Happy Birthday To My Baby Girl!!

This sweet little girl

who finds the humor in all of life's adventures, 

loves her family, 

has learned to dance in the rain,

and grew from this pretty girl

 to this beautiful young woman, turns 25 today.

Happy Birthday Laura!!

Sew it's Saturday

One of my goals this year was to do more sewing, and to get better at it.  Another was to blog more.  I've seen searching for a sewing link-up to join, but haven't found one that speaks to me.  Until I do, I'll just post Saturday updates on my sew adventures - or misadventures, whichever they happen to be that week.

I started searching around the web and found some online sewing class and also some sewing sites that challenge you to sew all of your clothes for the year.  Well, I didn't do that, but it did get me wondering just how much of my wardrobe I can sew instead of buying.   Especially work clothes - it's all dresses, skirts, tops and jackets.  No rocket science there!

So far this year I've made a few things, but it's been mostly casual clothes.  I took an online course on how to sew knits and have made yoga pants, a t-shirt and a hoodie.  I also made a trench coat (I'll blog more about that later).  

A couple of weeks ago I saw an ad for an estate sale that had fabric and patterns, so we went to see what they had.  Of course the sale started Friday morning and we didn't head over there until Saturday afternoon - but you never know.  It was one of those cute houses in the village of Old Hickory - a little brick ranch with a view of the river.  While we were there the woman in charge of the sale announced that everything was half off the marked price.  They were a couple of hours from being done and the house was going on the market the following week, so they were hoping to get rid of most of what was left.  And there was a LOT left.  I didn't think the prices were too bad, so they must have had a lot of stuff in the house to begin with.  Anyway, I went into one of the bedrooms and found the fabrics, patterns and notions.  The fabrics weren't great.  Some small pieces that would be good for quilting, some home decorating fabrics, and very little apparel fabric.  I got a couple of small pieces but not much.  There was a box of patterns that were marked $2.00 each.  So now that everything was half price, these were $1.00 each - that's a good deal.  So I pawed through the box and found 5 or 6 that I liked and some others that were okay.  On an impulse, I went out in the living room and asked if she would sell me the whole box for $20.00.  She said okay.  So I ended up with this box of patterns.  There are probably close to 50 patterns.  None of them new and trendy, but definitely some usable patterns.  Most are from so long ago that there's only one size in the envelope.  

I mean, who wouldn't like this really groovy pantsuit?

Or this boxy jacket with shoulder pads and a mid-calf pleated front skirt?

I must admit I really do like this dress.  I have a fondness for a comfortable, a-line dress.

But there was also this wrap coat.  How great is this?  Especially for life in the South!

Or even this.  A simple lined blazer and top.  Seriously, there are lots of patterns here I can use.

 There is so much more.  Including some kids apparel and some doll clothes.  Fun stuff.  I'm enjoying looking through them and anxious to dig into them and share my stories with you!  

Nesting

Last spring we had this little house wren nesting in one of our bird houses.  Spring is almost here and I hope she comes back!

At our last house, we had a screen porch on the back of the house with a large hanging plant - a spider plant - hanging outside of the porch.  We had lots of these wrens in the yard all summer and they move around pretty quickly, so were used to hearing them chirp and flit around the yard.  One night at dusk we were sitting outside and watched as one after another of these wrens flew into the plant and bedded down for the night.  There were eleven of them and they actually did that every night.  They must have felt safe and secure in there!

House Wren   Troglodytes aedon

A plain brown bird with an effervescent voice, the House Wren is a common backyard bird over nearly the entire Western Hemisphere. Listen for its rush-and-jumble song in summer and you’ll find this species zipping through shrubs and low tree branches, snatching at insects. House Wrens will gladly use nestboxes, or you may find their twig-filled nests in old cans, boots, or boxes lying around in your garage.

Come here, you've gotta see this....

How many times did you hear Bump say that?  

I can't believe it's been nine years. We miss you Bump.  

No matter where he was or what he was doing, you knew there was mischief nearby.  

He liked fishing

 enjoyed growing cranberries 

I thought thi was a great picture - and of course as soon as he realized I was taking his picture, he did this........

and loved his family.

How many times did you see this happen?

And then immediately heard Nan say "Don't be throwing my fruit!"

Winter in New England

Linking up with Chrisy at Living a Good North Coast Life

Sometimes winter in New England can be very long and the beauty of the simple things can catch you off guard.

Fat Tuesday!!

You know what that means ---

King Cake!!

This is a cake - kind of like an Easter braid without the braid - with gooey sugar icing and decorated with purple, green and gold sprinkles.  In case you're wondering about the colors, the purple stands for justice, the green for faith and the gold for power.  They are the three colors that embody the whole Mardi Gras celebration.  The cakes, the beads, the floats, the masks,  you name it - those three colors are everywhere.

Oh, and there's a baby in the cake.  Each cake has a little plastic baby baked inside of it.  Tradition says that the person who gets the baby has to host the next years' party.  

And lots of people in dressed up in (some pretty weird) costumes

And some dressed to the nines

This is my father and one of his sisters, my Auntie Pearl.  Auntie Pearl and Uncle Mert moved to Louisiana years ago - sometime in the 1960's I think - and they belonged to a club that had a Mardi Gras Ball every year.  There would be a theme to the ball, and all the ladies would dress in costumes relating to the theme, and the men were in tuxes.  This was the year after Uncle Mert passed away.  Auntie Pearl had asked my dad if he would escort her to the ball, and then had sent up Uncle's tux so he could have it altered.  We went down and enjoyed the festivities.  Always lots of fun!

And this is my absolute favorite picture of Auntie Pearl and Uncle Mert. They were the King and Queen of the ball that year.  Such a sweet picture....