Various things...

Of course, I/we are still in the process of planting the flowers, so it still pretty much looks like this out there:


The only difference is that there are some flowers planted around the crepe myrtle that you can only see the trunk of in this photo, and that this:

was turned into a HUGE area of dirt and stones. It seems as though my husband has turned into a caveman, and decided to haul in these huge chunks of stone being chipped out of the earth in order to build more houses in our neighborhood. So, the plant things that were there are now gone, and he is outlining a much bigger area with the stones. I do have to say though, that the flowers we did buy, that come in those little plastic containers, look so much healthier since we bought them! I moved them to the back porch, because I think a coyote made off with one of them, and they have been getting plenty of sun and water, and they look like they might actually survive now. We will have to bring them in tonight though, because it is supposed to get down into the 40's, and I'm afraid they will get too cold. Hopefully they will actually make it into the ground this weekend. Here is a shot of some little wildflowers in one of my neighbors' yard...



Too many sewing and embroidery projects going on the even begin discussing them all, but, here are a few of my favorites:

This little easy and quick flower I emboidered on some of my very own hand dyed fabric! I've been experimenting with the dying just with things I have around the house...Kool-Aid; fruits like raspberries and blueberries; teas and coffee; acrylic paints...I haven't tried any 'professional' dying products, and there certainly is no big science going on in the kitchen! But, I absolutely LOVE the color that this piece came out! I did this with acrylic paint thinned with water. Voila! Of course, I love aqua and red, so I had to put a red flower on it. Not sure what to do with it now, though, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.



I really love the Aunt Martha Hot Iron Embroidery Transfers, and I have tons of them. One day I came across a little bear in overalls that looks almost exactly like Allison's "Mama Charlie" (her very beloved security thing-I was smart enough to go back and buy more of them when I realized she was attatched to the first one! I think we are on #4 now, the last of which I finally was able to track down on Ebay, thank goodness!). Anyway, I was amazed at how much it did look like Mama Charlie, so I embroidered one, and put Ethan's initials on the pockets. Then I backed it with denim, sewed it up leaving a little hole for some stuffing, stuffed it, then, ahem, "slip stitched" (and I use that term very loosely!) closed, making it into a little doll...excuse me, stuffed bear for a boy. Of course, Claire had to have one "with orange". I decided to make the pants on the overalls into a skirt, and I'm working on that one now.


Working on another boy, along with a shot of the finished product, backed with denim and made into a little boy bear doll.


This is a pincushion that is the result of playing with one big Yo-Yo and one little Yo-Yo. To me, it looks like a pincushion with a beret, so I call it Frenchie.


And now, Blogger is giving me trouble posting anymore pictures...so...I guess you'll have to wait until later to see the rest. Assumming that THIS will even post at all!