Inspirations from Peruvian Connection

The Peruvian Connection company was started as a mail order business specializing in textiles made from the luxury fibers of alpaca and pima cotton.  According to Wikipedia, Annie Hurlbut visited Peru and found a sweater with an alpaca fur-lined collar for her Mother’s birthday.  Biddy Hurlbut showed that sweater to a buyer who wanted 45 more.

I’m always on the lookout for handmade textiles and Peruvian Connection works with cottage industries in Peru.  These artisans make beautiful items by hand.  If you are interested, take a look at the Peruvian Connection websites for the US, UK and Germany, as well as their blog at blog.peruvianconnection.com.

These bags and accessories are creative and full of detail:

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My favorites are the Floral Skirt from 2008, Pima Cotton Doily Scarf and the Bella Cardigan:

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I know you’ll find something to inspire you!

Happy Birthday Annika and thank you too!

Today is Annika’s 28th birthday.
 
Annika has a happy little blog named Seelenfein and the header reads “everything that is good for the soul.”   Annika is a fan of Hello Kitty so I could not resist including this little dancing kitty in honor of her birthday.  I read that Annika lives with her little daughter and sweet Mr. Seelenfein in Germany.

It never ceases to amaze me how many wonderful and interesting people you meet in the blogging world!

In addition to the birthday wishes I also wanted to thank Annika for awarding Posy Linda its second blog award!

I am so happy to find a new friend through my blogging adventure.
Thank you Annika! 

Thank you Merchy!

Sweet Merchy of A Little Green Valley has very kindly given my first award.
 
Merchy lives in a little green valley in the city of O Porrino and province of Pontevedra, Spain.  O Porrino is located along the Atlantic coast and looks like a lovely place to live.  Here is a photo of a street in O Porrino.

I first learned about Merchy from Sunshine International Blankets of Love (SIBOL) after seeing some of the squares that she had made and sent to Sue (Mrs Twins) for SIBOL.  As you can see Merchy loves to make things and is especially good at crochet.

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Merchy’s little green valley must be a happy place.   Thank you sweet girl!

Happy Apis Mellifera Day

Today is National Honey Bee Awareness Day.

We’ve all heard about the ongoing plight of the bee, particularly Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  CCD is an alarming and mysterious phenomenon in which the workers abruptly disappear, often leaving behind their brood and Queen.   This is mysterious in that honey bees are are normally very social insects and will defend their hive and Queen with their lives.  While the debate regarding the causes of CCD continues, there are a few simple things we can do to help the bees.

• When encountering bees, don’t be intimidated.  Most bees are not aggressive unless they are provoked.
• Make your garden, patio pots and window boxes bee-friendly.  (Here are a couple of great sites for info on urban bee gardens.  Nature.Berkeley.edu and The Melissa Garden. )
• Avoid, limit, or if possible, eliminate pesticides.
• Buy organic food.  It’s no secret that buying organic protects humans and bees (and other pollinators) from harmful pesticides.  
• Buy local honey.  Eating local honey may help reduce seasonal allergy symptoms.
• Allow a beekeeper to maintain a hive or two on your property.  More information may be found at OutdoorPlace.Org.
• Bee swarm removal – do not call an exterminator!  Instead contact a local beekeeper through your state or county honey and beekeeping association.  HoneyO.com has links and information that you may find helpful.
• Set up a bee bath.  Bees need water too.  I don’t believe that the birds would mind sharing, so you could modify an existing bird bath for bees by adding a few pebbles for them to land on.
• Stop by GreatSunflower.org to find other ways to help bees. 
• Become a hobby beekeeper like Cindy at The Bee Lady from Hilltop Farm.

Now, where are you going to place those beehives?

A glimpse of old Florida

Cayo Costa State Park is like a little piece of heaven.   Cayo Costa translates to “key by the coast”, and the locals pronounce it Kay-yah Coss-tah.  The park is located on the Gulf coast, due west of Ft. Meyers and directly north of Captiva and Sanibel Islands.  If you like, you can visit the Park’s website or these YouTube selections.

