Over the Fourth...

It was a good July Fourth weekend here with great weather.  We had a wonderful dinner with the kids and then headed down to the lake to enjoy the sunset.  There just happened to be a sailboat race taking place, which {along with the swimming geese} made the view especially picturesque.

One morning we got up and decided to take a bike ride along the canal towpath.  

I really miss having my own yard and gardens!, but being a renter has given us a little more time for recreation--and Mother Nature can be counted on to make some beautiful wildflower gardens...

I took advantage of some Joann Fabric sales combined with coupons and bought some fabrics for a coverlet and pillows.  It has probably been well over 15 years since I made our current duvet cover out of some Ralph Lauren fabric, which I still love but felt it was time for something new.

I really like this double-faced, diamond quilted cotton, that puffed up so nicely after being washed and dried.

I also made a new dog bed cover, with enough fabric left over for a couple sofa cushions.

Our basement for the new house is still on hold, with a tentative date of July 20.  The inspection hole alternates between being filled with water and being almost empty, depending upon the rains.  According to the local weather, there were only two days in June without rain...we're hoping for a drier July!

some great baby stuff tutorials

Our neighbor just had a baby recently,

so I've been having fun making up some gifts.

There are wonderful tutorials out there

for all sorts of useful baby paraphenalia,

like this Changing Pad & Pocket 

by Juliette Lanvers...

The inside is lined with soft cotton chenille,

there is an inner layer of cotton batting,

and the outside is a Laura Ashley alphabet print

which I had on hand.

The layers are quilted together,

and there is an inside pocket to hold diapers

and wipes.

When opened up, it makes a soft, padded changing

mat for baby.

~

I also made up some burp cloths using a

pattern I found at homemadebyjill...

A cloth diaper and some fabric are all

that is needed.  I sewed mine right sides

together, turned, and topstitched,

 but you can also make them leaving

the raw edges as Jill did.

I used some Joel Dewberry prints that I received in

a trade with Michelle,

who has beautiful fabrics in her Etsy shop.

It was so fun to recently meet up in person

for our exchange, and

I came away with a stack of beautiful

fabrics which I can't wait to find a use for.

~

Lastly I made an infant-sized bib

using some cotton terry cloth and

a Mickey Mouse flannel print...

...another great pattern from Chickpea Sewing,

and very easy to make.

~

Hope this gives you some ideas for the next

time you need a baby gift,

Deb
~

{btw, thanks for all the kind anniversary wishes!!}

pincushion/needlebook swap

Now that swap packages have been sent and received, I can show you some pictures...

...this is the pincushion and needlebook I made for Louise. The pincushion is something I've seen out and about on the web, and it wasn't hard to figure out the construction. I had a lot of fun with the needlebook...
...and decided to add some little pockets for measuring tape, thread, needle threader, and scissors...
This is the package I received from Louise, all beautifully wrapped...
...and containing this pretty pincushion and needlebook...
I can't wait to see what the next swap will be. Thank you Rhonda, Sharon, and Louise!

Deb

it's time for tea

It was last year when I received this beautifully done bit of embroidery in my swap package from Rhonda. I knew I wanted to make a tea cosy, but was unsure about the details.

This week inspiration [finally] struck...square shape, backed and lined with blue and white ticking and an inner layer of wool...perfect for my little brown betty and my medium-sized Blue Willow teapots...
Now whenever I'm making tea I will be happily reminded of a friend in Australia :) [Rhonda has shared the embroidery pattern here.]

my weekend and a swap

We're still enjoying beautiful warm, sunny weather. All indoor projects have been abandoned in favor of being outside. Flower beds were weeded and mulched, the grass was mowed, steaks & hot dogs were cooked out on the grill, and long bike rides were taken.

A couple weeks ago, I found my amaryllis starting to grow. It had been in the basement, on my potting table, where I leave it over the winter. Somehow, even down there, it knew it was spring and time to bloom. I brought it upstairs, and it now has 3 huge flowers.

Recently I took part in the shopping tote swap over at Rhonda's down-to-earth, and I wanted to show the wonderful tote I received from Melinda of Elements in Time...
...this is going to be so great for carrying groceries, and I am really in need of shopping totes. Melinda's sewing machine was not working, so she stitched this up by hand ~ a real labor of love! Thank you again, Melinda!

This tote was my contribution, made with some fabric I found at JoAnn's...

Thank you all for your visits and comments!!

where did the week go??

Spring is just arrived, and already time is moving along much too fast. It is Friday, and I have to stop and think, 'where did the week go ~ what have I been doing?'...

~ Sunday was Maple Syrup weekend around here, and we did need more syrup, so we headed out to a neighboring county and visited a couple different farms that make their own. How could I have forgotten my camera!! Sadly I have no pictures of: the buckets hanging from the big sugar maple trees, the wooden outbuilding full of so much steam we could hardly see when we first stepped inside, the large stainless steel vat of bubbling sap ~ heated by a wood fire underneath, the large kettle on the old stove - for the final boiling down, the farmhouse sunporch where the delicious syrup was displayed in jugs to purchase. On our way between the buildings, the chickens were wandering, pecking at the ground, and the cows and draft horse were resting peacefully in the paddock.

~ I finished knitting on my summer sweater. Now it is just waiting to be sewn together - this is the scariest part for me, for as well as it may have knitted up, you just don't know how it will all come together - will it fit, will it look o.k.? ...I hope!

~ The new chicks are ordered from Murray McMurray - Buff Rocks, Partridge Rocks, Araucanas, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and some Jumbo Cornish X Rocks. They won't be arriving til mid-May, since I placed my order much later than usual.

~ I found this new book at the library. A whole new (simple) way of making bread - very similar to the no-knead Dutch oven bread. This dough, however, is made up and can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, during which time you can break off 1-lb hunks, let it rise, and bake a loaf when needed...very convenient!

~ A Scandinavian blind (from Katrin Cargill's book, Simple Soft Furnishings) finally sewn up. I bought the fabrics last year, and it's taken me this long to get to it. Hoping to hang it this weekend.

~ Some finished totes and a shop update. And my package mailed off to Melinda for the down-to-earth shopping tote swap!

Wishing you a happy weekend!

a new gadget & 'thank you'!!

The napkin swap with Rhonda was a great excuse for me to buy a new gadget. I had found a great tutorial over at Purl Bee for napkins with a contrasting binding ~ binding which I could make myself if I had one of those little bias tape makers. I bought one at Joann's using my 40% coupon. I was really hoping for a Clover, but they only had a Dritz model in the size I needed. (If you are going to buy one, I would get the Clover brand~from what I've heard since, they are much easier to use.)
Anyway, I was able to make lots & lots of bias tape to edge Rhonda's napkins. I made a little patchwork hot pad for her as well...
And for those of you who liked the wonderful tea time embroidery which she sent me...
...Rhonda has made the pattern available here.

A huge thank you to all who left anniversary well-wishes!! They are very much appreciated ~ you ladies are the best!!

in the mail

This week the mailman brought me something waaay better than the usual stack of bills and junk mail ~ a package all the way from Australia. It was from my 'napkin swap' partner, Rhonda.

These are the beautiful napkins she sewed for me, in the most pretty floral fabric, and the cutest card also included...
And, Rhonda took the time to create this amazing embroidery, that is so beautifully done...

I think it will become part of a cosy I've been wanting to make for my new brown betty teapot.

Thanks so much Rhonda!!!