I won!!!

I won something!
Something Wonderful from The Hand Made Dress.

I am so excited to be a winner too!
I won one of her darling little girl dress patterns.  I chose Miss Lily.
But it was very hard because they are all very adorable and I like them all!
Check out this cute dress pattern!

I admire this wonderful mama and all her fabulous work.

Not just her patterns but with her children and her faith.
Go check her out!

Dinner Magnifique!

Dinner Magnifique!

Some nights we just eat.
But tonight I had all this cooking energetic bliss!

I butterflied and stuffed 2 pork tenderloins, one with cream cheese and spinach,
and the other with spinach and bacon.  The later I also wrapped in bacon.

Then after tying them up I browned them in a skillet and then baked them
in the oven in a pre-warmed dish of melted butter.

They were just Lovely to look at an heavenly to eat.
I made whipped Celery, Spinach, Potatoes to serve on the side,
garnished with bacon pieces.

YUMMY!

Spinach and Cream cheese stuffed Pork Tenderloin

filling  mix these together
1 bar of cream cheese
1 1/2 cups of spinach fresh
1/2 tsp salt

cut tenderloin in half but not all the way through
and from the middle cut again outward to edge but not all the way through
on each side.  Now your pork is about 1/2 inch thick.

Sprinkle on salt and pepper
garlic powder and dry basil to season meat
Then spread on cheese mixture

Roll up the meat and try with string/thread

melt some butter in a pan and brown the edges of the tenderloin

preheat a dish/Pyrex with 4 tables butter
 in oven at 425 and remove when melted and sizzling
place browned tenderloin in dish
replace in oven for 35 minutes
lower oven temp last 10 minutes at 375
or cook until your preferred done-ness.

Tasty Green Potatoes

Boil 2 cups of chopped celery
and 1 cup of spinach

Boil with potatoes
for 15 minutes

when easy to mash
remove and whip up with 5 Tbsp Butter
1 tsp salt
and 1/4 cup milk or cream

Super yummy believe me!

dress designs for Shabby Apple dresses .... here they all are

 Well I put together three designs for the Shabby Apple dress design contest

Little Gem

Chocolate Dotted Strawberry

the Jonquil

I had a lot of fun putting them together in my mind

and onto paper. I may just have to give ago to them in real life too!

You can check out the fun dress line
at Shabby Apple here!

You can get a better look at each dress
on the blog posting I did for each individual design.
Just click on the link above each design picture.

Wish me luck and tell me what you think of these designs.

Little Gem dress design for Shabby Apple dresses

my third design for

the Dress Design for Shabby Apple Dresses contest
Inspired by crisp lettuce leaves
so named after mini romaine "Little Gem"
Spring and lettuce go hand in hand as well as linen fabrics.
The pleated and cuffed sleeves are my favorite part.

Always a fan of fashion and wearable fashions
Shabby Apple Dresses such pretty things!


I am excited to participate in this years contest!

Tell me what you think!

Chocolate Dotted Strawberry dress design for Shabby Apple dresses

my second design for

the Dress Design for Shabby Apple Dresses contest

Inspired by my love for vintage clothes
and of course strawberries and chocolate!
I love the bow detail and the pleats, so much fun and so very sweet!


Always a fan of fashion and wearable fashions
Shabby Apple Dresses really understands wear-ability!


I am excited to participate in this years contest!
I may have to make a dress like this for me!
Tell me what you think!

the Jonquil dress design for Shabby Apple dresses

the Dress Design for Shabby Apple Dresses contest 

Inspired by spring early blooms

and soft comfortable fluid jersey knits

Always a fan of fashion and wearable fashions

Shabby Apple Dresses really understands wear-ability!

I am excited to participate in this years contest!

Little Boo Card

I joined in the Fun over at Lorajean's Magazine!

Here is a little card you can print on card stock that I put together from

a water color illustration I painted.  Hope you have a fun Halloween with your little boos!

I also wanted to share a banner I made.

