I love this photo of my mom. Her posture is so casual, comfortable, natural. I believe she's at a fort of some kind. This would have been taken in the '50s, I think.
Mom had four of us rowdy kids...three boys and a girl.
If you're a sewer, you need to trot over to Izzy &Ivy and enter their giveaway. Let me tell you, they are some very talented pattern designers. And they're giving away 4 bundles of 3 patterns...you figure that out.
Seriously, it's a charming site and the patterns are so lovely. Have fun looking around and tell 'em that Patti sent you. And they'll say, "Who? I don't know who that is..."
It's been a very good weekend in oh, so many ways!
First, the temperatures have fallen to the mid-fifties and I don't have to tell you how incredibly happy this makes me. We opened all the windows, letting the chilly air permeate the house. We slept with the windows wide open, snuggling in at night and letting the chilly night air waft over us. It was glorious!
On Saturday, we celebrated my Mom's birthday and Jason's Dad's birthday. They share the same birth date, November 9th. Jason made steak on the charcoal grill and we had a fun and happy birthday celebration.
Today, our good friends Mike and Pat hosted us for a lovely dinner in their new home. The food was delicious and company, even better! And any day that I don't have to cook is a glorious day!
And finally, last night, the time turned back. This makes me so insanely happy...when we wake up, it's light outside. In the evenings, it gets dark earlier and that means one thing:
...I can put my jammies on at 5:00 PM and not feel guilty about it.
I found this fabric the other day and I instantly fell in love with it. It's my great find...it'll be another four years before I find a comparable design that I love so much. It doesn't happen often, but when you find THE fabric of your dreams, your world screeches to a halt and all you can do is admire the cuteness of the design.
The skill of the sewer has nothing to do with the finished product...it's all the fabric, man!
When you walk the fabric to the cutting table and women stop you in the aisle, exclaiming the charm and sweetness of your find, you just know you've hit it out of the ballpark! When the lady at the cutting table asks what you're going to make with the cute fabric, you clam up and you don't really want to share your ideas...because it'd be like giving part of your heart away. To share your dreams for the fabric would be akin to sacrilege. No, a fabric like this you treasure and look at for a few days. Then you wash it, iron it and timidly cut into it.
Oh, the possibilities! The charm...like stepping back in time.
We're talking about Miracle on 52nd Street...June and Ward Cleaver...A Christmas Story. And be it an apron, table runner, placemat...it just speaks Christmas. The good ol' days. Childhood. Innocence. Simplicity.
Stay tuned...I'm not sure what I'm going to make with the fabric, but whatever it is, it's going to be supremely cute.
Christmas is coming, my friends! I'm hoping for snow...
Miniature fabric bags. It's what's new and trendy for Christmas.
That's what I'm going with...
I stumbled upon the pattern on The Happy Zombie's blog. Ms Zombie posted how her cute pattern was to be published in Better Homes and Garden's Quilts and More Fall 2010 publication. Naturally, I just had to buy the magazine. I turned to page 16 and found that the instructions are free on the online sister-site of the magazine. I hate it when that happens! No matter, there are plenty of other wonderful inspiring projects in the same magazine issue. This little bags measure 4-inches by 4-inches by 2-inches. Two fat quarters and you're in business to make 4 little bags! I added some interfacing to make them sturdy and stand on their own.
The bags are fun and so easy to make. I have several in Christmas fabric, Halloween fabric and everyday, cute designer fabric!
These miniature bags adorable! What, you may ask yourself, would you ever use them for?
I'm going to use them as gift bags. Let's see...you could put a jewelery box in it, a lovely box of chocolates, rolled finger-tip towels to be placed on your bathroom vanity, a gift card would be lovely in a fabric bag...
Or let a little girl use the miniature bag as her Christmas purse, stashing her little brush and girlie treasures in it.
Jason's going to use these to put gifts in, for the girls in his office. He's not going to personally carry a tiny bag, as he'd look silly with a such a small bag. No, I'd make him a much bigger bag if he ever needed a cute bag...
