handmade christmas gifts.....

i thought that i would share a few gifts that i made for christmas this year.  now that the gifts have been given, i can post pictures of them here....

the girls each got a quilt this year

scarlett's

and tessa's.

both were strip quilts made with my ever growing stash of vintage sheets.

the girls share a bedroom but are getting separate rooms soon.  scarlett's is going to be pink and gray with   

this bedding with comforter, shams, sheet set and dust ruffle, that i scored at target for $7.59 for the entire set.....yes, $7.59.  it was an online purchase that was returned to the store and never sold.  it retails for $59.99 and is still available...

score!!

tessa's room is going to be painted lilac so she got this bedding.  it came with a sheet set, sham and dust ruffle and i got it at goodwill, brand new and in the package for $30.00.  not quite the same bargain as scarlett's but still a great deal....

i was totally excited when i found a vintage pillowcase that (sort of) matched and was used when i made her quilt.  

she also got a little chair that i got from goodwill and refurbished for her new room.  

the veneer on the harp was broken so i used filler on it....

 and recovered the seat in another vintage pillowcase that i also used for her quilt....

  she loved it....

the girls also each got these doll beds

which i neglected to take pictures of with the bedding that i made for each one.  

my parents got this.... 

 i forgot to take a picture before i started painting it, but it was copper metal with dark wood ugliness....

 yukka.....

my parents have a beautiful wooded backyard with some very whimsical garden art. 

this screamed bird feeder to me.....

 i collected teacups and saucers from thrift stores and 

don glued them on for me.  

my mom loved it.....but my dad didn't know what to think and it rendered him speechless while he tried to figure it out....

 i'm still hoping that it will grow on him....   :)

i made a few other gifts but i was so busy trying to finish them up that i didn't take pictures of them...

but they were cool.  i will try and get pics and post them soon...

how could i be the mother of a thirty old???......

and how could someone so incredibly beautiful be something that i created??

i am in total awe of her. she is just as sweet and wonderful as she is beautiful.  she is a hard worker, a college student and a fantastic big sister and daughter.  

she is a great wife and homemaker.  

and she is a fantastic mama...

her girls, my beautiful granddaughters, are the light of my life...

one, the oldest is just like her.....sweet, sensitive and the image of her mama.

she is smart, loving and generous.

and she exudes sweetness....

and the other, the youngest is the polar opposite....sassy, fearless and one tough cookie....

she is also smart, loving and generous. 

(and she just oozes sass, doesn't she?)

this picture completely describes their personalities.....

happy birthday, shannon my love.....

(sorry this is two days late!!)  

xoxo, mama

indian summer....

we have had some really crappy weather lately.  it started right after labor day and we have hardly had a warm day since.  we went from wearing shorts and tank tops to jeans and sweatshirts overnight.

literally overnight....

and rain. lots of rain and wind. and two frosts....

this week has been beautiful so far.  the temps are expected to get back into the 80's by the end of the week. and no rain. or wind.

so the girls wanted a little photo shoot tonight.

i am always happy to oblige.....

 and i had two (mostly) cooperative little girls...

 oh, my goodness, i just want to eat them up!!!

 the light was gorgeous. perfectly golden.  no wind.   long, long shadows.

and my girls were just the sweetest. (once i promised them ice cream)

this one will be 8 next month.  i can hardly believe that this much time has passed.  i feel very lucky to have such a beautiful and wonderful daughter who has given me such 

beautiful grandchildren. very lucky and blessed indeed....

how could you not!!!!!

garage sale results......

since i only held the garage sale for one day, (baseball got in the way) i didn't make a ton of money.

most of my big stuff got sold though and i was glad to get it off of my hands.

these guys, however, made a killing on the lemonade stand.

i set up everything under the tree in our front yard after rethinking the placement i had originally set up.

if you look at the top picture, i had the tables set up in front of the shed on the left so i could screw the chalkboard into the shed wall. (shhhhh!! don't tell don i did that, he'd have my head on a platter}.

i don't know what i was thinking, you have to set up a lemonade stand at the beginning, right?....

we got the other chalkboard out of the house and used it to advertise the flavors of our cupcakes. salted caramel and rainbow cupcakes.

who wouldn't want to buy the rainbow cupcakes that the kids helped me bake the day before.  you 

know, the day..... 

they sold out first!!!

there was also banana bread and brownies.  halfway through the garage sale, austen's friend nick made some break and bake chocolate chip cookies because we were running out of goodies.

everything sold.  at first the bigger kids (austen and nick) were afraid to ask potential customers if they wanted any cupcakes or lemonade when they approached the lemonade stand.  

so they recruited this one

the three year old....

to do all of the talking for them.  she turned out to be their ace in the hole....

she asked every single person who showed up that day if they wanted a cupcake or some lemonade.  if they said no, she would ask them if they wanted a brownie or a cookie while following them around the driveway.  

she was so darn persistent cute and sweet that even the ones that said no at the beginning 

bought something from the kids before they left. 

the kids took turns manning the station and were very good about being responsible.  their responsibility paid off well...they made $35.00!!

they learned a lesson about business, persistence and how customer service pays off.  one lady gave them $10.00 for a 25 cent cup of lemonade.  she told them that they were doing a great job.  another young man gave them $5.00 and he told me it was because he remembered that someone did that for him when he was little and he never forgot how happy it made him.....

it touched my heart and the kids were thrilled!

all in all, we had great weather and a very successful day.  

all of the chaos from the day before i preparation for the sale was well worth the happiness we all felt at the end of the day.

signs of spring.....

it was a long time coming...it was a very long, cold and miserable winter this year.

everything that blooms is two to three weeks later than it is supposed to be.  

but...

around here, there are definite signs of spring....

i took a few pictures this morning around my yard....

the sun is shining,

there is dew on the grass.....

and the tulips are blooming at last.

yesterday was beautiful to, albeit a little humid, but warm and sunny enough to have 

a picnic with our neighbor's family under their nice big and shady tree..

complete with a quilt spread on the ground and my newly painted picnic basket....

did i mention that my lovely neighbor angie has 6 kids?  three are adopted and three are their born children...five boys and one girl...

i watch tessa while shannon is in school but she is home by lunch time so they joined us too!!

and the boys entertained us with their spectacular feats of 

swing jumping....

i think that's what you call it....or maybe it's called 

"catapult yourself from the swing seat and land on your face" jumping.

thankfully, no accidents. this time.

 the tree branches are now flowering

 the rhubarb that we planted last year is growing like crazy....

in fact, i made some rhubarb blueberry crisp already.  mmmm-mmm

happy, ever so happy, to have warm weather again.

now if we can only get past this weekend and early next week where the weathermen have predicted highs in the mid 50's.

 ....again.

sigh!!!!!