Really simple to make with felt triangles and belting/ribbon.
To make the words I printed a font I liked in a size that fit the triangles.
Then I used those letters as my pattern to cut out the felt words.
I used nylon woven belting for the strength to sew the banner on.
It is really long and will hang across a double garage door.
Which is where it's hung in years past.

Have fun with your free card

and go over and check out all the other cute things in this Link Party!
Click the image below to check it out!
 

Let me know what you think!

Eenie Meenie Minnie Moe

Wow did I never know that picking paint was soooo hard!

I had my favorite and to show my hubby that I was going through all the necessary

picking procedures, I went and got 2 sample pints of greens.

I painted by my door and around the side of the house by a window to have it by trim.

Happily I painted them up and I smiled as I did.  

I thought "What a pretty green color(1) that goes so well with the trim!"

Then I stepped back and looked at the work and imagined the whole house in it.

Then my house disappeared!  The vast plains full of matching yellowing & 

brownish muted greens were the same color as my favorite color for the  house. 

Currently the house is a warm beige/ pre-primed siding.  

It has been unpainted since installation before we moved in 2008 2 1/2 years ago and 

needs this paint now!  (Who knows how long it went unpainted before we came?)

So after some tears... (yes I'm one of those girls)  I had to start all over.

How do I pick a color when the favorite color is a bad choice for our home?

I am no expert but I decided to figure out what I wanted to see when I came home.

I want a refreshing and contrasting home.  I want to see my house as I come over 

the rise yes even from over a mile away.  So no earthy tones that will make it disappear.

No browns, beige, muted or grayed greens, no yellows, or golds/oranges.  No reds 

because our barns are red and we want to distinguish the house from the barns. 

That left pink, purple,  and blue. My hubby said no way on pink!

It wasn't very promising.  I was still wishing to see green.  That is when I started 

looking at blues with green in them.  I grew up in a blue house and didn't want to 

be too similar to that color.  My hubby didn't want anything too light.  There is sooo

much sunshine here it would just wash it out.

So that is where we are.  Blue greens aren't typically seen over here.  My hubby and 

I looked at so many swatches  at the paint place I just wanted to fall over and cry again. 

(I barely made it with out tears my hubby was proud.)  We came home with 6 new 

sample swatches and no idea which one was going to be the one.  My hubby really 

liked going blue, he never liked the green.  Yes, he did remind me of that as he told me 

"Aren't you glad we didn't paint the whole house, before you knew it would disappear?"

and I got his shoulder all wet with my blubbering.

Now my house looks like a patch work quilt.  Seriously.  I'd show you more than by the

door but it's too awful!

But I finally made up my mind on the paint color.  Not too bright, not grayed out  or too dark.

I decided on a blue/green teal color below is preview/ mock up of how it looks with color (4).

Wish us luck! Hope to see my home with happy smiles and not groans!

Children's Fashion GENIUS!!!

Children's Fashion GENIUS!!!

That's right I have sound this woman who does what I do  children's patterns!
Go and check out her awesomeness at her site
Children's Fashion Workshop!
You will just love it!
She does the cutest things too!

Like this cute outfit she made for her girl with her own pattern

designing that she teaches to all step by step!


Awesome lady! I applaud you!

Horse Crazy Party!

original idea sketch and invitation

and the actual cake

I set up the table with the cake as the center piece.
Welcome to the Tall Nine Ranch.

My daughter is Horse Crazy!  This is her 9th birthday
and the fun we created for her.  She picked a pink and yellow theme,
with horses of course.  She had the idea of cake pastures and horses
with a big barn.  Lucky for her her idea~dream came true.

I iced the cupcakes with green frosting grass and put a
horse figure toy on top.  I think they look really cute.

I made Jello popcorn balls in pink strawberry and yellowish peach.
I individually wrapped them in clear plastic.  These are an easy made ahead treat.

For treat sacs or Booty bags, I used my stamps to embellish brown paper bags.
Then mounted/glued on a rectangle of yellow card stock stamped with a pink
bucking bronco. (Like the Invites)
That is a quickie the kids can do.
See those smiles!  That's why I do all this work.  My daughters loved everything.