So there you go...if you like to sew, go visit for the free project.
If you don't sew but are interested in some for Christmas, just holler.
It's all about inter-personal relationships and how families work through issues of doubt and family resentment...NOT!
No, the show is about gator huntin' and how the patriarchs don't put up with no poutin' from their younguns!
No cowtowing or worrying about validating offspring's self-worth.
This is a show about testosterone and ammunition and blood and gore and jaws full of teeth!
Here's Troy, one of the characters on the show:
Troy is very endearing, the kind of guy you'd want to hang with.
But he's not, by far, one of the more colorful characters on the show.
My man Bruce, is...
How could you not love a man who feeds his faithful dog Little Debbie Zebra Cakes?
For a Little Debbie Zebra Cake, I'd go gator huntin' with Bruce!
Who would have ever thought that you'd find Little Debbie on the swampy bayous of Louisianna?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
There is nothing prettier than anniversary flowers.
I'm not a rose-type girl. I like bright, happy flowers.
Thanks, Honey. I'm loving this big, beautiful bloom!
This is Angel's bag...she requested I make a college bag that covers all the schools her daughters attend. It's a pretty big bag, as big as she.
I found this particular bag challenging...I wasn't "into" the colors, the patterns. I lacked the normal inspiration of pretty patterns and bright colors.
But I managed to finish it and it's kind of cute, now that it's grown on me.
The Orlando hotel room Jason and I stayed in was amazing.
It's too bad that the only decent photos taken were of the bathroom (the kitchen and living room were lovely, but the photographer wasn't able to capture those very well...she's so fired!!!).
The tub. What an amazing feature...the water flows down from the ceiling.
Glass sink counter-top. Loved it!
The bedroom was lovely. Simple bedding, yet elegant. So easy to make the bed in the morning.
Yes, I made the bed...maids love me!
Poolside. Two pools, fountains everywhere.
Happy children splashing...see the slide? It's in that dome-shaped thing in the middle of the picture. While the children play, parents sip refreshing drinks...
The view from our balcony. I imagine within a few years, those lovely green trees will be gone.
Jason and I took off this past Wednesday on a trip to Orlando. We had purchased a three-day getaway and the opportunity to use the trip was about to expire.
It's the first time I have left my six-foot-two "baby" alone for more than one night.
He didn't have a problem being left alone. He was excited at the prospect.
I'm the one who experienced separation anxiety...it's what happens when you have only one child. It's a series of "firsts" and "lasts."
We were driving right past Red Robin on the way down, so we stopped and combined lunch and dinner...yum! It's a fun place. Very colorful. Friendly. Clean. We enjoyed it.
We bought a much sought-after over sized bathmat for $10. Bargain!
Dishtowels, six in a pack for $2. Priceless!
The colors in this store are unbelievable. So bright, so innovative. Storage solutions...I don't think there are enough of these boxes in IKEA to satisfy my need for storage!
What I really enjoyed were the size-challenged living spaces set up throughout the second floor. Their concept of space-saving solutions for small living spaces were genius. It almost made me wish we had a small house. Not really. I just think that because then I would have more ideas on how to creatively utilize space. And if I had a tiny house, I could use their ideas. But then my guys wouldn't fit in my little abode and life for all of us would be miserable. So I will live in my "big" house. And solve my own storage problems.
We left IKEA with $30 less in Jason's wallet, but it really could have been much worse. I think he got off pretty light...
IKEA is only about 2 hours from Jacksonville...dangerous!
I guess this means I can go shopping and spend more money?
Jason bought us a Dell Nickelodeon netbook. It's green, slimy and bright. I wasn't too sure about the green slime at first...but it was on sale and cheaper than the other netbooks, so we went for it!
We love the little booger. It's handy, convenient, compact. No more balancing the laptop on your knee/pillow/armrest. In fact, I'm blogging from it now.
There's one problem, though. We both like it so well that we have to take turns with it.
How to solve this problem...maybe we should wrestle for it? I like it!
