Auction for Nie Nie

As many of you out there, I have been following the story of Stephanie and Christian for the last month or so. For as much sadness and frustration I feel for them, I am so amazed by the strength and love of their family and the willingness of the family to share the story with all of us. As tragic as the story could be, there is so much hope when you see how people have come together for this family that has resonated with so many. So that is the big plans for my doll quilt. I found a quirky old vintage doll bed and outfitted it with a mattress, quilt and pillow and am auctioning it off for Nie Nie. Check out this mattress...

Don't you just want to crawl in and take a nap? I tufted it with covered buttons and love how old fashioned it makes it look. (click on the photos to see a nice big view.) I also made a pillow and pillow case with ruffles because it's just more fun like that for little hands- to take the pillow in and put it back. It has piqued much interest here with my (6 year old) daughter and her friend so I am fairly confident it will make someone very happy come holiday time. The auction starts right now and will continue until saturday around noon. Let's start the bidding at $60.00. I will even pitch in for shipping so everything you bid will go directly to Nie Nie and her beautiful children. To bid, just leave it in the comments but make sure I have a way to reach you.

One more thing: I would love to get the word out as much as possible so that we can get some good bidding going so I am offering a bribe of sorts. Link to this post, email me to let you know you have linked to me (mobed@comcast.net) and I will draw a name from all the linkers and the winner gets the pretty little bauble below. It is a coin pearl with some pretty little watery colored natural stones (not sure what kind- just some pretty ones I found in my stash) on a sterling silver chain.

Thanks!!!

Doll Quilt

I was bit by the doll quilt bug last spring. There were so many great ones out in blogland and it seemed like the right size project. I added some embroidery from a pattern I got at The Pattern Bee. I got it all embroidered and then put it away until a couple of weeks ago. I had looked at it from time to time and thought, I really need to finish that. I am happy to say that it is finally finished, and I am pretty happy with it to boot. I have some special plans for this so stay tuned and I will tell you just what the plans are in a day or two.

Here it is all finished and hanging in the trees. The fabrics are all hand picked from my stash of favorites. Some I have had a long time and have not wanted to cut into- it was a nice way to use some without using too much. Some are from a friend who brought them back from Hong Kong for me. Lots of sweet little prints. I am really happy with all the colors.

Here is one more detail of some embroidery. It could have been a bit darker but thats o.k. I guess.

Question for you blogger users out there: Does anyone know how to get the photos to appear larger on screen? They always seem a tad small and I can't figure out how to get them bigger.

Meanwhile it is getting cold around these parts! I am trying to hold out until Oct. 1 to turn the heat on but I can't feel my toes anymore so I may have to give in! We jsut finished reading "The Long Winter"- part of the Little House series. I can tell you it made me none to excited for winter but so thankful that we live in these times. It also made me feel like a whiny baby for using my seat heaters in the car and whining about the housework, which by the standards of those days, would have felt like a day at the spa to Ma Ingalls.

Phew!

So everyone is settling in at school and we are easing into our routine. Hubby started a new job on monday so it is adding to the changes around here. One of my favorite things about the school year starting is the first friday in September is the annual rummage sale at the Senior Center and it is always fabulous. I thought the vase and candlesticks up above are perfect for Halloween. They are black amethyst glass and I got all 3 for $12 which seemed great. I am going to glitter up a pair of tapers for the candlestick holders and fill the vase with something white. I love the way the Limelight Hydrangeas look in it though. That is my very favorite hydrangea. My husband actually mowed over one of mine because it seemed a good plan- to take a high power mower to a few "weeds". Needless to say he felt terrible and redeemed himself by bringing me home another Limelight hydrangea. Well, that one he mowed over came back so now I have two!
I love the way this little vase looks like hard candy. It is a bit halloweenie too. Funny because I usually don't go for halloween decorations. On the back of this painting there is a little tag from a fair or something similar where the artist showed it in Alaska in 1978. The dog's name is Lucky. I fell in love and for $4 it was too good to pass up. He sort of looks a little like a black version on Dusty.

I have more to share but I need to hit the hay. I have a fun project I am getting excited to finish so hopefully that will happen this weekend. Hope it is a great one!

SO Great!!

Wow! It really is as great as I always thought it would be. All of us, eating dairy products, not having to think about every single little thing that goes into my little guy's mouth. For starters we had pizza on thursday night with my folks. He dug right in and loved it as much as he (and I ) thought he would. My Dad stopped at See's candy on the way to pizza to get him a piece of their really great chocolate and his sister (who had been hanging out with Nana for the duration of the 2 hour appointment with the allergist) brought him m&m's. You can't even imagine the absolute giddiness this kid has been radiating since we got the news. On friday he had his first donut (a maple bar- LOVED it!) macaroni and cheese (didn't love)and grilled cheese sandwiches (yum!). Saturday we had more pizza and a friend brought over three boxes (!!) of Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen. I love how responsive everyone has been to the news- people bringing over their idea of what really good thing he has missed out on like See's candy and Dilly Bars! Sunday we had Starbucks hot chocolate and another donut. I wish I would have weighed him before all this to see how much the dairy will affect him. He is a ribby little thing but so was his Dad back in the day so it's hard to say if it had any impact on him, going without. And this morning I whipped him up that Dutch Baby up there (big hit!). We used to have them growing up but I have not ever made them because they have milk in them. He loved it. I told my husband what I was making and he hadn't heard of them. Then he took one look at it and said, "Looks like Yorkshire Pudding", which it basically is. His Mom was English so she would make a savory version with bangers (sausages) in it and it was called Toad in the Hole. This one is made with butter instead of bacon fat and then you put lemon juice and powdered sugar on it- so yummy! So as you can see we are really really enjoying this whole new world. My son looked at me yesterday and said, Halloween is going to be so great this year!!" - it's the little moments like that where I or he realizes that this thing that used to be a drag is not a drag anymore and he can do what the other kids do. Usually he comes home on Halloween night with a big bucket of candy and after sorting out all the stuff he is allergic to, he has some skittles and some starburst and atleast 3/4 of it he has to get rid of. I usually buy candy that he can eat to give out and then save some for him for when he gets home but this year he gets all his chocolate unless it has tree nuts in it. He can eat peanuts so he is in good shape! Ahhhhh, it was a really good weekend!

Here is a painting I found at an estate sale. On the back the artist wrote who she got both the shell and the flower from. It was painted in 71 or 72. I think it is really sweet.

So I hope everyone has a really great first week of school. Unless you have already gone back and in that case have a good second or third or fourth week of school!