These cute bottles of bubbles were party favors.
The horse figures in the cupcakes were also a take home favor.
Good for stuffing in their booty bag with their popcorn balls,
cookies, lip glosses, neckerchiefs, and chewing gum.
I made each girl a neckerchief/bandanna  from a triangle of fabric.

These cookies were so delicious. I made sugar cookies
in the shapes of horse heads, boots, cowgirl hats, and horse shoes. 

I made this wooden horse shoe game.

For the Wooden horse shoes game I bought wooden dowels
and wooden horse shoe shaped letters C & U.
These I painted pink and yellow and painted little paisleys on.
I would have used just the letter C's but my store only had 2 left.
The C's are easier to handle and toss.

The girls did sac races and a hobby horse races.

I tied neckerchiefs together to make a banner across the shade tents.
We sat on straw bales of course.
We also had a real horse to ride, which was the main event, of the party.
All the girls got a ride either alone or with a friend.
Thank you to our neighbor who brought her horse Cherokee over
and helped our party have a ride!
You Rock!

That was our horse crazy birthday!

My life with a New Serger

Serger Giveaway at Sew Mama Sew

Would my life be better with a new serger?
Absolutely!
I currently have a machine that likes to do
          "Jam" sessions on my projects.
While dancing "Skip to my Lou"
as it skips stitches and leaves a ravelly mess
no matter how often I change the needle or re-thread it.
Which then leads to time spent pulling out the stitches and doing it over

I have visions of Heirloom serger techniques

(learned from This DVD)
and neatly finished rolled hems!
All three girls with new chiffon ruffly skirts!

and to help convince you
Drum roll
  Da    da    da   daaaa
the  family award winning
                moving performance
Pretty Please from my Daughter

this performance was recorded previously April 13, 2010
as she begged for an extra doughnut

Now we say Pretty Please for a new Serger!

Fabric Friday!

Look what I received!   Five pieces of lovely fabric, from  QuiltHome.com.  

It always comes so quickly too!

I selected some lovely prints by Sandi Henderson.

Now the creative juices are gonna get to work.
I think I need some new tops!

I am the Link of the Week!!!

I am so excited!!!

I love all the fabrics they have!  How thrilling to be a winner!

What will I get?

Quilt Home

Great Words

    "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.
  In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who
should labor to subvert these great pillars of human
happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and
citizens...   Let it simply be asked, where is the security for
property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious
obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of
investigation in courts of justice?  And let us with caution
indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained
without religion.  Whatever may be conceded to the 
influence of refined education... reason and experience both
forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in
exclusion of religious principle."  George Washington

From Farewell Address

What an inspired man.  Even a man set apart by the God of
Heaven.

In the world today I fear we are far from where we should be.

How important it is to teach our children to recognize the counterfeit "truths" of the world,

and recognize the Eternal Truths God has set up for our happiness and real liberty!

Alma 61:14 

 

Therefore, my beloved brother, Moroni, let us resist evil, and whatsoever evil we cannot resist with our words, yea, such as rebellions and dissensions, let us resist them with our [good examples], that we may retain our freedom, that we may rejoice in the great privilege of our church, and in the cause of our Redeemer and our God.

"I am wearing Flip flops" tra la la la!

My girls kept begging me for a summer craft.

So this is what we decided to do!
It is pretty easy to do and dot too messy.
(Especially if you only have mom touch the glue.)

I let the girls pick out flowers and flip flops
and I happily only spent $7.50 on the supplies.

Our Liberty

Thought I'd watercolor paint one of our horses

This is a picture of Liberty our Paint horse.

Little Darla dresses

I used my pattern making skills and designed summer dresses for my daughters.


What do you think?
I love the fabric and had to use a collection of them.
I love the roses and dots!


Now should I make the pattern available to you?
I am debating on if I should make a PDF pattern and put it up on my etsy shop.
What do you think?