Pine Trees and Baby Gifts

We're here! But only at a temporary site at the moment. The site we chose to make our "home" didn't have water service yet when we arrived. Hopes are that the water issues will be resolved before the end of the week. The water and many, many other issues are continuing ghosts of the monstrous ice storm that ravished this area earlier this year. The damage is widespread and shocking. Literally everywhere you look.

Yesterday I took a walk to snap some photos. It's a challenge to stay out of the way of the work crews, so I walked up to the archery range. Right now attention is being focused on roads and campsites so this area is not a priority.

For whatever reason, it seems this hillside took a particular beating. There are standing trees in the background, however the trees you see in the foreground are not only downed but uprooted. Lots and lots of them, like a swath was taken right across that hillside.

But most shocking is that this kind of damage is not isolated. It's around every corner. The crews here are working ever so hard and making great progress but obviously it can't all be addressed. I can't imagine how many years it will take for nature to restore herself to previous splendor. Probably not in my lifetime!

Here's a typical roadside scene. This beautiful old cedar got a good pruning in order to clear the roadway. Behind is lots more that will lie, at least for the time being.

Nevertheless, the woods are coming to life with spring beauty and here are a couple of uplifting glimpses.

The thrilling beauty of rebirth . . .

So - enough camp talk! On to sewing . . .

Here are a couple more baby gift items from Lyndsay's shower that I promised I would show.

Diaper bag made for my mom to give (Daddy is a trucker, can you tell?!).

And here is a photo album that was my dad's gift.

Are you photo over-loaded?!

Hope your day is a good one!

Bathroom Remake

I spent most of last week finally getting something done that's been on my list for months. The hall bath was long overdue for an update, with its original wallpaper I put up 15 plus years ago when we built the house. I had actually already taken down the shower curtain when it occurred to me that I should take some "before" pics -- that accounts for the tie-backs lying in floor!

. . . this was BEFORE













and here's the AFTER




Here's a close-up of the stamped images. It's a Stampin Up set called Organic Outlines. I love StampinUp! I love my consultant, Jennifer Hunt. She makes it fun.

I'm happy - it's new and refreshed and wow, does it feel good to have that accomplished! Don't ask how long ago I bought the paint. :)

Oh Happy Day!

I made my first Etsy sale and will ship a Christmas jumper to Massachusetts today - can you believe it!? I still marvel at how the internet makes such things possible. A few short years ago I couldn’t have dreamed of such a thing. It makes the world smaller, don’t you think? When I see that I’ve had visits (and comments) from exotic, far-away places like Australia (!!!) I am humbled!

Well, it was another busy weekend for us, I‘ll bet yours was too. Another Christmas party, this one sponsored by my husband’s place of part-time employment and so graciously hosted at the home of the managing owner and his wife. Mid-afternoon it dawned on me that a hostess gift would be nice . . .


So I whipped up this kitchen towel. With the addition of a box of chocolates, we thought we should have all bases covered (husband and wife).



I had a request for a couple of tiles expressing this sentiment. With the words being the focus, I kept them pretty simple in design. I like simple. I think simple should be my middle name. For a lot of reasons. :)





And a monstrance cover. In white satin. Satin works up so beautifully, you can hardly go wrong.


I added covered piping and an embroidery design I digitized myself. Simple elegance. Again with the simple!



That's all for now. Have a good day. We're in line for our first winter storm; I'll let you know how that goes.

Just a few things

One day at a time, the world moves on. I'm spending a lot of time with my friend Tammy and it's a refreshing release to be able to focus on time together and just the basic simplicity of doing what you want or need to do in the moment. I believe we all have a tendency to fall into that "life in the fast lane" routine, squeezing so much into our schedule that we can't possibly achieve it all, feeling like a failure when we don't, and in the meantime perhaps giving less attention than we would like to the precious ones we hold dear.

We've all heard it before, but I'm here to tell you again. Slow down, say no when you need to, focus on what is important to you and tell everyone dear to you how you feel. You never know, you may not get another chance.

Sniff, sniff - okay . . . I finally sat down at my machine this week one day shy of two weeks without sewing (yeah, I can't believe it myself), but the occasion was Tammy's birthday (yes, how painfully ironic).

How many of you have caught the rubber stamping addiction? We have. I had made myself a bag similar to this for my Stampin Up markers and she admired it, so this one was for her. And it came out WAY cuter than mine!

If you're familar with SU, you know there are 4 color families, with 12 colors in each. The bag has 4 sections, each holds 12 markers.

I would have liked to show the bag with markers but mine were at Tammy's where we were making dozens of handmade thank-you cards. Just pretend these are SU markers. :)

I gave Tammy the bag on her actual birthday. There will be a birthday party this weekend so yesterday I helped Macy & Maddi each create a gift of their own for their Nana. Maddi's gift is a cupcake pincushion. It was so simple. Maddi is 4 and she honestly did a great deal of it herself, even threading the ribbon through the little holes we punched.

She was delighted, can you tell?! But then, she's always delighted, she's just one of those kind of kids.

She took this pic herself

Here's Macy (age 7) with her pillow top, so proud of using the sewing machine. She's already planning what she will do next and more importantly, when she will get her own machine!

I did the applique piece before she came, but she did all the patches by herself.

And finally a project from "before".

It's a carry-to-grandma's bag for a good friend's granddaughter. Little Mattie is 3 and her Nana tells me she loved the bag. I'm so pleased.

She loves butterflies and purple.

That's all for now.