Happpy Mother's Day !!!

Beautiful Mother's Day gifts made by my sweet boys in wood shop (the one in the first picture was made by Evan, the second one was made by Matt)
.....and .....



....breakfast in bed made by my sleepy boy, Evan (7 AM) ..... and all by himself ! (there's just the teensiest mess in the kitchen ....)











......also, a Mother's Day lunch a day early with my boys at The Olive Garden yesterday ......














....because ...


.....they're off to another dirtbike race today ....







Hope you're all having a good weekend and a Happy Mother's Day !!!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

It's gardening time .....

.....Ahhhhh..... the past few days have been beautiful here in Jim Thorpe, Pa ..... yes, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the days were nice and warm ,and the flowers are in bloom .....


.... so yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd try and get my window boxes planted (because the weather guy was talking about rain for today and Saturday )

Well, everytime I try and get something done around here, it's always some kind of interruption or other .... and guess what/who the interruption was this time .....




.....Kitty came over to ask me if her Chef hat was finished yet and to show me her new gardening hat....(she doesn't want to sunburn that complexion of hers for the Prom next week....)







.... I told her, No, the Chef hat isn't finished yet because I keep getting interrupted by work, laundry, making and cleaning up meals, and by certain parties who only care about themselves and THEIR HATS !!!



Hmph !!! WELL !!!! REALLY !!!!

.... and off Kitty drove ... in a snit again .....she drove off so fast that her hat flew off....(oh, don't worry.... she'll be back .... she wants that Chef hat .... and she wants me to help her with her hair for the Prom next Friday ....)

Let's see ..... what else is new .... well, my friend Kelly has decided to put her quilt shop and antique mall on the market . The Quiltery is one of my favorite hang outs .....so I called my sister Boop (her name is really Karen ... Boop is just the name we've called her since she was a baby ... and only her family and close friends know about it .... now you're all her close friends !!! HA !)... anyhow, I called Boop and said we should buy The Quiltery ..... now Boop doesn't quilt, but she can knit up a storm ..... so she would want the shop to be Quilting AND Knitting .... OK, that's fine ..... we could call it "Mare & Boop's Quilt and Knit". She thought that was OK except for one change she would make .... "Boop & Mare's Knit and Quilt" .....hmmmm, we can't even agree on a name ... just like
Lucy and Ethel when they bought that dress shop. Then, my kids have to get in on the act and said it should be "Mare and Boop's Quilt and Knit and Dirtbike Parts" ...... PERFECT !!!! Well, it's neither here nor there (as my mother would say) since Boop and I would have to print up lots more monopoly money in the basement to be able to buy it ..... not to mention the minor detail that , like Lucy and Ethel, neither one of us has a clue how to run a business !!! OH Well!! ..... just hope whoever does end up buying The Quiltery is as friendly and willing to put up with me as Kelly and gang have been!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

It's HERE !! It's HERE!!!

Look ! It's here .... my Giveaway prize from that Dandelion Quilts gal !!!




Let me rip the package open and show you all the fun stuff she sent!


First, there's that CUTE peach apron she made ! (I LOVE those scallop flaps on each pocket!) .... wait, let me show you a better picture ...
















.....and she also sent some very fun sewing doodads (I guess "notions" is the correct term....)
..... red ric rac, red with white dots ribbon, and those cute as pie ladybug buttons!!! (oh, and a yo yo maker ... which the photography dept forgot to put in this picture....)





..... AND LOOK at these fun note holders !!!!
..... aren't they the cutest things?!?! (oh, and she included some post it notes, too .... again, the photography dept forgot to put them in this picture .... that photography dept really stinks ...)

Anyhow, I LOVE all of my loot!! Thanks again Dandelion Gal!!!!

Be back soon!!!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Pleats & Bows & a Dirtbike Race

OK, so this is how this week is going ..... I actually started this post on Monday ..... and here it is Wednesday and I'm trying to get back and finish Monday's post ..... I have come to the conclusion that we are woefully UNDERSTAFFED here at Moonbeams in a Jar!!!

