Glanalaw - delighting in pure song

I've got several crafty blog posts *almost* ready to go - waiting on photos, mostly, or in one case, the stitching of seven buttonholes and their attendant buttons, plus whipping down four yards of lace - but in the mean time, let's have some more photos of Conrad! A long scrap of cotton is the perfect kitten toy. Sleepy.  (Grape stems are good toys, too!) I love this kitten so much!  He is a joy and an endless source of amusement (plus a few scratches.) Now if I could just train him to stay off the computer keyboard.

With myself, that is. This summer, since I'm in an apartment, and therefore paying for all my utilities myself, I decided to see how long I can go without turning on the air conditioning.  Where I grew up, this would be no problem - we used it maybe three times a summer, and that was usually only because we were having houseguests.  Here, though, in Tennessee, it's already been over 90 several days, and it's still May.  So this could be challenging.  I won't be totally without air conditioning, as I spend my mornings working in conditioned spaces.  But I'm not turning it on at home. It's not as bad as it sounds though.  Our bedrooms and the living room have ceiling fans, which move the air around, making it feel cooler even though they don't actually cool anything.  We have a big box fan, which we haven't needed to use yet.  And there are all sorts of cooling tips: don't run the oven much - and if you must bake, do everything in one day. ...

I have been doing a fair amount of quilting and patchwork lately, and have felt the need of a quilting frame.  Last summer I bought a big hoop but it was unweildy and difficult to work with and I almost never used it. So this past week I did some searching online and after some research decided I would make my own out of PVC pipe. I liked the look of  this commercially-offered frame  but definitely didn't like the $115.00 price tag.  I found  instructions here  to make a very similar one.  I did modify the dimensions slightly, making the frame about 30"x40" instead of the 40" square suggested.  I found almost all the materials at Lowes, right down the road, although I did have to order online the Snap Clamps that hold the quilt on the frame.  Even so, the materials cost me only $35.00 (including shipping for the snap clamps), and even if I count the hacksaw and blades which I bought to cut the pipes into the cost of material (and I am sure...

I have a new kitten!  He was a graduation present from my best friend and her fiancé, and he is absolutely adorable.  (He does not like to sit still to have his picture made, though).  He's about 10 weeks old - which means he's smaller than my size-eleven shoe, completely unfamiliar with a litter box, and still cries for his mother.  He's also currently a flea-bag, but we're working on that. His name is Conrad, and I adore him.

Clearly God was listening to the stream of prayers coming from West Tennessee this past week, because the weather was perfect -- mid-eighties and sunny, with a breeze to keep it from being too hot.  My whole immediate family came (including my older brother, who I wasn't expecting - what a lovely surprise!) and we spent a great weekend together. I now possess a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance.  Graduated magna cum laude and couldn't be happier! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap...

As I am sure you have noticed, I gave my blog an overhaul, redoing the layout and the colours.  Much as I liked the plain, almost spartan colour scheme and layout of the old look, I'm really enjoying the bright, spring green -- and the birds are a subtle reference to the meaning of my blog's title; "glanalaw" is a combination of two Welsh words which means, roughly, "pure melody".  Songbirds are the perfect image to go with that idea!  I'd appreciate feedback, though; is this readable?  Easy on the eye?  Do I need to tweak the colours? I graduate from college tomorrow and start summer work (babysitting three mornings a week, and organizing my church's music library) on Monday.  It's hard to believe it's been four years since I first came to Union.  Time is funny - in a way it seems that these four years have flown by; in another, they've been the longest years of my life.  But some of the best. I'll stop philosophizing now ;-)  Bl...

My friend Shannon brought me a rose today. It is fat and silky, and it smells of ginger and wide-open fields. Perfection in a blue mug.

This afternoon as I was rummaging in the fridge for lunch, I came across a take-home box from Ruby Tuesday's that my roommate had left and said was fair game.  Most of it looked distasteful -- old green beans, weird broccoli soup -- but there was a single garlic-herb-cheese biscuit which looked edible, so I ate it.  It was quite good, but I was immediately seized with a desire to make my own biscuits!  So I did, just going "by feel" without a recipe, and they turned out so well that I thought I'd share what I did. Garlic Cheese Biscuits 1.5 cups all purpose flour 1 T baking powder (approximately; I didn't measure, and I think I used a little less) about 2 tsp. salt garlic powder - about 1/2 tsp?* a sprinkle of dried onions* 6 T butter, margarine or other solid fat sprinklings of dried herbs - I used parsley milk cheddar cheese Mix the dry ingredients, cut in the fat, add herbs and cheese, and stir in enough milk to make a wet dough.  (About 3/4 cup,...

The honeysuckle is blooming outside my apartment this week, in huge fragrant banks of cream and yellow.  The scent is intoxicating, and stronger than I've ever smelled honeysuckle.  I love walking out the door in the morning, or coming back to the apartment after a long day, to be greeted with such a fragrance. I've spent the weekend sewing in my big chair by the window and enjoying the honeysuckle-scented breeze.  Spring is such a lovely time of year!

We've got my friend's kittens staying with us again for a while.  Well, they're not so much kittens anymore, but the name stuck!  His sister is still pretty shy, but I think Velcro at least is enjoying his vacation. Velcro, plus a tiny glimpse of my quilting project!

Yesterday, after presenting my lecture-recital on the Libby Larsen song cycle I sang on my senior recital, I came home and decided that a nap was in order.  It was 5 PM and I had to be at a band concert at 7:30, so I figured I'd get in an hour and a half of sleep -- a decent nap, enough to get me through the evening.  So I set the alarm for 6:30 and took a book to bed to read myself to sleep. Next time I was conscious, it was 9:15.  In the morning. Yes, I slept for sixteen hours.  No, I did not hear any of my alarms -- not the one for 6:30 PM, or the ones for 7:00, 7:40, and 8:12 AM.   Not once.  And I missed the band concert completely. But I guess I needed sleep?

I realised recently that though I've done quite a lot of sewing this winter and spring, I haven't posted about very many finished projects.  Partly this is because I've been busy, but mostly it's because I haven't been home, and therefore I haven't been able to talk my dad into photo shoots ;-)  But I've resolved to be better about this, and I've persuaded my roommate to snap some pictures whenever I wear one of my new creations.  We need to come up with some better locations for pictures, but you can't have everything.  So, here's the first one! This is actually the most recent dress I've made and it's one of my favourites.  I used McCall's 5094 .  The only alterations I made were to add two inches to each of the bodice sections.  (In retrospect, 1.5 inches would have been enough for the midriff section - it sits a tiny bit low and wrinkles a little.  Sometime I might go back and shorten it, but it's okay the way it is.)  I th...