Would you let your kids take candy from this man?

Apparently our whole neighborhood has no problem with this look. (black fingernails not shown)


Halloween is always more fun when you dress up.

We had the Adam's family. The princess and cheerleader and goth Mom & Dad. Really, I think J could pull it off everyday.

Too bad we had rain. Cinderella ended up in glass rainboots, a rain slicker and umbrella.

L

Out there

We are making the most of it. Outside, pumpkin patching, leaf jumping, fishing, biking, leaf collecting -






This past Sunday Anna had her first experience singing in front of the Church. She and the other boys and girls did great. Too bad her Momma is too lazy to learn how to work the camera in low light and this is the best shot I got of her and it's in the car on the way home.


We had a fun time at our neighbor's birthday party and I made her this birthday crown. Directions would have been nice, but it turned out cute.


Happy Halloween!
L

Thinking

Maybe it's the change of seasons but I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. I get the sense that I'm not the only one. What have you been thinking about?

For your entertainment.... 1987

Isn't it fun to reconnect with old friends? I recently talked with one of my favorite people from college, well she's one of my favorite people period. We went to college together and oddly enough her nephew and my niece are friends at the same college. Ah facebook what would we do without you? Jenny was, hands down, one of the most hilarious people I had ever met. Just thinking back to things that she used to say and do still makes me laugh today.


Here is a photo from a sorority party in 1987



That's me and Jenny on the back row. Jenny's date has his hands up where you can see them. No funny business! Those dresses can only be described as frocks.

The dress I was wearing:


My Mom made this dress because we couldn't afford a *real* Laura Ashley dress. I joke that some Moms put their daughters on the pill, mine just dressed me like a Quaker.

I have no photos to prove this but I'm sure that I had on off white hose and bone-colored pumps. And I GOT DOWN to salt-n-pepa (or something) in that dress. And I thought I was hot!

Here is what I wore to another fraternity party:


Clearly, I had nothing to hide under the yards and yards of polished cotton! I think I am wearing banana earrings and my date may have on pastel flowered jams.



Great, now I have this song in my head.

All you fly mothers get out there and dance.

L

The adrenaline hangover

sigh.

I haven't been to a concert, a stadium concert in a very, very long time. I do recall saying that the only band I would brave a huge venue for would be U2.

I was too chicken to schlep the SLR with me since we were on the floor. I have mixed feelings about that decision. I was shocked by how everyone held up a "device" as soon as the band came on stage. Everyone around me was looking at their 2 x 2 inch screens and not at the awesomeness in front of them. So sad really. (or is it sad that I was watching them, watch their I phones?)

My pal Jeff made these photos with his little point and shoot. We were soooooo close. I could see Bono's lifts. Love him.

What would I have made pictures of? The absolutely ridiculous footwear worn by some women at this concert.

On the craftacular front I made a new tote bag for my things for my drawing class, and of course a pencil holder.



time spent on tote and pencil wrap: 3 hours
time spend actually drawing: 0 hours

Since I had all that Ikea fabric out and I was on a roll, I whipped up another bucket to make as a gift. I love those two fabrics together but those little black and white lines made me go crosseyed at times.




Coming back to earth now.
That concert blew my mind a little.

L

Amy, this is just for you.

What? YOU want a post dedicated to you?

E-mail, comment or facebook me and I will make an entire post dedicated to the topic of your choice.

So, Amy and I had a discussion today about our crafting/sewing spaces and how we need lots of room and we are, well, messy. I know that others must have problems keeping their hobbies orderly when not in use. My problem is that I have so many "thing-babies". There's the painting: easel (s), paint, brushes, gesso, gac of all sorts. The other passing fancies such as calligrapy, jewelry making and origami. Then there is a whole bunch of watercolor paints, THOSE brushes, pastels, mixing wells, sketchbooks, pencils and a mat cutter. Geez. Oh, and the box under the bed full of paper? eek.



So, here's some photos of the spaces that are taken up with my junk. This looks quaint enough, but upon closer inspection, it's a wreck. I used the surface of this poor table as my cutting mat for 20 years. This is also the repository for anything that needs to be out of little hands.

