Autumnal Lists

We've been having this late bout of charming weather... crisp days with clear skies. Walking around our city this time of year is, well, hard to describe. A short walk on Capitol Hill to grab some lunch... deep breaths, wandering eyes, yellowing leaves, turning ivy. This city can affect and infect.

There is this impressive ivy that grows here, with big leaves like an oak tree. It covers portions of the highway walls, turning my drive over Mercer Island into a place that sparks imagination instead of traffic frustrations. Each new variety of tree that haven't existed in any of my past homes has it's own special beauty in the way it's leaves turn and fall. Graceful.


People mostly correlate beginnings of things with spring, but autumn is deeper for me. Brand new but reminiscent, beginnings in the endings and hope in the promises. I'm urging some of this autumnal spirit in my day to day will help to inspire some new projects. Until then, I'm making a few lists to help get me going. Hopefully month by month I'll be able to see these things I'm imagining and planning in my mind turn into something tangible.

Big Crafty Projects

Cog and Wheel Quilt

Whit's Knits: Striped Cotton Cowl

Small Crafty Projects

Finish the crewel project I started in a class a few months ago

Chunky Circle Scarf

Mug Rug for my desk

Hexagon Pillow Front

Cross Front Pillow

Wardrobe Projects

Anna Maria Horner Socialte Dress

DIY Blouse Copy

Amy Butler’s Liverpool Dress

simplicity 2892

Other challenges I’m undertaking and hoping to adopt full time:

I’ve always been sensitive to scents, face products, lotions, laundry detergents, etc and lately it’s made me consider a little more seriously all the chemicals in the products I’m using on my body. If I'm concerned with the types of things I ingest - I should also be concerning myself with these.

Going Shampoo-free.

October 23^rd I left the shampoo where it sat and washed my hair with baking soda dissolved in water, wondering all the while if it would be enough to zap all the coconut oil I’d put in my hair overnight. Sure enough – hair not oily, nor dry, no smell. Need to pick up the apple cider vinegar for “conditioner”. Maybe I should try to calculate the difference for what I would have spent on shampoo/conditioner if this goes well…

Adopting the Oil Cleansing Method.

Switching out face wash and all those types for a mixture of sunflower oil and castor oil. Face massage in the evening, with a little steam, wipe and go. First use Friday October 21st. So far so good...

With reason to make and to share

There was a time that writing was a large part of my interaction with my experiences, a way to digest. Yet here I am, with this aversion to maintaining this record of sorts. So I will consider it less blog and more record. Less hope to be read and more hope to be held accountable. I've all these ideas and tend to get distracted from finishing many of them. I've books unread, recipes unmade, and projects on the shelf. I'll try this again... to record the things I'm creating, dreaming, cooking, enjoying, and journeying.

Lets review.

My husband and I undertook this blog to share with our family near and far. He's since taken his thoughts to another page and I'm left having last updated 22 months ago. Such shame! We've since made the decision to move cross-country from Chicago to Seattle, made the three day drive with all our worldly belongings, traipsed from house to house before buying a lovely home and beginning to make our life here. We arrived in Washington last autumn and are now spending our first autumn settled into our new home. So much time was spent in transition that it seems I've forgotten I can actually take my spare time and make real those things i'm dreaming up. So here I am! With reason to make and to share.