Sunday, March 29, 2009

Quiet Sunday

It's been a nice quiet day so far today. Hubby is sleeping as he worked from 6pm last night to 6am this morning. Keith is still asleep. The poor thing has had a severe case of the flu this past week. He has been running a high fever, had an extremely sore throat, and all the other symptoms that go along with the flu. What is so sad is the kids have been out of school for Spring Break and he has had to spend his in the bed sick. His fever is gone now, but he still has a bad cough and he says his throat is still a little sore, but last night I could tell he is feeling much better. He got on the scale and he has lost almost 10 pounds this week!

Poor Tara has had a severe sinus infections with some flu symptoms thrown in there. So it has been a bummer of a Spring Break for her, too. She has always had problems with her sinuses and suffers from infections quiet often. It is the time of year of sinus problems. All the flowers are in bloom and the pollen is all over the place! My car has been looking yellow instead of cherry! At least it stormed for a couple days and washed some of the pollen away.

Then on Friday, Amber started complaining with a sore throat and running a low fever! So I ran and got her some flu medicine after work on Friday. She hasn't felt too good all weekend, but she doesn't seem to be getting any sicker. This is a good thing as she starts her new job at Wal-Mart on Tuesday!

I just think God hubby and me have not gotten sick. It was also good that hubby was on his 7 off from work last week and able to take care of Keith and Tara for me during the day while I was at work.

Now that I've told you about all the sickness in my house I will show you some lovely pictures of the flowers in bloom here. I love it when Spring arrives and all the flowers start to bloom.

This is a picture of the Wisteria that grows over my neighbors fence. I love Wisteria.
They have such a beautiful color and they smell so sweet. When I was younger I used to have an artificial wisteria blossom that I wore in my hair sometimes. I used to love to wear flowers in my hair when I was a senior in high school and a few years after high school. I probably still would wear them sometimes but hubby would probably tell me they looked strange!
These next pictures are ones that hubby's sister took. She came from Arizona last weekend to visit. She was staying in Pensacola with some relatives and they all drove up here on Sunday afternoon to visit hubby and the kids and a lot of their relatives that live about 40 or 50 miles from here. I didn't get to go with them up to the country to visit relatives as they went on Monday when I was at work. But my sister-in-law took lots of pictures and hubby downloaded them onto my computer. When I saw these beautiful ones I just knew I had to put them on my blog. I have been meaning to take pictures of some more of the flowers around here. But just haven't taken the time.

These first two pictures are close ups of Dogwood blossoms. The dogwood trees around here have been simply beautiful! We were coming home from church a couple Sunday's ago and talking about how beautiful they were as we were going past several trees.

This is creek that runs behind hubby's uncles home. Isn't it beautiful?! My kids have been fishing in that creek many times.
I'm not sure where this street is. It could be in Pensacola. But I just love the way the trees go over the streets. Our two main streets here in Jackson used to be like this but they cut the trees back because of the power lines. It makes me sad.
I think this is beautiful with the Dogwood tree, Azaleas, and other flowers and the old house.
Here are some huge Azalea bushes. We have tons of beautiful Azalea bushes around here.

And I just love this butterfly on this Honeysuckle bush! Is it not fantastic! The smell of honeysuckles is divine! This is a bush like my mother used to have. There will be wild ones blooming soon across the road from my house and they are yellow. When they bloom you can step out the door and smell the sweet scent of them! I just love it!
That is all the pictures I have today. Hopefully I will have more to share soon. Right now I think I am going to get off this computer, as my upper back is hurting so badly sitting in this chair. I think I will go finish reading my book since hubby is sleeping. It is called "Rebecca's Reward" by Laurine Snelling. I just love her books!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Calamity Kim's Giveaway


Calamity Kim is having a giveaway! Pop on over and see all the fantastic stuff she is giving away!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Silly Cat on Shelf

Do you see this cat behind the candle stick? This is Molly, our youngest cat. doesn't she look nice and peaceful?
Amber discovered her here and called me to come in and look. I just laughed and laughed.
Here she is looking at me as if to say "What are you looking at?"
Here is a long shot to show you just what she was laying on! These are the shelves in our den! My dad kept saying he didn't know how she got up there without knocking something off. Amber kept saying she has gotten up there lots of times.
Notice the plates on the wall above the shelves. Those belonged to my Mama. They go all the way around the top of the den walls and the kitchen walls. For as long as I can remember my Mama collected plates from different states and countries. She never was able to get a plate from all 50 states. Some of the places she visited but most plates were given to her by family and friends who had visited different places and a few different countries. Quiet awhile before she died she asked me if I was gonna get rid of her plate collection when she died. I told her I would never get rid of her plates. Maybe a few of her candle holders but not her plates. See just a few years before she died she started collecting candle holders. She got most of them from yard sales. She had candle holders on just about every inch of space in her house! And I did get rid of a lot of them. But I kept a few special ones. I do love her plates though.