I just realized that I didn't upload a photo of the dining room table covered in fabric. Shut your eyes and imagine...


This is actually great storage for fabric etc. Yes, I am in the living room. My paraphernalia is hidden in just about every room of the house.

Niiiiiice.


Now, let's end on a happy note of successful organization shall we?

I made this little book to hold all those on-line patterns and tutorial. Just a notebook with clear page protectors.

I even cut out newspaper patterns because apparently I can't cut fabric straight without some help. This little pattern book was inspired by the now famous, recipe book.


How many things will my kids eat out of all these delicious recipes? (Crying softly to herself again) not many.

The OCD comes naturally. While I'm making these photos my girl is outside doing this:

Cleaning up. Love her.

L

Ah Ha!

Some of you have been asking about how I made the fabric boxes and I finally stumbled across the directions again. They are from the incredible sometimes crafter. Check out her blog, she makes many cool things.

L

Food of the gods

Ahh, what do you eat before a 5 mile hike in the pouring rain?

Boiled peanuts and a fried pie all washed down with a Mello Yello?

Me too!

I met my friends Jodi and Lee Ann for a fun-filled weekend of hiking and rain and food.









Punkin' stackin' at Burt's. No profanity allowed.


Please note the large cloud to the right... that was not a happy cloud.


Like magic, it seems, my girlies grew while I was gone.


Happy fall!

L

The last hurrah

Doesn't this remind you of a powdered sugar doughnut?

Love her, she did not want to get in the ocean but she loves the sand.

We had a wonderful time at the beach. No mosquitos, jellyfish, seaweed, hurricanes or traffic!



These poor little frogs and toads were caught daily, sometimes several times a day. They were a huge source of fun for us. We read A LOT of Frog and Toad books. I give toad a good 'ol East Tennessee accent and Frog, for some reason, is full on British. So of course I had to narrate the thoughts of these frogs and toads just like the book. good times.

"Fraawwg, she's a-touchin' me!"

On the creative front, I made the girls some travel clip boards out of a bulldog clip and a piece of black foam core. They worked great. I made them just big enough to hold a sheet of paper and that worked out well in the small quarters of the backseat.

Generally, I'm not a fan of crayola stuff, especially not the color-wonder junk. But these new slick-stick crayons are awesome! I love them but they are a bit messier than regular crayons or markers.



I made some of these buckets from the mayamade pattern. Determined as usual, to make use of fabric on hand I made these out of dark denim and some Ikea canvas. They turned out really cute and sturdy.

Do like Barbie's hair cut? I didn't realize it had happened until the hair was in a uniform layer over most of the floors of our house.

Now we are back home, where it looks like everything is just tired of growing. I'm looking forward to fall.

L

Heavy Metal

This weekend we attended a party for our friends George and Deb who are moving across the country to Seattle. Boo Hoo! I love Seattle, the rain is charming during a visit but I would bet that it gets old ... quick. The party turned out to be a little gathering of theGladyses (Gladi?) that I have painting over the past 10 years. I made this one for G & D as a going away gift.







While getting ready for the party I pulled out my Granny's recipe for cheezy pineapple. Written in her sweet handwriting. As always with her recipes, no oven temp, no time. Love it. I also have the cool wedding band that my Papaw gave her back in the 80's.

My hand looks old.

Speaking of old, check out this ironing board.

This almost went to goodwill! I'm glad that I took the time to open it up and appreciate it's awesomeness. This is the sturdiest ironing board you will ever see. I think that it could easily hold my one-hundred and mumble, mumble pound body. Don't you hate it when you are ironing something and you feel like the board is wobbly? Not with this bad boy. It is some serious heavy metal!

At the last count, there are 12 covers on this ironing board. I am not about to disturb them. I'm sure that it would mess up the perfect surface. I wish I could have asked Granny when and where she got this ironing board. Who knows? It may be 60 years old.

Yes, those hooks do scare me a little.

Aaaaand, of course, the gratuitous kid shot.