a flower for you

Red & Yellow

2009-11-04T08:33:00.003-05:00

Hope you aren't tired of my infatuation with beautiful Fall leaves. I just can't get enough of them! My camera just gravitates towards the colors. All of these are of the beautiful trees of the mountains of south western Virginia.

Happy November

2009-11-01T16:13:00.001-05:00

Where in the world did October go?

Trick or Tweet

2009-10-31T22:00:00.006-04:00

This year, the Hubby and I decided to dress up as "social networking" icons. I was the "Twitter Bird" and he was "Facebook." (We stole the Facebook idea from "The Office"). The Twitter costume was completely original and we created it in only 2 hours!
This was by far, the funnest Halloween ever. I really don't know how we're going to top this next year. When we got home, I asked Dustin where I should store the costume. His reply was, "The Halloween Hall of Fame." And that is exactly where it will go.

Happy Halloween to all!

Apple Works - Part 4

2009-10-31T08:00:00.005-04:00

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! Every October should include a romp around the pumpkin patch. It just wouldn't be Halloween without one.Here's my Hubby with our pick for this year. It's a fat and squatty pumpkin. We try to pick one with character and this definitely has that and will be a fun one to carve.
Our friend's eldest daughter with her pick. Of course, she changed her mind several times and this wasn't the pumpkin that went home with her and her family.Their little guy decided a pumpkin was a perfect seat, especially after walking around the patch all morning.
And their middle little one just loved taking it all in and watching all of us run around the patch looking for the perfect pumpkin.

Apple Works - Part 3

2009-10-30T07:30:00.001-04:00

Sometimes photos don't really need words...

Apple Works - Part 2

2009-10-29T08:00:00.002-04:00

I think my most favorite part about the Fall are the many colors of leaves that are all over the place. It's amazing how everything goes from green to shades of yellow, orange and red.

Apple Works - Part 1

2009-10-28T20:58:00.000-04:00

A couple of weekends ago we made our annual Fall trip to Apple Works and we had a blast. We went with our wonderful friends, Don and Aimee and their three beautiful children. I took tons of photos and since there are so many, I thought I would share a few over the next few days.Look at this turkey! This was the first time I've ever seen a turkey all puffed up like this. Gobble! Gobble!I so want to make one of these adorable "pumpkin dolls." Doesn't it just look happy and festive?

Loving Love

2009-10-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

My mom and I were talking the other day about how beautiful Amy Butler's Love is and she said, "Sarah, we must have it." I then told her that Clementine's was selling all 26 color ways in 2 bundles of fat quarters (13 each) and I really wanted them.
Again, my mom said, "Sarah, we must have them." And again, I agreed. So she gave me her credit card info and told me to buy 2 bundles for each of us. And so I did. And now I am very, very happy and she is very, very happy. Sigh. It's just so beautiful.

Sewing Notions

2009-10-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

Over the summer, the Hubby and I went to many a yard sale and one of the main things I kept my eye out for were sewing notions, especially vintage notions...ya know, wooden spools of thread and such. Thankfully, I found sewing notions, fabric, buttons, and ribbons at every sale we went to. And here is one of my favorites. It's a fabulous box with lovely little drawers filled with treasure. These kinds of things just make me happy.
I want to do something fun and crafty with this old tape measure. Anyone have any ideas or seen anything out there in blog world that I could check out?

Orange Poppy Necklace GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-10-18T12:24:00.002-04:00

Orange Poppy Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I want one so very badly. Click the link for your chance to enter. :)

Around the House Saturdays

2009-10-17T20:30:00.005-04:00

First of all, I must apologize for the lack of posting these past couple of weeks. After staring at a computer for 8 hours during a work day, I don't have much of a desire to stare at one when I come home from work. And I've been so busy many evenings and weekends that I haven't had time to go through many of the photos I've been wanting to post. But now I'm here. And I have lots to share with you.

For this addition of Around the House Saturdays, I am proud to show you the most beautiful bookshelves ever. If you remember, my Hubby spent many a weekend working on these beautiful shelves for our home and now they are complete. Oh how excited I am!

Bedside Reading

2009-10-07T20:29:00.003-04:00

My oh-so-wonderful Hubby bought me some books that have been on my wish list for some time. All I gotta say is Anna Maria Horner and Amanda Blake Soule make my little heart happy.
Seams to Me is filled with vibrant sewing ideas that I can't wait to start tackling and Handmade Home definitely challenges me to "use what I have" and get creative with all of the projects in this book. The past couple of nights (since I've been going to bed early due to a cold) I've been cuddling up in bed and book-marking the various projects that catch my eye. Bring on the creative weekends!

Fresh

2009-10-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

We went to the Greenwood Farmer's Market again on Saturday. The Hubby wanted to make his home-made chili and I wanted to make some zucchini muffins, so we made our way over to the market and oh the wonders of produce we did find.

More Fall Beauty

2009-10-04T15:07:00.003-04:00

Fall Ball

2009-10-01T22:03:00.004-04:00

The Fall is a perfect time to put on a scarf, sip on a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and watch a little hometown softball.

Chill in the Air

2009-09-30T22:19:00.003-04:00

When the air starts feeling brisk there's nothing like a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. Mmm...mmm...good.

