Plainly Jane

I HAVE MOVED! CHECK IT OUT AT www. plainlyjane.squarespace.com

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-have-moved-check-it-out-at-www.html

All these things - I've been busy with a number of projects this month. I have been remiss in writing the blog however, which is something I don't like to do. ANTIQUE BROWSING: I've been sho...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/06/all-things.html

I have two new favorite cookbooks, Apples for Jam and The River Cottage Family Cookbook .  After lusting for them for weeks I finally ordered them from Amazon.  I've had them since last ...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-new-favorite-cookbooks.html

Monday was a perfect weather day, although most people would call it overcast or dreary. The sky is seldom grey for an entire day here. The sun always makes a showing even if it does even...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/04/swinging.html

I started at 9 a.m. and, fourteen hours later, ended with sweet and tangy apple butter made the old-fashioned way.  Oh, and pride coming out of my ears.  After washing, peeling, coring, pari...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/04/and-14-hours-later.html

I am finally going to do it. After the agony of potty training my 4 year old boy (with only weeks until the beginning of pre-school), I am ready to work on Livy, my 3 year old. She was ready w...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/04/potty-training.html

If there is one thing I have a weakness for (chocolate is a given), its anything sweet with pumpkin in it.  I know, I should have made this during the fall, but I craved it. I've been tryi...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-there-is-one-thing-i-have.html

Last week I went to the ER for stabbing chest pain. Diagnosis: pneumonia. I spent all week in bed which sounds nice, but really only is if you are well enough to enjoy it. To stretch my ...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/03/loyalty.html

  My trip to Portland did wonders for my mental health.  I was not responsible for anyone but myself.  I went were I wanted to go, when I pleased, and for any length of time I deemed necess...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-at-home-catch-up.html

>  >  I was desperate for coffee this morning. I am a squatter at my sister and brothr-in-law's this week as I take a much needed mommy vacation for some alone time. Anyway, I was left alone...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/02/images-from-morning-walk-in-portland.html

Can you believe this?  One continuous line.  It took 80 hours!  All of my Etch-a-sketch creations turned out blocky and choppy.  Here's the text from the Make Blog. > "This portrait o...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/02/can-you-believe-this-one-continuous.html

I made a comment sometime ago on Melissa Wastney's site, Tiny Happy , to tell her how much I liked what she does on her blog and in her store .  Her talent is something very special.  A few d...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/01/post-from-my-iphone.html

Today, my 4 year old little boy had his tonsils and adenoids removed in an amazingly short out-patient procedure. We talked it up so he wouldn't be afraid, emphasizing the ice cream and pudding...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/01/tonsilectomy.html

I've taught myself how to spin yarn.  I thought about how satisfying it would be to actually make the yarn I'm knitting with - especially for a gift.  Now that's a gift that says "I love you"...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/01/ball-of-yarn-3.html

My kids asked if they could have Chinese noodles for breakfast this morning. I told them the Chinese diner is closed until this afternoon. Luckily the only wanted to use "Chinese sticks" aka ...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/01/clean-plate-club.html

During my employment as a landscape architect and planner, I designed my fair share of parking lots. Small, large, paved, gravel. I'm here to tell you, as if you didn't already know, that there...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/01/beauty-of-parking.html

Just reminded me of what most do on New Year's Day: Reclaim their lives and try to make them better.

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2009/01/2009-reclaimed.html

I haven't knitted in quite some time.  For some reason, lately I've felt driven to pick up the sticks and some nice yarn and complete something.  (It must have been sparked by my recent wor...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/gift-for-no-reason.html

As some of you know, I love Japanese pattern books, especially those with modern patterns aimed at little girls.  The excitement in purchasing almost any Japanese craft book is the anticipati...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/sewing-japanese.html

In an earlier post , I revealed one of many versions of "English Nanny" on which I've been working.  The Nanny in this post is the one that started it all - the original.   She's construc...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-earlier-post-irevealedone-of-many.html

The colors on a wet fall day stand just pop and sing and inspire me.  We rarely see weather with all-day overcast skies and bouts of rain that just wet the pavement.  Florida's rainy season i...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/colors-on-wet-fall-day-stand-just-pop.html

The kids love glitter and were not disappointed by Martha Stewart's pre-packaged, pre-stickies (no glue) mobiles. I am usually a purist and like to search the dregs of the junk drawer, the r...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/pre-packaged-crafts-for-kids.html

This is my experiment in needle felting.  It is an exercise in quiet contemplation.  Making the same small stabbing motions over and over until the wool sits in just the right place is so s...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/needle-felted-nanny.html

The excitement of seeing something on which you labored for hours in an actual magazine,  photographed professionally, cannot be described.  As some of you may already know, one of my Big Gir...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/excitement-of-seeing-something-on-which.html

I've noticed recently that during particularly difficult rough patches, I am ferociously creative. Doodles and drawings pile up next to patterns and books on my desk. If I can get to the comp...

http://plainlyjane.blogspot.com/2008/12/snow-women.html