So, back tracking to Monday, again ..... How did I spend my weekend you ask? (I'll spare you the paperwork pile photo and the cruddy laundry pile photo and the kitchen sink pile of dirty dishes photo ..... I think we've established from many of my previous posts, that those things are a given on my weekends ...) Anyway, I did get to do some sewing ... STILL trying to finish that apron (OK, stop rolling your eyes ... I saw that!)
.... and of course I can't leave well enough alone ..... instead of just following the pattern instructions to gather the top of the apron and be done with it, I had to fool around (and take even more time) to make pleats (I'm going for a less poofy look .... trust me, I do NOT need any extra poof around the hips and mid section .....)

In addition to piddling around with pleats (which is now one of my new favorite things to make ..... I know, I know, we've already established that it doesn't take much to keep me entertained) I also couldn't be satisfied with just slapping the pockets on the apron ..... oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOO........

... first I had to figure out and then make bows to add to each pocket AND then decided to also add some ric rac to further spiff up those pockets .... (the ric rac isn't on there yet in this picture ..... I'll save that for the grand unveiling of the completed apron ....eventually....)


Anyhow, that's how I spent my Saturday (I skipped the mountain bike race that both boys and hubby were in ..... yes, my guilt overfloweth.....) BUT, on Sunday I did go to the dirtbike race both kids were in ....
there they are .... Matt (no shirt) and Evan .... exhausted and covered in mud .... their perfect day!)


....oh, and since I drove to the race separately, I was able to stop at Walmart on my way home (something NOT tolerated by hubby and boys .... LOTS of sighing, tapping on the steering wheel, and horn honking out in the parking lot while they "patiently" wait for me if we had driven together.....) .... anyhow, I was on a mission to find some easy to sew, cute and breezy summer dress, skirt and blouse patterns ..... and these are what I came home with ....

.... pretty cute, huh?!?! (now don't ask me when the heck I think I'll have time to actually make this stuff before it goes out of style, so just humor me as I go happily along with my unrealistic delusions of what I can accomplish without Martha Stewart's staff....)

Be back soon!!!!!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Happy May Day !!!

I saw these pretty buttery yellow flowers at the grocery store today and decided they were the perfect flowers to go in that yellow striped tote bag to hang on the front door for May Day (that is until it started to rain .... so now the flowers are in a vase on the kitchen table and the tote bag is back hanging on the door of my pink sewing room .... oh well, so much for May Day!)

Anyhow, Daisy and I were able to squeeze in a teeny, tiny bit of sewing today .... working on that cherry fabric apron and matching chef hat ...... when who popped in for a visit .....yes it was Kitty .... and she decided she would LOVE to have a chef hat too and would we make her one .... so, first we had to measure her head ...



...then while Daisy and I were sewing, Kitty got bored and started wandering around the pink sewing room .... when she came upon this magazine that I bought a couple of days ago (also at the grocery store)
I've never seen this "B" magazine before (I think it stands for "Boomer" as in Baby Boomer?) .... but the lady in the flowered bathing cap caught my eye and I just HAD to buy the magazine if only for that picture .... could it be that my favorite flowered bathing cap is becoming a trend??????) Anyway, when Kitty saw the magazine she immediately ran home to get HER flowered bathing cap .....




....then she wanted me to take her picture in front of the magazine ....










....oh, and then I remembered a catalog of bathing caps came in the mail yesterday ..... so I brought it out for Kitty to look at ....
.....now I thought I was doing Kitty a favor .... I thought she would enjoy looking at all the different bathing caps in the catalog in case she decides she wants a new one ..... was she appreciative? was she grateful???? ..... you would think so, wouldn't you? .....but NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!
...she was in a snit, drove over the magazine AND the catalog, and left in a HUFF ..... she said something about why wasn't SHE asked to be the cover girl on the magazine in HER flowered bathing cap? and why wasn't she asked to model flowered bathing caps in that catalog???????SHEESH !!! (as you can see, I didn't get much sewing done today ....oh well, maybe tomorrow!!)

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Graduation Quilt Challenge (among other things....)

