Wordless Wednesday

Cool Moms

It's Shameless Commerce Tuesday and today I am SO EXCITED to announce that my yellow chevron oven mitt was featured in the Cool Mom Picks Mother's Day Gift Guide.  The founders of Cool Mom Picks hunt for cool finds and them share them with a huge group of followers.  Their motto:  We find it.  You flaunt it.   And let me tell you, these young gals get around!  They've even been on The Today Show and Martha Stewart.  And they have a staff -- editors, even!

As of Monday night, April 29, 2013, that Mother's Day Gift Guide had 29,500 Facebook Shares, 3.2K Facebook Likes, and 4639 Tweets.  That's a lot of free exposure!  Granted, you have to scroll down quite  ways to find my little oven mitt -- but it is there!!  It hasn't increased traffic to my Etsy shop nearly as much as my Etsy front page feature, but I am SO grateful to have been included!

So, to celebrate, I'm offering a COOLMOM15 coupon code from now until May 15, 2013, good for 15% off any purchase (not limited to oven mitts) from my Etsy shop, Pasque Flower Creations.

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Treasury Thanks

Spring has finally sprung, I think! There were certainly many Spring and Mother's Day-themed treasuries this week. I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to the curators who featured items from my Etsy shop, Pasque Flower Creations over the past week.

A brand new Etsy shop based in Portland, Oregaon, theFloria, featured my gray chevron oven mitt in a Mother's Day Gift Ideas treasury.   This hex nut blue leather bracelet would be a perfect gift for the young at heart mom or a favorite teen or graduate.

Abigail Jayne of AbigailJayneArt  (Linda Pruitt’s alter ego) featured my grunge pillow in her BBA Treasury, Mom's Day Ideas.  I love the color purple, so I just had to share this beautiful embellished plum pendant:

Ayla from Eyelah featured my large shoulder bag in her pretty treasury, Peach Pink.  This pretty pink lace zipper pouch would be a perfect Mother's Day gift -- or bridesmaid clutch!  

Sarah Beth of Magnolia Surprise also featured my large shoulder bag in her treasury, Flowers and Butterflies for Mom,  This cute, cute strawberry pin cushion  would be a wonderful gift for a mom or grandma who sews.

Anne from FreeRangeCowgirl featured my prairie sunbonnet in her treasury, Prairie Blue Bird.   You'll find some truly unique items in Anne's shop, like this French cowboy book -- Who knew?

Patty Harrington from Fern Hollow Finds, a Baby Boomer teammate, featured my rainbow chevron oven mitt in her treasury, April Showers Bring Spring Flowers.  Check out this pretty yoga mat bag from Patty's shop!

Pam of VintageCocobytheLake featured my aqua and green Spring table runner in her pretty treasury, Cool and Collected.   Pam has some incredible vintage items in her shop.  I just love this 1981 Royal Copenhagen Mother's Day plate!  (My great-aunt Dot collected Royal Copenhagen plates.)

Maude from BitsandBarley featured my red chevron oven mitt in her bright red and cheery treasury, Hot Momma,  My Mom's favorite color was red.  This small silver and gold wreath is such a pretty little piece!

Katie from EdensWake featured my navy chevron oven mitt in her cool navy blue-themed treasury, Navy.

Katie has some wonderful fold-over clutches in her shop.  One of my favorites is this pretty pink on mulberry clutch.

CeramicistaTO of RakuLabFly featured my green chevron oven mitt in her treasury, One of the Colors of Summer.   These wonderful ceramic square buttons are so unique!  They would be a perfect embellishment for a bag or pouch.

Judy from MisterPenQuin featured my large shoulder bag in her treasury, Walking the Pink and Lavender Path.  Such pretty and feminine colors!  This wonderful sewing notebook is such a clever way to keep track of stitch combinations for sewing projects!

Happy Spring!

TTFN

LeAnn aka pasqueflower

http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower

http:/www.facebook.com/pasqueflower

http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Renewal

“It was such a pleasure to sink one's hands into the warm earth, to feel at one's fingertips the possibilities of the new season.” 
― Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

The Blogging Business Artisans team challenge for the month of April comes from Margaret of Splendid Little Stars.  The challenge is to create a project using any medium that honors a spirit of RENEWAL.  