Frankly, it’s not the perfect destination for everyone.  The park offers a few “primitive” cabins and campsites, primitive being  the operative word…there is no electricity (except at the ranger station), so you can forget about air conditioning!

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Not exactly The Waldorf.  The park is accessible only by boat or ferry, so you can’t just zip out to a store if you forget something.  You have to bring everything you might need:  food, drinking water, ice, plenty of bug repellent, cocktails…and even shade.

For those who don’t mind roughing it, Cayo, in my opinion, is some of the best atmosphere Florida has to offer, the quickly-disappearing  “real” Florida, the way it used to be.  Our last trip was in July of 2009, and boy is it hot in July!   But there is always a breeze along its nine-miles of secluded beach.   

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The island and its surroundings are home to all manner of birds and sea life, including families of dolphins, who feed in the shallows near the lagoons and just off the beach.

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When you’re ready to get back to civilization and a well deserved hot shower, you can pack up, catch the tram to the dock and make a stop at Cabbage Key.  This little spot is a private island that has sweet cottages and a small inn with all the amenities:

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I’ll leave you with a shot of our favorite Cayo Costa activity…..

Note to self:  get back to Cayo soon!

A call to lovers of color

Do you need a jolt of color to get you going?  Well, I’ve got the ticket for you!

There are times when words just can’t express how you feel about something.  This is one of those times.

Zip over and take a look at a glorious work in progress by Vanessa Cabban of Do You Mind If I Knit.  The divine Miss V is working on a little piece of color heaven.

You’ve gotta check this out for yourself.

Crochet Envy….The Garden Bell

I had planned something else for today.   But after visiting The Garden Bell...... I was filled with serious crochet envy....You must absolutely make a bee line over to see Kate’s Circle of Friends blanket at The Garden Bell.  I couldn’t possibly describe how beautiful it is.   Its so Kate!

Rainy Weekend

This entire weekend has been a wet one.  The National Weather Service in Miami has issued flood warnings for Palm Beach and Broward counties through tomorrow evening.  We may get between two and six inches of rain to deal with in a short period of time.

It rained on Saturday.  These are a few shots taken from the patio:

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It rained on Sunday.  These were taken at a local park today before the storm:

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Earlier this morning before the weather came in my husband and I took a nice long bike ride around “the Acreage.”  We ran into one of the neighborhood peacocks, but he kept walking away from the camera.   There is also a woodpecker that can only be seen in silhouette on a palm tree at the park.

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This post is a little trial run of Windows Live Writer.  Actually, this is part two of the trial - the post I had written yesterday  disappeared overnight.   One thing is certain - the photo placement options in Writer are great!

Crochet - Anthropologie style

Still trying to organize that memory stick and of course I would have to find these......
 
So often you hear about "Granny Chic" and "Granny with a Twist."  What are these? 

Stitch Encylopedia

Carnival

Lucy

Genevieve

Cooled Rainbow

Quirky Heirloom

Knitted too!

For close up views of Stitch Encyclopedia and Quirky Heirloom, zip over to Anthropologie.

GreenGate again!

After some consideration, I believe the photo of the striped blanket from yesterday's post doesn't do it justice.  Here are a couple of alternate views:

Sledding, and...















...up a tree.

GreenGate Copenhagen

The other day I was attempting to organize a photo collection I keep on a memory stick.  I only got as far as "G".   "G" as in GreenGate.   As in Copenhagen.  Unfortunately, they don't ship to the U.S.

During the 1994 Olympics hosted by Norway, my husband purchased a little book for me from the used book store:  The Royal Palace of Stockholm by Ralph Herrmanns.  This book contains many beautiful photos (by Hans Hammarskold) of the various and sundry royal belongings.  After that I was hooked....

I would love to visit Norway, Sweden, Finland, and especially Denmark.  Is it because I live in Florida and long for cool weather and the change of seasons or.....because GreenGate is headquartered there!?!

If you visit the GreenGate website, you'll soon find yourself lost in all manner of lovely kitchen and homey items. 

This is Sylvia.

This beauty is Chloe (not the girl, the blanket).

Lastly, this sweet little number is from a previous year's online catalog.


                                                           Isn't it pretty?  Sure wish GreenGate would "branch out."