Where have I been? Hiding out behind my computer screen, and behind my sewing machine. Today I finished the final draft on my bloomers tutorial! Now I just need to figure out how to put it on here to share. Sometimes I feel so technologically challenged:)

Is it Friday yet? Oh, am I tired! But it's been a good day and week so far. I got a lot accomplished today and I'm really proud of myself. If I can just keep it up through tomorrow then I'll be doing great! This day saw some projects completed and added to my shop, and a couple of things begun for tomorrow to photograph. I'm on a role, and I'm trying to ignore that feeling of exhaustion! I can sleep when I'm dead right?! A happy evening to you:)

A day in putting into practice "use what you have". Good stuff. What do you have and how will you use it?

Some exciting stuff going on around here! This is my oldest, Anthony. He just started 1st grade today. I'm a proud Mama. He's smart, handsome, and an all around great guy. And his first day was great! (Though Mama missed him terribly!) It's going to be a great school year, I can feel it. I hope the same for everyone else's family as well. Today's other exciting news... I just found Rock & Shop Market online via poppytalk and I'm more than thrilled. I'm ecstatic. This is what I have been hoping for!Entering myself in a vendors fair is not something I'm sure I'm ready to do, especially with it being so close to my due date. But the potential is there! The opportunity for future events is something I'd been looking into, and that is thrilling. You can bet I'll be there with bells on at their October event (and cash in hand for some goodies)!

I haven't got much for you this lovely Monday morning! My little brood and I did have a nice little weekend. We took a road trip to Raleigh, NC. and explored a bit. It's a little over two hours away with kids in tow, but they did great. And despite having to window shop in a hurry I saw some really lovely places, and will have to make it a point of going back. And not just because one of my favorite grocery stores is there! I love love love Trader Joe's. It has such great stuff. I only wish we lived closer so I could go every week! ~~~ Last night my brother and I headed out late to catch a flick. We originally were going to go see Inglourious Basterds, but alas it was sold out until later today! So we grabbed a coffee and went to see Julie&Julia instead, and I can say without a shadow of disappointment that I'm so glad we did! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It was so entertaining, really a lovely film. It made me want to go out and buy Julia Child's book and start cooking. It's got lots of good laughs! Go see it:)

This week flew by while I wasn't looking! My husband was pretty busy with work this week, so it gave me a chance to get some things done. I printed and sewed up some things... And started... ...And completed a project for a good friend.

I love doing things for friends. It's always so exciting to see their reactions to the finished product! Here's to a great weekend!

The last couple of days, (here and there between other things), I've been trying to put together a tutorial for my little girls bloomers. This will be my second tutorial. The first one I put together was basically for myself so I wouldn't forget how I put something together, and it didn't need pictures or illustrations. But I thought, since sewing together a pair of bloomers is a little more complicated than sewing just a few straight stitches, it might be good to see what is out there and how people have put together their own tutorials. Researching a little bit, I came across a great tutorial about writing tutorials from Bella Dia! Not only is her tutorial very helpful and informative, but it's pretty darn cute, too, in that she shows you how to make a Daisy (or Dandelion!) Chain. Her blog is really cute! Go check it out.

How to start the day.

First, eat melt-in-your-mouth Yogurt Coffee Cake.

Try to save a lost-cause project. Sometimes paint doesn't fix everything. My suggestion would be to go to etsy and buy the ones I mentioned before. Much nicer than my attempt! :)

Spend time working on one project....

...before moving onto the next!

All in all, it's been a good beginning to the day. By noon I should be ready for a nap!

The days seem to be drifting together lately. I'm six months into my pregnancy and it's seeming to catch up with me a bit lately. My creativity is taking a back seat to nap time and trying to find comfy clothes. No doubt about there still being plenty of ideas! I'm just taking it a bit slower now. ~~~ I spent some of the weekend relaxing on the couch with movies, and some of the rest of the weekend fixing a few things with the bloomers pattern I made for my little girl.

It makes me happy to see them coming together and fitting her so nicely.

In the next few days I'll have the tutorial for them finalized and I'll share! For a bit, now though, I think I'll rest a bit and do some needle work. Speaking of needle work...I finished and framed my Little Girl on a Swing and put her in the shop! ~Till tomorrow!~

These garden stakes have been appealing to me for a while now. I keep going and looking at them. from PigeonToeCeramics They are simple and pretty. Today I thought I would try making some of my own from white polymer clay. My attempt was fairly close to those in the picture! I'd show you but I'm a little embarrassed by the fact that when I baked them...I burned them. I got distracted by little fingers roaming around my tools and only remembered them when I saw smoke billowing out of the oven! I'll have to try again. Along with the garden stakes, I thought I would try making a calendar of sorts to use with my 3 year old daughter who I am planning on preschool-homeschooling starting this fall. She's a big fan of Montessori style learning, so I figured some hands on calendar tablets would make learning about the date fun for her. Making them was fun and easy! As soon as I get it all put together on a board of sorts I'll post some pictures. And maybe once I try the garden stakes again, I'll give you a peek at those too:)

Picture from Country Living

Country Living Magazine had a how-to article a while back about using vintage quilts to line baskets. I thought it was adorable. Who wouldn't want one to put something in a basket so cute? When I looked again at the picture yesterday, this quilt that I've had for a while came to mind instantly...

