Chris Cooks His First Thanksgiving Dinner

November 30, 2009



Chris Cooks His First Turkey Dinner






Chris cooked his first turkey yesterday.

It was a fine, delicious, and lovely bird.







Excellent carving.








Family and friend enjoying Chris' wonderful feast.
Chris even made real gravy from the turkey drippings.

The first time my awesome turkey platter held a bird.

Have I ever mentioned that I love dishes?

Vintage glasses used for the first time.

Chris cooked such a large feast that I had to take a platter from the wall.

To top the weekend off I found a beautiful lamp with its origanal shade at my favorite thrift store.

(In the collectables)

Prince Chris and Queen Camille live happily ever after.

There is still time to sign up for my vintage pillow case give away!

Thankful Vintage Pillowcases Give Away

November, 27, 2009

Thankful Vintage Pillowcases Give Away

I hope everyone had a wonderful, gut stuffing Thanksgiving.
Yesterday was perfect . It was a great day.
I have many, many things to be thankful for.
I try to remember them everyday.

My sweet mama and papa invited us over to feast and be thankful.
My dad cooks amazingly delicious rolls and his turkey was moist and delectable.
He put it in the oven Thursday at 12:00 am and slept on the couch so he could tend to it during the night.
It was a lovely bird.

Special photo's from my day.



My Grandma Billie Jean Dumas (my dads mom) and Oliver.
My Grandma Billie is 82 years old and very wonderful and pixie like.
Freya and I (and Oliver during the summer) get to see her once a week when I take her to do her chores.
Often we go to lunch and to movies. (I took her to see New Moon. No Comment).
Last week we watch "A Star Is Born" with Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristopherson. (Classic).

My grandma Billie taught me to sew and has encouraged me always. She is my number one fan and I love her.
One day I will tell you all about her.




My dad, who is a wonderful artist.



My little brother (Nicholas) and my beautiful sister (in-law, Marta).



Nicholas' twin baby girls. Laney (foreground) and Tessa.



Great Grandma Billie and Tessa.

My husband and occasional blog contributor Chris and Grandma Billie.

Dancing!

Jack the dog doesn't dance.

Don't ask him.

Me dancing! I really do practice moves at home.

I like to think I can cut a rug.
Actually the entire family dances.

Dancing is joyful!

I am going to change the topic completely please.

........

When I organized my sewing space, I went through all of my unfinished projects.

Those I knew I would never finish went into a tote for later deconstruction.

Those I want to finish were put on a 'To Finish' list.

These pillowcases were a 'to finish'.

They have an overlapping back which I think is great.
I have had them cut out and ready to sew for four years.

I finished them in a half an hour.

It is an easy sew project and it would be delightful to sew a few cases up out of vintage sheets.

I have a great pillowcase tutorial planned.

Photographs and measurements included!

I will post it this week.

I would like to say that I am thankful for the new blogland friends I have made with a vintage pillowcase give away.

These beautiful, hand embroidered pillowcases were a thrift find.

I found them at the same thrift store where Napoleon Dynamite found his awesome suit.

Napoleon Dynamite is a family favorite.

It was filmed in Preston Idaho.

We travel through Preston on our way to Jackson Wyoming and Yellowstone every year.

It is a beautiful small town.

Of course, to the point.

Please leave a comment on this post if you would like to own them.

I will randomly pick and post a lucky friend on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.

It truly is a happy time of year.

(And this is an unusually long post for me).

Happy Birthday Pillow Fini

November 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Pillow, Fini

Thank you for your encouragement.
It helped me to complete the pillow and inspired me to be creative and do my best work.

Now I need to get to my holiday sewing.

The Back Of The Pillow And Oliver

November 23, 2009

The Back Of The Pillow And Oliver

I don't get many candid photos of Oliver.
He either eludes the camera or throws gang signs if I do catch him on film.



My handsome son whom I am so proud of every day.




I'm finishing up the last details of my mama's pillow.
I love the last details.
Snipping stray threads. Ironing one last time. One more button.

I spent my sew time today working on the back of the pillow.
Pink and white stripes and white buttons.
It was like playing with confections this afternoon




I can't wait to show you the finished pillow tomorrow.

Please stop by!

Mama's Birthday Pillow #2

November 21, 2009

Happy Birthday Mama.
November 21, 1954

My mama is my number one supporter of all my handwork and projects.
She wanted to see her pillow today even though it is not finished.
That was cool with me.
I no longer feel pressured to finish it by tomorrow.
I can take my time to do it right like Mr. Rogers taught me.
(I am trying to teach this to Oliver, Freya, and Chris).



Many sewers may know this threading/knotting trick.
But for novice sewers it is very helpful.
I call it the no knot knot.

Thread the needle with both raw ends through the eye.
Catch a small bit of fabric and pull the thread through the loop.
Your thread is now anchored to the fabric without fussing with tying a knot.

To 'ruch' the fabric sew long running stitches up one side, gather and secure at the end with several back stitches.

Repeat on the other side.

Pin the ruching into place and sew it down with frequent tacking stitches.

I stopped in to the thrift store and found this gem of a magazine rack.

I am deciding whether or not to paint it.

Chris and Oliver popped in to Greywhale and found these music gems.

It was a good day.

A Birthday Gift For My Mama

November 20, 2009

A Birthday Gift For My Mama

My parents don't own a computer so it is safe for me to show you the pillow I work on for her birthday today.



I cross-stitched the 'K' a few days ago and backstitched it to a vintage piece of linen.
All the material I used was gathered here and there from my fabric stashes.
I didn't have to buy anything.




Sorting through satin and velvet ribbons
Looking for just the right trimmings is one of my favorite steps of the creative process.



A beautiful work space is inviting to inspiration.



I'm ruching a long piece of satin fabric to run the length of the pillow.

Today I discovered the most awesome needles in the world.
I will never use another needle for large embellishments.

The small Daisy Chain flower fabric in the corner was cut from a worn tablecloth that a friend brought back from a Paris flea market for me!
I have been using it very sparingly.

I have been sewing and creating for a few days now.

This is what I pretend not to see while I play sewing.
Four, FOUR, baskets of clean laundry and a stack of folded clothes waiting to be put away.

Weekend chores await.

After I finish my mama's birthday pillow.

Crafternoon With Caroline

November 19, 2009

Crafternoon With Sweet Caroline

I taught Caroline how to make one of my layer flower brooches.
From gathering fabrics and cutting out templates for Caroline , to the back glued on took 2 hours and 50 minutes.

We had a lovely afternoon sewing and chatting.

Caroline makes me laugh!

Awhile back Caroline bought one of my brooches.

Her mother really liked it.

Caroline told her that she would like to make a few and days later Caroline's mama gave her
a velvet box with some of Caroline's great aunts old costume jewelry.

There are some very beautiful pieces in Caroline's collection.

Caroline and I gathered some cool ideas as we gathered fabric together to make brooches.

My favorite.

Caroline is also a borderline obsessive music fan.

Look what I just discovered inside the Flight of The Concords CD case.

Awesomeness.

It is going to hang in the 'Spot of Glory' for a bit.

Of course it had to be ironed.

Freya sang a song to us and herself all evening.

It is for her kindergarten Christmas Spectacular (my words).

She sings:
Jesus is our brother
Kind and good
Friendly beast around the world
Jesus is our brother
Kind and good

...............................................................

Chris and I think the verse is really:

Jesus is our brother

Kind and good

Finally peace around the world

Jesus is our brother

Kind and good

...........................................................

We are not going to correct her.

I sure do love my silly family.

(Sorry for the rows of dots. Blogger won't let me edit and space properly).