Day 10: childhood memory

Playing Barbies with my sister

Day 9: someone I love

My mommy!

day 8: A bad habit

twirling my hair.  while driving.  

day 7: fruit

day 6: from a low angle

day 5: from a high angle

day 4: something green

Happy Christmas!!  I wanted to have a picture of the Christmas tree, but it just didn't happen.  So here's the chips from the game we all played.  It's called Sequence.

day 3: clouds

day 2: what I wore today

The Avett Brothers T-shirt and jeans.  Both thrifted.

30 day photo challenge

I am going to do this!  I found it here.  Starting with my most recent self portrait on Flickr:

dream a litttle weird

I cannot believe July was my last update.  What has happened to the time?

But I must tell about my dreams of late.

Brooke Shaden is a photographer I have recently started to follow. I am in awe of her work, her "rise to fame", her philosphy, and generally just everything about her skills.  She uses really great costumes in her photos and a couple of nights ago I dreamed that I was at a thrift store and she came in and I was trying to tell her about some vintage dresses that I had that I wanted to give her.  It was pretty realistic, which most of the time my dreams are out in left field.  But last night I dreamed that she was teaching a photography class (which she does often) in my yard (never gonna happen) and I told her that I had dreamed about her.  I mentioned the previous dream in last night's dream.  Is that weird?  I thought about sending her an email and telling her about both dreams but I don't want to seem like a creepy obsessed stalker fan, which I'm totally not.  I actually never get into the "I'm your number one fan" mentality because I know that I'm never gonna see the person in real life so why waste the energy thinking about it.

Anyhoo, I just felt the weirdness of the two dreams needed to be written down so I can go back and remember how....weird it was.

Saturday six - because I'm too lazy for a real post

1. What color hair did you have at birth?
 DARK BROWN

2. What color is your hair now on its own?
 DARK BROWN

3. Have you ever, or would you ever, color your hair?
YES

4. Take the quiz: a href=”http://www.blogthings.com/whatcoloreyesdoesyoursoulhavequiz/” target=”_blank”>What Color Eyes Does Your Soul Have?

Your Soul Has Violet Eyes
You understand people well and are a natural born therapist. You are a gentle listener and the ideal confidant.
You believe that this world truly lacks understanding. You try to exercise compassion as often as you can.

You are a compassionate and forgiving person. You are willing to overlook most mistakes.
Affection is like air for you - you need to give and receive it to survive. You need love in your life

5. What color are your eyes naturally?
BROWN BROWN BROWN

6. If you could change the color of your eyes, would you, and if so, to which color?
NO, I LIKE THEM

apron from a place mat

I found 2 great place mats at a thrift store a while back knowing that they would make great aprons, and I finally got around to making one last week!

Here'e the original mat, nicely faded and not stiff:

and here's the finished product:

 First I folded the material in half and decided how far up I wanted my pocket to come, then cut it on the fold.

Then I turned the pocket piece so that the right side of the pocket was on the wrong side of the apron, and sewed up the three sides.  No need to hem because it was already done!

I flipped the pocket to the front, sewed a stitch up the middle so I got 2 pockets, and then put the ties on.

I used white seam binding for the tie and zig-zagged it for extra support.

This is how much I had left over, since I wanted it to be short like a vendor's apron.  And even then it's too long for waht I needed.  I'm gonna have to tweak it.

And there ya go!  It was seriously the easiest thing I have ever made.

Little owl (Athene noctua)

Little owl (Athene noctua), originally uploaded by Robert Silverwood.

this is one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Just a quote from one of my favorite movies....

I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn't know you had inside you. And it doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. And you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

~Iris "The Holiday"

FYI

Yes, I do mind. Yes I do have other things to do.  No, I don't want to just hang out.  So get over yourself.

who remembers the old epilady?

Another embarrassing but short moment in my history....

My grandmother gave me and my sister an Epilady one year for....I can't remember which holiday.  We were both pre-teen, but old enought to shave, so not exactly sure how old we were.  But it was the one with the coiled spring on the end....like this: 

I used it quite often I seem to recall, and it must not have hurt too awful bad because I don't remember any pain.  Or maybe I've blocked it out.   This coming from the girl who put one strip of wax on her legs and then rolled around in the floor screaming while my mother looked on because it hurt too bad to pull the strip off.  We ruined a perfectly good pot using that wax. 

So one day I was sitting on the edge of the tub epilady-ing my legs, I had one leg crossed over the other to get at it better, and my nose started itching. Without even thinking about it I reached up with the hand I had the epilady in and proceeded to scratch my nose thus entangling the stupid thing in my hair.  Because did I mention I forgot to turn it off before I scratched? 

Yeah, instant bangs.

 And did we learn our lesson?

oh yeah.

Take a look at the most beautiful fabric I have bought in a long time!  I was so excited when I went to get the mail and 3 packages were waiting for me. 

 I got this beautiful fabric from Fabricana  over on Etsy.com  I don't know what I'm going to use it for, maybe a fancy quilt or pillows.  I haven't decided yet.

