A good week for enjoying grandchildren.

The baby girl grandchild we have been waiting for was born on Wednesday. She's a little one, 5 pounds, 12 ounces and very cute and sweet.

On Thursday my daughter, Raya, and her husband and son came for a visit. 

Our grandson had fun sitting on the little couch that my son (father of the new baby)  gave me a few years ago. I will make tiny slipcovers for the little couch one of these days.

Here he is feeding the stuffed kitty.

Now it's naptime.  It was so cute to hear him tell the kitty "Sweet dreams".

 

There's no party like a tea party.

I need to have more Tea Parties. Really. My daughters helped me host a tea party shower for my sweet daughter-in-law who is expecting a baby on Valentines Day. Raya had most of the inspiration and vision and took some great pictures. You can see more of them on her blog. 




We wanted to give our guests a thank you favor for coming, so I made some zipper flowers. I saw a demonstration on Martha Stewart using a glue gun, but I stitched them together and it worked just as well.  The original designer of the zipper flowers, Kate Cusack has designed some amazing zipper jewelry.



I also used my new die cutter to make tags.  I asked for it as a Christmas present and I love it. I could sit and cut out shapes all day.

We had a great time and are very excited about the baby. I know she is going to be a sweetie.

Happy New Year

For some reason I became obsessed with the idea of making tiny party hats. My first idea was to put party hats on vintage ornament style animals and hang them on the Christmas tree, but I couldn't find the vintage animals that I pictured in my head. Instead I got out my vintage bird collection and put them on a small artificial tree that I found at the Last Chance Thrift Store that is at the Marina Land Fill. (Fun store, and what a great concept... donate usable items on your way to the dump.) If I'd had more time I could have made little hats all day. It's so fun to make things on a small scale because it goes so fast.










Now they are all ready to sing in the New Year. Have a happy and safe celebration!

I should stock up on stockings.

Every year I make stockings. I remember the fun of pulling out the same red felt glittered stocking every year, growing up. The familiarity of it was part of Christmas. I'm afraid I have robbed that joy from my own kids because I just can't help myself. Stockings are just so easy to make, and because of my sewing business, and fabric collecting habit, I always have lots of great stocking worthy materials around.

I always frantically sew up some for various Holiday Home Tours, or for Colleen's shop. ( If you check out her blog and go back a post or two, you can see some I made this year) But I didn't get any finished in time to put them in my etsy shop. I just can't seem to get in the stocking making mood early enough for that. I should sew some up right after Christmas and put them in a box, to be unpacked and ready nice and early next year.




It might even be fun to predict what trends will be in force by this time next year and see how close I came to getting it right. The challenge would be in making them work if I get it wrong.

It was WILD!

I had the opportunity to take part in a "holiday home tour" fundraiser. The Berries and Branches tour is in the nearby Salinas area, and one of the decorators I have the privilege of sewing for, asked if I wanted to participate. This year it was based at the
Vision Quest Bed and Breakfast at the Vision Quest Ranch.
I have heard of this Bed and Breakfast in the past, and was told that there were wild animals there (as in jungle types) and that if you stay there the elephants bring breakfast to you in a basket. When I first heard of it, I just tilted my head to the side, like dogs do, and gave it a little scratch. When I think of Salinas, I imagine unending fields of Brussels sprouts, lettuce, artichokes and the like, never zebras. Not many people I have talked to had heard of it either.






Well, it does exist, and you can see one of the tent cabin bungalows in the background in this picture. The decorator I worked with, Cindy Hattersley, decorated one of the two bungalows on the tour. There were several nearby houses featured and a spa that I didn't make it to. The spa is in a restored Queen Anne home that was built in 1890. I really wanted to see the Chateau Coralini Retreat and Spa, but the work was piling up on my sewing machine at home, so I had to skip it.



I snapped this porch arrangement before someone spotted my camera.
I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the homes, which were beautiful, and beautifully decorated by many talented local designers, but I did get some of the cute little canvas cabin.



Her theme was "a stay in the hunting lodge of French hosts, while on safari at the turn of the century". I made most of the pillows, the ottoman covers and of course, the white linen slipcover on this unique little wing chair.






I love opportunities to get to know the area that I live in. There are a couple of gift shops in Salinas that I can't wait to visit!

Circles and squares.

I have been admiring this pillow at Saffron and Genevieve for a while now and I finally broke down and bought it at Colleen's last sale. As you can see, Max likes it too. (I'm pretty sure she can order more of these, plus lots of other great rugs, etc. from the same company.)




When I brought it home I noticed that I have a theme going with my estate sale crocheted coasters. I didn't see the connection until the pillow was next to the bowl of coasters.





I found this quilt at a yard sale. It is in really good shape, only needing some minor repairs. I was afraid to ask the price, but when I did and it was only $10 I felt like I should say, "Oh no, I can't buy it for that, you should charge much much more." But I didn't. I am confessing my act of theft to you.





Does anyone out there recognize the period of these fabrics? My memory goes back to the fifties and these don't look familiar to me, so I am guessing 30's or 40's.



And lastly, I found this beautiful paper in the giftwrap section of Cost Plus World Market and used it to cover a paper mache box from a craft store. I recently bought a couple of bargain chairs for my living room that are a similar red color.




My TV is hidden in a nice little cabinet, so I thought the remote should have a hiding place as well.

I did it for the kitties.

I went to the biggest rummage sale of my life. Actually this was the third or forth time I've rummaged for the kitties...not rummaging, as in looking for kitties, but ....you know. Project Purr has tackled the feral cat problem in our county and there are a lot of dedicated people who volunteer to put on this huge sale twice a year.



Only the very patient would be able to find their size in this wearable mountain!



Hmm....this reminds me of a story from the Bible. (Numbers 13:23)



Some of the treasures I found. It's for the kitties, remember.




I also found some nice embroidered pieces for my crafting, and these great velvet flowers and leaves.




Christmas is just around the corner. Nothing like a vintage felt Santa to get me in the mood.