Sunny Sewing Room Saturday

My assistant, Daisy and I spent some lovely quality time in our sunny pink sewing room today.








One of Daisy's many specialties is wrestling with the measuring tape....



....and what , you might ask,were we working on today?

...little "retro" aprons for a cute little 2 year old person....(I showed you one of these aprons I was working on a few posts ago ... these are Cindy Taylor Oates patterns .... and they are SO cute and SO quick and SO easy and SO fun to make, that ....just like potato chips ..... you can't stop at just one!!!) ...... and look at what I was unbelievably excited about ......


...PLEATS !!









...teeny, tiny pleats on a teeny, tiny apron! (OK, so what if that was the highlight of my day .....)

.....Anyhow,it's not like Daisy and I don't get any company in the Pink Sewing Room.... our nosy neighbor, Ethel, heard we were making aprons today and had to stop by and show us hers.....









.....and to read us a letter from some of the other neighbors complaining about this noise ....
(just kidding, no complaints THIS year ..... yet ....but the dirtbike season is just beginning .....)



......anyhow, after we got rid of the nosy neighbor, and the noisy dirtbikes, Daisy and I FINALLY got back to work .....








......wait a minute ..... where's Daisy?






.....SHEESH !!!! Siesta time ...... I guess I'll finish those aprons myself....




.....TA DA !!!








......now I might be able to get my teenage boys to wear babushkas, Easter bunny ears, and big red wax lips, but they're just too big to model aprons made for their 2 year old cousin .... and Daisy, well as you saw, her majesty is taking her siesta so she isn't available to model ..... so I had to resort to asking this bear to model the aprons ..... (I must say, the bear was the most cooperative one of the bunch today!)











Hope you had a sunny and productive Saturday!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Do tell........

Hmmmmmm......I can't tell you what on earth ever possessed me to buy this book, but I can tell you how thoroughly depressed I now am since I've discovered that I could be featured in the "Don't" section of just about every chapter .....seems I'm committing quite a few faux pas ...... for example .....


......hmmmmm.....eyeglass necklace ... you mean like this ....














....and then there's this suggestion....




.....uh oh ..... ugly orthopedic shoes? Well, FIRST of all SOME of us have some achin' dawgs and the thought of anything without some decent arch support is just plain AGONY ..... and besides, I think my "orthopedic shoes" are cute!














.....oh wait...and what was that part about "nothing ages you like wearing gym sneakers outside of the gym"?...... you mean these .....
.....my work shoes that I wear EVERY day .....and not anywhere near a gym! (I also wear them to the post office, bank, and grocery store because when I stop at these places on my way home from work, I still have them on!)

.....OK, next we have ...
......ummmmm.....pale, hairy , flaky legs ..... I'll spare you the picture but trust me, I scored a 3 out of 3 on this one!

.....moving on .....
......uh oh .... elastic waistbands .....









you mean like this?
......what can I say .... work pants .....gross, I know, but practical just outweighs fashion .....




.....and then ...
.........ummmmmmm....looking like you didn't try at all ..........ummmmm.... you mean like this?

(note SNEAKERS being worn outside of the gym, and those are elastic waist pants ..... and how about that school bus YELLOW slicker (well, it's supposed to rain today....)

...oh, wait, now you can see the whole yellow slicker .... pretty slick,huh? (the author of the book will have to add another chapter ... "Nothing ages you like dressing like a 5th grader!"

Well, seeing that I'm definately a fashion/beauty emergency, Lucy made a call ...
... she was able to get me in to see Pheobe Emerson (you know Phoebe Emerson's Charm School..... Lucy and Ethel went and they swore it did wonders ..... so click here and you too can have a lesson in "charm" from Phoebe Emerson's Charm School!)

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

A Sweet SURPRISE !!!!!

Oh, wait ..... THIS isn't the sweet surprise ..... this is just the aftermath of my Easter sugar high and the immediate CRASH that follows ......


.......but at least I try and have a little bit of self restraint (unlike SOME people I know .....)

....(pssst ....Kitty .... you have chocolate on your face .....) She's gonna hate herself in the morning ....






ANYWAY, there we were, Kitty and I , sitting around trying to recover from the sugar high/crash when in walks Kid #1 with the mail ....
......bills, junk mail, bills ...... nothing fun here .....









