The Trip so Far!

Just a few pictures of our trip in progress - we are currently in Nashville, TN - and loving it!

Hugging sweet Rachel's belly. I completely cried when I felt little Luke Allen move inside his sweet mommy. What a wonderful, beautiful, amazing moment!



At the Arkansas State Line. The people in Arkansas were SO friendly and welcoming! Who knew that Arkansas is a breathtakingly beautiful state.



At the bath houses in Hot Springs, Arkansas...



At the Tennessee State Line, hugging the "Egg" that birthed Rock n Roll (?)



More updates and LOTS more pictures to come! :)

Mix and Match Packing at It's Best

*Everything* is green, blue, and pink. *Everything* matches Everything!

Modifying for Modesty

I'm sure you've got one of these somewhere in your closet... lurking in the back. I know I did. For almost a year an old ex-favorite denim skirt hid away, waiting for its time to shine. Somehow, someway this skirt became too short. It used to be below the bottoms of my knees... and worked its way up above my knees. Now I know I haven't grown any taller in at least 5 years or so, so I must surmise that this was due to improper washing procedures :) The skirt was then exiled until further measures could be taken.

My original idea was to sew a ruffle on the bottom, but the style of the skirt made that seem like a strange afterthought. A straight piece across the bottom would be better, I thought... but upon asking the advice of my sweet momma, we agreed that it would be worth the teeny amount of extra work to inset the fabric addition above four inches into the skirt.

I found the perfect piece of fabric in my "newer" stash. A lovely Mary Engelbreit fabric meant to accent another project... that didn't end up matching. Alas, the Perils of Online Fabric Shopping! (Place hand against forehead and sigh dramatically)

With no further ado, here is the finished product! A new favorite to be sure, and now perfectly tea length.

Finally!

A picture of the finished product, which I happily wore to church on Sunday:



I ended up just making a skirt out of the pattern, since I wear my skirts SO much more than I wear my dresses :)

Now I'm busy working on some *new* projects (lol) and trying to make a list of everything I need for our 10 day trip! I don't think I've ever packed that many clothes before. Does anyone have any good tips for packing well for a long trip? I'm trying not to take too much... so I'm thinking some "mix and match" will work well...

Sewing and Modesty

I'm so thankful for the ability to sew... more now than ever before. I recently ventured on a shopping trip with a sweet friend who is getting married in June to find a dress for the wedding. She had only one desire: that it be blue! We searched high and low, long and far, ending up with only exhaustion and no dresses. Truly, I found not *one* single modest dress. Not just no modest blue dresses, not just no modest inexpensive dresses... literally not a single dress that met my standards. If it had sleeves, it was too short. If it was long enough (just a few inches below the knees people! I'm not asking much here...) it was strapless, backless, low cut, or all of the above. How disheartening! I came home and googled modest dresses (that was the level of desperation!) And found this.

I was happy... but that dress was just too overpriced when you added in the 15$ shipping. Not to mention they were out of my size...

A few minutes on www.fabric.com, and I found some material that matched closely enough to the ideal. And now I'm stitching away, combining my favorite dress pattern with my favorite sleeves from another pattern. I just can't imagine what I'd be doing if I couldn't sew! Sigh. (Thanks again to my sweet momma for teaching me) :)

My nephew...

is officially precious. Look at those eyes!

I can't wait to meet baby Noah for the first time on our road trip at the end of the month.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time....

I am very much enjoying the happy blooming of our balcony flowers. This lovely earring plant had a very rough winter... it got a little frozen, and what was left kitty ate until it was just a brown stick in a pot. I thought I would have to throw it away. Can you believe how it has come back to life? A little like Lazarus, I think...



And here is "The Lemon". Now it has five wee competitors, but it's still the biggest by far!



A gift from my momma, pretty pink impatiens.



The beginnings of a pretty passion flower vine, started by my brother.



Now, to keep all these plants happy takes quite a bit of water. I was telling my momma how I was making several trips back and forth from the kitchen with my coffee pot (biggest container I owned!) to water all of them, so she brought me an old vinegar container so I would only have to make one trip :)

I then decided a little decoration was in order. A bit of fabric left over from the window treatments and chairs, a little more puff paint, and Ta Da! I now water in style. What a fun free project.

Last Week's Birthday Project

The sweet birthday girl :)

A wee little handkerchief embroidered with Proverbs 17:17.

This is when the quilting tools become very handy for getting your spacing even!

We Really Like Vera Bradley.

...I think that picture makes my purse look obnoxiously huge. But I always manage to fill it up! Tee hee.