As a former farm girl, gardening (or crop growing) has always been a vivid metaphor  for renewal.

The soil is tilled, the seeds are planted, the garden or field is tended, and then comes the harvest.  After harvest, the ground lies fallow through the Winter, waiting for the warmth and sunshine of Spring to awaken the ground and start the growth cycle once again.

I'm not a very good gardener.  I didn't acquire the "green thumb" gene. I love to plant and harvest, but I hate to weed.  I still like to study the seed catalogs.  My imaginary garden is SO much nicer than the real thing.  I placed my order on Earth Day for a few favorites, but it is still too cold to plant.

We'll pick up tomato plants and green pepper plants at the Farmer's Market, rather than starting them from seeds. I hope the rabbits won't think my garden is a free salad bar for bunnies this year!  But I digress.

Back to the BBA Challenge:

I didn't venture far from my comfort zone this month in choosing my medium -- fabric.  I created this tote using a bold vegetable-themed 100% cotton fabric designed by Martha Negley.  

I added Warm & Natural cotton batting to both the outer layer and the 6 roomy inside pockets (water bottle, sunscreen, sun glasses, keys, wallet, and ... a spare!).  The lining is a solid medium seafoam 100% cotton fabric. 

The bag is padded, semi-insulated, and able to stand upright with a 4.5" squared base.  

I summoned my inner Vera Bradley and added batting to the shoulder straps for comfort.  

The bag could be used to carry gardening tools, or to haul in produce at harvest time, but I think its best use would be to ROCK the local Farmer's Market!  We have several farmer's markets in Lincoln.  My favorites are at the Haymarket downtown, and the Old Cheney Farmer's Market, closer to home and not quite so crowded.

I plan to list this bag in my Etsy shop, Pasque Flower Creations.

Thanks for stopping by!

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com.

Was I Ever That Young?

April 26 is my son Tim's 37th birthday.  He was born on the first day of finals week my second year of law school. I graduated #2 in my law school class, but I guess I flunked family planning (but in a GOOD way).

We've come a long way since this picture was taken in June of 1977.  We were standing in front of the mobile home where we lived at that time in Pierre, South Dakota.  I was working for the State of South Dakota as a rookie Assistant Attorney General in the Appeals Division.  Was I ever that young?

Today I am reminded of the beautiful Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) song, Landslide:
Stevie Nicks - Landslide - The Soundstage (2009)

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Mmm, I don't know. 
Mmm, mmm.

Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older and I'm getting older too.

Happy Birthday, Timmer!

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasuqeflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Look At Him GO!

As some of you know, my retired librarian hubby is also a quilter.  Yup.  He's a card-carrying member of the Lincoln Quilter's Guild.  So he doesn't complain when we visit our local quilt shops (much).  In fact, the proprietors all know him on a first name basis.

But his love of fabric had somehow not translated into a love of helping out with my Etsy shop, Pasque Flower Creations.  Now, don't get me wrong, he's a great cheerleader. He never ceases to be amazed at the number of international orders we get.  And he doesn't complain about the large cutting mat taking up half the kitchen table pretty much every day.

And I never could have launched my little shop if he had not taught me the basics of uploading and editing photos.  I still rely on him to change toner in the printer, and call our trusty computer repair guy when necessary.  I've kidded that he's my IT Department.

But this week something changed.  Without any prompting (or nagging), he foraged through the basement, which houses stash overflow fabrics, and began cutting 2" squares (1.5 inches finished)!

We had purchased this Accuquilt GO! Baby fabric cutter at The Quilted Kitty over a year ago, and it quickly became his new toy.  But it hadn't seen much action lately --- until this week!

Just look at him GO!  What an impressive pile of red, white and blue squares!  These will be perfect for doll quilts or patchwork zip pouches, or for hexie projects, or .....  the possibilities are endless!

He can cut six perfectly-sized 2-inch squares with this die!  Such a deal!

So I've promoted him --- to Vice President for Scrap Management!

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Wordless Wednesday