more pretties

The pantalets are turning out really sweet for the Artisan Fair. I'm doing a soft white cotton

with different types of ruffled legs

and some soft denim ones with different contrast ruffles. They should look cute under a variety of things such as skirts, dresses and shirts.

By the way I did decide to use the name "Polka Dots and Posies" ! Thanks for all the input:)

For Kirk

You are the man I love, even when its the hardest thing to do.
Where you lead I will follow, even though I don't always see where you are going...
If I take a step behind you it is because I have learned to trust you...
and if I falter I know you will turn around and come back to find me...
the sureness of your steps make mine easier...
when its all said and done I wouldn't choose to follow any other pathway.

Grandma loves her little Sweetie!

Thanks to Sharla Stenersen Photography (see my side bar for web site and blog) we got our family pics done! Plus we did a few extra poses like the one above of me and Brielle :)

Uh Oh! Am I supposed to be playing with Grandmas old hat box? Sure I am! Grandma lets me play with everything cause I'm SO CUTE!!! and I'm wearing a dress and bloomers my Grandma made me too.

If you want great pictures done be sure to contact Sharla! She does really creative work!

Works in Progress

Here are some of the items I've been working on for the Artisan Fair. The PJs above come with a pouch to keep them in and probably a little stuffed animal if I have the time:)

This outfit is a combo of purchased items I embellished and a hand sewn skirt. I'm sticking with a really bright theme accented on black and brown. I'm trying to stay with a look that is not what you can readily find in the local store, at a reasonable price...altho "Aunt Tams" in BG is hard to compete with! A few things done, a lot to sew!!!

what do you think?

What do you think of this name for my little girl design line..."Polka Dots and Posies". I've had quite the time coming up with something that is not already used by a company or web site. But I think this one is okay, as the only thing I found was it being used as a name of a flower arrangement at florists. Let me know if you think it describes what you've seen of my sewing for little girls. Thanks!

Crazy?

I think I might be crazy, but I've decided to do a table of little girl clothes at the Artisan Fair this year! So I am making frilly pants and dresses, ruffled skirts and peasant tops, pjs in pouches etc.... for 6 mo to 18 mo sizes. So this is my craft room right now and I probably won't be blogging much for awhile!

So much fun tho esp. thinking up a cute name for my design line. I'll let you know when I decide and try to keep posting as I finish outfits. The Artisan Fair is at Firm Foundation Christian School in Battle ground WA, the date is tenatively the first weekend in Dec. If you'd like to do a table let me know and I'll pass on the contact info. I sure hope some of this sells or Brielle will have a closet full of frills!

Rustic chandelier

Do you ever get those "Why, why, why?! moments? Well I had one the other day when my new Pottery Barn catalog arrived. Awhile back I was in Anthropologie and back in the corner by the elevator was this great, rustic, antique chandelier. I looked it over, checked the price tag and thought "I don't know where I would put it and its too much money anyway" so I just took a picture and walked away. Now I see basically an identical one in Pottery Barn, (not an antique) for $100 more than this one! I can guarantee some one smarter than me bought it that same day...and it would've looked so great on my back porch near the fire place:(

Front Porch with Gathering Panache

When its time to redo my front porch for each new season, I like to start with a blank slate...

Then I pack up my car with gardening gloves and shears, NO money, that's the best part! and go a-searching. It is amazing what you can find alongside your local country roads.

I get out when I see something intriguing growing in the ditches or side of the road and clip off a few sprigs of each. Watch out, some of them have vicious thorns, my finger tip is pulsing as I type! And count on everyone who passes you by to stare in confusion!

When I have enough I pack it up and bring my "gatherings" home to start putting the branches, grasses, flowers and berries into the galvanized tin vase. The great thing about roadside harvesting is that no water is needed as they dry to a nice patina without it.

Then I fill a wire basket with nuts...(don't let the squirrels see!)

and add in my .50 fake pumpkins I've used for years.

With several attempts and changing things around a few times I finally come up with a pleasing arrangement that will last until I start to decorate for Christmas. Happy Gathering!

