Gifts from the Garden

I love that nature can provide so much for us...food, nourishment, peace, and beauty. Here are a few gifts my garden has given me this week.

Sprucing up the Couch

Our poor couch. It was so pretty when we got it, although when we originally bought it I had picked out a nice dark (although drab) solid color thinking it would camouflage stains well, but when they delivered it it was the wrong color. They had accidentally ordered a beautiful light cream colored one instead of the dark brownish/grey blah color I had picked out at the showroom. I knew I should of sent it back right then. But it was SO PRETTY. I knew it wasn't a wise idea and so impractical, but it was SO bright and pretty and looked SO good in the livingroom. So against all better judgement I decided to just keep it. Silly me. :P So it's only been 2 years since we've had it but the poor thing looks about 20 years old now, lol. Between 3 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats, a dh who manages to spill coffee on it on a regular basis even with a covered travel mug (what we jokingly refer to as the adult version of a sippy cup), and my clumsy self let's just say the poor thing has seen better days.

I have steam cleaned the heck out of it but it still looked well...ugly. We started keeping it covered up with quilts but they would bunch and shift and never stay on the bottom cushions well.

So then I tried a slipcover. It looked nice for a week then the cat threw up on the arm of it bleaching out the color and then the same morning the dog decided to dig a hole through the middle of it *rolling eyes*. So so much for that. I wasn't too upset though because the stupid thing shifted like crazy and wouldn't stay on the cushions anyways. Oh well. Live and learn.

We though about getting a new couch but ruled that out because...well it would just end up looking like our current one in another year. So why bother? LOL.

Dh is still in favor of a plastic slip cover on every piece of furniture we own (think the mother's plastic encased couch on Everybody Loves Raymond). LOL. No thank you.

I thought about it for awhile and finally came up with an idea. Giant pillowcases for the cushions! I can take them off and wash them easily, if I get tired of the fabric I can just make new ones, and it's something I can make myself easily (and etter yet cheaply) even with my limited sewing ability. They didn't turn out too bad and I even made some cute pillows to match.

We'll get a nice new couch once the kids are out of the house or something. LOL.

But for now, it'll do. Plus Ella looks so cute snuggling the pillows. *smile*

A Dress for Miss Kitty

I spent the afternoon with Miss Gwen in my craft studio. We had such a nice time. She helped me organize all of my little scrapbooking and crafting do-dads (such as brads, clips, buttons, etc.). When I cleared out our kitchen cabinets last week for part of our kitchen remodel I came across a ton of empty or nearly empty glass spice bottles. I washed them all up and decided they would be perfect to organize all the stuff I have in my studio but usually forget to use because I can't see it (or find it lol) easily, so the glass jars were perfect because I can line them all up on my desk and actually see what is in each one. Gwen was so sweet as we were organizing them she looked up at me and said "This is so much fun mommy and do you know what the best part is?" I asked her what and she said "spending time with you.". Melt my heart. *smile*

So after organizing the bottles Gwen decided she wanted me to make her toy kitty a skirt. So she picked out the fabric and a little white ribbon bow she liked and we made Miss Kitty a skirt and a matching lace "shawl".

The Sound of Silence

It's 7:46 a.m. and amazingly everyone is still asleep (well besides me obviously, lol). The house is so quiet and ever so peaceful. The only sounds I hear are the birds singing softly outside my window, a tiny lone cricket chirping from the side yard, the soft gentle breeze of the ceiling fan, and our doves sweetly cooing their good morning to the rising sun from my studio at the back of the house.

All is still and calm and at rest. So glorious. It's a rare treat in our usually busy house full of active children and pets to have such a beautiful, peaceful moment as this.

I know there are a million things I should be doing now... laundry, cleaning, showering....and the list goes on.

But I think I will just sit here and relax and take 5 more minutes and enjoy the quiet. All I'm missing now is a cup of tea. *smile*

Vintage Sewing Finds

I have been meaning to post these for awhile now but I keep forgetting to, so I figured better late than never, eh? I found these at my favorite little antique consignment shop. They were too cute to pass up and at 50 cents a piece (yes, you read that right...50 cents!!!) I had to grab them. *smile* I don't know if I'll actually use the actual patterns or not since I'm terrible at deciphering patterns but I LOVE the graphics and was thinking they would be great to color photocopy and then use them in some type of nifty decoupage project.

There were tons of adorable vintage buttons too, also super cheap (you gotta love a deal!). The buttons I will probably use on some more dresses for Miss Ella. I also found some great vintage transfer sheets for embroidery. Since they are so old I'm not sure if they would still work (anyone know?) but I figure if all else fails I can just copy them and use them. I have a bunch of plain white pillowcases I thrifted awhile back that the pillowcase ones would work great on.

There is an adorable apron transfer sheet. I don't have any aprons that it would look perfect on yet so I plan on attempting to make an apron from scratch to use it on, so we'll see how that goes. The only aprons I have ever made were Barbie sized ones for the girls' dolls, so I'm going to need a lot more fabric for myself lol. Who knows maybe I'll get wild and actually attempt to USE the apron PATTERN. Or maybe not. We'll see.

The infant/lingerie transfers (yes you read that right lol, infant/lingerie... because goodness knows every girl wants her hot little nightie to perfectly match baby's spit up bib). I think I will also use those on some of Miss Ella's dresses.

I can't wait for the weather to cool down. There is nothing I love more than doing something homey like embroidery or knitting projects in the fall and winter curled up on the couch underneath a warm, cozy quilt next to a nice cup of hot tea, and a plate of homemade cookies, needle(s) in hand, all warm and snugly while the cold wind whistles outside. *smile*

Goodbye to Summer

This time of year the garden starts to look pretty shabby, most of the flowers have bloomed and went to seed. The colors of summer have faded. The recent windstorm didn't help matters much either. All the remaining flowers that haven't died already were blown down, flattened like pancakes all over the yard. The only color left in my flower beds are my cosmos. Their stalks are all flattened and going every which way but I don't have the heart to cut them down just yet because even though they are laying on the ground they are still full of buds just waiting to burst open with color and beauty. So I left them (much to the dismay of my OCD yard tending neighbor I'm sure) but I'm so glad I did. They have been providing me with lots of lovely cut flowers, filling the house with color... a final hurrah to summer.