I can't wait for spring 2

One day while at the dollar store I found this:



I love gauze; especially the way it feels. It's hard to find at fabric stores. So I was so excited when I came across this. I bought two of them and made Rachel a skirt.



Since the fabric is so thin I folded the top 1/3 or so down, so that it would be two layers thick. I added lace to the edges and elastic to the waist to finish it off.



I'm thinking about going back to the dollar store to get some more gauze to make a matching top!

Rachel's Babies' baby quilts

My daughter Rachel is one little busy girl. She has 3 baby dolls to take care of. When I make a quilt and have left overs, I make a baby doll quilt for her to play with. Last time when I was working on this quilt, there was some left overs, so I made a third baby doll quilt.



This quilt is 17" by 19". This is my second attempt at machine quilting. I just have to keep practicing.



While I was working on it, Rachel kept asking, "Is it mine?" I'm so glad that she gets excited when I make something for her. I hope someday she will pick up sewing and we can sew together. Wouldn't that be fun!

Sweet Scent of Happiness

One of the things I love to do is make strawberry jam. I love the sweet scent all around the house. And in the end you get tasty jam. The recipe I have is pretty straigth forward and simple.

Strawberries 2.5 cups
Sugar 1.25 cups
2-3 slices of lemon

1. Wash the strawberries and remove the hulls.
2. Put the strawberries in a large pot and pour the sugar over them. Let it sit over night.
3. Sterilize the jars and get them ready.
4. The next morning, put in the lemon slices.
5. On high heat boil the ingredients. Use a ladle to remove the foam.
6. Turn the heat down to below medium and let simmer for more than 20 minutes, until it thickens.
7. Remove the lemon slices and while the jam is still hot, pour into the jars.
8. Lightly close the lid and play the jar in cool water. This removes the air in the jar and vacuum seals the lid.
9. Tighten the lid.

We're still eating the jam I made last April. This jam is not for shelf storage, it must be refrigerated. I'm not the expert on canning, but this is one of the things I would love to learn more about.



While the jam was simmering, guess what I was working on.

I'll let you know on my next post!

Waiting for Spring...

I've been working on Rachel's spring and summer outfits. The process is slow, but I finished one outfit today. I used Amy Butler and Mary Engelbreit fabrics to make a skirt.

The top fabric is Amy Butler, the bottom is Mary Engelbreit.

I cut out a design from a piece of Amy Butler fabric and machine appliqued it onto a t-shirt I bought at the store. When I found the t-shirt, I was so excited. I already had the fabric and color matched so perfectly.



Rachel loved her new outfit, since it was so cold, we couldn't play outside.

Meanwhile I was going through her closet and found a white top with lace and a black t-shirt. These would look cute with the skirt. Her new t-shirt would also go well with jeans and white capris.



I am so excited! I am working on different skirt from a dollar store find. It will be very cute when it is finished. I'll post pictures of that when it's done. Check back in a few days!

A boy is made out of......

Many interesting conversations happen during the drive to our house. This is one of those stories.

Few days ago, I picked the boys up from school. In the back seat Michael was making disturbing noise with the spit in his mouth (Sorry if you are turned off by this imagery. If you are ok, please keep on reading).

me: Michael, that's disgusting, stop doing that.
M: But, mom, I have venom in my spit.

I was cought off gard by this and though, "what!? This boy is always something to say... oh boy.."

me: What do you mean?
M: It's true, the other day, I killed an ant with my venom at grandma's house!
me: You spit on an ant?
M: uh-huh
me: Well, Michael, I don't think the ant died from your venom. He drowned.
After a moment of silence.
M: NO, really, I have venom!!
me: Oh, OK let's tell daddy later.

I was trying not to laugh so hard! I wonder for how long he is going to believe that he is a venom boy. He is stubbern, so no matter what I say, he won't change his mind. I will just let him be. It's harmless.

After that I remembered the saying "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made out of." I think they forgot to add venom.

Anonymous Gift

Yesterday was one of those very hectic days. The day before was just as hectic. Two days ago, my husband had to work through the night to get some stuff done for work. So naturally he was too tired to take the boys to school. I took them in the morning, then went back to pick up Michael and then again to get Christopher.

Then the next day I picked up Michael, then a few hours later, I picked up Christopher, then rushed them off to Tae Kwon Do. Between those times I was cleaning and trying to cook dinner when I realized that there was an art festival at the boys' school soon after their martial arts.

I was feeling tired and pulled into our drive way, when I noticed something on our front door step. I got out of the car and went to see what it was.



I was surprised and puzzled at the same time. There was no note. Just these cute candle holders. It wasn't my birthday. Who would do something like this? I looked around to see if anyone was hiding waiting to surprise me or something, but our bushes are so tiny there wasn't really anyplace for anyone to hide.

I know there are eartly angels everywhere watching over and helping each other. It is so nice to know that I have one watching over me! Thank you! Whoever you are. You made my day!

Tutorial--Topiary for people who don't have a green thumb--

My grandfather, who I was very close to growing up, was a gifted licensed gardener. His backyard was a beautiful Japanese style garden. He was very knowledgable about agriculture. He grew all sorts of vegetables and flowers. He made it look easy. Unfortunately I did not inherit his talent. I would love to be like him and have attempted many times. It so far has not worked! I still love to have green in my house, so I decided to make a topiary out of fake greenery stems a few years ago. I've made several since then, today I picked out greenery stems with tiny white flowers and decided to make a tutorial for anyone like me who doesn't have a green thumb.

First you will need a container, foam, artificial plants (two stems), glue gun, wire cutters, a knife to cut the foam, and fake soil. If you can't find fake soil, you can always use dry moss.


Cut the foam to fit the container. You want to be careful, if it is too loose it will fall out eaily and make a mess.

Cut it so that you have to push the foam a bit to get it all in. I've been told to glue the foam to the container, but my method allows me to change the topiary easily.

The stems I bought were too long for this project so I cut them off. When you cut the stems keep in mind you need to keep enough of the stem to insert into the foam until it reaches the bottom. Use the glue gun to secure the stems. Wait until it drys before continuing on.

Here is what mine looks like before I bent the stems down.

To secure the stems together I took branches from each stem and intertwined them around the base stems.

Take the ends of both plants and intertwine them together to form a circle. Then I braided the other branches around the main stems.

Here I was working on some loose ends. Trying to get it to look just right.






I used this fake soil to cover up the foam. I bought this a long time ago, so I don't know if stores carry this one anymore, but you could always use dried moss. You can find dried moss at craft stores.






Place the fake dirt on the foam and gently press in. If you are using dried moss, take a little at a time and use the glue gun to secure them to the foam.


There, you now have a pretty topiary that you don't need to worry about, it will never die!