Captivating Cosmos

July 14, 2017 by mymateriallife

Would you believe I grew these flowers myself – in the ground and from seeds? I can hardly believe it either, but it’s true. I think I’ve told you that I enjoy taking a look at Gardenista for daily inspiration. One of my favorite contributors to the site is Marie Viljoen. Last summer she wrote a post about things New York City dwellers do to bring beauty to whatever limited garden spaces they may be working with (she being an […]

Categories: Floral • Tags: cosmos, gardenista, growing flowers, marie viljoen, renee's garden

Cherry and Rose Conserve

June 2, 2017 by mymateriallife

A couple of weeks ago I got together with my friends Susan and Janice and Janice brought along the most heavenly combination of foods – crackers, creamy soft-ripened cheese and a cherry spread from Bon Maman. Each of these simple foods was delicious in its own right, but together they were some kind of wonderful. This spurred me on to find my copy of Edible Flowers, an enchanting little 1980s book from the UK by Claire Clifton with illustrations by […]

Categories: Illustration, Reading Material, Sweets, TV & Movies • Tags: cherry and rose conserve, claire clifton, edible flowers, glynn boyd harte

Spool Knit Cacti

May 26, 2017 by mymateriallife

As a shopping companion to a young teen, I can’t help but notice that the cactus motif is everywhere right now. And succulents, of course, are as popular as ever. Well why not knit your own? They won’t poke you and you won’t ever need to water them or think about what kind of light they’re getting. A small stick loom, some yarn, a pot, decorative rocks, and some kind of internal support structure like armature wire are all you […]

Categories: Knitting • Tags: cactus, french knitting, knitting, spool knitting, stick loom knitting

May Day Greetings

May 1, 2017 by mymateriallife

Hello there chickens. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Well you know I caught a bug early in April and I’ll be darned if those germs didn’t set up camp somewhere between my nose and my throat and decide that they liked it there so much that they would extend their stay indefinitely. For all I know they could be building a house in there or even a compound, but let’s not think about that. It’s May Day after all […]

Categories: Celebrations & Events, Other Holidays, Reading Material • Tags: blumchen, may day, my mrs. brown, paul gallico, tony duquette

Meet Stella

March 14, 2017 by mymateriallife

WordPress tells me that it is My Material Life’s seventh anniversary. I suppose it would be fitting to recognize the occasion with a blog post, so let me introduce you to our newest family member, Stella. After all she’s the reason I haven’t posted anything lately (and just when I thought I was getting back to some kind of more regular project/blogging roll). There are periods in life when our time is not our own and a new puppy is […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: cats and dogs, new puppy, pets

Easy Peasy Knit-In-The-Round Leg Warmers

February 9, 2017 by mymateriallife

These leg warmers are a lot like the hand warmers from a couple of posts back; both projects are simply knit tubes. But while the hand warmers were knit with regular knitting needles flat and then seamed, these leg warmers were knit on circular needles in the round, no seaming required. If you have the skills to make those hand warmers – cast on, knit stitch, purl stitch, bind off – you can make these too. I’ll show you how. […]

Categories: Clothing & Accessories, Knitting • Tags: ballet, circular knitting, knitting, leg warmers

Miniature Felt A-Frame Cabin With Zipper Closure

February 2, 2017 by mymateriallife

This project sprang from an idea I had to build an A-frame shelter or grotto for a St. Francis statue in my yard. While I was searching online for A-frame structure ideas, I ran across an image of a ski cabin for dolls from the 1960s like the one shown below. Though St. Francis still has no shelter, that ski cabin has inspired me to make two miniature A-frame cabins, the first in cardboard and now this one in felt. […]

Categories: Architecture, Kid Stuff, Miniatures, Sewing • Tags: a-frame cabin, doll houses, felt, miniatures, sewing

How to Knit a Lovely Pair of Hand Warmers (No Double Pointed or Circular Needles Required!)

January 20, 2017 by mymateriallife

The trick is to knit a square … and then seam it along one side, leaving a hole for your thumb … and repeat. Pretty neat, huh? Whatever you like to call them – hand warmers, wrist warmers, fingerless gloves, topless mittens – these are simple, good-looking and comfortable. Their Italian yarn, Cotton-Merino, from Spanish company Katia makes them extra special. I found the yarn at Uncommon Threads in Los Altos and took a liking to it immediately. There’s a […]

Categories: Clothing & Accessories, Knitting • Tags: cotton-merino, fingerless gloves, hand warmers, katia, knitting

The Enchanting Embroidery of Reiko Mori

January 11, 2017 by mymateriallife

About this time each year I like to visit a local Japanese book store for inspiration. I can usually find some type of sewing, knitting or embroidery book that stirs my creative juices, even if I can’t read the text. What happened the other day was that I found an embroidery book that I liked very much although I did ponder whether I really, really liked it enough in a does it spark joy kind of way to buy it […]

Categories: Embroidery & Needlepoint • Tags: embroidery, japanese embroidery, natural linen, reiko mori