bag wallet and am just smitten with the results.

The thermometer outside reads 70 degrees. This sudden southern temperature swing has made me anxious for sweet, warm summer months. In honor of this fabulous weather, I've made lemon squares. I used this simple Krusteaz mix. The lemon squares are perfect and oh so lovely.

Do you ever have a vision for a project and never follow through? I am the queen of this sad state. However, today I conquered one of my "I'll get to it someday" ideas and ended up with these pin cushion rings. I created my own pattern for these and they turned out just as I had envisioned...simply lovely!

Bonjour! I've created a new tutorial for you. The Knitting Needle Travel Pouch is a wonderful way to carry your knitting needles with you. I created this tutorial after I spent my vacation this past weekend constantly digging in my knitting bag for the right needles. This is also a great travel pouch for colored pencils, crochet needles, maybe even toothbrushes? The world is yours...

I recently acquired a French press pot after much hinting to my mother who owned three. I can make two cups of the smoothest coffee with the French press and not use an ounce of electricity. I feel smart, savvy, and oh so European. Simply lovely.