New Blouse – New Display

I obtained a pattern for a peasant type blouse for Ella a while back and recently decided I couldn’t live without Anna Maria Horner’s Fortune Fabric from her Good Folks collection. And so the two met and became this:

Since I have a picture of Ella in her new top at the library, I’ll take this time to Brag on her! Ella is quite the reader for a 5 year old. She is the best reader in her Kindergarten class, according to her teacher. The other night she read a book to me and I was astonished at the big words she was able to decipher with ease. She is now reading Because of Winn-Dixie, a children's novel by Kate DiCamillo. Yes… a novel. I read her this book last year. I am thrilled! Literacy opens such a world to people and reading is something that I enjoy immensely. Since I’m already bragging, I will also add that she loves math. She will make up problems adding several numbers together and then solve them. She has a much better memory than I, for which I am thankful. She is already memorizing addition facts and complex bible verses. And I am totally not pushing her on this, it is all her. I am just here to encourage and provide resources to quench her thirst for knowledge.

Finally, at the solicited suggestion of a friend, I redid my potholder display so as to have a neutral background. I used ModPodge to adhere some very affordable burlap.

Before:

After:

I do think it makes a difference and I am quite please with the resulting look. Now I’m off to make even more potholders. Have a great Wednesday and remember to thank a Veteran!

Kitchen Stitchen is Open!

Two sales already! Thanks Susie!

Please come take a look!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade kitchenstitchen.etsy.com

Pajamas (number 1 of 2 - apparently)

I saw this fabric at Joann's and it just pops out at me whenever I am standing in the back of the store by the flannels waiting for a kid or kids to go to the potty. So when it went on sale for $2.50 a yard, I bought it. After I found a pajama pattern from McCall's (M5744) which were all on sale for $0.99 each. And so, I have completed the pajamas for Ella's birthday present. She's seen the fabric, even tried on the almost complete product to size for waist and hems.



But I'm putting it in the storage area now. Back there where I keep the rest of the gifts I buy. Hoping she won't ask about it again. It won't be a total surprise. But I know it means lot to her that her mama made it. Which brings me to my second point. When Miles saw Ella trying these on, he exclaimed that he wanted me to make some for him in soccer ball fabric. Which warmed my heart. And so now I need to find a pattern and another good sale on the flannel. These are really quite easy to make. And I'm happy to do it for my own children regardless.

Next up, doll nightgown...

Oh, and Crystal, if you are reading this, this is the fabric of what scraps I sent you along with some other fabric if you haven't received it yet... :-)

New Item in Store

I am not feeling well. It's only been 3 days of non-summer weather and I'm already getting sick. Stuffy and sore throat. Perhaps you can understand a bit why I'd like to live someplace warmer.

Nonetheless, while the kids were at school I finished up another wristlet. It is a bit different than the earlier ones. It has a divider in the interior to keep things separated. It does not have the corners gusseted. Which means the bag is square and flat. I also added a ribbon and beads as a pull for the zipper. This item is now in my store. Click on here to go directly to listing.

SHOESday!

"Hi Andie!"

This pair of Keds is one of my $7 clearance buys at JCPenney.

I Love my Garage Sale Watch

I got the Thursday garage sale watch sized on Friday...

Watch: $5
Resizing: $10



It was so worth it. Isn't it pretty!

When It Pays to Know Designers...

...is when you go to a garage sale advertised as having upscale women's clothing and accesories. I'm not much of a designer person. I know some names, but not many.

What I bought at aforementioned garage sale...

• A very pretty watch with sparklies and a blue face for $7 (sorry no pics, I'm not at home and didn't bring my camera to my parents' house).
• A pretty pink patterned umbrella probably from a perfume giveaway promotion for $5.
• A cute pink handbag with no name, probably from another type of promotion.

(Obviously this woman worked in a department store or Ulta or something by all the brand new freebie type things she had).

What I passed up for $10...

Tiffany's 1837 Triple bar pendant, $350 new




What I passed up for $5...

Tiffany Bar drop earrings: $300 new

A Ladies Movado watch for $5 (I liked the sparkly one I got better).