Pointing straight to Heaven

(Tumalo Church, Tumalo OR)

One of my long time passions has been photographing old country churches. The thing I love most about these is that they have a distinct difference from any of the "new"churches that

(Venersburg Church, Venersburg WA)

are so common today... they point straight to Heaven with the peak of their steeples and often have a cross crowning the top.

(Church in Bend OR)

I wonder what happened in the intervening years? Did people try so hard to get away from "religion" and "dogma" that they thought a church shouldn't look like a church? I get a sad feeling everytime I pass one of these monuments to a simpler faith and hope that they won't all be torn down in the next 50 years. Thats why I want to preserve them in my memory and through a photo. I may someday have to explain to my grandchildren what these pictures are and why they point straight to Heaven.

shadow box changes

The shadow box in my craft room kept staring at me reproachfully every time I looked at it because all the things I had in it were placed there several years ago and it was feeling a little left out!

So I finally had the get up and go to put together some things I've been collecting into a collage. The theme is vintage fashion (natch!) so I put in a childs pattern from the 60s...

a coat check ticket from some romantic long ago , old ribbons and swatches...

pages from a 1940's French sewing magazine, a couple of new/old tags, shoe photos, a 50's ad for a tennis outfit and some other ephemera.

The finished product is very different from the subdued beach palate I had before, but it really looks colorful and fun with lots of ideas to fuel my creative juices. I think it was smiling demurely as a well brought up shadow box should, as I closed the glass door and turned to go.

Get Your Boots On!

When you're 10 months old, just learned to walk this week and Grandma bought you pink boots

There isn't anything that can stop you! Nuff said!

Apple Crumb Cake

Recipe is from Victoria Magazine with some modifications.



3 2/3 C. flour

1 2/3 C. dark brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 c, unsweetened applesauce

1/4 c. butter melted and divided

2 egs lightly beaten

2 egg whites lightly beaten

1 apple grated with peel

1 C. chopped walnuts

2/3 C. quick cooking oats



1. Preheat oven to 350* Grease 9x13 pan.

2. In large bowl combine 3 C. flour, 1 C. brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and 1/3 C. walnuts. Whisk to combine.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, vanilla, applesauce, 2 T. melted butter, eggs, & egg whites. Whisk to blend. Add grated apple. Make a well in center of dry ingred. and pour wet ingred into well. Stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4. In a separate bowl, combine walnuts, oats, remaining 2/3 C. flour, remaining 2/3 C. brown sugar, remaining 1 tsp cinnamon and remaining 2 T. melted butter. Stir with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter in pan.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes




Eat and Enjoy the taste of Fall!

New Look!

How do you all like my new blog look? I'm so excited to finally have gotten a little more of my personality into the page elements and in the process I've learned so much. I'm pretty proud to have figured it out all by myself too. Enjoy!

Fall Flights of Fancy

The air is scented with the warm smells of pumpkin bread, the stew has chunks of sweet potato added, the air is still and cool. the colors are the ones I love best...

Brown, rust, berry red, golden rod and dusky purple...the nut brown earth is fallow...resting...

Across each Fall day I see glimpses of God. How great are His works! How sure and certain is His immense creativity. Can you just imagine His smile when He first thought of a pumpkin ? Or His pleasure in seeing the first sweet/sour bite of apple on someones tongue? He must have placed in some womans mind somewhere to add cinnamon and nutmeg to a pie.

And surely He delighted in the first vase of dried hydrangeas on a battered farm table. Can we appreciate each season for its sheer loveliness? I'm trying to stop for a few minutes every day to look for God the Creator in the gentle closing doors of Fall.

See Spot Run!

I was 4 years old when I remember turning the page in my big sisters' Dick and Jane book from school and realizing I know those words! I can read! I can read!

This was in the days before phonics, when you simply learned to read by repetition! It sure worked for me and started a life long love of reading.

So I was pretty excited to find this book at Main Street Station in BG for $2. I felt a tingle all down my back when I saw the words "Look, look." Because those were the first words I ever really read! I think Brielle and Grandma will be reading this together in a few years:)