Beautiful Things......

I get some of the prettiest stuff in the mail. I call them "surprises". I usually know they are coming but I always am still surprised..Surprised by people's thoughtfulness and how hard they try to make something that I will just love, and I do! I got some great surprises in the mail in the last few days and I just have to share....
First of all, for this months Enchanted Ornament swap, the theme was snails and my partner was my friend and the hostess herself, Valerie...She sent me some of the cutest snail stuff I have ever seen...My two favorites are the snail pincushion and the tea holder with the snail on it...Be sure and click on the picture so you get a close up...Her little tags are so fun.....












Here is the snail package I sent her......












I also got an amazing package from my new friend Karen in the Summer Tote Swap. She doesnt have a blog yet, but will soon...She actually was worried about this bag...I adore it! Bright colors and pockets and zippers....I already have my things in it and used it for the first time today. I love big bags in bright colors...She sent me some candy and nuts from Oregon, some fuzzy pink fabric because she read I like pink ornaments and thought I could use it, (I can, I can) A matching wallet, a dish towel in a bandanna print for the Tumbleweed Trailer and a red white and blue bag she made too...Karen, Olivia has claimed that bag...She adores it, and I couldnt say no! Look at all this stuff!












Thanks again so much Karen, it all is just so special and fun!

Last of all, I won a giveaway at http://hollylovesart.blogspot.com
WHOOPIE!!!!!! I had just recently found her blog and was especially admiring her beautiful art aprons...She uses a lot of pink too which I love, and MERMAIDS! She was celebrating her 300th post...I was thrilled to get an email that I had won.....She had put together a sweet little mermaid package and now it is mine.....yahaha!
The cutest little stuffed Mermaid on a stand and a really soft and pretty needlecase....












Two cute little pins, I have a thing for pins on my denim jacket and I am love with these.....











And a beautiful mermaid canvas that Holly made.....I love the color and the image!












Thank you so much Holly for the beautiful art pieces.....If you havent seen Holly's blog, go look...it is really fun and it has lots of beautiful pictures and ideas....Happy Summer!

July Dress Up and working on "Alice"

We still have the four kids almost every day and out of desperation I made a declaration that I have to sew.....ALONE...The sewing isnt the problem, it is sewing without three extra bodies upstairs all wanting to create something different...Andrew, who is four, likes to paint....(paint everywhere..), Olivia wants to sew and does, thankfully without my help and Daniel makes things out of paper and glue and whatever he can find...(big giant paper mess). I put the two boys out on the picnic table and told them to knock themselves out and Olivia and I took back the sewing room!
We have been sewing scrap blocks like the ones I showed about a week ago. She just got her first sewing machine and she uses the blocks to practice straight seams. She is getting pretty good at it already.
Then I started on my July paper dress...This is hostessed by Margaret at http://aliceandcamilla.blogspot.com
The idea is to make a dress a month and she has quite a few participants, then we all visit each other and ooh and ahh over the dresses...It is like paper dolls for grown ups. Olivia jumped right in on this one....She told me what shape she wanted and I drew and cut it and then she decorated and finished it...With no help from me! This is one cute dress.....Here is Olivia's.....







She picked out everything herself.....
My dress just felt like it had to be red and blue in honor of July...I can just picture it with a pair of red cowboy boots....cutie, patootie!









Yee haw cowgirls...

Tonight after the kids went home I headed back upstairs and started to work on my Alice In Wonderland apron....I am going to do it collage style and just kind of wing it...In other words no pattern and on the artsy side...I drew some legs and a petticoat on fabric and then used free motion sewing and a ton of thread and this is the finished result...not the apron, just the bottom of Alice going down the rabbit hole.....











If you click on the pic, it gets big and you can see all the thread.....anyway, it is a start...I can see the finished thing all in my head so we will see if it turns out the way I think it will, or if it has a life of it's own.....
Happy Summer!

Do you follow my Blog? Is this your dog?

I made this for one of you....We will see if I captured the likeness or not...If I did and you know this is your pet...better leave a comment so I can get your baby in the mail.......

Vintage holiday swap and a green bug....

Ok, first the bug....
Olivia came over the other afternoon and she looked funny...Grandpa asked her what was wrong and she said her ear hurt...All of a sudden she just started shrieking and crying...Screaming bloody murder that her ear hurt...her mom rushed her to the Dr and she had a green bug in her ear that was biting her ear drum....Is that the sickest thing ever? I about ralphed when I heard it. I have always been terrified of earwigs...I kept saying to Lisa, it wasnt an earwig was it? Thank gosh she took her Because I think that would've been my maga limit. I probably wouldve passed out...But now, all is well except I have a green bug phobia on top of the earwig and dog poop phobia....
I played in Jenny from Everydays a Holiday swap and I know my partner has her package now so I thought I would show it....You had to make something and inlude a couple of little vintage vacation souveniers.....I showed a peek of this beach bag I made...Here is the whole thing.









