Thrifty Alterations…
Hello everyone!
This has been a good day, had a morning out, and thenI got to come home and get quite a bit of work done sewing today! I FINALLY finished the slip-cover to my chair (which has taken me… well, too long to remember). All I had to finish was the seat cushion, and yet it sat there for months. Yellow slipcover, faded blue flowered non-matching cushion.
I also mended a cute dress that I tucked in the mending pile… umm… last summer. *sigh* I usually just never think about mending things, but I found it stashed in a cupboard and realized I just had to fix it so I could wear it!
In other news, yesterday I made an “Ugly Bag” for my best friend’s graduation gift. (She said she liked it, so that’s what she got! Better be careful what you say you like…) It turned out a lot nicer than my first attempt, and a few more may be coming out of the rest of the coverlet soon.
The slip-cover, all finished. The blanket is for the cat, who likes to sleep here and gets black fur all over it!
The dress is one I bought on sale somewhere. I had ripped a small hole beside the split, and used this cute eyelet trim found last year at an antique show to cover up the mended area. Hooray!
I found this sweet skirt at the thrift store yesterday, and it fits perfectly! It has a few stains on it, but they are in the perfect place for a vintage patchy flower. Or maybe a few retro granny squares… the possibilities are endless.
So, I finally get one thing mended, and I buy more to put in the pile! Oh well. 
The Dungeon.
Today I locked myself in my dungeon. On purpose. Okay, so it wasn’t a dungeon, but it sure felt like it after sewing in my sewing room all day! I started at around 10:00 a.m. and only came down once to run errands. I finally finished at 8:00 p.m., which was AMAZING!
What was I working on so diligently? I was sewing 3 bridesmaid dresses for a wedding that’s coming up! A friend of mine is getting married in July, and I was commissioned to do the bridesmaid gowns. So, I have four done, and one more to go… Hooray!!! They will be shipped out tomorrow morning, neatly packaged and ready to be worn.
The dresses, awaiting the finishing touches.
We got some lovely pictures this past weekend, not many of the event we were going to, but plenty of the surrounding area. The poppies were in full bloom, and vibrant color in the garden.
Aren’t they pretty?
I love visiting water-towns… although this one was a little
too far north for my taste!
And now I can relax for the night… Ahhh. *kicks feet up*
God Bless and have a wonderful evening!
Vintage find at a yard sale…
Hello everyone! I thought I’d share my latest “find,” uncovered this morning at a yard sale by my Nana’s expert eye. I’ve been looking for a vintage cake saver for a while now, and I finally got one, for much less than what I would have payed for at an antique store! Hooray!
With a little cleaning, it will be as good as new. Only $4!
I love yard sales.
In other news, this little website may be going under a complete make-over soon. I know, I keep doing that, but I’m still trying to decide what I need on here! I have a new project up my sleeve that may take a while to complete, but it’s on my “to-do” list, so hopefully it will get done sooner, rather than later.
It will, however, involve taste-testing some favorite recipes. Any takers? 
Riding!
Hello friends, I am back again.
I’ve enjoyed taking an impromptu break from, basically, everything technological. I’ve managed to go yard-saling, sew, create things, cook, and have all kinds of fun adventures. Yesterday I went to a friend’s house to ride her beautiful mare, Copper. Copper is a very sweet and gentle creature, which is a VERY good thing, seeing as I hadn’t been on a horse in about 8 years! I will definitely be going back so we can ride together.
Then I ran over to visit other friends, and look what I brought home in a spaghetti jar!
Aren’t they just beautiful? And they smell heavenly!
A recent creation, a Peach and Strawberry Tart with
Chocolate Sauce drizzled on top. It turned out quite yummy!
Today is a day for cleaning, sewing, and just generally enjoying time at home. It’s gray and dreary outside, so it will be a good day to stay indoors.
God bless, and have a wonderful day!
A Wash-out. (Or, our weekend, Part 4)
Hello again, friends! This series of posts is almost finished, and it will be nice to get back to regular blogging again. For those that would like click the links below for Parts 1 through 3.
Raining. Pouring. Buckets of rain dumping out of the sky. We couldn’t set up, and spent the entire morning damp and chilly. We did have a fun time laughing at a bale of straw… yes, a bale of straw. See it had been set right under an area of run-off under a tent edge, and about every 1/2 hour a gallon or two of water dumped on top of it. The “straw sponge” became the joke of the day, and we considered telling people it was a very comfy seat, and they should try it (without telling them, of course, that it had been dumped with water all morning). We were good, and only told one man that, but he had already been watching the amount of water the straw sponge was drinking in. 
Later on in the day the rain began to lighten, and we were able to start breaking down the tents. Once we were done, we were soaking wet and chilled to the bone. However, the bucket had once again resumed the place of honor on top of the van, and truly became a weather gauge!
Once we got back to the hotel, Mom and I grabbed some coffee, and we were shivering so much we almost WORE our coffee! Then we got laughing so hard when we couldn’t get the vending machine to take the soaking wet dollar bills…
We’re all tired, and I think very happy to be done with wearing dripping wet Colonial clothed. The yucky weather has made this a very memorable weekend!
(Sorry, no pictures this time, the rain just about did me in!)
A Long Day (Or, our weekend, part 3)
Here’s the 3rd installment of last weekend’s events! This one is a bit short, due to tired-ness after the long day, so I’ll be posting some other things as well. 
Click on the links below for the first two parts.
