Sunday, October 31

The best of times.



This set of photos never fails to make me smile.

Friday, October 29

And the winners are...



First winner is Maddie! Maddie gets three of the larger sized zinnias in any of the available color choices.

And the second winner is Ashley! Ashley gets three mini zinnias in the colors of her choice.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the giveaway. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. I wish you all could have won!

And remember, you can still get 10% off any of the non-sale items in the Mad Orange Shop. 10% off any special orders too. Just drop me an email first.

A happy weekend and Halloween to all!

Wednesday, October 27

The last of the zinnias.



On Monday afternoon I went out and cut most of the zinnias in the yard. And I am so glad that I did because that night it got cold enough to freeze most of the flowers in our yard. Zinnias can withstand quite a bit of cold, but apparently it was just too cold that night and when I went out on Tuesday morning, I found a lot of not so happy brown zinnia flowers and stalks. Alas!

No matter, I have a lovely bouquet in the kitchen and one on my office desk. And after spending most of the fall trying not to take too many zinnia photos, I gave in today and took a bunch because I realize that maybe in my attempt not to take too many, I didn't take enough.

Something.

Zinnias make me happy.

The giveaway ends tonight, tomorrow I shall draw some names and Friday I will announce the winners!

Tuesday, October 26

Green. Blogs. And orange.



So green! My aunt and uncle have a lime tree in their backyard. It was so nice to go out and pick limes for our margaritas right off the tree. They sent us home with a bag full and I was oh so sad when it was gone.

I want a lime tree in my backyard. And a margarita tree.

It's been awhile since I shared some of the new blogs that I've been reading so here it goes.

There are two Pittsburgh blogs that I really enjoy reading. One is The Long Way Home which I discovered via Facebook as the writer of the blog is married to one of my friends. Lisa always has interesting stories to tell and takes great photographs. I especially like her self-portraits. The other is Eleanor's Trousers which I stumbled across awhile back when I was randomly reading tweets about the Steelers. I don't recall what she wrote, but it was enough for me to check out her blog and I've been visiting ever since. She's quite a fabulous writer. And a Steelers fan, so hey, you know. Plus I always have a special place in my heart for all things Pittsburgh. I miss that place.

The other one that I am going to mention I literally discovered yesterday. Usually I find a new blog and check in from time to time before getting totally hooked, but every once in awhile, I find one and immediately know that I am going to want to check back daily. xo azuree is one of those. Azuree lives in Chicago with her musician husband and they live in a 12x15 foot studio. Yes, I just wrote 12x15 foot studio. That blows my mind. In a good way. I discovered Azuree via Words To Shoot By. She is one of the newer contributors. Yay!

Which leads me to orange. The latest Words To Shoot By is all warm and lovely orange. Check it out.

And with that I must leave you and get back to my never ending list of things to do.

Cheers my loves!

Oh and don't forget to enter the zinnia giveaway! Tomorrow's your last chance.

Sunday, October 24

In the backyard of my aunt and uncle.



Hydrangea.
(A word I have quite a hard time saying.)



Blue bottles
and
an orange birdy.



Green leaves
against
a pale yellow wall.

Saturday, October 23

Friday, October 22

How about some Etsy love?

Well alright then.

I'm really loving felted stuff right now. Yes, my love for felt work extends far beyond what I do (which is more properly called "fulling").

I recently discovered PenFelt through a friend here in Santa Fe and I love her work. I especially love the hair pins and flowers.

Love these hair pins as well.

Oh and my love for nifty t-shirts never ends. This roller skate t-shirt rules. As does all of WrenWillow's work.

'Tis the season for cowls and while I already have two that I love, I now have my eye on this pattern from pixiebell's shop. I always admire Mobius cowls and I imagine this would be a pretty quick knit with chunky yarn.

My need for tops from Ellaina Boutique continues as well. I love the tank that I purchased during the summer and recently I bought this long-sleeved cowl which is awesome. Sue's work is amazing and she provides excellent customer service. I really want one of everything.