The owls are so adorable!  I think I'm going to use it for a quilt backing, I hate to cut it up.  But again, I haven't decided.  And the pinks are for an apron.

and  here's an apron I made for my sister.  I love it!! I'm calling it the Pirate Rockstar apron. I got the fabric from Gigi  again from Etsy.

I'm going to have to order more of this fabric because it turned out so awesome!

Easter memories

Since Easter is tomorrow, I thought it appropriate to share something in that category.  Hunting eggs was my favorite thing to on Easter and we used to have Easter egg hunts at my church every year for the children.  We don't anymore, which is kinda sad, because as an adult I like hiding them as much as hunting them.  They had divided us up by age so I was in a different group than my sister. So my Nana went with her, and Mama was with me.  I don't remember how old I was, but still young enough to need help.

So there I was going around the perimeter of the church just filling up my basket with eggs when I see this big, shiny gold egg just laying there.  I put it in my basket just as about 5 adults come over and start fussing over me, saying I found the prize egg.  And I got a big ol' chocolate bunny that was almost as big as me.  Again, I don't think I was more than 4 or 5.

I was so excited thinking I was going to get to eat the whole thing at once, but no.  Mama put it in the freezer and wouldn't let me have any of it until after dinner.  The waiting was excruciating, and when they finally took it out and cut it, it was one of those bunnies that has the nasty fruit nougat inside.  Such a disappointment.

Needless to say, I didn't eat any of it because well, it was just really gross.

Easter circa 1979

In an effort to update my blog more, and also to jog my memory a bit, I have decided to regale you with tales of my childhood.  Not in any particular order mind you, just as they come to me.

Starting off slow, this is a shorty.

I used to think that when the dirt got really dry and cracked that the earth would fall apart if the cracks were not filled in and smoothed out.  I did my best to smooth out any crack I saw.

See, like this:

a dress for my niece

she's only 2 1/2 months old, but I could hardly wait to start making cute little dresses for her!

My first attempt was not as easy as anticipated, mostly because of the curved yoke, but it turned out so adorable!!

The pattern:
Simplicity New Look 6878

The fabric: a vintage cotton that have about 6 yards of, and that I've been saving for the perfect project. 

I went for the dress with the heart because it seemed like the easiest to applique.  I'm not happy with the arm holes because I didn't have any colors for biased tape except white, but it's still cute.

Ok, I didn't read the part that said you needed a zipper, so I had to come up with another method of closure, hence the buttons.

close up of the crocheted chain loop to close the top.

the stitching on the bottom of the skirt.  I really like the orange/blue/green contrast.

I just bought some really nice vintage pillow cases from the thrift store, all in shades of pink and I can't wait to get sewing on them!  I'm going to make another dress out of one of them, and an apron out of another.  I think.  No, I will I just have to find the time, and motivation.  Mostly motivation.

 There is a bridge that I cross when I drive the long wasy to work.  Today i decided to take it, and look what I found:

Something jumped out of the water right before I took this picture.  Probably a turtle or fish, but the ripples are fantastic.

The view from the other side.  Not as fascinating, but still interesting.

The end of my day was just as great as the beginning.  I received a letter stating that the financial assistance I had applied for to help me pay for the $4000 plus emergency room bill I acquired when I went in for stomach pains and came out with a diagnosis of gall stones is 100% paid for.  That's right, I don't owe them ANYTHING!  However, I do still owe the radiologist $200 and the attending Dr. $800.  But still, that's $4000 I don't have to pay and that is a huge blessing!  God is truly good and I am so thankful for all the prayers and concerns that have come my way.

ooh the clouds!

As I was leaving for work this morning the clouds were just gorgeous and I felt the need to share:

The wonky shot I took while waiting at the red light.  The light turned green just as I snapped hence the slightly....sideways look.

Over the town facing opposite the sun, took while pumping gas.

 

The sun hiding behind the tree while I wait for everybody to show up for work.

I don't know why the first and last pictures don't get bigger when you click on them.  I took them all with my cell phone and didn't change any settings.  Oh, well it's a mystery.

Anyways, it was a beautiful morning.

I've been featured!

I'm so happy my photo was used on this website to promote a sewing marathon!  Here's the link to the original.  yaaay!

keep on keepin on

I thought I'd let you see how my knitting progress is going.  I would have had a lot more done if I hadn't ripped the whole thing out and started over because I thought the scarf was too wide.  I don't count stitches, ok?  I just eyeball everything until it looks good to me.  What can I say? I'm a rebel.  I love the way it's going into a natural stripe, darker to light then back to dark.  I hope it does that the whole way through.

In other news, I found a great reproduction vintage apron pattern in this wonderful Etsy shop and decided to try a new design.  It's Butterick B5435. Here is the result: (ignore the messy chair in the corner)

I'm not happy with the pocket, but it's done and I'm not fixin it!

the pattern: 

I made the purple apron there in the bottom right corner.

I will say that I probably won't make that style again unless somebody pays me because I am no good at sewing curved hems.  It was fairly easy to put together but that dang hem about put me in the looney bin!  If I had used a different lace maybe I would like the pocket better, but overall it's cute and I'm happy with the result.

Next on the list is the red one!  I can't wait to make that one, I've already got the fabric in mind for it.