The Peaceful Touring Mornings

My favorite thing of being out on the road with fancy pants musicians are the ‘behind the scenes’ aspects of touring. I could care less (usually) about who’s on stage, who they know, or what they’re into.
Unless it’s kitty cats. Then, we’ll talk.

What I love is inhaling the wash of color across the sky as the sun begins to rise; enjoying a good cup of coffee, a bagel and a walk around the city with Biceps while everyone else is still asleep (hungover).

When an bustling city is at its quietest-around 3 am, I peer from my hotel room window and watch the methodical street cleaners glide down the road, picking up last nights debris. (That’s white spot is the top of our bus and our trailer).

And before the insanity of a sound check administered by a grouchy pony-tailed engineer begins; we hop on our bikes to check out the ghost land that will soon be full of a beer guzzling, hooting and hollering crowd in just a few short hours.

We bike closer to the venue, draw in by the low rumble of the semi-truck’s diesel engines. The calming monotony of the engines as they idle assures us that we are getting closer to the possibility of catering.
Mmmm….food…..

Once our tummy’s are properly full, we bike back to the hotel, ignoring the smell of the generators as the purr away. We have approximately seen 7.25 people throughout the entire morning and we sneak back into our room, without so much as a glance to the busses full of people.
The peacefulness continues until Biceps insists we pull out P90X and ‘get our workout on’. I groan and try to hide underneath the covers…but he always finds me.
The peacefulness was good while it lasted.

This Kansas Girl Loves Her Sunflowers

Growing up in the ‘Land of Ah’s’, you fall in love with the site of an entire field propagating the majestic sunflower.
Our backyard ended in a field, which happened to be full of the bright yellow flowers.

I would sit for hours watching bees come and go from the flower’s gigantic brown center.

The Sunflower tells me that I’m home, that I’m safe, that life is simple.
That just maybe, I’ll walk into my childhood kitchen and Mom will be making spaghetti, which is her favorite meal, with green beans and garlic toast.

A single Sunflower is enough to brighten a room-plus they last forever. I like to group together three or more-that is, when I decide to part with my hard earned cash to have pretties in my house.

There’s something about the Sunflower that is both delicate and rustic that I relate to in a very personal way.

I think if I ever become famous and people want to know what flowers that I would like in my hoity toity hotel room, the sunflower would be in my top five. Maybe even my top three.

The Sunflower tells me that summer is winding down, that fall is upon me-bringing with it cooler weather, the need for coffee, a good book and a scarf.

I love that I have Sunflowers right now in my dining room even though I live in Oklahoma now, and not Kansas.

But, I bet they came from Kansas, so that’s good enough.

Recycled Sweater Scarf

I own several cute sweaters that have have seen better days.
Pilly, accidentally shrunken and worn out in places, these sweaters were on the verge of being tossed out.
But the fabrics were soft and cozy and they asked me for a second chance.

Armed with my old, pilly sweaters and with the need for wintery accoutrements; I forged into the unknown world of scarves and mittens…with a seam ripper at my side.
(So, as not to overwhelm, this tutorial will focus on the scarf. I’ll add the tutorial for the mittens later.)

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own sweater scarf:
Two old sweaters
Scissors
Seam Ripper (if you sew like me)
Straight pins
Tape measure
Thread and Bobbin to match
Sewing Machine

Cut the sleeves from the body of both of the sweaters. One of my sleeves had pretties on it, which I placed strategically at the end of the scarf.

Measure the overall length of your sleeves and divide by three, cutting the sleeve in thirds. Each of my three pieces measured to be 6 1/2” long. A typical scarf if about 50-55” in length. Mine ended up being about 58”.

Lay the cut pieces out in an alternating pattern. I used the sleeves of my lime green sweater to be the end pieces of the scarf.

Cut along the old seam of each of your pieces, laying them open flat.

Pin each flat piece to the next, right sides together, with a 1/4” seam allowance.

Double check that the right sides are all on one side of the scarf by laying it out flat.
My scarf started resembling a caterpillar at this point.

Sew together each of the pinned pieces on the wrong side of the material.

The seams should all be on the wrong side of the material. If not, pull out your handy dandy seam ripper out and get to work…

Fold the scarf in half, lengthwise. Pin together, leaving a 1/4” seam allowance.

Once the length of the scarf has been sewn a fresh new seam, turn it inside out.

I left the ends of the scarf open, but you can sure as heck sew yours closed. I wanted the option of smuggling candy inside of them if need be.

Try the cuteness factor of your scarf out by wearing it around the house. Add sassy stances and flip the end of the scarf around your neck until your husband notices.
When he asks you why you are wearing a scarf when it is still 94 degrees outside, tell him that you saved him $35 by making your own scarf from old sweaters.
I guarantee you that he will love your new scarf.
(Make sure you stop back by soon. I’ll be putting up the tutorial for the matching mittens for your sewing pleasure!)

An Incriminating Past thanks to Photographic Evidence

Several photos have been surfacing lately of my mother’s side of the family that I have never seen. My sweet Aunt has spent hours scanning and emailing them to me.
I love seeing a face that is so bizarrely familiar, that I feel as if I am looking into a mirror.

This photograph has both my mother and my Aunt in it. I love seeing the dynamic of the different personalities in this photo. Most of the people I have never met.
And for some reason, my Grandmother is holding several life vests, although this looks like an obvious ‘Get together for a family photo!’ type of moment.

My mother is clearly feelin’ her oats in this photo.

This disease apparently runs in the family…

…and it runs deep.