Well as you know here at MBIAJ we procrastinate to the Nth degree ..... why start today what you can put off until the last possible minute, we always say (our motto, as it were).... and, as you saw from my post last night, Kid #1 has held up that tradition with his stellar last minute performance of getting his Pa State required Graduation Project finished with just hours to spare !!!!!WELL DONE MATT!! ......so NOW the ball is in my court .... I told him I was NOT going to START his Graduation Quilt unitl he finished his Graduation Project ..... (not that that threat bothered him in the least .... he knows my track record with finishing quilts anywhere NEAR their event deadline .... he wanted to know WHICH graduation this quilt would be for ....., HA HA....) Sooooo, anyhow, at least I bought the fabric and decided on the pattern a few months ago ..... here it is (do you think I'll finish this by June 6th? .... don't answer that .....)
....anyhow, I decided to make "The Lasagne Quilt" (it's pictured there in bright pinks, oranges and greens, etc .... not quite Matt's color scheme ) ... he requested red, white , and blue (which happen to be his high school's colors ... although I don't think THAT was the reason he wanted red, white, and blue .... I'm guessing some pro dirtbike rider uses those colors .... or maybe he just likes red, white, and blue ... ) ANYWAY, knowing this quilt would be started AT THE VERY LAST MINUTE (my usual M.O.) I picked that Lasagne Quilt pattern because theoretically, if all the stars align, it's SIMPLE and SHOULD go together FAST !!! Anybody taking bets ???

So, speaking of unfinished projects (are there any other kind?), I'm still trying to find a few minutes here and there to finish up that apron I was working on (the cherry fabric apron from 2 posts back) .... I want to finish the matching chef hat , too (the perfect fashion statement , in my opinion, to detract attention away from a lousy meal thrown together at the last minute......) Anyhow, this is the pattern I use .... it's probably at least 10 years old....

... it's a good basic pattern .... I'm making the half apron but added a contrasting fabric at the hem and I'm changing the pockets a little .... you'll see ..... hopefully before the end of the decade ....







....oh, and here's a new "retro" apron pattern I just bought this past weekend ...
...... I think it's really SWELL !!!!! Can't wait to make one of the full length versions ....I'll be looking like Aunt Bea!!!!(but of course I wouldn't DREAM of starting another apron until the Graduation Quilt is finished .....AHEM !!) OH! and I actually got my disorganized self to be organized long enough to post my apron pictures on my Apronista page (you can click on my "Apronista" button/badge over there, on the right sidebar just under the music playing thing ....) there are a few aprons I've made, one I inherited from my Grandmother, and a few I've bought at a local vintage clothing shop.)

Well, I'd love to get another cup of tea and sit and yak with you all a bit longer, but unfortunately I've got to get to work..... then HOPEFULLY squeeze in a sliver of sewing so I can FINISH THAT APRON , etc !!!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Just under the WIRE !!!!!!!

Yep, here at MBIAJ we live on the edge .... work best under pressure, procrastinate till the cows come home, squeak through by the skin of our teeth ......you get the picture ..... and, as they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree .... soooooooo, it is with my GREAT relief that I announce the COMPLETION of the GRADUATION PROJECT !!!! (at least the research paper portion ..... ) and completed none too soon (as in final copy printed out tonight at 10:30 PM ..... ) to be handed in tomorrow , the due date , at 7:30 AM. ......PHEW !!!!!(Matt has only known about this Pa State graduation requirement for the past THREE YEARS !!!!..... so getting it finished HOURS before it's due has taken it's toll on my homework nagging skills .... I'm pooped , drained, worn out !! So, concerned aunts, uncles, and grandparents of Matt's you are now free to go buy those graduation cards (hmmmm....but maybe hold off another week till we see how the oral presentation portion of the project goes next Tuesday .....) ANYHOW ..... here's Matt holding his ticket out of high school (that is , along with passing grades .... which, so far, so good on that count!)












......anyhow, like I said, I'm POOPED, so I'm gonna hit the hay (even though I have more to blab about .... I know ..... what a surprise .... stuff about aprons, bathing caps and a certain quilt shop .... ooooooohhhh SUSPENSE !!! .... well, actually, not ..... just too deleriously tired to think straight anymore tonight!) So, maybe after some sleep and then a tanker truck load of caffeine tomorrow morning I'll be able to get back to you all on those hot topics! (not to mention American Idol! .... who will get the boot tomorrow night?!?)

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)