My mom gave me these two old magazine clips the other day. She found them in an old cookbook of her mother's (my grandmother) and thought I might like to have them. These were a few of her dream kitchen ideas. Aren't they so fabulously retro??? Then, a few days later, I stumbled on this post on decor8 and thought it was funny how these concepts are coming back.
And here's a hat I knitted my sister. Because she's having a little guy in a few weeks! Yay! :)
I didn't keep a whole lot of things from my childhood, but I have always kept my little box of paper dolls. My sister and I used to love these and I had all kinds. The other night, I pulled them out for the girls to see. I couldn't believe how entertained they were!! This is Miss Piggy...obviously :)
And these are a few handmade paper dolls that I made when I was kiddo. I LOVED doing this. This bunny had a wardrobe bigger than mine, I think ;) This is his picnic outfit. He had a blanket and picnic basket to go with it. 
Here is another guy I made, in his baseball outfit. I can't remember his name now, but I remember being really upset when he got left outside and sprinkled on one day. Hence the runny marker on his big nose. 
That's right, I survived ten days of single parenting. Well, I guess I'm still single parenting, since Casey will be gone until October, but at least now my Mom is here until he gets back. AND, my sister and one of her four (almost 5!) children are visiting for the week! It's so great to have them all here and the kids are really having fun together. We walked over and fed the geese the other day. There were baby ducks and geese too! Sooo cute :)
And there's been lots and lots of playing outside, now that summer has officially become and the daily rainstorms have ebbed a little bit.
Love this one of my mom and Kelby.
I've also managed to stitch up a small pile of these double hourglass blocks. I have a ways to go. Here is what I'm going for with this, only bigger. 
And, I finally got some pictures of the Amy Butler bag I made for my cousin. It went MUCH better this time, since I used regular interfacing instead of the heavy canvas she suggests. It was still hard work for my poor machine, though. I love the design, but this will be the last one of these I make with this machine, since I don't want to pay to get a timing adjustment after each bag ;)
She really loves it and it fits her new laptop perfectly.
We had a big weekend! The kids' cousin Jillian came over with Gramma for a sleepover. Natalie LOVES sleepovers as a concept, but this was her first one :) They had a blast.
Then on Saturday we made our way down to Gramma and P-Pa's house. Great fun!
For the first time in a really long time, I find my sewing desk empty of projects! I made some more nine-patches, but have to wait for more scraps...again. I have 33, so I'm almost half-way there. I have a couple of gifty quilts in my brain waiting to get out, so hopefully I can get going on those soon. After I do the mending, of course! ;)
I promised I would share some more of these pictures Angela took of my kiddos. I could gush and gush and gush about how talented she is, but I think you can see for yourself by these amazing pictures :) Knowing Casey would be leaving for Officer school soon, I took some of his gear along for this shoot and surprised him with them the day before he left.
My picnic quilt is done! It's soft and homey and already has that perfectly worn-in feeling. I love, love, love it. 
So do the littles :)
Yesterday was a good one for us. We started the day out at a huge church garage sale, where I scored this awesome vintage Brew Pot. These peonies grow behind my house, so we get to enjoy them all Spring. Aren't they beautiful?
AND, I hit the jackpot of vintage childrens' books! These were 25 cents each!!!
Then we headed south for the fourth annual Nana & Papa party. This picture contains only some of the 15 (or more?) great grandchildren of Casey's grandparents.
There is some kind of initiation ritual in Casey's family, in which all the babies have to stand on a hand :) This is Uncle Korey inducting Kelby into the family. He was a good sport.
In other news, we sent our wonderful hubby and daddy off this morning for Officer Training School for the U.S. Army. We really miss him already!! Before he left, I compiled this book of photos of the kids that my dear friend Angela took a few months ago. We brought along some of his army gear as props and they are absolutely amazing pictures. I'll share more on that soon!
I thought about the border for this quilt all week long. I wanted to use more jeans, but I ran out since I used them all on the blocks. I found some things downstairs that I thought would work, but didn't. I finally started diggin around my hutch and came across these vintage tea towels that I've had for several years. My dear friend Melissa gave me a huge box of vintage linens when her grandmother passed away. She has a modern flare, but remembered that I love vintage things like this. These three had holes and stains, but I'd been keeping them just in case ;) I think I like how this looks. I would ask for opinions, but I would be afraid you would all tell me to change it and I don't have any other ideas, other than buying more fabric, which I can't do right now :) I am going to buy batting, but I already have something great for the back. Now I just don't know how to quilt it. Here is another whirlygiggle quilt with loopy free-motion and here is one with straight lines. (Jacquie always has great and creative quilting ideas, all her quilts are right up my alley!) I love both of these, but I'm also not sure which color thread to use, since it's bound to show up really well on the denim. Any suggestion??
I played some more with Picnik.com yesterday. It's pretty fun. You can add frames,
mustache "stickers,"
and princessy stickers :) If you become a premium member for 25 bucks a year, you can do even more, but I don't really think it's necessary. There are lots of cool effects too. Then, you can save them right to your computer or send them right to Flickr or Facebook. Pretty cool!