sew much to do, sew little time...

made from very old pillow ticking
made from a vintage sheet
made from a vintage sheet
My daughter did the embroidery
from that pile of fabric I mentioned a while back...

(This text should appear at the top, sorry)

I know another sewing pun, sorry I had to. Thanks to my friend Beth's connections, she and I will share a stand at Lancaster's Eastern Market next Saturday.

I like to make things from materials that are vintage, thrifted or recycled. Here are a few of things I made today. I have so much that I would like to do before Saturday. I will do what I can and try not to stress myself out.

a daisy a day...

I am really digging these daisies. Everytime I look at them I think of a visiting irish priest from my old parish who sang his homilies. One day he sang "I'll give you a daisy a day Lord, I'll give you a daisy day...I don't know the rest of the words but it reminds me to try and do something good each day.Here is a children's apron I made from a simplicity pattern from 1975. The fabric is probably 1960's. Fun, fun, fun! It's a very brady apron. It's for that etsy shop I'm thinking about.

a bowl full of cherries...

On Friday, my sister-in-law and I took the little ones cherry picking. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed it. I've been peach picking and apple picking but never cherry picking. I now think it is my favorite picking to do. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it is quite obvious which ones you should pick (once someone tells you of course), the darkest ones, and then they kind of just fall into your hand.
Another first, I baked my first cherry pie ever. I thought it was delicious but my picky eaters were not it's number one fans. I gave half to my neighbor. I had to, in order to protect myself from it.
Would you beleive I found the butter dish at one thrift shop and the sugar and creamer at another on the same day. Yippee!
OK, how cool is this child-size vintage formica table with chair.

I found it at a yard sale this weekend.

Here are some bib and burp cloth sets I have been making.

I will be setting up an etsy shop soon.

boy oh boy, that's a lot of broccoli!

I love this time of year! It's when we really enjoy the

"fruits" of my husband's labor in the garden.

I wanted to share with you this recipe, it's really tasty.

Broccoli Salad

several cups of broccoli, washed and trimmed bite size

dice red onion to taste

equal parts sugar and white vinegar

Real Mayonnaise 2:1 ratio with sugar/vinegar mixture

dash of salt and pepper

Whisk together sugar and vinegar and mayonnaise, salt and pepper until smooth. Pour over broccoli and onion; toss together until evenly coated. Marinate in fridge awhile before serving.

enjoy!

My 3 year old loves it!

our gift...

The other night as we waited for lightning bugs to come up I took some pictures to waste some time. I really don't know how professional photographers do it, really! To get a picture of a busy 3 year old and her feisty dog-not easy!
I kept trying to get her to look at me so I could take the picture. But now as I look at the picture it almost looks as she is looking in the same spot as the statue of the Blessed Mother in the background. What's down there anyway?

The face I love. The one holding the flower I mean.

I have been reading a great book, A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot. I have been reading it slowly and have gotten so much from it regarding my vocation as wife and mother. God is constantly teaching me, guiding me, reminding me to love better, to be at peace more, to be patient as I grow in my vocation. I am grateful for a book such as this one to help me along the way.

A funny thing happened on the way to the vintage pillowcase dress...

I picked this vintage pillow case up at my favorite thrift store in Mt. Joy for fifty cents. I wasn't sure if it would be a tote or something else. I saw this tutorial on the pillowcase dress and wanted to make one for dd 3. When I finished it, my dd (almost 15) discovered it would work as a top. Probably the only garment they will be able to share for quite some time.

skirts...

Good Morning! Hope you had a good weekend. It was a nice one here. Hubby and I went to some yard sales, which we often do. I am so grateful for his patience with me. He just lets me go at my own pace which I'm certain could drive some people crazy. I tend to either be quick or really linger at some of them. Yep, he deserves the good sport award for this one!

I picked up this vintage melamine tray which matched the sugar and creamer set I had for $1.

I also found this tin bread box.
Cici mentioned that May was skirt month, I'm a little late but...here are the skirts I mentioned last week. They were all made from simplicity 7229. The first one is embrioidered white linen-purchased from a yard sale. The plaid seersucker was with the bag of vintage fabric I found. The brown embroidered linen fabric was purchased on clearance at Joanne's. In all, I spent about $8-$9 inluding pattern on all three. Not bad, but could have done better had I not splurged for the brown linen at Joanne's (he he). I was very happy with them. I did a bit better with each one. This pattern is pretty simple and I recommend it for beginners like myself. I have sewn a lot of home decor but not a garment, except in a class I took a while back. I have always been really afraid of patterns. The more I sew, the less they scare me.
Have a blessed day!

love them yo-yos!

We have a sewing group at church called "Stitch and Fellowship." We met last night and it was a wonderful turnout. I feel incredibly blessed to know such a faith-filled group of women who love God and their families so selflessly. Thank you for your witness in my life ladies!

