Coyote Craft pretty useful things from Bean

Good Advice

In be gentle be love, books, collage on 19 February 2012 with 1 comment

From the inside back cover of my newish Smash book…

We really need to go soon.

Garden Dreams

In garden, sewing on 15 February 2012 with 1 comment

The weather has been so nice for so long, I have been itching to garden!! I ordered a bunch of vegetable & herb seeds from my favorite mail order seed company: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This year I’m going to try a few new varieties of tomatoes, different carrots, melons, three kinds of fancy onion, sugar snap peas, rhubarb, rainbow chard, thai basil and a few more.

I had so many seeds from this order combined with previous years of saving them myself – and no real way to organize them. So, I made a quick little fabric box out of upholstery/drapery fabric, muslin and cotton twill tape.

Isn’t it perfect? The upholstery fabric is plastic coated (hooray for drapes from the 1970′s) so it stands up well on its own, and I didn’t have to use any interfacing. I have since made a few dividers for it (vegetables, herbs, flowers) out of old cereal/food boxes cut down to size. I added a card with a little seed starting schedule, for each different thing I want to grow …and then it snowed!

The bunny was not impressed, how do you like his u-turn? Tee-hee!

Fiction

In books on 12 February 2012 with 4 comments

Since giving up on the fiction that is Facebook* (har har) I’ve successfully read two books of fiction!

Before I found Sherry Roberts through a friends’ recommendation, I had been in a big fiction rut for a couple of years… unable to read anything but mythology, philosophy or nutrition/health related non-fiction (so tragic, I know! haha) Sherry’s novels are down-to-earth, arty, funny, and sweetly romantic – they draw you in and leave you smiling. I also really love her strong-willed, quirky female characters. (Hmm, I wonder why??)

Her first book, Maud’s House, features an artist in a rural town who loses her muse. I fell in love with Maud & T-Bone, and the character development of everyone else in “Round Corners” is just fantastic! The New York Times Book Review says:

“Ms. Roberts’ talent is evident . . . her novel is lightly salted with folksy, good-humored insights and peppered with a spunky appreciation of life’s whimsy.”

Her newest book, Book of Mercy tackles the issue of book banning and censorship in small town America, and what it means to stand up for yourself, our rights and the First Amendment. Tahlia Newland writes:

“Book of Mercy is a truly beautiful, heart-warming novel on book censorship, the nature of love, motherhood and friendship. I loved this book from the first page to the end, which had me in tears of joy . . . The ending is perfect and the writing exquisite.”

So, get off of Facebook & read some Sherry Roberts on your Kindle! (or a good ‘ole paperback.) I know if you are reading my blog, you will love Sherry Roberts.

*If you are one of the 120+ people who think they might have been “suddenly unfriended” by me in December – I’m sorry, it’s me – not you. If you ever want to get in touch with me, my email address is bean.at.coyotecraft.dot.com and I would love to send you some snail mail! 

Lil’ Hexie Wristlet

In gifts, sewing on 8 February 2012 with Comments Off

I finally finished this little paper pieced hexagon wristlet for my sister, I sure hope she likes it! I secretly wanted to keep it for myself (shh!) We filled it with the super-strong rubber bands (the hair in our family is rebellious, too) some strawberry lip-smacker and an iTunes gift card for her iPod.

I used a recycled t-shirt and all scraps to make it – even the little clasp findings & zipper are recycled!

I always feel so accomplished and cool when I make something entirely out of things that someone else might have thrown away. So what if my house is a mess?