Serviceberry and other spring wonders

In our side yard, we have this serviceberry tree (Amelanchier grandiflora).




It's so lovely -- covered now with little white flowers along the gray stems.




The berries will follow -- looking like tiny blueberries. If the robins didn't eat them all first, I could make serviceberry jam:

Serviceberry Jam
10 cups ripe serviceberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar per cup of pulp
6 oz liquid pectin

Wash and stem the berries. Place into a saucepan and crush. Add the water and cook over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Measure how much pulp you have to determine the amount of sugar you'll need. Add sugar and return to pan. Place over low heat and cook for a few minutes more or until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and add pectin, then hold boil for 1 full minute. Remove from heat, skim foam, and pour into hot, sterile jelly jars and seal.

from Klehm Plants newsletter




Checkered lily (Fritillaria meleagris)




Birch catkins in the rain



Blue and white scilla . . .


snuggled against the birch's roots.

And some spring thrifted treasures -- little bone china cups, sans saucers, become storage for little white buttons.




I'm inspired!

Yummy Spring

Spring!

Every year these lovely, nodding hellebore blooms amaze me.

First garage sale finds of the spring: vintage wooden-spool threads in vintage cups sit on an old bench in my garden . See the leaves of rhubarb behind the bench?

Yummy threads. Yummy rhubarb.

Yummy colors of spring.

Little Lavender Dresses . . .

Most recent theme for our (three sisters') ATC exchange: Lavender.

Check out that little English lustre saucer. Couldn't leave it behind at the thrift - - what else was I going to do with that 40 cents anyway?

These little felt dresses are stuffed with fiberfill and a bit of lavender, a la Alicia Paulson's little pincushion dresses (in the Softies book?).

For once, I finished my ATCs on time!

Crafty creativity has now derailed here, however. Trying to finish up the taxes (ugh!) and to get all the garden designing, container planting, invoicing, contract writing, and all the rest of doing-business business rolling. The season has begun. And I miss my sewing machine already.

Sewing Cards Trio

I made this trio of cards for J.

Am finding that my style in creating papercrafts is rather simple and clean. The placement of each object on the card is important . . . balance . . . color . . . repetition.

These cards are like a postcard -- no interior -- and I imagine them posted on an inspiration board or lined up on a windowsill.

I love them (said modestly).

I hope J loves them, too.