Simple Summer Skirt

I was inspired by Jalaru's post (this is where I should have a hyperlink, but I can't figure out how to do it.) on a simple skirt she made for her granddaughter.

I wanted an new skirt to wear to work on Friday. I grabbed some material I had in my stash and cut it out on Thursday night. I decided to see what three little pleats in the front and back would look like. It has an elastic waist so it was really quick.


Well, I didn't get it hemmed until today. Laundry kept me from finishing it on Thursday night. It was longer but Jessie thought I should make it shorter, so I cut off 8 inches before I hemmed it. I don't know if I should have done that. I love long full skirts.

Here is a close up of the pleats and gathers.

A cute simple comfortable summer skirt.

They are Engaged!!!

Son #1, Chris and his beautiful girlfriend Faith became engaged on Friday night!

Congratulations! We are thrilled!!

Success (so far)

I can't believe it! I have actual tomatoes on my container tomato plant. I am so excited! Hopefully I will be able to actually eat some of these! My success with real plants is getting better!

Weekend Sewing & Crafting

I didn't do any crafting over the weekend, but my grand kids did while their Mom and I were busy sewing.

Andrew (10) made a car and garage out of a box of wood parts I have.


Katie (12) made some ribbon hair bows and some peg dolls.


I think Jessie (13) was sleeping or texting the whole time, because I have nothing to show for her craftiness.

Rebecca, my stepdaughter, had seen an apron she wanted. She just didn't want to spend $50.00 on it. So we set about making a pattern for it on Sunday. We used a thrifted sheet and some fabric out of my stash to test our pattern on. Here she is modeling our test apron.


We are going to adjust the pattern a little and hopefully make another one this next weekend. The bodice needs to be shortened, the waist needs to be shorter in width, and the length of the skirt needs to be cut down.

Look at this little ruffle on the bottom, with the ribbon! It is so cute!





I did some other sewing too. I let out the waist of my son-in-laws suit pants. They are on the way to Virginia.


I have had these for so long I should be embarrassed. And I am. My reasoning for not getting this done sooner -

1. I hate to screw up something that is part of a set.
2. He is in law school and doesn't need a suit - yet.
3. He may gain more weight.
4. Mending things seem to be more work than creating something new, or at least more fun!

Well, I finally got them done! Hopefully they will fit!

I also made another purse, just like the one I made my Mom for Mother's day. Someone in her Weight Watcher's class wanted one.


That's all my projects for this past weekend.

Be back soon!

Mini Porch Rehab

I found this bakers rack at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. It was nice and heavy and well made an only $25.00. I new this would be perfect for my back porch. Prior to this I had two picnic benches stacked on top of each other and above that was an old chicken coop/cage from my husbands childhood. We even had two faux roosters in it. We had to take the chicken coop down to fit the bakers rack.


The bakers rack had a wine rack underneath the wood shelf. I wanted to take that out and make another shelf. My husband again beat me to the punch and had the wine rack out before I could snap a picture. He set to work on making a shelf from some scrap wood. (Don't you just love when husbands are so quick on these annoying jobs we women come up with?)

Then those little green brackets below the wood shelf where really annoying. They prevented me from getting things in and out. So hubby took it out for me. The brackets sat next to the bakers rack for about a day, me trying to decide if I liked the new look.

My husband decided to place the bracket over the top decorative scrolly (?) thing. Do you know why? He thought it would be easier to keep up with the parts. I think it looks pretty good. Look at that new wood shelf. The picnic basket is something I had that I thought I could hide all the ugly bottles that I want on hand, but it wasn't tall enough. I will have to think of another idea to hide all those ugly bottles.

I haven't accessorized the rack yet. I just put the things that I had on the picnic benches.

You see that rooster above the bakers rack. That was my husbands idea also. He asked if I had a rooster to hang above the rack. I had one in the garage that used to hang in my kitchen. When I held it up for him to see what it would look like. We both said no! It blended right in with the siding. The body was a pale yellow color.

