Made Some Bitties

The heat is back in full swing today making garden romping very unappealing. The poor flowers out there seemed to wilt with the sunrise leaving me no option but to content myself with some bitty blossoms of my own making.

   

Made it Cheery

 Woke up this morning to a bright, sunshiny, and humidity free day. There was even a sweet breeze coming in the window so I decided to kickback and enjoy a leisurely work session. In between putting crochet trim on a few more pillows I browsed the pages of an old magazine I had laying around. And then, just to punctuate the fact that I was being leisurely.....

 .....I took some time out to smell the flowers. So what is the pansies didn't smell, I was being CHEERFUL!!!

The amazing thing was I doubled my productivity by completing TWO little pillows and TWO more four patches for my curtains. Imagine that!!!



Made Something Else

 I made something different and a bit less time consuming this morning because I also wanted to make.....

 THIS!!!

After the gluten free pie crust fiasco last month I'd given up any thought s of an all American apple pie on the fourth. Then I remembered this recipe! It may not look terrific and it may be titled as French but its oh so yummy...especially with a dollop of ice cream!

Happy Fourth of July one and all!

Made a Step in the Right Direction

 Today's early AM was pretty much a happy repeat...handwork, cuppa, and another mini pillow. I found I had a bit more quiet time to play with, however, so decided to pick up on my patchwork curtain project. A little bit of cutting.....

 .....followed by a couple of seams.....

 .....and a quick trim down,

 lead to this.....the first four patch of many!

I was so tickled with it's completion I had to give it a trial run.

By the end of the morning my accomplishments had actually created a bit if a pile and so I thought for the sake of "documentation" I'd list them out.

1. Wee pillow with crochet trim completed.

2. Seven more wee pillows stuffed and ready to be trimmed out.

3. A good number of 4x4 inch fabric squares cut for the curtain project as well as a few 6x6 for the someday bed quilt project.

4.Last but not least, the first 4 patch block put together and ready for  more!



Made a Merry Morning of It

 Yes.....by 5AM I had a cuppa by my side, a needle in my hand, and a smile on my face!

 

 

 It was so cool and quiet in fact I even ventured up to the nook and re-traced, stitched, and trimmed some pillow cases to replace the botched batch.

 

 

Today's morning work was a success and has me quite excited to wake up tomorrow!

Made a Plan

 I'm finding my ability to focus has dramatically diminished with the arrival of the summer heat. My brain is simply not thinking straight. Aside from the whole blog design bungle these past two days.....

.... I discovered I also botched up the batch of petite pillows I have in the works by stitching half of them 1/4 inch smaller all the way around.

So.....I've hatched a plan!

A plan to avoid the worst of the heat and to carve out a bit of quiet time by getting up in the early morning hours. I'm thinking something like 4:30ish which was the time I used to get up eons ago when I worked in a bakery. If memory serves me correctly I do believe I loved that schedule and had no difficulty rolling out of bed in the morning. 

No, getting up at the crack of dawn will not be hard for me but devoting those first few hours to creative endeavours might be. I'm afraid I'll be tempted to tackle laundry or dishes or some other such household task waiting for attention. And so, to hold myself accountable, I've decided each post for the month of July will include "official documentation" of my wee morning creation. Today's example.....a Picca Little pillow all stitched up and in the correct measurements to boot!!!  



Made More Changes

Sooooo.....ever since the "whitewashing" experiment yesterday I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Even so, I'd have probably given it a few days trial period if it weren't for the fact that the kiddos and hubby somehow clued themselves in to what I had done and were none too happy about it! Frankly I don't know why they care at all given none of them even peek at my postings. Come to think of it I'm not sure how they knew what color the background originally was, but they did and were quite verbal about the fact that changing it had been a very, very bad idea.

And so, by popular demand, this site is officially BACK IN BLACK!!!

Made Some Changes

I'm honestly not quite sure what possessed me but I seem to have whitewashed my blog. I went at it as one would tackle a bout of spring cleaning thinking the end results would be refreshing and a joy to bask in. Now, however, I'm wondering if I wasn't merely a tad delirious from fever. I'm thinking it's quite blah and somehow doesn't look right.....maybe I just really miss my black background. On the other hand, reading it seems easier on the eyes and it might encourage me to work on my photos a bit more.

Either way I'll let it stay as is until I've fully recouperated and can think striaght once again.....summer colds are the worst!

Made it a Movie Marathon Day

Today found the majority of us slightly under the weather.....bellies a bit too full of birthday cake, heat headaches, and several cases of the summer sniffles. So in order to remedy the situation I called a time out for everyone and fed us a steady stream of tea, kleenex, and movie entertainment. 

Made a Wish Come True

Today was the 11th birthday of dear child #3. As has been the tradition for many years running, he and dear hubby make a "buddy day" out of it in which they see a movie, get a bite to eat, and have a   shopping spree extravaganza. This year, however, another request was made...to have a store bought birthday cake?!!! Apparently #3 had been deprived of such an experience but always eyed the confections in the bakery case at the grocery store. So, when he spoke up, I put my baking apron aside, placed an order and when the time finally arrived, dished him up a hearty slice of sweetness with the "J" on top!

Made Me Want One!

 Look what I found in my newest issue of Doll News!

 How could it be that I've never heard of these dear little wooden wonders? Possibly because they are almost nowhere to be found.....Ebay, Etsy, and Pinterest all empty of the Woodettes. Even a   Google search revealed nothing more than this.

 The article in Doll News, however, provided a wealth of information. Designed by the children's book illustrator Mary Alice Stoddard, these small collectible dolls were produced from 1940 to 1945. Sold  primarily in an unassembled state, children had the fun of putting the little wooden doll pieces together, painting the figures, and playing with the fiished product.

And now I want to make one too!

Made More than a Few Frowns

We are one week into summer vacation and, thanks to me, the party's over! An exponential increase in household messiness forced me to put my foot down and put a chore chart up. Needless to say it was not well received.....

Made the Best of It

Well today was definitely one of those hodge podge days in which I ran every which way but ended up completing not much of anything. I did manage, however, to trim up one tiny pillow and start up some embroidery while waiting for a batch of teenagers to emerge from the movie theaters earlier this evening.

Made Something Delicious

I recently happened upon The Sheer Stories-Everything by Julia Marek, a blog rich with inspiration, amazing photography, and good things to eat.

So inspired was I in fact, that I decided to try her recipe for Chocolate Cloud Cake (and to top it off with what appears to be a favorite of hers....pansies!)

It was more than delicious AND gluten free to boot so everyone in the family could partake!

During clean up I was about to toss the remnants when I luckily recalled Julia's delight in pressed flowers. I decided to follow suit once more and tuck away a few of the sweet pansy faces in  the pages of a favorite cookbook as a sweet reminder of her generous spirit.

 

Made a Salad

Today teen #1 hosted his own birthday party and for some odd reason I thought the boys would enjoy a refreshing side salad.....

.....to accompany this hot greasy goodness.

WRONG.

I'd feel bad except for the fact that they didn't eat a bite of cake either. Now I'm thinking they're the odd ones.....who doesn't like chocolate cake for goodness sake?!!!

Made Lots of Iced Tea.....

.....and then spent the rest of the day drinking it.

Too hot for words.....