I used vintage hankies and part of a vintage pillowcase along with old laces and trims...the mermaid and the seashells are free motioned embroidered....
I also include a pair of turquoise, shell encrusted salt and pepper shakers, a movie screen magazine, the wax encrusted beach bottle I made and a 'Relax" banner I made to match the beach bag....










Happy Summer.....

Summer Tote Swap

I joined a Summer tote Swap hosted by Dandelion quilts..My secret partner likes more modern fabrics so I went to town using the "flower sack" pattern....I think it turned out pretty summery....









I used a red modern floral on the outside, A lime green on the inside and red dots for the strap....
I have been playing with beeswax too so I made a little tag to go with it.











I made her a little wallet to match, and also sent a couple of gently used patterns, come vintage fabric from a pillowcase and some quilting pins....It is going to someone I don't know at all, so I hope she enjoys it.....

Wallet Pattern winner......

Thanks to all who entered and left comments...I just love doing giveaways! ....The kids drew a name tonight and Andrew put it on his forehead....




Congratulations to Vicki at http://tozzscorner.blogspot.com
The pattern will be on its way to Australia.....Send me your address Vicki and I will get it in the mail...

Alphabe Thursday, Z is for......

The last letter of the alphabet...And it is a tough one. I have been playing along with Jenny (click on the logo on my sidebar) right from the start along with about 80 other bloggers...It has been a fun way to meet other people and to also write down some fun memories...
Last night I asked the grandkids to think of Z words...I told them they could not say Zoo or xylophone....yes I know xylophone starts with x, but I was tired ok? Besides it sounds like a z. They gave me zucchini, zebra, zoologist and zephyr....Then Olivia piped up...."I have a good one and it is one of your favorite words!"..."zillion." As in "I told you a zillion times"...It is one of my favorite words. It just really speaks to me...Why say a million when there is a zillion or in times of great stress a g'zillion. What smart kids. So here is a little list of things I say a zillion times a day.

Good morning sunshine.

Breakfast!

Did you flush?

Go wash your hands please.







I don't want to hear it unless there's blood.

Quit running in and out.

Lunch!

I need a diet coke.

Cooper quit begging.

Andrew quit giving Cooper your food.

Come give maga a hug....









You're such a good boy.

Who wants a snack?

Naptime!

Dinner!

You're my special girl.

Grandpa, Trace wants you...(poopy diaper haha)

I love you.....

Pick up your toys...

She'll be home soon.

Boy I'm glad they went home.







I love you Don, sleep good.

Pattern giveaway and cute little crafts..

First of all for the good stuff....A giveaway for a lucky person that likes to sew cute little things...This is a special giveaway, a traveling hot potato giveaway.....Here is the pattern:









I am also showing it with two of the five little wallets that I have made....These would be fun for a mom and daughter to even do together...They are easy and use just a small amount of fabric....
The pattern is small and easy to mail and it includes a card that documents its travels...It is called a hot potato pattern because the idea is win it, make a wallet or two, keep it for thirty days , then host a giveaway and pass it on with the card..So those are the rules. If that sounds fun to you and you can play along just leave a comment and tell me you want to win it......like this...."Oh Melinda, you are so wonderful, and I want to win that pattern and then pass it on......" or something like that......I will draw a winner in a couple of days....

I having the hardest time getting any time to sew...I have the four grandkids now and they keep me running...We have them about fifty hours a week and ususally until eleven at night....I need to try to change things up and sew in the morning, but it so against my night owl nature. There is a 15 minute sewing challenge on one of my challenge blogs....Just take scraps and start with a five edged piece and add to it then trim it down to six "......I started today and I realized I can make two and a half blocks in fifteen minutes...It may be what I need to get it happening again....here are my two blocks.








One block looks crooked, but it isnt.....just my photography skills.....

I also played with beeswax last night...I saw some bottles done with wax in CPS...not sure if I did it the same way, but I just started playing with tinted laces, cheesecloth and shells adhering it all to an old apothecary bottle....Then I made a glass charm......


















I think it is kind of beachy looking.....
I also made a little glass charm with beads and a tiny little tag...it is also beeswaxed just for fun.













Don't forget to enter the pattern giveaway, it is open to anyone from anywhere.....happy Summer everyone!

Whimsy Jars........

