Early Fall Bouquet

 

 

  Summer ends

  and Fall begins…

  And the wildflower bouquet

  gracing my kitchen table…

  Bright, vivid yellows

  deep, rich purples…

  And the beauty

  of grasses gone to seed…

  In a canning jar

  Fall’s beauty boasts…

     ~  ~  ~

A Little Cowboy Turns Six

Have you ever seen such a cute little cowboy?

He had the best birthday party ever.

It was a great cowboy cookout, In The BARN! Do you understand the excitement that comes from partying in the barn?!

His momma kind of enjoyed this year’s theme, too! I love decorating with red, white and blue, lots of bandannas, and straw bales. My kind of party…

The meandering path got some use by our little cowboys and cowgirls.

 

And Sarah did a little fashion design with the left over tissue paper from the gifts.

My mom contributed these cool candle holders for the tables. She used old glass jars, cut out cowboys, modge podge, and some old electric fence wire. Very cute. Ummm…. Mom…. You aren’t getting these back, you know?!

The fireflies were not cooperative during the party, but the kids did find quite a few potato bugs to put in their jars. And that made me very happy.

Who needs party games when you have big piles of gravel? I bet the bath water turned brown that night, but the kids had a great time!

The saw-horse rides were pretty popular, too.

It was simple. It was fun. And it was very good. Thanks everyone, for helping us celebrate Danny’s sixth birthday.

Father’s Day Photo Frame

The kids and I made this for Eric last year.

A link to last year’s post about it is here.

 

Thought I’d share, just in case you are looking for some good gift ideas for dad…

Father’s day will be here before you know it!

Have fun!

Goodness, they have grown…

 

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Milk Paint and an Old Wooden Box

Remember this?

Yeah, I know. It’s an old wooden box. My mom brought it to me to use as a step up onto my too high front porch. Turned flat, it would have served very well for a time.

But I just couldn’t do that to this old, serviceable box. It looked like it could be something more.

A good scrub got rid of the grime and the dead bugs.

And then… It sat around and waited for me to get a few free hours.

I was so glad when my handsome honey brought this lovely Milk Paint home. Those are my two favorite colors, a deep red and an old fashioned green similar to the paint on my potting bench.

The paint comes in a powder form. Just add water. It really is that simple. I mixed up a small batch to test it out.

I wiped the dust away with a damp cloth and got busy painting.

I love how the grain of the wood shows through the paint.

The paint dries a bit lighter and looks a bit dull, but we’re not finished yet.

A block of wood and a bit of sandpaper helped me to rough up the edges, true to it’s found in the barn past.

Pretty but still not done.

An old rag and some linseed oil added a bit of shine.

  

Now imagine this 5 inch deep box, hung on my kitchen wall (it will be soon). The dividers will serve as shelves, just deep enough for a photo frame or some pint jars of apple butter or strawberry jam.

Not too bad for an old box.

A Little Extra Fabric

I’m loving the purse I made last week. The fabric is bright and sunny, and the purse has plenty of room for whatever we need when we go to the park or the library. I  love the pockets for my sunglasses and phone, too.

For those who are wondering, the pattern can be found here.

Such an easy bag to make! I made my straps and the binding around the top the bag out of the same color of fabric I used for the liner, and the pockets from the same fabric I used for the outside of the bag. It worked out very nicely, I think.

I did end up with some extra fabric, though.

My largest scrap piece was the entire width of the fabric by about 6 1/2 inches. I just had to do something with it! A wallet for my new purse seemed right.

I experimented with lots of folds, until I got it just right.

I cut a piece of batting to line what would be the outside of the wallet.

I marked and cut a holes for the magnetic snap.

I stitched about 1/4 of an inch from the edges on both sides.

 

Making your own binding is easy. Just fold the fabric in half and iron, then open it up and meet the two sides along the middle line and iron again.

 

 

 

 

The tricky part is getting the corners just right before you stitch the binding down.

Almost done, now.

After I stitched the binding, it just seemed to be missing something. I grabbed another scrap and did a quick gather to make it ruffle and then stitched it onto the front of the wallet. That’s a little better.

And the finished wallet…

Well, it holds my money and the many cards I have to carry around with me. It isn’t perfect, but it was fun to make from my scraps.

Sewing without a pattern… What a wild and crazy life I lead! ;)

Try it. It’s fun!

 

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Easy Breezy Purse

I enjoyed Thursday night very much. Eric was out in the garage taking the rear brakes on his truck apart and the kids were sleeping in their beds. Well, actually the boys were sleeping on their floor. Don’t ask me why, ‘cause I don’t know. Anyway, with everyone happy, what’s a girl to do?

I fixed a cup of tea and headed to my neglected sewing room. I’d like to tell you that I cleaned it up and made it serviceable. The would be a lie. Actually, I moved everything off the old desk I use for sewing and called it good. Don’t judge me. ;)

I cranked up some good music and got to cutting and sewing. This is what I ended up with.

The pattern and materials came from my favorite fabric store, Holly Hock. I had been looking forward to putting this together for weeks.

It has nice pockets for my sunglasses and my phone. I love how the straps tie on to these nifty grommets.

 

It’s so much fun learning to sew. I have lots left to learn, but with each project it gets a little easier and a lot prettier! This purse was very easy, and I finished it in one night. I learned to make straps in a new way and I had a lot of fun making pockets. The grommets were intimidating, but actually very simple to put into the fabric.

 

 

It’s so nice to find a few hours of free time.

**Find a link to the pattern and check out what I made from my fabric scraps at this post.

 

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30 Days

Weave Your Own Rug

I found the coolest project over at the Moda Bake Shop.  It’s a rug you make by weaving long pieces of fabric together and then tacking them down. It is finished with a non-slip rug backing and turns out just beautifully.  It looked like the perfect gift for my mom.

It also looked like too much fun to resist.  So, I picked up a jelly roll (long, pre-cut strips of lots of different kinds of fabric) from my favorite local fabric store. Oh, those ladies at Holly Hock are so nice.  I just love to shop there!

I made a few changes to the pattern to make it work for me. I think it turned out great!

The non-slip rug backing I used is actually the stuff you can use to line the shelves of your cabinets. It was the perfect size!

 

I can’t wait to give this to my mom!  Hope she doesn’t see it here first. ;)

What a fun and easy project! It would be a great way to use up some fabric scraps, too!

Next up on my sewing table is a fabulous fabric purse that features grommets and lots of pockets inside. I can’t wait to start on it!

What are you creating right now?

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