It's not too early...

We are big gift makers here for the hoildays. We make a ton of the gifts we give and the kids really get into it. Our sweet neighbor needed some help deadheading his gorgeous yard so I volunteered for the lavender and was able to take home all the faded flowers. I have two big buckets as it was a large plant. I put the buckets in our entryway and it smells wonderful in here. I spread them out on a big sheet today to dry them a bit and get the lavender buds off. We are going to make schets and eye pillows depending on how much we get. I think I will use the sheet on my bed afterwards so I can sleep in all that nice smell. Though on second thought it might give me a rash so maybe not!

Here is about two thirds of it. I have other ideas too- I think we can get vintage containers and fill them with wax for candles. Everyone uses candles so it is practical and nice to get. I also think I am going to hold a little one day craftravaganza for some neighborhood kids so they can make gifts too. You realize after awhile that not everyone crafts the way you do in your own house and I have supplies up the ying yang so it would be a good way to use some of them up.
Edited: We left for a few hours and the smell when we walked in the door was overwhelming! My son declared that we will be eating somewhere else tonight because of the smell!

Wedding!

It has been so long since we have been to a wedding and this one was just perfect. It also was a nice excuse to make another shirred dress for my daughter. I did a little velvet ribbon halter tie but I am going to rip that out today and put on wide shirred straps so she can wear it to school. Straps have to be three fingers wide- what the principal calls ravioli straps. It doesn't even seem that dirty today considering she was perched like this at the edge of the pond for most of the evening. If you held your hand in the water, tiny fish would come and swim all over it. Plus there were frogs and other fun pond dwellers to check out. I was sure one of the kids would fall in but thankfully no one did! The wedding was at an herb farm and the setting could not have been lovlier.

The bride had requested I make her an apron because, as you can see, she loves tacos and the mexican food at the wedding was amazing. She had lived in Amsterdam for the last couple of years where, despite all the other good things to eat, no good mexican. Everybody loved the food. It was all cooked to order and very fresh and yummy. I made the Amy Butler Split Bodice Domestic Goddess Apron. I went together quickly and easily though I am not used to 1/2 " seam allowances. I fudged a little on that because it just felt like too much. Is that just me or does that seem like too much? Plus it did not take anywhere near the fabric it asked for so she is getting napkins to match.

Check out these amazing lilies. The submerged bud looked so incredible to me- I didn't know they started out that way. It looked so mystical and magical with all the layers of things growing under the water. I really want a pond now. I already wanted one but that clinched it for me. I am sure that all of our frogs in our backyard would also love for me to put in a pond.

They had a bunch of baked pies instead of cake. The whole evening had a really nice feel to it- the sunset was beautiful and there was tons of planted lavender and it smelled so good. One note on the shirred dress- I tried to make it out of a lightweight almost voile type cotton and the elastic was just too powerful for it. It did not work at all so I would stick with the quilter weight cotton.

Finally!

It has been a loooong loooong wait but Season 3 Premiere of Mad Men is on tonight! I watched the season 2 finale last night on on demand to bring myself up to speed after all of these long months and I am glad I did because there were a few key things I had totally forgotten about. I love the colors and the styles and the storylines- great show. Now how many days until Glee starts? And that should do it for my fall tv watching.

It is that easy

I, of course, couldn't find my "Weekend Sewing" book but I watched the link on Martha's website and followed it from there. There were a couple of comments on the link that made it sound like the tension was tricky to figure out on this. Plus, it just looks so cute to be that easy. But it was. It sewed up like a dream and did everything Heather said it would on the video. In fact, If I didn't spend all that time looking for the book and my tape measure, it would have been done in a flash. (note to self: buy more tape measures- the kids like to walk of with them but what are they doing with them?) This one is for a little friend turning four today. Her whole world is pink so I thought this was a good choice. My daughter will be getting a couple this week too. We have a casual outdoor wedding to go to so I am going to make her one for that out of the cutest fabric that has lived in my stash two or three summers now.
Here it is hanging in the cucumber patch. Hope she likes it!

More of that fabric that I love

I really do love that fabric- plus I have a lot of it. I am loving this idea- I wanted to do a lampshade but didn't want to commit (and I was in a hurry!) so I fused medium weight interfacing onto the fabric, wrapped it around the lampshade and velcroed it in place. It was a decent solution, if I do say so myself, for a very fickle girl. I am going to look for some of those really strong magnets and glue some vintage MOP buttons on and do another one in another fabric and magnet it in place.

My daughter really wanted a new apron so I made this for her. I had that sweet vintage lace in my stash and I think it worked out quite nicely. She loves it and that's what counts.

I had about an half hour to myself for the first time since school let out. I really wanted to sew a pillow so I cranked this baby out. I turned it to put the pillow in and OOPS...

Sewed the back on inside out. I thought for about a half a minute about ripping it out to stitch on properly but I decided I liked the washed out look of it so it is staying the way it is. I would rather have it on my couch being used than on my pile of projects to mend until I get another bit of time to myself!