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!