Men In Trees is Back!!!!!

Anyone else love this show? I'm so glad it's back on, even though they keep changing the days/time slots. I just happened to catch that it was on last night while surfing through the channels looking for Clifford, Arthur, Blues Clues, etc.


Here is a great synopsis of what's going on in case you missed it..... Men in Trees

The characters in the show are so endearing, their relationships are complex and I love the mix of humor, drama and love. The scenery is just gorgeous also. Makes me want to pack it all up and move to a mountain.

Here's the link to the actual ABC site....
Men in Trees

Let me know if you're a fan - happy viewing!

Thrifting is Fun! (so is eating Chocolate Chip Cookies!)

Some of my most favorite things are finding treasures, such as these sheets, in thrift stores, flea markets, garage sales, you get the idea! I love to find something that someone else thought was of no use, and make something beautiful from it.
Besides the fact that it can bring back to life discarded items, it can also bring back memories - in this case, I suppose 60's or 70's. Anyway, these just look like the sheets I had on my bed growing up.
I'm planning to make some really cute skirts and aprons from them.
Now that the weather is warming up, I'm getting the itch to start hitting those garage sales and flea markets.


Another thing I love to do is bake - particulary cookies! and I almost always have little helpers under my feet these days. While #1 stirred the batter, #2 got into the lazy susan and helped himself to a box of corn starch. He then promptly poored it's entire contents onto the floor. Seems pretty proud of himself though, huh?
Needless to say, my kitchen was absolutely a mess - but everyone seemed happy with the end result!





























Just in case anyone is wondering, yes, I did complete 8 hours of serger class - and no, I am by no means an expert! I have decided to start another apron - here's the material layed out so far.
This serging business just takes a lot of patience at first - lots of fiddling with the tensions, stitch width, stitch length, number of needles, differential feed, etc, etc,........
I think I'll really love it, once I learn to keep good notes on all those settings.

More Vintage Creations and a Challenging Morning

I wanted to share this darling little set I made for a baby shower gift for a great customer of mine!
It's made once again from my favority green floral tablecloth and bits and pieces of vintage lace, rick rack and chenille.

I had plans this morning first, to run to the post office to mail this order - but....President's Day! Post office closed. Seems like I always need to mail something during a National Holiday.
So...I dropped #1 off at PreSchool and came home with #2. We proceeded about our morning, and my little monkey boy decided to open up the pantry and help himself to a can of Dr. Pepper. (Note to self.....MOVE the Dr. Pepper) He dropped it....and it sprayed...and sprayed....and sprayed. All over my floor, walls, my boy, and the contents of the pantry.

So....I spend the rest of my morning cleaning up sticky Dr. Pepper off of the walls, floor, boy, and contents of pantry. Of course little boy had to "help" clean also.

Anyway, no sewing this morning - unless I can get something accomplishe in the next 15 minutes before lunch time!

Class Report

Well, after 4 hours of "serging"....this is what I accomplished!
I decided to sign up for Serger II....I'd like to learn how to do those Rolled Edges.
I think it's something I'll just have to practice with - it's sort of like learning to sew all over again - well, it's just a different machine. For those of you that sew - you know what I mean when I say that you just "know" your machine - you spend so much time with it. I think I just need to spend some "date" time, getting to know you time with my serger. Maybe if I give it a name, it'll treat me nicer, and feel like a true member of my family! Got any ideas???
If so, leave me a comment!
These are just some fabrics I found at Joann's the other day. My little boy loves, loves, loves puppies. So, I think I'll make him a little camp shirt, or maybe jon jon's out of the puppy material.
Then, I just loved the other two. I'm thinking circle skirts, either for my little girl, or to post on Etsy. The brown fabric is so pretty - it's chocolate brown with white embroidery.
Then, this little pattern I found in my stash the other day.
It's just too cute- I'm planning to dig into this soon and for sure make some for my shop.

Hope you all have a great day! Thanks for stopping in!

Something New

I took some Christmas money and bought myself this serger. It's really a new frontier for me, I've never used one before.

This evening I'm taking a class at the local Joann's - so I'm hoping I'll feel proficient enough to really start using it.

I'm excited about the circle skirt pattern, see below, and am really anxious to dig into some other vintage patterns I have.

So, I'll let you know how it goes!

If you have a serger, let me know what you think of it!

Vintage Pattern

Isn't this one of the most adorable little patterns??? I think my Mom gave it to me. For those of you that don't know - my parents have an antique shop - up North, Midwest Corn country! Anyway, I am so lucky that I get my hands on some really fun items. Yesterday afternoon, on a whim, while both kiddies were sleeping peacefully, I decided to get this one out and see if I could make heads or tails from the pattern instructions. It ended up being so easy - and I think, SO cute!
My girl loves, loves, loves to twirl and swirl in it. She's decided that she's going to wear it all day today, just to spin and whirl around the house.
It took quite a bit of fabric, it's a full circle - also - I love the waistband - you don't really see that on little girls' clothing now. You can't see it, but the hem as a facing, it's a seperate pattern piece that you attach to the hem and then turn it up. I've never see that in a modern pattern.
I'll probably start looking in my fabric stash and see if I can construct one of these to put on my etsy shop.
Just love them!

What I've Been Up To......

These are a few pictures of some projects I've been busy with. The little burp clothes/changing pads in these pictures above came from a lovely green vintage tablecloth that I purchased from the GoodWill store. I was so excited to find it - of course it had a few holes here and there, but that's the beauty of knowing how to sew - I can just cut right around them and make something beautiful and usefull once again from a discarded item. These are for my sister to give as gifts for a baby shower. Sure hope the recipients love them!

These little t-shirts are for a friend of mine's little boy - he turned 1 year old last Friday. I thought they turned out really cute! and for such a sweetie of a boy!
Ok, this Ladies and Gentlemen, is my premier photograph on the Red Carpet! Fans and all -
Before anyone gets too excited, let me explain. My hubby and I were invited to a 50's Black Tie Birthday party. I have spent the better part of the last month and a half purusing e-bay looking for a vintage 50's dress. What a blast! I actually ended up buying 2 of them. The other is a lacey off white wiggle dress. Just fabulous, but more of a summer dress I decided.
This one is black taffetta with the most gorgeous detailing (which you can't see in the picture). I was also able to wear a real Mink Stole, white gloves from my Mom, a handbag from my Mom, vintage jewelry - wow - those clip-on earrings are wicked!!!! - and to top it off, seamed pantyhose and the greatest patent leather, rounded toe shoes.
We had such a great time - I'm trying to think up more excuses to buy more of these little lovelies!