When I found out about the worth of the Tiffany jewelry, I nearly had a heart attack. I'm going back to that garage sale tomorrow. Maybe they won't remember me. But I don't think that jewelry is my style. It would make a nice gift though, eh?

I feel a little better when I looked up my watch, an Alfred Sung (never heard of it), and found out it probably has Swarovski crystals, its blue face is probably a quality material and not plastic and is probably worth over $100. The main thing is that I think it is pretty. I just need to bring it to a jeweler or watch repair shop to get it shortened a bit.

I passed up quite a few cute sundresses and pretty tank tops too. Doh.

Books, Book and New Dress for Ella

Today we met Jason at the Chicago Botanic Garden for lunch, so enjoy a couple of flower photos I took....

For some reason, I'm having trouble putting together a synopsis of our vacation. I think it is because reviewing it will make it more real that it is over! I've really had a hard time coming back to everyday normal life. So for now I will just say we had an excellent excellent vacation. As I said to Jason, it seemed like real summer. Northern Michigan is a beautiful, wonderful place to visit in the summer. If you are interested in looking at lots of pics go here or for the best of go here.

Recently I've finished 3 books.

*The Posionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver was good but hard to enjoy. It was written through the voices of 5 people, a woman and her 4 daughters. Personally, I have trouble keeping track of who's who, but that's just me. After many chapters I finally caught on. Also the book goes at different paces. At first it seems slow and a bit uneventful, then it gets quicker and very event filled, finally it skips ahead in time very quickly not once, but many times. I stilled learned quite a bit from it, so I would say it was worth reading.

*Next I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This one I loved so much I don't want to give it away for someone to read, which is what I often like to do with books I've finished. It is set at the time of the Civil Rights Movement and is about a girl who runs away from an abusive father (actually more so to help a friend in trouble) and who had a mother who died when she was very young. Throughout, she struggles with whether her mother loved her and even if her father loves her. She finds a new family in an unusual but warm group of women/sisters and learns to mother herself.

*Finally I read The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Um, I couldn't put it down, and I'm a little embarrassed, it was a complete train wreck, kind of like a soap opera. What I liked about it the most was that it made me appreciate that we are not in a very high social class and what often comes with being in that class as far as priorities (which I believe are all out of whack). Apparently it was made into a movie and I didn't even know. Jason tells me he heard the movie was bad.

The second Book in the title refers to Facebook. I joined after Jason had been on for a while and was connecting with lots of old friends. I haven't kept in touch with a ton of old friends but through Facebook I have reconnected with some. Most recently, kind of by fluke, I found my college roomate. She has a new last name and I could barely see the tiny avatar type picture by her name: Katy "Different Last Name than her Maiden Name". I found her in a search of the college class I graduated from. So I sent her a message asking if her maiden name was that of my roomate's. Amazingly it was her! So I heard back from her this morning and she seemed happy to have connected. We were roomates for FOUR years, so we had some rough patches at times and senior year was probably the hardest. But we had a lot of good times in there too. And I've been looking for her off and on through the years.

Are you on Facebook? Have you met any long lost friends?

I made a VERY simple dress for Ella out of some fabric I LOVE. I wanted it to be straight and simple but when it was done I was a little worried it looked kinda Mu mu-ish. Jason tended to agree. BUT then when I was at the local Farmer's Market today with the kids a woman asked me if it was a particular designer (Zutano) and I was just beaming as I told her that I made it myself and she said it was beautiful. Well it was probably because of the fabric, but still. Maybe the style isn't too bad. She's just a little girl!

Love her cute catalog model poses!

One other thing... I have always wanted to plan a baby shower. I have cut ideas out of magazines, really cute ideas. I almost had the chance once, but then didn't. So now my mom is going to throw a shower for the kids of one of her friends down the street. She has asked for my help and I hope that I can be involved in some of the ideas. I just saw an idea for homemade invitations on a blog today and sent the URL to her to see what she thinks. I love them because they involve fabric, buttons and sewing on paper and the mother of the expectant couple is a seamstress. For a peak, go here and here. I may be sharing more of the ideas with you on the blog over time.

