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.

Our trip to Arizona

We had a wonderful week in Arizona last week visiting my SIL. Arizona is SO beautiful. We visited the Grand Canyon, the falls, and the White Buffalo ranch. We even saw a rainbow on our last day of sight-seeing.
Here are a few photos from our trip, enjoy!

Weekend in Review

The past few days we have seen the most beautiful butterflies in the yard. Of course as soon as I go get my camera and make it back to the yard they are always gone. I did manage to get a photo of a pretty monarch though (not as cool as the other ones but still very nice). :)




Since we got our garden in late this year we are still patiently (or is that impatiently?) waiting for something other than fresh lettuce and herbs. Don't get me wrong I love fresh lettuce for salads and herbs for all kinds of things, but I can't wait for fresh tomatoes and other yummy garden stuff to grow. I am so tired of the mealy, bland things that call themselves tomatoes from the grocery store. Blech. So MIL and I headed off to the farmer's market yesterday in search of some yummy farm fresh goodies. I came home with cucumber, zucchinis, tomatoes, red potatoes, fresh green beans, a variegated basil plant (it smells sooooo good) and even a fresh loaf of crusty french bread. Mmmmmm.



Today I made Ella a criss-cross dress using some leftover vintage sheet fabric I thrifted last month. Frankly I'm a bit lazy when it comes to sewing. I hate using patterns or measuring so I just kind of wing it and make it up as I go. Sometimes it turns out great sometimes it's a disaster, but it's still fun so what the heck. Luckily this time it turned out pretty well. Can't wait to dress Ella in it. :)
Love the funky green, plus now she matches my patio cushions LMBO.





We also have a new dove to add to our menagerie of pets. Introducing Miss Gracie (MIL suggested Grace but the kids have taken to calling her Gracie) so Miss Gracie it is. She is a super sweet, gentle little light brown ringneck dove. She is very tame and will sit on your finger and let you pet her. Awwww. Unfortunately Peace doesn't seem to think much of her. Every time we have tried to put them together he tries to peck the heck out of her. Poor little lady. So I ended up having to go buy a 2nd big cage for Miss Gracie. Which kinda defeated the whole purpose of getting a
2nd dove in the first place, but she is so sweet and I am quite fond of her so she is here to stay. Their cages are side by side in my studio and they do like to look at each other and coo and sing to each other. So I guess it's better than nothing.

Goodbye to Love

I am with heavy heart to report that our female white dove Love passed away
today. :( She was such a sweet dove.

Dh found her. She looked so peaceful like she had died in her sleep at the bottom of her cage. Poor Peace (her mate) looks so lost and confused without his Love to serenade. We had a little funeral in the backyard for Love and buried her next to the lily pond. The girls petted her one last time, said their goodbyes, and left little bouquets of gathered clover flowers marking the spot.

We are going to try and find another mate for Peace, he looks so lonely and lost. Unfortunately I have no idea where to look. Every google, yahoo, etc search for dove breeders in Ohio has came up empty and every pet store I have called does not have any for sale. So for the meantime I think we may move Peace into the livingroom so he's not all alone. Poor dove.