.......ooohhhh look, this is fun ...
the June issue of McCall's Quilting......









.......ooohhhh, and look ....
here's the latest issue (Issue #7) of "Fresh Vintage" that I ordered from Fig Tree Quilts ...... and that's fun, too..... but it's not the SWEET SURPRISE .......


......THIS IS !!!!
......what is it, you ask?.......












....it's this CUTE bag made by and sent by Lisa !!! ....just because she's so nice !!!














...and look what was inside!!!

.... FABRIC !!!! 4 different flavors of pretty Hawaiian FABRIC !!!!!!! It was the perfect pick - me - up for my sugar crash/low !! THANKS Lisa for the very SWEET SURPRISE !!!!


(oh, and now I'd better go pour "Kitty" into a cab .... she really overdid it and is in no condition to drive ......)

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Happy Easter !!!

Have a fun and happy Easter, everybody!!!!

















Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

The Search for that PERFECT Easter bonnet .......

Now THAT'S what I call an Easter bonnet !! ...... and don't you just love the entire outfit? (I have no idea who this lady is. Actually this is a card I bought just because it cracks me up!)
















... and speaking of Easter outfits/hats, this is my sister and me on Easter Sunday (either 1964 or 1965) at the pierogie making Grandma's house . I'm the one in the flashy RED shoes !!

Now, seeing these pictures of Easter hats, my friend "Kitty"
was feeling the urge to go shopping for a new Easter bonnet. So, she put on her babushka (since she has a convertable and doesn't like her hair to get messed up), drove over to my house, parked in the driveway and tooted her horn.
































....Then we headed into town....














...and went to this hat shop...













Here are some of the hats "Kitty" tried on ....






























...Well, no luck ...either the hats didn't quite fit, or she didn't like the color ....so, we went across the street to this shop...



















....where she saw this hat ...
...which she loved, but it was a bit out of her price range .... she started to get discouraged, thinking she would never find the perfect Easter bonnet .... then I remembered that my mother still has quite a few hats and a couple of my grandmother's hats!!! So, we headed for the open road .....














....and 20 minutes later, pulled into my parents' driveway ....















Just look at all the hats !!





.....oooooohhh.....let's have somebody model some for us ....
.....I just LOVE the blusher veil on this one .... I think this hat would look smart with a tailored beige suit and short white gloves.... (oh, and by the way, our model is George aka my dad ..... he was watching CNN and was pretty much not caring what I was putting on his head....)

This next one, is one of my favorites .... I can remember my mother wearing this little Lily of the Valley hat with a pretty light blue dress one Easter .....
(I'm thinking it's a bit snug on George ....)










...Next we have this little number ... a darling little cocktail hat ....
.....again, LOVING the blusher veil!!!!










....and, now let me show you the pretty white lace hat my grandmother (my mother's mother) wore to my parents' wedding back in 1956 ....
.......hmmmmm, perhaps this is a tad snug on George, too ..... and I think he's getting a little irked at me....... let's see if we can get Nancy (aka Mom) to try on her favorite hat .....
Lookin' good , Mom!! (this is one of her newer hats ... I remember her wearing this one when I was in high school which was NOT that long ago .....)

Well, after a LONG and exhausting day of shopping and visiting, and trying on hats, it was time for "Kitty" and I to head on home ....

.....ahhhh, back home again and pulling into the driveway .....















Now can you believe that "Kitty"? ... after she dropped me off, she wanted to show off her new Easter bonnet, so she hopped back in her car and met friends for dinner !!






She did at least call me from the restaurant to see if I wanted to join them, but I told her I was too pooped .... and besides I just found the cutest pincushion pattern for ..... you'll never guess ..... an Easter bonnet !!! YES! in the June 2005 American Patchwork and Quilting magazine is a pattern for a bonnet pincushion!

Isn't that CUTE !! and here's a link to the bonnet pincushion instructions if you want to make one. It looks like it would go together pretty fast.

.......Oh wow .....(yawn).... that was a LONG post and a LONG day .... I'm hitting the sack .... (but I'll bet that party girl "Kitty" is still out showing off her new hat!)

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)