New Purse

Although the bag I made and showed in a previous post turned out beautiful, it was just too big for an everyday purse. So I decided to save it and use it for a tote bag when needed. Sunday afternoon I made this purse. I had bought this fabric on a trip to Mobile at Joann's there. I loved the large flowers on it. I thought it would be perfect for a purse. Hubby agreed with me. I showed him the flowered fabric and the fabric for the lining and the fabric for the pockets. I happened to have the last two fabrics in my stash.
Here is a picture of the whole purse. The lighting is not great. I think it is too bright or something. It does not do justice to the colors in the fabrics.
Here is a close-up of the front of the bag. I put an outside pocket on it. I love to have a large outside pocket to hold papers.

This is the back of the bag. I think it would have been really beautiful if I had taken the time to outline the flowers and veins in the flowers with embroidery floss, but I was in a hurry to get it made so I could use it on Monday.
Here is the inside lining and pockets. As you can see it is already full of stuff! I have lots of little pouches in it that I keep certain things in, like my pictures, check book, address book, stamps, etc. I just like to keep everything nice and neat. I also put a zipper in this purse as I am bad about letting my purse fall off my car seat and everything spills out of it. I had a really hard time with the zipper. I really don't like putting in zippers. I broke two sewing machine needles on it!
I really am happy with the way my purse turned out. It is just the right size!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Moving a house

Saturday was a week ago Amber and I were at a yard sale down town and we saw people removing the roof from an old house there. This house has been down town for longer then I have been alive. I could remember seeing an old man sitting on the porch for years but for a couple years I haven't seen him anymore. I told Amber that they must either be tearing the house down or maybe getting it ready to move. I didn't think they would be removing the roof like they were just tearing it down.

Then Wednesday I was sitting there at work and saw these two police cars moving slowly up the street. I was wondering what was going on and then I saw half of the old house going by. I jumped up and grabbed my camera out of my purse to take pictures. Now these pictures are not in order.
This first picture is the half they moved on Thursday.
This is a close-up of that half as it passed right in front of my store. You can see the light fixture still hanging down.
This is the half they moved on Wednesday. By the time I got my camera to get a picture it was already past my store.
And here is part of the roof that they moved on Thursday.
I was sad to see this old house leaving from downtown. I wondered where they were taking it too. Then when I got our local paper on Thursday there was an article on the front page about it. You can read the article below. It seems this house was over 100 years old. The man who owned it had at one time had a grocery store downtown. I have heard people talk about that store before but don't remember it. The house needed a lot of work done to it, but the old man never did any to it and to look at him you would have thought he was dirt poor. But the article said he had a moderate fortune when he died in 2006 and since he was a bachelor it was split among his family and some other places. I am assuming they were charities or something. The paper also said the house was being taken to Whatley, which is only about 20 miles from here, and being restored by a couple. I am happy the house will be redone and it will probably be on more land then it was on downtown I'm sure.

I was taping this article into a book of mine and I wrote that it was beside the old post office and across from the old police station. It seems a lot of stuff has moved away from downtown in the past several years. Now the police station is still downtown. But they built a nice new one on the other end of town. The post office, however, built a new building about a mile or more from the old one.

When I was young I used to ride my bike to town and I could go to the post office, get an ice cream cone, go to the 5 & 10 cent store, go by the grocery store, and go see a movie if I wanted all right there in the downtown section. Now I can't do any of those things. All those places are gone. People have built new stores further out. Our town has grown over the years and there are many more businesses then when I was young, but they are spreading out to the Highway and along the Highway. I miss the things that were once downtown. The movie theater is still there but they don't show movies anymore. Sometimes they have plays and such there. I guess that is progress, but it is a sad progress sometimes. There are quite a few empty stores downtown now. I ride through there occasionally just to look. I really don't have much reason to go downtown anymore as there are no stores down there I need to go to. How sad is that?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Cleaning out my closet

Last Sunday I decided to clean out my closet some. Here is a picture of some of the stuff on my bed that I took out of my closet to organize. I tell people that I would rather spend my money on fabric then clothes so my closet is mostly filled with fabric, trims, and other sewing supplies.
This is part of the top shelf of before.
This is the other side of the top shelf before.
This is my tool box which is full of sewing tools and supplies!
Here is the side of my closet with my tool box in it after I reorganized it. Some people may say it doesn't look much different, but to me it is! Things are easier to get to now. I really need a sewing room with lots of shelves to put all this stuff on and then it would be even easier to get to stuff!
Here is the other side of my closet after I organized it. Notice my few clothes. Half of the are the scrubs I wear to work.
The totes under my clothes all have fabric in them. My clothes end about even with the door frame. There is about a two foot beyond my clothes to the right and there are totes stacked from floor up to the shelf there.
I found this beauty in my closet. It is my mother's portable typewriter. I remember my mama typing quite often on it when I was young.
I don't know exactly how old it is, but I would guess at least 35 or 40 years old. I just love it! It is in excellent condition and still in it's original case.