Oh and another thing. I picked up some artwork I had framed today and LOVE the outcome. I have had the most luck taking my art to JoAnn Superstore to get framed. Not so much at Michaels. I've also learned to think about what I'm looking for before I taking the art into the framing department. So yeah, I'll post a pic later.

Locker Room Talk

I actually overheard some interesting information in the YMCA locker room today. There is a shop called myShape.com. At the site you can enter all of your measurements and preferences and it automatically chooses clothes (from their shop) that supposedly fit your shape. I have just tried it out but haven't looked around much. So far most of the items chosen for me are quite pricey and make me a little nervous as to how they'd look on me. Styles I've never tried. I'm always nervous to try new styles because I am crushed when they look terrible on me. I won't be diving too deeply into this now as I'm trying to watch my spending.

Just thought I'd share this interesting info with you. Apparently it's been in many women's beauty mags, but I rarely read those...

The Super Secret Project Revealed

Since I've started sewing again I don't think I've made anything for my mom, who makes us stuff all the time and who is mostly responsible for any sewing experience and early exposure I've had to the craft. She still gives me her old sewing books, magazines patterns and sometimes buys me fabric. She and my dad even bought me my current sewing machine early last year! So I decided for her birthday (which was last Sunday) I would make her something. Thus my super secret project. I gave it to her today. I think she likes it. She is bringing it to her sewing guild to show her friends.




I love the fabric! I found the pattern in the Spring 2007 Quilts and More magazine that my mom passed on to me. The pattern is called Apron Strings. Looks like there are a lot more neat things to make in this issue. Click on the link above to hopefully find a place to order a copy if you want one. The apron pattern is actually for a trio of different aprons. I made one other out of some left over Amy Butler fabric I had from a diaper bag that I made. I have no idea what to do with that apron and will post it after I figure that one out!

Outside of my Comfort Zone

I have recently been inspired to try some "new" things by a new swap partner I'm getting to know. She loves shoes and has some beauties. I'm more the comfortable shoe type. Though I used to visit Nine West and the shoe department of Neiman Marcus when I was single to ogle all of their pretties. I would be excited when I actually had a wedding to go to and thus an excuse to buy a pair of the pretty heels! So, I'm starting to look at shoes the way I used to, just a bit. I didn't exactly do anything TOO wild today. I bought a pair of sandals with heels. I wouldn't normally get these, but they were on sale at Ann Taylor from $59 to $10, so you can't call me too crazy. Please pretend you don't see my unmanicured size 8 1/2 giant feet!! Now that I have them I guess it just means that hubby and I will have to go out on more dates.



Next, I was in a beautiful home store and saw a table cloth that I fell in love with. My first instinct was to go for another color that matches our earthy palette better. But then, with the help of the sales person, I decided to go for the one with the sea foam green that I originally liked because it did have other colors that match our home and the green just makes it pop. I'm so glad I did. I think it really brightens things up, while still looking like fall. Which is exactly what I needed. I also almost didn't buy it because it was square and our table is oval. The sales woman told me how pretty it would look putting the corners on each side. She was right. I'd have never thought about that myself! (The abundance of apples and pears are from our organic delivery today.) It has a very French feel, non?




Then these tea towels! I love them. They weren't outside of my comfort zone because they are so small, but it felt wonderful getting them. They are so pretty. Ugh, please ignore the water stains on the oven. For all the cleaning I do, it seems I always miss something!! I got the table cloth and tea towels at Motif.

Apron(s)

I posted earlier that I'd have to take my own pics of the apron I have from Anthropologie, of which I love the fabrics. So here it is:

Here is also a vintage apron that my mom picked up somewhere for Ella. It is too cute and I wouldn't dare "replace" it with a cute new one. It's so hard to find Raggedy Ann and Andy these days.

Dreamy Clothes

I've been surfing www.anthropologie.com lately and here are some tops I'd love to have:

The only thing we've ever bought there was a half apron. Actually Jason bought it for me as a surprise. I still love it. I'll have to photograph it because it is no longer on their website.

My birthday is in July ;-) hint hint! ;-)