Mimi Kirchner is a wonderful doll artist. I'm not even into dolls as a rule, but I'm a regular visitor to her blog. Every post is an inspiration. She works with lots of wool (love that!) and salvaged materials (love that too!). If you like her stuff, check out her Etsy shop.
Below is a wonderful little video showing Mimi at work in her studio:
"You're a businesswoman, a wife, a mom, a world traveler, and you're knitting socks. You've got it all."
are really just an excuse to relax! I left the shop in capable hands and went to Michigan for a few days to kick back. I did a lot of swinging and knitting on the porch since it was raining much of the time I was up there.
I finished a pair of Monkey socks. This is a lovely pattern available on knitty.com for free.
We rounded up the kids from our house and Hill's (and well, OK, yes the adults went too!) and we hit the Driftwood on Round Lake for some ice cream. This little shop has not changed since I was a kid...love that.
Old school...no soft serve here. And your sundays and splits come in glass not a paper cup.
A bunch of Harbins and Hills out for ice cream.
Another rainy day activity...painting rocks. Hey, gotta work with what you have at hand! I remember doing this as a kid too.
The sun finally came out so we were able to hang out in the lake. This is my sister and my cousin enjoying the day.
Joe has been working in the garage building a floor to ceiling bookshelf. Now he's installed it and is trimming it out. We've hit a glitch though...we were using the same vintage trim that was behind the shelf...tall mop board. ...and somehow we're a little short. Now we're pondering on where we can take some from a less noticeable spot to fill in. It's going to be great to have all these shelves. We've got a lot of books, and up until now no good homes for them. I"ll be pleased to get them rounded up and in their place!
We went to the lake for the 4th of July. It was beautiful...the fireworks were loud and bright and lasted pretty much all night...perfect! But what I was really excited about was this:
Apparently the young ones are discovering knitting. This is my niece, Nicole. She is just learning to knit and is making a baby blanket for a friend.
The scarf on the left is Angelica's...she's loom knitting it. The one in the orange bikini is my daughter, Colleen. She's making a hat for a friend's baby. In the background is my sis, drawing in her sketchbook. Usually I'm the only one who brings up knitting, so I was so excited to come in and find all these young ones knitting away and chatting!
Here's the first sock of Jen's birthday pair. It's a pattern called Milo out of the wonderful new book by Cookie A. Complicated patterns...but really beautiful! If you buy the book, be sure to print out the errata...it's got a lot of corrections.
The side of our building at the shop is getting quite the face lift! The city had Diaz paint a huge mural on the back of the Rt. 66 Museum (the old firehouse part of the building). Then this spring they installed a nice brick drive in front of it so you can drive your car up there and have your picture made. The drive even contains bricks from the old Rt. 66 highway. Very cool.
Here's the front of our building...the white rectangle is where the new streetcar mural will be painted. Can't wait to see it all done!
I'm very excited about the events going on in Pontiac this summer. Pontiac is hosting the Walldogs this summer! The Walldogs are a group of sign painters and muralists from around the world. Each summer they converge in one town to create wonderful murals. 160 artists will visit Pontiac to create 17 murals around the downtown area. This design will be painted on the side of Old City Hall Shoppes! Come to Pontiac June 25, 26, 27 and 28. In addition to watching the murals being painted, you can attend Heritage days on the square and the Hang Loose Car Show in Riverside Park. You can view more of the mural designs here.
Since I run Old City Hall Shoppes downtown, I get to see all the preparation going on...the buildings have been tuck pointed and the mural sites are being primed. Some new artwork has been added to downtown for the summer.... there are dogs of all kinds, decorated by artists, to be found around the square. Here they are in a nice little group shot... right under a "no animals allowed" sign. Now they are scattered around the square, near the shops. If you haven't been downtown lately, now's the time to take a walk and see the action.
Kevin built this arbor from osage orange...it should outlive everyone at the party! The wistera on it was blooming so beautifully!
Handsome Cole boys. Mike, our son, is in the middle. The others are his twin cousins, Steven and Jake. Steven looks just like his dad. Jake looks just like his uncle (good thing they are twins! ;o)) and Mike looks like a combo of Joe and I.
Kids are never allowed to ride in pickup beds these days...but just for today, they were allowed (with adult supervision) to do just that on the little ride to the pond to fish.
Mike, Jill, Colleen and Brandy
The birthday boy...he has a huge collection of toy cowboy guns. He armed each little party goer as they arrived. I think this was a surprise to my sister, and not very p.c. but they had a blast! Apparently 8 year olds are not into considering the political correctness of their party plans!
"Cheese!"
Waiting for cake!
Looks like a tea party here.
Sometimes when you just buy what you like regardless of what is "hot" or "not," nice things happen. Like the lights from 5 years ago pretty much match the cushion fabric I purchased last year! Just snapped the little shades on a new strand of lights and we're done.
Last year the stores were full of black and taupe for outdoor living. I've seen beautiful porches decorated with those colors...but our house is yellow, and I didn't want it to resemble a bumble bee! Actually, our porch looks more like a circus, especially since adding the great table made by an artist friend. It's fun. I'd love to get that glider to an auto paint place and have it painted red or white.
Found these cushions at Pier One...made from fabric intended for outdoors, so hopefully they will not fade to quickly. I need to tighten up the cushion cover on that seat...it's just a tad too loose and wrinkles up a bit.
At our house, summer is a time for hanging out on the porch...we live out there. Last year I bought some fabric to make new cushions for the glider and wicker, so this year I tackled it. It's mostly done now...just a few finishing touches to go. The hammock is a souvenir from Hawaii...very comfy! 
Of course it's important to have a good assistant! I got a new piece of foam (denser and thicker) for the seat of the glider. The old piece lets you feel the straps under you...time to change that.
Then I used the old seat cushion as the back....that's what I'm cutting in the photo above. A great way to cut foam is to use your electric knife.
Now the seats are together, but I need a few cushions to throw around. The porch has a lot of crazy color...it's cheerful anyway!
Joe is working on building some bookshelves for the living room. This is something I've wanted for a long time...some floor to ceiling bookshelves to get all the books off the floors, stacked on tables.
Black sand beach in the Puna district.
Beautiful Hapuna Beach
Salt and pepper (or rather coral and lava!) sand at Kahalu'u Beach Park. Great place to snorkel!
Waikiki Beach
Back in 1961, when my dad was in the army and stationed in Hawaii, Mom and Dad lived on Sunset Beach in a little bungalow.
Today, we went looking for it, and believe it or not, it's still there...and looks the same! They have turned the bungalows into vacation rentals. Ki Iki Beach Rentals has their site here.
This is the beach just off of the porch.
Here's the front...they rented this for 99 dollars a month and lived here a year and a half before moving on base. Pretty tough life, huh?
The owners let us go in and look around...here's the view out the front window on this rainy day.
They lived here right up until mom was due to have me...then they moved on post. So I guess you could say I lived here too, in a way!
Mom standing in her old kitchen.
Looking across the porch...
and reminiscing.
Vacationing with mom means I'm spending more time in the shops....I bought this pretty sarong yesterday.