A long day today. Fun, though! I cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even got to play hammered dulcimer with the musicians! The violinist/cellist let me play her cello… I would like one of those someday! Finally packed up and headed out to dinner, and enjoyed a nice meal out. Hooray for day 1!!
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Yes, as you can obviously tell, I was pretty tired… that was short! However, there’s lots of other things going on now that I’m home, and I’d like to show you a few!
Yesterday we girls snuck out of the house to go antiquing, and I came home with a few more treasures! (What else is new?) A nice white linen tablecloth with a few stains that I plan on cutting up into something (more on that when I get around to that project), and a whole basket of linens to do something with! My two favorite treasures of the afternoon were a yellow and white linen tablecloth, and a tomato slicer from the 40’s or 50’s that’s never been used. Not a spot of rust! When I get in an antique shop, no matter how much I tell myself I don’t need anything… my “hopechesting” tendencies come out, and I inevitably come home with a treasure I know I must save for the future.
My newfound treasures.
In other news, while helping with dinner, I came up with a quick, and more energy-efficient way of melting butter! We were making spaghetti, and needed to make a butter sauce for some garlic bread. Instead of microwaving the butter, I put it in a dish and rested it on top of the spaghetti pot, right were the steam comes out. No need to turn on the microwave, and the butter melted just fine. Hooray!
Well, I need to go and do other things… busy day ahead! God Bless, and have a wonderful day.
Packing. (Or, our weekend, part 2)
Part 2 of our weekend saga… Enjoy! For part 1, click here. <– link
Today we packed. And packed. Oh, and did I mention that we packed? I didn’t know so much stuff could fit in one small mini-van. In the end, the back of the van was packed so high that Dad couldn’t see in the rear-view mirror. The top of the vehicle held an antique table, grass green tent poles, and a water bucket. The bucket, bungee corded in, was a great source of amusement; including jokes that it was our weather gauge, and that we might need to gather our own water in case we ran out!
The looks we got from passers-by also provided lots of laughter, and we enjoyed being Beverly Hillbillies for a day. Mom, however, was embarrassed, and didn’t want to show off Dad’s extraordinary packing abilities. Much hilarity occured when she suggested we just “blend in.” And, of course, we must have a photo…
The van, complete with table, tent-poles, and the infamous bucket.
My reading material for the long ride… all three books of “The Tightwad Gazette,” by Amy Dacyczyn
We finally made it safe and sound, arriving in high style to unload our well-packed van, find all the tent supplies, and start the set-up. (Meanwhile we were just praying the rain would hold off until we finished set-up) Now Mom and I are “supervising,” seeing as we can’t help at the moment. This could be an interesting weekend…
Supervising while munching on pretzels.
I hope you all have a wonderful day! Now that we’re home, I have lots of projects that I’ll be posting about soon, so be on the look-out. God Bless!
Crunch. Time. (Or, our weekend, Part 1)
Notice: I wrote this series of posts this past weekend, and took some pictures to illustrate… I’ll be posting it in several parts, so I hope you enjoy the saga!
Crunch. time. Ah, the joy of getting ready for a weekend show. 95 plus frames. Painted, grained, and varnished in 2 days time.
It was at 1:00 in the afternoon the day before we needed to leave for the show. Mom was FINALLY done painting the color green on her artwork, and she was happy to be moving on to the color yellow. Around 5:30, I started mentioning dinner, and asked her what she wanted. “Something from a straw!” she said half-way between laughter and serious-ness.
Before the framing begins, the paintings are matched with their frames to make sure everything looks right.
Finally around 8:00 at night we were ready to frame. And frame we did! the blessing was that my grandparents came over to help us, and they had quite an experience as they learned the art of framing in 3 hours flat! It was 11:00 when they went home, worn, out from glass cleaning and mat cutting. At 11:30, Mom (who had ben painting non-stop literally all day) said “It we go to bed at midnight, I could get up at 5 tomorrow morning and finish this painting.” I informed her that I would not be friendly with only five hours of sleep!!!!!
Days like these, it’s good to be able to see the humor in situations… we tend to get down-right slap-happy! Laughter, even at the silliest things, is essential to keep you going until the task at hand is done. Crunch time is almost over….
God Bless, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!
A refreshing rain
Today was warm. Too warm. Lovely, sunshiny, but warm.
“What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.”
~Jane Austen~
And then this evening, the clouds began rolling in. The thunder began, and before we knew it, my family and I were scurrying inside the house to watch the lightning from the windows.
Then came the most glorious of evenings. After the storm. The cool after-storm temperature. The wonderfully cool, wet grass that is perfect for tramping around barefooted. And after the storm, the Lord showed His glory in the sky. A more glorious sky, I haven’t seen in quite a while. Oh, it was lovely!
Through the looking glass… (a window, actually)
The raindrops barely show up on these pretty little purple flowers.
Well, I must be off to help with all kinds of things around the home. God Bless, and have a wonderful evening!
“Anyone who says sunshine bring happiness has never danced in the rain.”
A shopping trip and a dress idea…
Or copy of a dress would be closer to the truth! I absolutely loved a simple white linen dress at JC Penney, and so had to make one. It was VERY simple, didn’t need a pattern, and I really like the results! It’s kind of 1930’s inspired, being a lowered waistline and a straighter shape. Tonight, despite the lack of lighting, I took a few pictures to share with you all.
For some strange reason I really liked this photo… I’m not sure why…
Details.
From the ground up.
God Bless, everyone, and have a wonderful day!
“It is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than when so occupied.”
~Nathaniel Hawthorne~
