Lucie...

I miss you.

Posies and sewing and stuff...

Just a quick photo of our happy, summer table!  This photo makes me grin!  Our front porch is my very favorite room of the house!  We spend happy hours visiting with friends and family, eating dinners, playing board games, and reading out here!  Dontcha love the goofy sunflower???  It showed up on our porch sometime during the day on my birthday!  No note, just a silly antenae topper in the pot.  (One of my buddies and I swap car decorations regularly.  She knew it would make me laugh!)  And do you see the little tomatoes?  We are gathering about 20 of those little guys each day now!  And the bigger tomatoes are beginning to turn red, too!

 

This was a fun surprise!  My aunt gave us this plant last year.  My grandfather started the original plant!  So when my aunt moved, she gave (cuttings?) to any nieces/nephews who were interested in growing one.  I am... ummmm... not a gardener.  This bush looked pretty sad this spring & we thought perhaps I managed to kill it over the winter.  Well... ok... we were *sure* I managed to kill it.  But it revived!  Now we have this gorgeous flower... and about a dozen more buds to follow!

Ok... y'all don't follow this blog for posies.  Really... I have been sewing again!  Honest!

Yesterday it poured all day.  What a wonderful excuse to prod the sewing machine back into action!  Kiddo #2 and her buddy worked on their "Sassy Bag" purses (pattern by Lazy Girl Designs) the other day.  Kiddo 2 was *almost* finished.  And she was out camping with Kiddo 1 and a bunch of their friends.  So I popped the last pieces together.  Scratch one project off the list!

Then I worked on Kiddo #3's back-to-school backpack.  That would be otherwise known as the fourth  "Kick-butt-awesome-backpack."  (We just make these bags up.  They are a larger version of the little packs shown earlier this spring.  Soooo... no pattern available... yet!)

 

Kiddo 3 was thrilled and walked around for an hour or so with her new pack on her back!  She loved looking in the mirror and checking out her new big-girl look!

Then I worked on lunch sacks requested by a neighbor for back-to-school.  Those are 3/4 finished, so no photos yet.  And they are another "no-pattern-available-yet" item....  Hmmm... sounds like I need to stop sewing for a little while and start writing...

Have a happy day!

Two more backpacks!

Two more backpacks finished!  Here is oldest kiddo holding her backpack (green, white, black) and youngest sister's backpack (orange and purple)...  And now it is WWWWWAAAAAYYYYY late and time for bed!  Yawn....

Happy sewing!

Kiddo #2 finished her backpack tonight!  (Kiddo #1 got distracted by a phone call from a BOY... geeze!)

I love how sassy and independent this kiddo is!  Her bag just screams individuality!

Happy sewing!  Two more bags to post soon!

Firing up the sewing machine!

Yup... the calendar turned!  Thoughts of sewing are seeping back into my brain.  The girls all need new backpacks for school.  And they all want the colorful, homemade kind.  (Pictured is oldest kiddo's now-wearing-out-and-needs-replacing backpack.)  We have little piles of fabric waiting to be made into backpacks.  And Kiddo #2 has a favorite purse that is threadbare.  One of her friends also loves the purse...  So we are planning a slumber party sew-in soon.  I LOVE this purse pattern, by the way!  "Sassy Bag" by Lazy Gal designs.  Each purse is made with three fat quarters.  (Two little piles of fat quarters and the pattern are on the right-hand side of the photo.)  And... I've seen Schnibbles EVERYWHERE in blogland lately.  Soooo... I finally picked up the book.  Now if I could just find the time to actually crack it open....

More soon!  The oldest girls and I are working on "kick-butt-awesome-backpacks" today while the little girls play at Nana and Boppa's house!

Happy sewing!

Ok... I'm a wuss...  I don't show people my sketchbook.  Tooooooo messy!  This is where I bang down thoughts, one after another.  Ideas.  Little surges of inspiration.  Notes.  Colors.  But I did sit down with the thing this morning.  Rather covered the gamut of seasons.  There are some Christmas ideas.  And patriotic ideas.  Kiddo #1 liked those.  Oh... did I say I don't show people my sketchbook?  I break that rule for my kiddos....  My favorite bits are some fall-time sketches, though.  I'm itching to fire up that sewing machine.  Oooops!  It is almost eleven and we have company coming.  Dang!  The house isn't clean yet.  No sewing right now for me.... 

Have a creative day!

Easing back into creativity....

Ok... I took the plastic wrap off a sketchbook today.  Does that count for creative effort?  Or do I actually have to write in the thing???  I'm thinking I need to draw a big line through three or four pages just to break the ice.  An empty sketch pad is intimidating.  Perhaps I should just leave it on the kitchen table with pencils next to it... daughter #3 would happily make some marks in it to get me started!

   Ummm... I need to unearth the sewing machine, too.  The mending pile got out of hand again.  Mending is not very stimulating.  It has not given me a single creative urge yet!

But the calendar has flipped to August.  Something about August stirs the creative cobwebs.  A few days ago, I pulled out a pattern to make for a friend.  I even had a creative thought skitter across my consciousness last night.  I'll jot it down in that sketchbook as soon as kiddo #3 personalizes a couple of pages!