Summer dresses

Here is a little dress I put together for M. I didn't use a pattern but it is such a simple style it didn't need one. The weather is FINALLY turning and little dresses like this will be perfect. It would be perfect, that is, if she liked it. She poked a nice long pin through my heart when, upon trying it on the first time, looked at herself in the mirror and said, "no thank you.". No thank you? But you picked out the fabric, was my reply. Still, "no thank you. I don't like the little button". The little sweet vintage glass button. Lately she is very weird about her clothes. She wants to dress older. But she is just newly six. Not even six and a half and I can't bear the thought of letting her dress in some of the hoochie clothes that are out there. She has always been tall for her age , wearing a size 7 or 8 when she was five so to find things that still look young at that size was tough. I am going to hold onto it for another week or two in case she changes her mind but if not, it is off to a friend.

Phew!!

That was a ride. I had quite the deadline at work which kept creeping out as loose ends became tied and the madness of a season hitting it's peak came to a head. Everything is now done and now I wait for a several weeks for all the samples to come in. Ahhhh. This is always a nice spot in the process.

I made the kids do lots of yardwork today which, unbeknownst to me, is a severe form of child abuse-judging by how they were acting. I will say that the little one, in her classic klutzy fashion managed to get tangled in a bunch of tomato cages and get a nasty gash when she fell on a rake trying to free herself from the tangle of said tomato cages. Classic. We used to laugh because she could be standing still and find a way to fall down. I think once she grows into her long lanky limbs she will be a bit more steady. She is like a big puppy, all wagging tail and humongous paws.

Is that not the most beautiful rose up there? I cannot believe this bush. I haphazzardly cut it way back when the tree cutters came last fall. More to get it out of their way than to prune it. The leaves are all big and dark and glossy and I am not exaggerating when I way there are 30 buds and about 10 blooms on this rose right now. I have never had a bush so healthy, here in black spot country. I also love the combination of this coral rose and the hot green creeping jenny-

And here is a pot I put together this weekend with one of my favorite begonias, yummy moss and the sweetest dark dark purple coleus. It looks good with everything. Thankfully yard sale season is upon us and I have found a few goodies lately. Here is one from this weekend- it is just this sweet wooden tray. I love the detail in it. Three bucks! I wonder where it came from originally.

It is my birthday week so who knows, maybe I will have to get together some sort of giveaway. It has been a birthday tradition so I will think about what to do this year.

The Mother's Day Project

Several months back I found some information on The Mother's Day Project. I probably stumbled on it on someone's blog but I can't remember where. The project was started by Anne Landry and I loved the simplicity of the project and the heartfelt redirecting of so many emotions that come when we are in a situation, like war, that seems so alltogether frustrating and sad. The thing that has also really struck me as odd and particularly sad about the situation we are in now, is that you can go days or weeks or months without being affected directly by the war and so people seem to simply forget what is going on a world away. How many children, or those who don't watch the news or read the papers even know there is a war going on? The original idea of this project was to have volunteer stitchers embroider the names of female coalition members who have lost their lives in Iraq. It was not intended to exclude others who have also lost their lives but it was a place to start. We received printed muslin in the mail with the name of a woman on it. We were then to embroider the name and send it back to Anne with the intention of all the names later being sewn onto a tote bag that would circulate around to all the stitchers. A catalyst for conversation and an object for concious recognition of the lost loved ones. As it has evolved and the names have been coming in, Anne writes on the blog that the sacredness of what this piece is becoming no longer feels appropriate embodied in a tote bag. That the piece has now evolved into a memorial and so she is thinking about what form it will take. It is a wonderful project and I am thankful that Anne thought of it and put it out there so that we could participate.
The name I received was Jakia Sheree Cannon. The first thing I did was to google her name to try and find out a little more about her. She was only 20. One of the articles talked about how she sang in the ship's choir. She died of a lung obstruction while on board. Her Uncle was going to be on the same ship in another month's time but she died before he got there. I have a picture in my head from what I could find about her, of a sweet young girl who loved her family and loved to sing.
Sitting there stitching her name had the kid's asking what I was doing. We sat down and talked a long time about who she was and the fact that she is one of many many people who have died during this war. It is hard to know what to tell the kids about war and how much of my own angry opinions I should keep to myself, but we could all talk about the fact that she was no longer here and that even though her family must be very proud of her, they must really really miss her.