Peacock Hiding Behind A Tree

Some days are just not good photography days. My brother and my two nieces have come to stay for a few days and we drove up to the mountains to pan for gold. I have been promising Eric we would do this for the longest time, so today was the day. We had a great time, but every picture is just the back of someones head, or blurry or no flash or whatever. The peacock just really made me laugh though, could I have placed him more directly behind the tree if I had tried? We found 3 tiny specks of gold, and spent a small fortune in the gift shop.

Some Things I Need To Finish

I was looking around my studio today and noticed the pile of purses that aren't finished growing taller and taller. The thing is, I like to start things more than I like to finish them. Starting is the fun part, but fininshing is the money part. So, maybe this weekend I will finish a few. No, wait a minute, really busy this weekend, maybe next weekend. Oh, I forgot, Spring Break. Maybe the week after that?

The Courting Quilt

I woke up this morning thinking about this picture. This is the quilt that Alex made during the first year we were dating. And then finished the first year we were married. My friend Claire dubbed it "The Courting Quilt."

When I met Alex, his idea was to live on a sailboat and make quilts while he was out at sea, and then pull in to port and set up shop and sell them to tourists. Our first official date was to go and find him a sewing machine at a flea market. I know we did this, but I don't know what ever happened to the machine, or how he got it home since his mode of transportation was motorcycle.

Well, all I can say is that I'm glad he had Aerospace Engineering as a backup, because I know firsthand how hard it is making a living selling my handmade goods. And as I write this I'm thinking, "is this the same Dad who is telling his son an Art degree is far fetched?"

Real Men Draw Quilts

I have a bad habit of keeping about 8 notebooks going at once with to do lists, sketches and schedules. Yesterday I couldn't find my latest notebook full of stuff so I grabbed one off my son's bedroom floor in which to do some sewing math. I opened it to this page where he had drawn a quilt! I love it! I don't remember when he did it, but it probably coincided with a new pack of markers. That used to be my favorite thing in the world, a new pack of markers.

First Spring Weekend on the Boat

Last weekend was the first really nice Spring day we spent out on the lake. Not enough sailing for Alex, just the right amount for me and some remote control boat action. That little remote control boat was made by my father in law, and is the smallest "Nani" that we have. So, I thought I should post some pictures before the next really nice Spring sailing weekend. Happy Easter everyone.

My First Feature

I just found out my Brown Bag with Filet Lace was featured the on the website "Vintage Indie."

This is the first time this has happened, and it feels great! Check it out at: http://vintageindie.typepad.com/vintage_indie/2008/03/week-of-spring.html

Another bonus is I found a cool new website.

I Like To Be Really Helpful

My friend Kim over at Cape Bags (http://www.capebags.blogspot.com/) posted yesterday that she was having some bunny trouble. Since I like to be really helpful, I thought I would show some pictures of how NOT to catch a bunny.

Jordi and Lauren spent many an hour sitting by their bunny trap. (I seem to have lost the picture of the sign they wrote saying something like "bunny, eat this carrot".) But in the end, all they caught was themselves. The bunny trap was not a bad thing though, because the adults were very amused at cocktail hour and it kept them busy for awhile, a good thing when cousins are trying to catch up and reminisce about the good old days when we used to try to catch the bunnies!

Don't Tell My Kids I Ate the Last Pickle

It was actually just the last little nub of a pickle left in the jar. Boy, was it good though. My Mom makes the best pickles. We call them "Gram's Famous Pickles". As in:

"Would you like a pickle on your hamburger?"

"Is it Gram's Famous?"

"No".

"Well, then No."

Oh! Hi Mom! You read my blog? Oh, well now I guess you know we are out of pickles, AGAIN.

What is on Your Windowsill Monday (or I love Wikipedia Monday)

The Terracotta Army was buried with the Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huangdi) in 209-210 BC (his reign over Qin was from 247 BC to 221 BC and unified China from 221 BC to the end of his life in 210 BC). Their purpose was to help rule another empire with Shi Huangdi in the afterlife. Consequently, they are also sometimes referred to as "Qin's Armies". Some people think that the army was also built for protection.

Several years ago, my parents traveled to China and brought me back these 2 warrior figures. They now sit on my windowsill protecting my daisy from tornados and such. Mom and Dad told me about the huge site where all the terracotta figures are buried but I mostly remember them saying they had to walk up a hill lined with vendors selling the little figurines. I didn't remember much about the history of them, so I looked it up on Wikepedia just now. I pasted the first paragraph for you.

A little windowsill history for Monday.

Daisy Survives Tornado

Thought you might want to know that the windowsill daisy made it through the tornado just fine. And since we had to be in the basement anyways, I went ahead and cleaned up my sewing room. If think it doesn't look neat, you should have seen it before.

Red, White and Friday

I've been seeing red and white everywhere inspired by my parents Lake Erie cottage that has always been red and white.

No Wonder They Call It Tubby's

I was looking in my folders for a picture to post about my parent's cottage (I'll get back to that tomorrow) when I ran across this picture I took last summer of my friend Megan eating an ice cream cone from Tubby's. Now, even though the angle is condusive to making this ice cream cone look big, it was so big. It was insanely big, especially for an 8 year child, at least half ended up in the trash can, and we were thankful for that because who knows what the consequences would have been otherwise.

There were of course lots of jokes made about the name of the ice-cream shop being apropo etc. Wow, that ice cream cone was big.

Sometimes I Hate Progress

When we moved into our house, we had a lovely view of the cows grazing in the field behind us. Now we have a not so lovely view of bulldozers and dumptrucks creating huge piles of dirt and moving it around to build yet another sub-division. I'm sad, I miss the cows. They made nicer noises too.

What Is That on Your Windowsill Mondays

A new series for Mondays where I show you something else on my windowsill.

My friend Amy recently asked me why I collect wishbones and keep them on my windowsill. I really didn't have an answer for her except that my Mom always had a pile of wishbones on her windowsill and it seemed like the right thing to do. And because I am such a diligent blogger, I took a picture of my sons pulling on a wishbone to demonstrate why you might potentially want a pile of wishbones on your windowsill (to settle sibling disputes) it sadly didn't turn out very well and Eric claims to have gotten a splinter from the wishbone.

They just don't make kids like they used to.

Stay tuned for next Monday when I actually wash the window before photographing my windowsill.

This Daisy is Amazing

Three weeks ago I stole 3 daisys from my Mom's bouquet of flowers at her house to use in "styling" some of my purse pictures. Two of them I forgot to put back in water after using them, (No, this is not a word problem) but this one is still going strong! I can't believe it, this daisy just will not wilt. I wanna be just like a daisy.

I Love a Happy Customer

New York City ric rac meet Florida girl!

My friend's Mom sent me this picture of her daughter (did you get all that?) and her new birthday purse. Wow, perfect.

May she enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I got Nothin

Well, unfortunately today I got nothing for you except a pile of scraps and a pile of deadlines.

I have now joined that strange group of people who take pictures of the scraps on their floor. I did discover a new trick though. I mistakenly took this picture with the "foliage" setting on my camera and it make my scraps look even MORE enticing. O happy accident.

This Cold Has Been Given One Day and One Day Only

I had a very busy weekend, so today I finally gave in to the cold. A morning on the couch with some tea, a box of kleenex and 2 Ibuprofen (and a great movie: "La Vie en Rose") has done me some good. As you can see, I had plenty of company in the afternoon so when it got a little too crowded on the couch I decided the cold had been indulged enough and it was time to move on.

Besides, I'm excited. My son got his acceptance letter from the College of his choice today and I can't wait for him to come home and open it. Jordi will be UGA bound in September!