The Handmade Dress

Summer is just about to kill me people! I am so ready for school to start back so that I can have my peaceful routine back! Summer is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but it is sooooo incredibly busy (swimming, water park, parties, swimming). I need my routine back. (My little nephew Abe at the pool today. How stinkin cute is that kid?) I wanted to tell you about a few random things this week so I'm just going to do a list. I love lists. they make me feel so 'together' on days like this. The List: 1. I'm on day 19 of being a vegetarian and I don't really miss anything except for the occasional carbonated beverage (which isn't allowed on our plan). Oh how I love my not-so-good-for-me Diet Sunkist. I don't miss meat at all! We have a few favorite recipes now that I hope to share soon. My favorite has to be mushroom quesadillas, they totally rock. Ben has lost almost 20 lbs and I have lost at least 10, so the weight seems to be coming off easily. I...

While sitting here this morning trying to plan out the perfect Saturday, indoors away from the scorching heat, I thought about spending some time with my old friend Grace Livingston Hill. That's one friend that will never let you down. Am I right or am I right? So I was thinking of reading one of my old favorites start to finish and just make a day of it when....the thought hit me...I wonder if Grace has any audio books on my (FREE) audiobooks app . I looked it up on my phone and guess what! The Enchanted Barn was there!!!! (It's also free to listen to here if you don't have an iPod or iPhone.) This has been one of my favorites since Sivje told me it was her favorite a while back. Do you know what this means? Now I get to spend the day with Grace AND sew or crochet or embroider something at the same time...PERFECT! I couldn't let the day go by without sharing the link with you. Remember you can also read most of her books online. I read Aunt Crete's Emancipa...

My pea green sheet/ hippie shirt is done! I like the shirt, but I don't love the picture. One of these days I'm going to get to post just one picture of me that I like. Why didn't Ben tell me to pull that big wrinkle across the front down? Oh well. Moving on. Some of you asked what pattern I used, sorry, I should have mentioned that before but I thought you would probably recognise it. If you missed it just look HERE for all of the details. This was such a fun project. I started out with all of the shapes and I just played around with them until they looked right. Then I just pinned them down and started working a blanket stitch around each one. I used size 10 crochet thread instead of embroidery floss to get a more chunky, messy look. I worked feather stitching all the way around the neck, and then I added a lazy daisy at the center back. In the end the shirt cost me just a few cents. The sheet was free, the applique fabric was free, and the bu...

...right? My Granny gave me an ugly pea green sheet the other day. It was an ugly sheet, but I thought that it would make an awesome hippie shirt. That is....if I could put just the right details on it. I hope I got it right! I've always liked this color green with my red hair. I'll be back tomorrow with the final verdict. What do you think of it so far? Are you feelin it?

(Picture taken by Daddy while Mama was away at market.) ....I totally need to get up off of my lazy rear and do some laundry, clean the bathrooms, straighten up the loft, find a place for the fifty something butternut squash in my pantry, make more tomato sauce to freeze, put up some okra, make the kids clean their rooms really good, drink more water, dust, sweep, mop, blah blah blah blah blah blah.......but since it is Saturday.....maybe I'll just drink more water (and maybe another cup of coffee) while I tell the kids to "load up" (that means everyone get in the van and buckle up) and we can head to the thrift store and hunt for treasures! I'm so leaving this mess for another day, I'm positive it will still be here waiting for me when I get back. What are you doing or not doing on this lovely Saturday afternoon?

This morning marks day 3 of being a vegetarian. So far I have felt pretty good. I have had a few moments that I felt a little weird (light headed and foggy), but overall it's been a good experience. After reading a few of the comments from the last post I realised that I wasn't super clear about our "diet plan rules". Oops. You know how I can get ahead of myself! On our plan (the one we made up) we have cut out all sodas, processed food, meat or meat substitutes, and anything else considered unhealthy (no matter how many calories it has). We are eating a lot of veggies from the garden, dry beans, mixed nuts, whole grains, and we are trying new recipes! My plan is a little different from Ben's, I have tried to eat most of my veggies raw while he is more focused on getting loads of protein. We loved all of the recipes and links!!! We tried the black bean burgers last night and we both liked them! Tonight I think Ben wants to try a new sauce to eat on whole grain noo...

Hey guys! We are headed out to the boulder field again this morning to do a little climbing, but I wanted to tell/ask you about a few things before we leave. I'll explain the shoes first. Back when I was "embellishing" my own Sanuks I promised the first three people who asked that I would do a pair for them too. You know how that works...a lot of people started asking and then I realised that my fingers wouldn't be able to keep up! My fingers are sore for days after just one pair! Three pair I can handle, 30 pair, not so much. Luckily Crys (AKA Crystal, my best childhood friend) was one of the first to ask. Crys had her 30th birthday last week and her friend Amy and I worked out a way to get this pair to her by her birthday. Her favorites were my hippie shoes, so I just did the same design in different colors. She said that she really liked them! Now the other thing I wanted to talk about......I'm hungry just thinking about it.....as of today, Ben ...

Maddie has been wanting a skirt and top "like Sissy's Easter dress" for a while now. Every time she came up into the loft she would ask if it was done yet....don't you just love a nag? So a couple of weeks ago I promised her that by Sunday morning she would have her very own Easter dress. I made the top out of the Olivia Paige pattern (the skirt is the Miss Claire), but I was being a little lazy. I skipped the tucks on the front bodice (I just used the lining pattern piece for the main bodice and the lining), I sewed the cross over back together and just made one back skirt (think fake wrap dress), and then I added a sash. It went together so fast! And the princess approves because she says she feels five in it. Five? Really? What's so cool about five? Why can't she want to be three? Sheesh! The fabric is Hunky Dory by Moda. A few random bits... First off, an adoption update, we are waiting on paperwork (we have done everything we can up ...

(Picture taken by my sweet Molly) When Target finally put all of the liberty scarves on clearance, I was able to get my hands on four of them! They were $3 each! Since I was pretty close to having my dress pattern just right I cut into one of my precious scarves last night....and I love it!!! I made it with a drawstring waist instead of elastic this time. I made the front bodice of this one a button-up (using part of my drawstring for buttonhole loops). I haven't finished the hem yet because I think I may want to use some wide crochet lace....What do you think? Should I just hem it like it is and wear my petticoat with it, or add lace (and then I could still wear the petticoat if I wanted to)? I cant do a ruffle because I just about used every inch of that scarf...Any ideas?

For years now Ben and I have been looking forward to when the kids would be old enough for climbing and rappelling. My Dad took us all the time when we were kids. I think I started rappelling when I was seven years old! Dad made sure that we learned everything the right way and he was really strict about all of the safety rules, but we always had a blast! As we got older we got to go to a lot of fun places with really good rocks, Ben even spent a month in Yosemite when he was 18. Yesterday we went to a spot where we did a lot of learning and practicing as kids. We had so much stinkin fun! We hiked in for about an hour, we ate lunch on a big rock, and then we started climbing.  I remember this crack (pictured above) being so much bigger! We used to climb up inside of it and come out on the top of the rock. Let me tell you, for four years old, this kid rocked it! Maddie was like a little lizard climbing up those rocks (which were pretty big fo...