New Bag Made

I saw this great pattern for a bag over at Freda's Hive blog. I thought to myself that this would be a great purse for me. So I ordered the pattern. Nanette's bags looked so lovely and so easy to make. I figured I could make one in no time. Now you need to remember that I have no sewing room. I do all of my fabric cutting on my bed and then I have to bring this little table in my bedroom and put my machine on it to sew. That is why I don't like to do much machine sewing. It is such a pain in the neck moving everything around and I can only do this when hubby is working. So I got the pattern, then got my fabrics out and while hubby was working nights I cut out my bag and sewed it up. Well, let me tell you! That machine quilting just about got the better of me! I guess I just don't know how to do it right! It was a hot night here and by the time I got through with the machine quilting I thought I was going to have a melt down! So please don't look too close at my quilting! I think I must have been doing something wrong. Surely it shouldn't have been that hard!
Here is my finished bag.
I wanted to use this bag for a purse and I am but it is really a little big. I did box the bottom and I guess maybe I should go back and rip out the bottom and cut it off some, but I just don't know if I am up to it. I think I will just use it as it is for now and think about it. I might make a smaller purse later and then use this one as just a tote bag. I love the design and I love the colors I choose.

Here is a close up of the back of the bag. Please don't look closely at the machine quilting. I'm afraid my lines aren't too straight! I don't know why these words are underling! I don't know what to do to stop it!
This is my favorite part! The button! I love cherry fabric! And this fabric made the perfect button!
This is one of the inside pockets. I made my pockets larger then Nannette did hers as I love pockets in my bags. I like all my stuff to be in pockets and be organized. Of course there are not enough pockets for everything, but I can put my papers and stuff that would get all messed up in my purse in these.
These are the pockets on the other side of the bag.
This little pocket looks funky, but it is in the side of the bag where the two sides join together. It holds my pens. I just hate for my pens to be loose in my purse! Is anyone else out there as crazy as I am about this? I know my best friend is reading this and rolling her eyes! She already thinks I am too nuts with some of my organization! But I love her anyway!
I have a couple more things to post about but that will have to wait till later as I have got to get to the grocery store!

Monday, March 9, 2009

I Won!

I was one of the winners of Carrie P. over at A Passion for Applique's birthday giveaway! My prize arrived in the mail today! Look at the great goodies I won!
This great heart pincushion!
The lovely Checkerboard Bouquet to applique'!
These beautiful charm fabrics!
And these lovely tan fabrics for the background on the applique!
It was so kind of Carrie to have such a great giveaway! Thank you Carrie for lovely goodies!

Selvage Giveaway!

Lissa over at ModaLissa is having a great giveaway! She is giving away selvage! Hop on over there and check it out!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Prom Dress for Sale

Does anyone know anyone who needs a larger size prom dress? I have had Amber's prom dress in my closet ever since she wore it to prom. It has only been worn that one time and I really need to get it out of my closet! I paid almost $300.00 for it and would be willing to part with it for $75.00 plus postage. It is a size 22. Amber only wore a size 18 but you always have to get a larger size in these kind of dresses.
Here is a picture of Amber wearing it. I have a larger professional picture of her in it that I can scan and post if anyone wants to see it.
This is a picture I took of the dress hanging on my door.
This is a close-up of the bodice.
If anyone knows anyone who would like this dress please let me know! I sure would appreciate it!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

I've been told it has been a while since I last posted. My best friend mentioned yesterday that I had not posted in a while and wanted to know what was up with that! It's nice to know she reads my blog.

We did have a big event happen this past week. My son, Keith, who turned 15 in February, got his learners permit! So now everywhere I go Keith wants to drive me! Friday after I got off work he drove me to Wal-Mart. He had a little problem with the parking. He pulled into a space just fine, but he wanted to go straight on through into the next space so that he would have to back up when we went to leave. The problem was there was a shopping cart in the way so he pulled over to the next space. Well, they left the car totally crooked. I was trying to instruct him on how to back up and get the car straight, but it wasn't working very good. So he finally turned off the motor and said this would do! Can you tell from the photos that he is in 4 different parking spaces?! I just died laughing! We just left it that way since we weren't going to be in the store but a few minutes. Other then the parking he seems to be doing pretty good.
Keith did tell me that he likes driving with me in the passenger seat better then his dad or Amber because I don't yell at him! This made me feel good. I told him that I keep reminding myself that he is just learning to drive and to stay calm. There are times when I am pushing on my imaginary brake harder then he is on his real one!
This morning Amber and I went to a few yard sales. I found this really cute little girl vase. Isn't she just adorable? I only paid 50 cents for her and she is in excellent condition.
Here is a side view where you can see the vase part. I want to make a pincushion out of her. When I showed her to Tara, she asked me how I could make a pincushion out of something hard! I had to explain to her that I would put some batting and fabric in the pot part!
This is the piece of embroidery I have been working on. I know it looks kinda strange right now, but it will all come together once I finish it.
This is the original drawing that my brother, Keith, did with a pencil. I plan to do black in the lighter colored parts. I want to use it in a panel for the side of a purse. Well, that is my plans now. But who knows, that could change!
I sure hope it turns out like I want it to. Well, I have to go back out and check my laundry. It seems that's all I do on Saturday afternoons!