Man, this is the COOLEST. How I have I not known about these? I have been dyeing fantastic silk and cotton cloths for a while now - little did I realize I was making *perfect* furoshiki cloths. To see what I am talking about, check out this great site:
furoshiki.com

I use their easy instructions for giftwrapping all the time now!

and here is a good video as well.

I have always preferred to give gifts unwrapped, or wrapped in something beautiful and re-usable. this is PERFECT!

It must be my lucky day. First, I find a printer-paper-box FULL of fabric, for $4.0o. Yes, four bucks. I could not be more delighted. Most of it is cotton, and some really cool vintage prints. Overall it is perfect for me. I'm re-learning how to sew, and doing a bit of quilting, and while I do like quilting, it seems a *bit* ridiculous to me to spend lots of money for brand new big bits of fabric when you then spend ages whacking up into little bits and sewing them back together. What I love about quilting is the idea of using leftovers and scraps, to make something gorgeous and functional. So this box of random fabrics is PERFECT.

AND? Then, I win 2 skeins of amazing yarn from the nation's first Fiber CSA, of which I am a proud member.

lucky lucky me!

I seriously LOVE to barter. And I have gotten some of the COOLEST stuff from my friend Tribalcime - this pretty is a gift for a friend of mine, but she also sent me two other necklaces which just are so gorgeous, energetic, and beautiful!!!

i love this scarf. I made it using a really random assortment of yarns - the "base" is a black chenille i got from a deconstructed sweater. The other yarns are: some handspun, naturally dyed silk, some rainbow ribbon, lots of end-bits of recycled sari silk yarn, and some purple/blue/teal hand-dyed chenille. it's colorful and super-soft. I knit it lengthwise on size 13 circs, 100 stitches, and left LONG strings at each end for the fringe.

It's Sept 14th, and just yesterday i harvested the first 4 tomatoes out of my garden. to say it is a slow year in the garden? yeah. putting it mildly.

I also got - 4 apples, 14 pears (first harvest from our orchard! i'm so excited!) and a whooooole lot of okra. what the heck am i going to do with it?? I planted it on a whim. who knew it would be the only thing that would produce in this crazy year?!?!?