Thank you, Mother Earth.
Fascinating histories and archives, tasty recipes, extraordinary creativity and fiber art, the magic of trees, needle-felting...
Welcome! In this week’s issue…
Owl rescue, a delightful upgrade for a simple dinner, travel with a tech-free twist, simply stunning embroidery, chai and carrots in a cake, and…
A rich archive of a fascinating magazine, 17 fascinating finds from a thoughtful thinker, and life from the perspective of miniature figurines.
How canned food came to be, nature’s extraordinary gentle giants, needle-felted mushrooms, and express yourself the handmade way.
Delicate hand-woven imagery, a colorful take on the classic pom-pom, and celebrating minimalist art.
And, happy Sunday!
As the days get shorter as we’re coming to winter in the Southern Hemisphere, our walks in the afternoon have quickly become early evening ones!
That means there’s plenty of photo opportunities for the sunsets. We always get such gorgeous colors here, as you can see in the photo below.
Despite the weather getting cooler and days getting cloudier, we still have the glorious winter sun and blue skies. I love how the trees reflect on the water.
And it was a full moon a few nights ago! It always looks so beautiful in the sky during that phase.
It was hard to capture it with my phone, but I think you get the idea. 😉
Before we begin, here are last week’s top recommendations.
The generous Luke Haynes and his wife make ‘affirmation quilts.’
Katrina Sánchez creates larger-than-life colorful fiber sculptures.
These curious animals investigating photographers will make you smile.
Here are my posts from the past week.
What To Knit Next: Fields of flowers.
Yarnsiders’ Pet Of The Week: Olive the cat.
What To Crochet Next: All the pretty projects...
Fiber Friday: The magic of blocking.
(Disclosure: Any purchases made through links may earn me a commission.)
Now for this week’s recommendations…
Owl rescue.
Our family delighted over the photos of a rescued baby owl after dinner one night this week.
captured the most adorable images.They had us all laughing with glee!
I also loved this quote from the post:
“She was a serene white ball of fluff rippling in the breeze. Despite the dire situation, she appeared to be at ease. She sat perfectly still on her oversized feet and calmly watched us. The thin coat of white down barely concealed her tiny muscular body. She was 10 inches tall, and her bright yellow eyes tracked our every move.”
A delightful upgrade for a simple dinner.
Not sure what to make for dinner? Want something simple yet easy? The Dinner: A Love Story could be the answer you’re looking for.
Read
’s latest roundup of easy ideas for inspiration.I'll be sure to try the recipe for Tofu Shawarma. I've been looking for ways to jazz up the flavor of firm tofu and it sounds delicious!
European travel with a tech-free twist.
is a freelance travel writer who has launched a fascinating, intriguing experiment. As she puts it:Each month, I’ll travel to a place in Europe that I’ve never been to before. Beyond buying the ticket that gets me there (because no chance of serendipity in the world is strong enough to make me spend time on hold with an airline call center), I’ll do it entirely without the internet.
Her first stop? Hamburg, Germany. Subscribe to follow along!
Simply stunning embroidery.
The women of the Touraine and Loire Valley in France have a rich history of extraordinarily delicate embroidered fabrics.
Antique dealer and writer
has researched their works in depth and has written a fascinating post about it.The accompanying examples in photos will show you what I mean.
Chai and carrots in a cake.
shared a scrumptious carrot cake recipe that has elements I’d not come across before. Using browned butter and the chai spices (cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. It sounds and looks absolutely delicious.
I’m going to ask my eldest son to baked this for my birthday!
How? By becoming a paid member!
On the first Sunday of the month, you get the week’s issue for free.
But, if you want to unlock my further 10 hand-selected recommendations, full access to all Sunday Scrolls (and the organized index), and more to come…
Click the subscribe button below! 👇
A rich archive of a fascinating magazine.
The Whole Earth catalog was a magazine publishing between 1968 and 1998.
Each issue was a dense and richly informative, filled with product reviews, DIY project ideas, ways to learn things, and more. As Steve Jobs put it, it was “a sort of Google in paperback form, before Google came along."
And now, the archive is online! My eldest son has found it fascinating.
17 fascinating finds from a thoughtful thinker.
Maria Popova writes the endlessly interesting blog, The Marginalian. As of this year, she’s been running it for 18 years!
Given how much reading and writing she does, you’d think she has some great life advice to give. In this post, she collects 17 ‘life-learnings.’
This is the one that resonated with me the most.
“Be generous with your time and your resources and with giving credit and, especially, with your words. It’s so much easier to be a critic than a celebrator. Always remember there is a human being on the other end of every exchange and behind every cultural artifact being critiqued. To understand and be understood, those are among life’s greatest gifts, and every interaction is an opportunity to exchange them.”
Life from the perspective of miniature figurines.
Tatsuya Tanaka is a Japanese diorama artist, who creates extraordinary scenes using little figures of people and everyday household objects.
The one depicting a ‘gym’ is so clever.
How canned food came to be.
You may think of food in cans as a relatively modern convenience, but did you know the concept is over 200 years old?
Read this article for the delightfully odd history of a pantry staple.
Nature’s extraordinary gentle giants.
Trees are such wonderful, beautiful parts of our world. Even the simplest, smallest tree is awe-inspiring, from how it grows to the colors of its leaves.
That said, some trees are just incredible because of their sheer size, uniqueness, or other qualities. This post will wow you with examples from around the world.
Needle-felted mushrooms.
I never thought you could paint with wool, but that’s how many people describe needle felting, and it makes sense!
Amy Reader is one such artist using this medium, and she makes forest floors!
I’m developing a collection of dimensional wool paintings inspired by mushrooms, the forest floor, and the connectivity of nature. My work interprets how my brain processes different colors and textures found in nature and connects them to my experience of joy as an autistic artist.
Express yourself the handmade way.
Natalie Harney is an illustrator and design researcher, and passionate about expressing her creativity and her personality.
Many people enjoy adding stickers to their laptops to express themselves, but she thought… why not make her own?
Read her process and see the delightful results.
Delicate hand-woven imagery.
Molly McLaughlin’s fine weavings are extraordinary! As she writes in her bio:
“The unique beauty of Molly’s art lies in her ability to weave unusually fine silk and linen using intricate inlay techniques to create detailed imagery.
Keeping eco-friendly textile traditions alive is central to Molly’s work. Her process revolves around utilizing dyes she creates from the plants in her dye garden and finding ways of incorporating reclaimed or abandoned fibers into her work.”
A colorful take on the classic pom-pom.
This delightful tutorial will show you how to make a pom-pom while using up all those little colorful yarn scraps. Such a fun idea.
Celebrating minimalist art.
Minimalist art is stark and modern in its beauty, and this magazine, Minimalissimo, curates some of the best of the genre.
If you love industrial design, or modern art, you might appreciate this aesthetic.
I’d love to hear what surprised and delighted you this week.
Press reply or leave a comment with your thoughts.
Trader Joe's here has a carrot cake spread (everything in the cake batter except the flour), that I believe has a similar spice blend. Hope you like the flavors together. :)
I’m not usually a carrot cake person, but oh my goodness, that recipe sounds amazing! 😋