I've got my eye on one of these garlands from MaryMade too. I think it will be the perfect decoration for that space over my office window that I've yet to fill.

Someone actually gave me an owl print from this shop for my birthday. I love it and I always really dig this "Watch the Birdie" print too.

So much great stuff on Etsy, if I had a million dollars, I'd buy it all!

Don't forget to sign up for the Zinnia Giveaway!

Thursday, October 21

There's something about piers.



That I really love.

Yes, still posting summer vacation photos in October. It's actually quite nice to keep revisiting that time. It was such a wonderful trip for us, one that I hold dear to my heart.

I hope you will enter the zinnia pin giveaway! There's still plenty of time to leave a comment.

And, over at Words To Shoot By, there is a call for entries. Think orange!

Wednesday, October 20

Zinnia Giveaway!



In honor of autumn and my love of zinnias, I am having a zinnia pin giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and you will be entered.

Or, if you don't like to leave comments, you can send me an email at madorangefools [at] gmail [dot] com.

First winner gets three zinnia pins in any of the colors I have available. (Color chart is in this listing.)



Second winner gets three mini zinnia pins in any of the colors I have available. (Check out the listing for more info and color chart.)



Both sizes look fabulous alone or grouped together on a lapel or purse. Pin one on a scarf or in your hair. Or keep one for yourself and give the others as gifts.

Just have fun!

Hope you'll enter to win and maybe even spread the word around. Comments will stay open until next Wednesday at midnight. That's October 28th. Two random winners will be drawn and announced on Friday, October 30th.

Oh and I am still offering 10% off at the Mad Orange Shop to anyone who visits this site. Just send me an email before you order and I'll adjust the price. (Does not apply to sale items or "three for" deals.)

Cheers!

Wednesday, October 13

Felt is fabulous for fall!



Fall is the perfect time for felted handbags and zinnia pins!

I make lots of different styles of bags in different colors, stripes and solids, big and small.

And the zinnias are available in just about any color your heart desires so if you don't see your favorite color in the shop, let me know and I'll whip one up just for you!



I love to do special orders so if you see something you would like in a different color, that's not a problem.

I've had to move a lot of my stock over to the local shop as sales have picked up there (yay!) so I don't have quite as much in the Etsy shop, but feel free to make a request if you don't find exactly what you want.

There are more photos in the sold section as well as on Flickr. (In the Flickr set, I only sell the felted items, not hats and scarves that were made from patterns that are not my own.)

If you are interested in ordering something, contact me first and I'll give you 10% off! (Only applies to items not already on sale.)

Monday, October 11

Shadow.

Shadow.

A new Words To Shoot By is up today. And there is an announcement about a call for entries so if you are interested in participating, definitely check it out!

I don't know whatever happened to my vacation posts. I might still do it, if only for my own memory, but I don't know. Things are busy around here and every spare moment I've had lately has been spent reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I finished it last night and started The Girl Who Played with Fire. It's all I can do not to just spend the entire day reading! Very engaging books. No idea why it took me so long to get to reading them.

I've been listening to the new Kings of Leon quite a bit today. I like it.

Anyway, I've missed saying hello here. I hope to be around more often.

Sunday, October 10

10/10/10



My submmission to 101010: a most auspicious day.

We drove up to Aspen Vista to check out the golden aspens and take some photos. It was nice to get out and breathe some mountain air, but there were TONS of people up there. (Of course.) Will commented that it was worse than being at Whole Foods. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the beautiful light and colors and each others company.

We climbed down a little hill to get some pictures and there was a family down there, having fun and taking photos. The mother was wearing a Steelers hoodie. She was taking photos of the kids playing and what not, then called her husband over. "Come on, let's get a picture of us having good times without beers in our hands."

I am still laughing.

After a few minutes of watching her take family photos, I asked her if she wanted me to take a shot with her camera so she could be in it. She was hesitant and then Will said, "we're Steelers fans too." That seemed to make it all okay.

The husband laughed and said, "All the Steelers fans are in the mountains today because we have the day off." (It's our bye week.)

Steelers fans are the best.