So you know what I did with it? I painted it!

I painted the body white and husband thought I needed to define the legs with the gold color and then he insisted I put a googly eye on the rooster. Looks pretty good hanging above the bakers rack.

This is a picture of what is right next to the bakers rack. This is one of my better idea's. We usually turn on the porch light at night (it has a bug light bulb in it.) Even with that light bulb, bugs were flying around it. I was tired of bugs flying in the house when we went in and out.

So I put a pole lamp I had further away from the door (with a bug light bulb in it). No bugs flying in the house! I am happy! Why did it take me so long to come up with this idea?

Thrift Finds

On Monday, I stopped by the thrift store to see if a chair I had seen last week was still there. I decided with a slipcover it would be perfect for my sewing room.

When I saw this chair I knew it was the perfect size and shape of what I wanted, but I decided since they had four, I could certainly wait until it was half price. They were asking $14.95!

Well I was wrong! No chair to slipcover, but this is what I did find:

More milk glass and four vintage patterns. Total cost $3.00.

Love my finds, but I wish my chair had been there! That's what I get for being cheap!

My Christmas Cactus Is Confused

What the heck? I took this outside sometime in March, just like I always do. It did bloom at Christmas time. Pretty weird!

Rebecca's Baking

I had to show you some pictures of my stepdaughter, Rebecca's recent baking .

Cupcakes......

(Mint chocolate chip cupcakes!)

How cute are these rainbow cupcakes?

Those are all cute and delicious, but.....................look at this!

My favorite.............Chocolate!

Didn't she do a great job on decorating these! She can certainly bring one of these over any time! Just so I can add my review of flavor to this blog! I am sure it is delicious, but just to make sure...............I think I need to taste it!

How I Spent Friday Night

Baking Lemon Cookies.....................


and more lemon cookies.......................

To be sold at Jessie's play "Godspell Jr." today and tonight. I have seen the rehearsals, I am sure they will do Great!

Be back soon!

Mother's Day Gift from my Husband

Yes I know my kitchen table is a mess! That happens when you are sick and trying to figure out how to run this machine. You see those medicine bottles to the right? Well they aren't helping. Well, not as quick as I want them too.

I thought I would show you what my husband bought me for my Mother's Day/Tax Season is Over present! It is a blind hemmer. I have been wanting one of these machines for years, even though I have never run one. I just knew what it could do.

Once my husband got it assembled (the directions left a few parts off to attach), I let it sit for about 6 hours. I was busy with other things and I was a bit intimidated. I finally tried it out - what a dream machine! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this machine!

I know I will get a lot of use out of this!

And yes my kitchen table still looks like that! As soon as I feel better I will make it my priority to get this cleaned off!

Be back soon!

Just because their Pretty!

Love to see the tiny light pink roses opening up next to my favorite flower, daisies!

Be back soon!

Sewing for Mom

Now that Mother's Day is over I can show you what I made for my Wonderful Mom! I made this purse with some cute retro looking cowboy fabric. I paired it with some red checked fabric and red polka dot fabric. I also put some polka dot ribbon around it.

When I finished it, I decided it looked too much like a diaper bag.


See how cute that cowboy fabric is? I love it!

I also thought it was too large for my Mom. She doesn't need to carry around a heavy purse. So I made Mom something else.

A couple of days after I made this I started thinking about this rhinestone pin I had and wondered how it would look on this bag and if it would make it look less like a diaper bag. It almost looks like a Sheriff's badge. So what do you think? Too childish for an adult to use as a purse/tote?

Here are pictures of what I made Mom.

I didn't take pictures of the back. It has one large pocket that is divided into two sections. I may have to make one for myself, because I love this fabric combination!

Mom called today and said she used it today and just loved how light it was! Almost forgot she had it on her shoulder!

