pretty stack of macho fabric.

Ty Pennington fabric. Who knew a carpenter could design such pretty fabric? It makes me want to go to a construction site and befriend one of those creative, sensitive dudes!

I'm loving the blue and salmon color. Somehow, I'm going to transform that fabric into a quilt for the foot of my bed. I'll be chronicling my progress, I know how excited you must be about this.

And I'm not through with Ty yet. There's more of him in a little bag, waiting to be made into a cute little bag.

On my way out the door...there's road work going on and I'm going to find me a flower-lovin', color-savvy construction designer!

my purse needs a nice home!

This is the first attempt at making this bag. "First" is never perfect..."first" comes with little mistakes. Often, a person might not really see the imperfections in construction that my eyes see. But the mistakes are present and they bother me.

I really love this fabric. It's bold and pretty. Very summery. The blue background is lovely and soothing.

The inside of this bag is just as pretty as the outside. In fact, it's supposed to be reversible. But most of the mistakes are on the inside of this bag. That's also why there are no inside pockets...if one were to turn it inside-out there would be funny-looking pockets on the outside. Hence, no pockets.

The purse is very roomy, 13-inches high by 15-inches wide and 3-inches deep. I love it, but I can't keep every purse I make. I'm listing the purse right here from my blog for $18 plus shipping (unless you live near me and we can meet), just email me and the first person who contacts me will be sent a Paypal invoice. Please include your name and address...My email is in the upper right-hand corner.

I've been known to include a little something extra when I sell a purse...just to show my love and appreciation.

a few of my favorite things.

A few things I'm in love with these days and not in the proper order...

 This sofa table. It's on order and I'm lovin' it! We ordered living room furniture and this lovely is on its way to me. I cannot wait!

 Oh, dear! This little lamb...he's my love. My first "great." And he's beyond great, he's my little lambikin. I love him sooooo much! Isn't he adorable? I know you think he is!

And then there's this beast. She's cost us a small fortune in the last couple of months. I could tell you some other personal things about her, but that wouldn't be nice of me. She is finally feeling better and acting like her old self. Playful and perky. And we love her...so happy to have her back!

I had hoped to have some projects made and photographed, but as usual, stuff is half made and sitting on my table. Maybe by Tuesday, I'll have it ready. Or not.

why am I drawn to Ghastlies?

I generally don't care for anything "spooky." Or macabre.

But Alexander Henry's Ghastlies has its hold on me...

Perhaps it's because the woman on the fabric has crazy hair like mine?

 Or maybe it's the drawings... I find them to be brilliant, eliciting an aura from an era long past.

Perhaps the exuberant expressions on the faces of the dinner guests are tickling my funny bone...a family holiday dinner!

Hawthorne Threads photo

I really, really want some of this fabric. I'm not sure what I'd make from it, but I think I could figure something out.

If you'd like some ghastly fabric of your own, you can find it here, at Hawthorne Threads. A fabulous web site and blog...

What would you make with this fabric? An apron? A purse? A Halloween quilt?

What a ghastly dilemma I'm in!

summer hats.

I've discovered the happy world of hat-making.

Living in the land of sun, it's important to keep one's head covered while out fishing, boating, gardening and/or beaching.

I didn't create the pattern, Betz White did. Check out her fabulous blog and list of patterns. This hat really is a breeze to make...and a lot of fun. 

 Here we have a summer bouquet. The colors a fabulously bright! Nice view of the side-seam...oh, and we have a nice wrinkle! The photographer must go! What an amateur...

This little frog jumping from lilly pad to lily pad is fun... 

And another hat with flowers...perhaps a tad more subdued than the first hat.

These hats (and more!) will be residing at the Avonlea Mall, come Thursday, on the corner of Baymeadows and Philips Highway behind the new CVS store. The shop name is "Green Gables" and there are loads of fantastic creations from artists residing in the Jacksonville area. Check it out, it's a fantastic mall.  You just might get lost in there.

 Next up: the Cadet hat.

happily ever-after.

You may or may not have noticed that things were pretty quiet on my blog for about a month.

There was good reason.

I was sitting in a room with my parents, watching this:



And these...

And him. My Dad. Can you believe that he could order his meals from a menu, at almost any time of the day? Room service in the hospital. Really? And the food actually looked good. Go figure!

 And we watched a lot of T.V. Fox News, Golf, golf, golf, golf...

Dad is feeling better now. He gave us quite a scare.

Thank you to our friends and family who embraced us in their prayers.

God is infinitely good.

look at a book.

One of my daily visits is to Bari J's  blog. It's a palette of beautiful colors and designs, tutorials and photos of her fabrics, family and inspiration.

I happened to be at Joann's the other day (I don't frequent near as much as I used to) when Bari's book jumped out at me and begged me to take her home. I said, "Whoa, wait a minute! Are you worthy?" So I started looking at the photos and found...

this lovely little belt. It's so colorful and sparkly and easy-looking. So I read on...

Jackpot! The moment I laid eyes on this little number, the book was mine. AND, I had a 50% off coupon... 

That belt is awfully cute. 

And it's soooooo good to be back to blogging!