We spoke of yo-yos and I thought I'd share a couple of fun ways to use them. For those of you who may never have heard of them, check out Heather Bailey's blog for a great tutorial.

I just love making yo-yos. It's a mindless, very portable project. I sewed these yo-yo's together in the car going to and from my sister's in Alexandria, VA.









These are for another pillow. I will put these on a white with red polka dot fabric-when I get to it.








Sorry, this is not a great picture. This is the beginning of a garland for our Christmas tree this year.








I had to add something to this icky light fixture. It brings out the pink and vintage blue in the kitchen.

new ideas...

I had an appointment to get my hair done yesterday morning. After getting it cut short last fall, I had decided to let it grow out in order to be able to put it back during the hot summer days. As my dd almost 15 and I were chatting in the car before the appointment, she mentioned that she thought I looked "much cooler" with short hair. That's all it took for me, off I went and off it came! Short hair again! Sometimes I really am too impulsive for my own good.

Anyway, while waiting, I paged through a few magazines. I saw a picture of a Cath Kidston notebook in one of them, (I think it was Woman's Day). I woke up this morning with this notebook on my brain. This is my version. I had some Cath Kidston-ish flannel fabric and rick rack and covered an unused spiral notebook. I like to have a pretty notebook to write down home projects, menus and recipe ideas for when we have people over, sewing ideas or whatever pops into my head that if I don't write down will pop right out.

Happy Friday! I have to get to a few yard sales. I'll let you know if I find anything good.

8 things about me meme

“For this meme, each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.”

Ok, here I go...

I worked in the garment district in Manhattan before children. It was in the showroom for a socks and bodywear manufacturer, and guess what, legwarmers were in style then too! I feel old!

I have to agree with Michele on this one, love to cook, but dinner-not so much.

I was a roadie for one day for this band. The boyfriend at the that time was a lighting technician and with that came some interesting experiences.

My parents were both born and raised in Ireland and that makes me eligible for dual citizenship.

I love old dishes, fabric, tupperware, pyrex, furniture, houses, cars.

I am told that I am the yard sale queen.(he, he, he...)

I had a short run as a landscaper-don't know what I was thinking!

I absolutely love to buy something old and make it like new, wash it, scrub it, paint it, iron it, fix it.....ahhhhh.

As far as tagging 8 others to do this, everyone I know with a blog has been tagged already...sorry.

a run on strawberry bread...

Actually, it's strawberry bread on a beautiful quilted table runner I received from a dear friend for my birthday yesterday. It was a very nice day. We went to Mass, out for breakfast to Cracker Barrell then to our Parish Picnic. A perfect way to spend a birthday, with family and friends. I am 39. Wow!






Anyway, with all the strawbloggy talk, I wanted to pass on another favorite strawberry recipe. This one is Strawberry Bread taken from Simply in Season. I like this cookbook a lot! It's focus is on making good, healthy foods from locally grown, fruits and vegetables that are in season. The far reaching impact of this kind of living and cooking can have a tremendous impact on our health, local economy and environment, not to mention the cost savings and the fact that everything just tastes better when it's fresh. Check this out for more information. Also, because I believe that God's design is perfect, this leads me to believe there is more benefit to eating foods in season than we even realize. This much is a no brainer. My personal frustaration and challenge is to incorporate as much of these wholesome, home grown and locally grown fruits and vegetables into a menu designed for a couple of very picky eaters, one being my dear husband. He's getting better, but my goodness we have a way to go yet.

Anyway, here is that yummy recipe:

Strawberry Bread

1 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups mashed fresh strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup oil

2 eggs

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

cinnamon sugar

Mix together in large bowl, stirring until just combined. Pour into greased 8 inch loaf pan ( I sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar in before I pour in batter) and bake at 350 until toothpick inserted comes out clean, 1 hour.

*I use 4 mini loaf pans and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. That allows me to freeze them individually and take them out as needed. Out of sight, out of mind.

Enjoy the day!

gift from the garden

These roses are from our garden. When we bought our home five years ago, we recieved two rose bushes from different friends as house-warming gifts. Talk about a gift that just keeps on giving. What a wonderful idea that was.

This bouquet is for a friend going through a difficult time.

Have a blessed day.

a good find...

Look at this great bunch of vintage fabrics I found at a yard sale this morning for $3. It was at a home of a retired seamstress. She was very sweet and I assured her I will have lots of fun crafting things with her fabric. One of the pieces not pictured was a plaid seersucker of very bold primary colors that I made a skirt out of this evening. I made another brown linen skirt this week. I absolutely love the way they fit-( I don't remember the last time I said that about anything). They are a-line just below the knee-very forgiving. I will post pictures of them soon. I am a beginner at sewing clothing. These skirts were from a simplicity pattern and were so easy, I just may have to do a couple of more for the summer.