Be back soon! (any errors in this post are due to the fact "24" is coming on soon and are in no way my fault)

Mini Makeover

I have been searching for a new cabinet above the toilet in my half bath for YEARS. See this outdated rack: (I would have taken a before picture on the wall but hubby was too quick hanging the replacement)

It has been here about 19 years. Time for a change. The problem is this is a tiny half bath. I didn't want anything too deep. Anything I looked at was at least 7 - 9" in depth. Not gonna work for this tiny bathroom!

Two weeks ago I was wandering around Michael's while Jessie was practicing for "Godspell Jr.", when I came upon this:


I had seen this before, but never saw it out of the box. There happened to be a box that was opened and I peered inside. When I saw how shallow it was, I was overjoyed! I grabbed my handy dandy tape measure from my purse.

PERFECT! 3 3/4" deep.
PERFECT! Bead board backing to match the ceiling!
WAIT! I have a coupon for 50% off one item. (search my messy purse frantically)
DARN! It isn't good for a week!

So on Friday (the day before my coupon expired) I drug my sick body out of the car and went in and purchased my new bathroom cabinet for $40.00. Today my husband hung it.

I covered the holes where the dowels to hold ribbon were supposed to be with some white wood cutouts I had purchased at Big Lots years ago. I need to have Hubby cut a board to raise the top where the crown molding is, so I can set things on there and them not be recessed!

Just a little makeover, but it makes me happy! What doesn't make me happy is realizing I need to paint the ceiling and all the molding again. I used oil based paint and that yellows over time! Next time I will use latex paint. I also am ready to tear down the wallpaper and paint this bathroom! (Don't count on that happening anytime soon!)

Hubby and Jessie liked the old one, to which I said "I liked the old one too - 20 years ago!"

Be back soon!

A Job for Julie! Yeah!

Brandon and Julie

Congratulations to Son #2's girlfriend Julie. She graduated with her Masters in Education this May and has accepted a job to be a fourth grade teacher this fall! We are really proud of her and know she will do Great!

Son #2, Brandon will graduate with his Masters in Education in December. Hopefully he will be able to find a job also!

Still sick, and sick and tired of being sick!

Be back soon!

Sick and Camera Case

Not feeling good at all! Bad cold, cough, sinus, whatever! It is not the Swine Flu! Just want to lay around and do nothing! This constant changing of weather is the problem!

I am trying not to contaminate my family. Jessie is in a musical next weekend and I don't want her coming down with this. She has a solo and if she gets this there is no way she would be able to sing.



Since I don't like posting without a picture I thought I would show you my cute camera case. My sister Gail has requested another style that I need to get busy sewing. I made one, but she had adjustments to it.

This is my "purse model" camera case. Gail wants one that will allow her to carry a little cash (a little pocket on the outside) and extend the camera strap through a buttonhole so you will not lose the case while taking a picture. My other sister Tami and my niece Lauren want one too.

Be back soon!

I Took the Day Off Work

I took the day off work to clean my house. But first I decided to finish the shirt I had been working on. (Crossing off an item on my To Do list always makes me happy!)

I didn't have much to do on it. I had mentioned in an earlier post I was making this. Well I made it like the picture on the pattern, but I didn't like it on me and it was uncomfortable. I decided a to gather the front part of the shirt and leave the back alone. I added a ribbon on the front and it ties in the back.


I like this so much better! I love this fabric and plan on making a skirt with this too, although I won't wear them together.

Well I better get busy cleaning!

Be back soon!

Milk Glass Thrift Find

Just thought I would post a picture of my Milk Glass find, since I have been so busy and haven't gotten any sewing done. I never realized how many things I collect until I started blogging about them. I made a quick stop at the Goodwill on Saturday and it was half off day. I have several of these, but at $1 I couldn't resist one more! My brain was fighting for decluttering, but logic took over.

"What if one gets broke? I use my vintage finds, I don't just hide them behind glass. I could never find another one at this price!" That's LOGIC!


I love to weave ribbon through the holes and then fill with flowers or candy. You could even use this as a dog food/water bowl, candles. Note: I am trying to justify having six of these already! Well the logic won!

Be back soon! Hopefully with a new background.