A Cozy Fall Quilt

2009-09-29T18:42:00.004-04:00

I've finally finished my Fall Quilt (that I started last September). It's made entirely of Moda Fabrics, with the exception of the backing. And the reason it took so long to finish is because I had the wild idea to hand-quilt it by following the swirly design on the center piece of fabric. What can I say, I'm an over-achiever. Enjoy the Fall fabrics!

Fall is in the Air

2009-09-28T19:25:00.008-04:00

This week I'm devoting my posts to the sights, sounds, and smells of Fall. My posts will have more photos than words so that you can take in the visuals of Fall and not be distracted by my words. I'll basically give a brief description of what's going on in the post and then fill the page with eye candy.

*****

An Autumnal Cook-out

Around the House Saturdays

2009-09-26T17:04:00.004-04:00

Fall is here and my autumn decor is all around the house.This is a picture of me and my Dad when I was two years old. While growing up, it was always a tradition for the two of us to carve pumpkins together. That front porch that we're on is the same porch where me and Hubby were married.We all know that Martha Stewart is the Queen of Halloween. I love putting out all of my back issues of seasonal magazines because the covers add to the decor.

We also have candles with pumpkin fragrances all over the house and it just smells amazing. Mmmm...the fragrance and beauty of Fall.I was excited to hang up my Fall Wreath that I made last year. Again, I can thank the lovely Martha Stewart for this fun do-it-yourself craft project.

Hope this seasonal decor gives you some ideas for your own home. I'd love to know what kinds of things you put out for this colorful season. What's your favorite thing about Fall?

I Heart Design*Sponge

2009-09-24T08:58:00.005-04:00

I've shared this with you all before, but I absolutely love the blog Design*Sponge. They always have some of the most amazing ideas, not to mention, the photography is impeccable. Today I stumbled upon the site and found a whole feature on a peach floral wedding shoot. Doesn't this just make your heart all warm inside?**All photos courtesy of Design*Sponge.

P.S. I apologize for the lack of posts recently. I have tons of photos on my camera just waiting to show you all, but I've been so tired after work that I haven't really wanted to look at a computer once I get home. I promise there will be many updates this weekend.

Sew a Needle Pulling Thread

2009-09-17T08:15:00.001-04:00

I've been quite the busy little bee every weekend in my studio. Since I'm so exhausted when I get home from work on the weeknights and I want to spend good quality time with my Hubby, I've been dedicating a lot of my weekends to working in the studio and getting some fun sewing projects done. Here are just a few I've been working on...

Doll Quilt for my niece Chloe. This is going to be one of her Christmas presents this year. That's right. I'm already thinking Christmas presents. When it comes to home-made stuff, you can't start early enough!I've also been making these fun travel "Diaper-Wiper" holders for the many soon-to-be mommies and already mommies in our church. My wonderful friend Amy told me about them and asked if I could make one for her and now I just can't stop making them. It takes no time at all and the tutorial is really easy. This one below was made with Echino Raspberry Ladybugs by Etsuko Furuya and of course I bought it from the wonderful Fabricworm. I lined with some beautiful yellow Anna Maria Horner Good Folks and it's just wonderful. Needless to say, Theresa, the new owner of this project is very happy with it!I also have several other projects brewing in the studio, but haven't gotten passed organizing the fabric for them...and a few of them are Christmas presents that I can't share quite yet. Tehehe!

What have you been working on lately?

Organic Fabric Give-Away

2009-09-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

Want some pretty organic fabric? Visit The Fabric Shopper to enter for a chance to win My Happy Garden by Michelle Engel Bencsko for Cloud9 Organic Fabrics.

Sunflowers

2009-09-15T22:26:00.007-04:00

Saw a field of sunflowers the other day and decided that I just had to stop and take photos.

Around the House Saturdays

2009-09-12T15:31:00.006-04:00

I've been very inspired by SouleMama lately. It seems that each of her posts includes some type of family activity where their homemade picnic/beach blanket is used. Because of this inspiration, I decided to make one for our family. Even though it's just the two of us right now, we hope to one day have children, and the idea of experiencing outdoor activities with such a comfy picnic blanket just makes me giddy. AND I think having it will encourage us to spend even more time outdoors, especially since the weather is cooling off.I used all vintage linens for this blanket. The top is pieced with the beautiful fat quarters that I won from Jane's Apron.
The quilting was loosely done with embroidery thread knotted at the seams of the pieces. I wanted to keep it loose so it would maintain it's fluffy-ness.
And for the backing and binding, I used a vintage sheet that I bought for $3 from Good Will. I decided to be really simple with it and just wrap the backing up around the top for the binding and I just machine-stiched the binding to save on time. Michelle over at Cicada Daydream inspired me to go about doing the quilt this way. It made for a really simple weekend project.

Off To Market We Go

2009-09-11T23:05:00.007-04:00

Last Saturday, the Hubby and I went to the Greenwood Farmer's Market and had a good ol' time. When we lived in Chicago, we would go to the Farmer's Market every Saturday morning and would come home with fresh produce and flowers.
Last summer we were able to enjoy the Wednesday Farmer's Market in downtown Indy when I was still working downtown, but now that I don't work in walking distance to it, we've felt a little market-deprived. So...all that to say...we were able to go last weekend and were very excited.
We came home with fresh eggs, home-made salsa, zucchini for making zuccini bread, Honey Crisp Apples, a dozen of the best corn we've had since moving to Indiana.