Who doesn't love a little bit of whimsy coming their way? I got a big dose of it twice last week and it was wonderful! I played along in Jessica's Whimsy Jar swap and my two great partners sent me the cutest jars......
The first one I got was from Deb....http://garagesalegal.blogspot.com

Olivia and I were all excited to open the box and see what was inside....













and then inside the jar look at the goodies!














and a cute little altered matchbox with my favorite little trinket...A M' typewriter key.....













Deb sent me some chocolate candy from her home state too, but I can't show them... we ate them right away....Thank you Deb for putting such a beautiful jar together for me.....(and Olivia)

Then, a couple of days ago, I got a jar from Bridget who doesn't have a blog yet....I say yet, cause I think she needs one....I told her I like pink and black and look at this!









She made the jar top a pincushion....I love it and the colors! Inside it was filled with beads and buttons and treasures....Olivia laid her claim to the beads and sorted them out and squirreled them away. I can't show what I can't find but here is the stuff I guarded from her grubs.....
















My favorites in this jar are the vintage white handkerchief and the tiny little thread spools...they are doll size and I cant wait to use them for some kind of project....Right now both jars are my centerpiece on our kitchen table...They are so sweet I have to show them off.......
I hadn't done my jars yet, because I could'nt find any little ones....we went to an estate sale yesterday and I found two antique ball jars in the perfect size. I had so much fun last night making them up for the ladies..... I did Bridgets in pinks.....















The wire holder across the top of the jar works great for tying things too....
Then I did Deb's in blues and gold.....Her jar is two sided cause I tied some tags to the back too....














These are going to go in the mail Monday ladies....I wont show the insides, that way it is still a surprise....Thanks again Bridget and Deb for a really fun and whimsical jar swap!

Alphabe Thursday, Y' is for.....

Happy Alphabe Thursday! We are almost to the end of the alphabet. It has gone by pretty fast and I have enjoyed the journey. The only letter I missed was last week and the letter X'...I guess I felt a little xenophobic about it or something. X just feels like a foriegn object to me. Anyway, I am back and ready to talk about Y' today. If you want to read other Y' posts, hop on over to http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com

Y' is for yesterday, today and tomorrow. Words that when you are four are difficult to grasp. I know this because my grandson Andrew is four and it is a real struggle for him. Point in case....A few days ago, I noticed about one in the afternoon that Cooper's dog dish was full of food...(Cooper is our big yellow lab)

















We are careful to only feed him twice a day so I got worried when I saw the food sitting there,in the afternoon,that he might be sick. I know Andrew likes to feed him, but he has been told not to...
I said to Andrew, "Andrew you are not in trouble if you did, but did you put food in Cooper's bowl today?"
I could see him thinking about it...."Yesterday I put food in he bowl."
Ok, how do I figure this one out?
I said, "Andrew, was it today?" "Today was the day that you and Olivia pulled the radishes out of the garden ...you know, a while ago.."
















The little wheels were turning..."it was one of the days, maybe tomoddow."

After going around and around and me trying to help and prompt, he finally let out a big frustrated sigh and told me "oh, I give up..." Then Cooper ambled over and ate all the food in his bowl and we called it a day....but not a yesterday, or a tomorrow....and I still don't know if Andrew fed him that day or another day.....sigh....Maybe when he is five.

Happy Fourth of July!

Today was actually very laid back, cause' here in Utah, if the fourth falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated on the Third and the Fifth of July....We went last night to a big park in Clearfield for a concert and fireworks....It was a long, but fun night....One thing about living near a military base, Patriotism is in the air...A couple of times I got teary eyed, just being grateful to live in a Country that I love...We were worried Trace would be scared of the fireworks. He loved them....he clapped and laughed and just loved every second. Here are a couple of "before the fireworks" shots.....











Olivia and Andrew running races.....burn that energy off kids!















Andrew was just wild all day...He loves the big Fireworks! Daniel my eleven year old grandson is behind him...He is a little braniac and spent most of the night giving us a two hour dissertation on how fireworks are made....I just say "uh huh..." "uh huh" a lot.....He doesnt mind.....













Grandpa, Maga and the little troll.....



















Happy Independce Day from our little house to yours!


For the Enchanted ornament swap in June the theme was gnomes....I had fun with this theme....I made some cute little clay gnomes styled after some I saw on the net....My partner Ramie, has a family of three so I made a family of gnomes for her....














and a little gnome terrarium....















and a few little goodies....


















Imagine my surprise when I got my package from her and realized we both were inspired by the same gnomes......Like she says, "Great minds think alike"!









What a fun swap, thanks so much Ramie!!!!