The only problem is, I couldn't get myself to cut it up. I had my scissors posed at the edge and everything. But the thought of cutting it just made me cringe. There's nothing special about the quilt mind you. It's not an heirloom, and no one made it for me. It was a weekend find somewhere that I can't recall. It's riddled with moth holes, and the quilting is coming undone in more than a few places. And yet, despite all those factors, I still couldn't cut it up. So now it lays lovingly on my bed while I try to decide what to do about it. Should I try to mend it and use it? Yet one more quilt for my bed? Or should I just bite the bullet and cut into it? There are so many possibilities!

What's a girl to do!

Sorry no post yesterday! I'm experiencing some technical difficulties, and will hopefully have them fixed soon. Bare with me please!

TTV Overlay! Through the View Finder is a popular type of photography right now that has some really amazing affects on images. I've seen a couple of photos lately that have really captured my attention and it made me want to go and find out how people are doing it! I found this tute on how to do fake TTV in case you can't find a camera to use.

DIY: How to fake TTV from Joe Philipson on Vimeo.

This is a really great idea, especially if you are like me and cannot just run out and buy an antique camera on a whim. (Though the thought has crossed my mind!) You can also do the real thing if you are up for it! If you follow this link to Russ Morris' flickr feed you can check out his Contraption, and view some amazing TTV photos. If you are a frequent visitor to etsy you'll most likely have seen some artists using this technique. There are some really great prints for sale. In the mean time I hope you can have some fun with this tutorial from Vimeo!

(A work in progress!)

Where did yesterday, and for that matter TODAY, disappear to??? Very often I get so caught up with things that I feel like I don't have a moment to think. There have been a few things I've been working on the last few days, and I suppose I just got so carried away with getting them done that I forgot to take a breather! Here's a sneak at what I've been working on...More on Monday, I promise!P.S. I screen printed that linen fabric before sewing that organizer up. How cool is that?!

When it comes to your supplies, your art or craft supplies, are you organized or are you scattered? I love to be organized, but I don't always get to the point where everything is in it's place. For example this past week I was working on the drawing for this little embroidery project I'm working on and I misplaced my favorite eraser.

Now when it comes right down to it you think, "Well, I'll just go get another." But the super (anal) organized part of me just tends to get frustrated and turn the house upside down looking for said missing eraser. I used it just this morning, I say to myself, where could it be? Usually I'll find said supply was moved to a different spot by wandering small fingers who love to help me "organize". But this time it's eluding my searching skills. In the end, I finally gave in and picked up another from the local Michael's between errands, but the annoyance that I still can't find the missing one is still there. For the life of me I just can't figure out what I could have done with it. I may never know. We'll file it under the "Missing/Never to be Found" category and move on. It's always good to move on.

In my case, I moved on to another project that didn't require my fancy eraser. My daughter is 3 and loves to be girly in dresses. Despite the fact that I may intentionally give her a shin length dress to wear in hopes of hiding some delicates beneath, she is a tough cookie and not always as lady-like as one might hope. In an attempt to instill a little more modesty, (or at least feign it till she understands a little better to keep her self covered), I decided to make her some "bloomers". A few weeks ago when I was out thrifting I came across a homemade pair in hideous cotton/polyester material, but appealing in pattern. So I used them to make these for her...

The pattern needs a bit of tweaking here and there to fit properly, but they really are adorable on. It almost makes me want to wear some myself.

When I go out into my yard I like to dream that I'm a farm girl. The idea of hard old fashioned manual labor appeals to me. From my earliest days as a child I have always been a hands on type of person. The draw of dirt is so enticing. The smell of grass, the ickiness of bugs, the annoyance of gritty dirt between your toes and under your nails. It's deeply satisfying to see things come alive.

I have to admit though that over the last month or so, the ability to go out and shovel dirt in the garden has slowed substantially for me with the growing of my baby belly. I still love going outside, and find it inspiring to sit and stare off into the leaves and things while my two children splash and squeal in the pool. My favorite spot is near one of the fences, beneath some tall bush/trees that provide shade from the sweltering heat. The humidity here in NC is something I'm not accustomed to, but at least beneath the trees I can sprawl in my lawn chair comfortably for an hour or so and stare through the fence down this long lane between properties. I like to imagine that there is a secret garden back there.

Yesterday as I was sitting there, I noticed that with all the rain we've had lately that the fruit and veggies that are growing on the property are having a hard time. The apples, I fear, won't make it to being ripe. Dark spots freckle their not-quite-ripe skins. The grapes are quickly being eaten up by the variety of doves and other birds that make nests near our home. Despite those things it's still lovely to sit and observe. I often take a magazine or some needle work out with me to pass the time. Like this pillow I've been working on, which my daughter has now claimed for herself. It is pink, afterall. Yesterday morning after my baby-belly check up, a quick stop at Barnes & Noble found me favoring a new magazine, Mary Janes Farm. Who could not love a magazine with almost every page looking something like this... If you haven't had a peek at the beautiful pages of this publication yet, I highly recommend you do. Even if you have no leanings toward the farm life, the pictures alone are worth it.