5th(?) Annual Door County Weekend

Cheers to another super fun weekend with the girls in Door County. We laughed until our stomachs hurt and shopped pretty much until we dropped. We hit the thrift stores and garage sales hard and I came home with some fun treasures.


My friend Dawn tells me this embroidered piece is probably a pillow case. There was also a "Good Night" that I didn't buy. It would go on the flip side of the pillow if I were to use these as originally intended. My plan for this is to frame it for my kitchen.


I really like this table cloth and these napkins and glasses I found. We used all of this for supper last night and it made a very pretty setting. (Orange is my favorite color.)



Lydia wants to be a Cheetah girl for Halloween. I found this jacket and boa at Goodwill. These will be perfect for her costume.

I am looking forward to next year!

39th Annual Art in the Park

Today we attended the 39th annual Art in the Park event held at Pfiffner Park in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It brings artists and crafters together to display and sell their work. I remember being Lydia's age and attending this event. We started off doing some painting, compliments of the Art Village. Above, Lydia and her friend are painting a square with blue and white paint which will become part of a larger composition like you see in the first picture. The piece in the first picture was created last year and the theme was circles. This year, the theme is blue and white.
The two girls on the left are the crafters who made these bracelets. I should have asked for their names! Lydia and Emily each bought a bracelet from them.
These are locker pockets. They have magnets on the back so you can hang them in your school locker and put pens and pencils in them. Each of the girls got one.

The cardboard box painting is what Lydia was really looking forward to.


The girls had a great time painting the boxes. I think they spent just as much time painting themselves too! They definitely had a lot of fun with this.
The weather was perfect today for this event. We saw lots of neat things and I came home with a few ideas too.

Pleated Handbag

I have been a busy sewer these last few days. Today I finished this pleated handbag which is a pattern from Amy Karol's bend-the-rules Sewing book. This was my first time creating pleats. They are so easy to make! I will be using this bag for sure. It's a keeper. I love the shape and I like where it lays when I have it on my shoulder. Very comfortable. The instructions called for cotton flannel lining but all I had was a sheet of batting so I used that. It's a very cushiony bag.

When my mom was going through chemo a few years ago we went to Hancock Fabrics and she picked out this red fabric for a head wrap I was going to make for her. I never got the chance to make the wrap because she didn't live long enough. There was just enough of this fabric to make this bag. Also, the yellow fabric is a table cloth I got from my mom's craft room. Still using up the supplies I have on hand and I think my mom would really like this bag.

By the way, Amy Karol's bend-the-rules sewing book is a great book for beginner level sewers, FYI. I have made several of the projects now. There are many cute and useful projects in the book and they can be completed in relatively short amounts of time which is good for people like me who need to see results quickly.

Reversible Purse - Trick or Treat Bag

Lydia really liked my reversible purse so I made her one for trick-or-treating with some fabric I had left over from some bandanas I made the dogs a few years back. I am trying to use up some of my old stash.

Reversible Purse

I found this really cute pattern for a reversible purse at www.marthastewart.com. I thought it would be a great bag for church as well as for my annual weekend in Door County with the Jensen girls which is just around the corner! Woohoo! Can't wait. I used fabric I had on hand. I love this print but I thought it was too busy to do the whole bag in it so I cut up an old pair of jeans and used it as an accent. I am happy with how it turned out even though it does have a few imperfections. This would have been a lot easier had I not made modifications to the pattern to accommodate the printed fabric.

First Day of 2nd Grade

The big day finally arrived. Lydia was very excited for school to start. She loves school.
I had tears a few times, once when waiting in line for the rest of the kids to arrive she said to me, "You can go now mom. I'm OK". I am continually amazed at how fast the days and years go by.

Labor Day Weekend 2008

We enjoyed the holiday weekend. Ken and I had an opportunity to visit with some friends from way back, about 17+ years. Lydia had her friend Emily over for a camp-out. We made smores.
Lydia and her dad play "Natural Disaster Barbie" and "Smash Barbie". Smash Barbie is when they get hit by cars or they fall off of stuff or get launched across a room. Natural Disaster Barbie is when they get caught in an earthquake or get sucked up in a twister or they get burned in a fire. (Leave it to my husband to dream this up.) Today I had the opportunity to play "Natural Disaster Barbie". An earth quake caused the car to land on Barbie. She broke an arm.
The theme for the card swap this month is "cupcakes". I came up with this so far. The top of the cupcake flips up to open the card.

Tomorrow Lydia starts 2nd grade. I remember starting 2nd grade myself and now my daughter is. (sniff sniff) We had to run to get some gym shoes today. Other than that we've been ready for this big day for awhile. Lydia loves school and is looking forward to getting back to it. As for me, I am a little sad because the summer is over and it feels like yesterday that I was waiting for it to start. I do love Autumn in Wisconsin however. It's my favorite season. I've noticed the different colored leaves on my runs already, and the cooler mornings. Love that stuff.