Sweet Sixteen

My baby girl was sixteen last week. Where has the time gone?! I have loved every moment of being this child's mother. She is the sweetest, most thoughtful, caring, and loving young woman you could ever hope to meet. What a blessing she is to all who know her!

Victoria-Rose wanted to go to Disney World for her birthday. We live about two hours away from the Magic Kingdom but we don't go very often. This was a big treat for all of us. The picture below was taken the day before at Downtown Disney. That tall young man is my son, Logan. He will be 15 in two months. How did he get to be taller than his mother?! The handsome silver fox is my sweet husband, Tim.

Victoria-Rose's current favorite princess is Aurora. She is currently singing in a group that sings only Disney songs (non-profit) and she plays the part of Aurora in one of the medleys.

Well, this wasn't a Sweet Sixteen event like those you can watch on those 'reality' T.V. shows but my Rosebud is in a league all her own. She was delighted with her weekend and we are delighted with her!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

It was time to take down the little Autumn Tree in my kitchen annex today. I loved the little faery in the branches that I found in Home Goods in September. Faeries make me smile! Next weekend I hope to have this tree all decked out in angels for the Winter holidays.

As I put the flowers and bows back in the boxes used to store all the Autumn decorations I had time to reflect on how very lucky I am. I have a wonderful life! I am married to a truly GOOD man whom I love and who loves me. I have two miracle babies that have grown into remarkable teenagers. My mother is getting close to her 81st birthday and is able to spend time every week with us. I have a sweet and caring sister who had us all over for Thanksgiving. I have dear, dear friends, a church I feel at home in, a job I love, sewing internet friends, and great neighbors. All my needs are being met. God is good....ALL the time! Thank you. Thank you, God!

Holiday Ensemble for 18" Dolls

I made this ensemble for our PTA to raffle at our Fall Festival. I also made a little girl's outfit for a second raffle. I'll post those pictures another day. I was delighted by the response to the outfits and thrilled to be able to help out in this way. I was so pleased that this raffle was won by one of my former students who just loves her American Girl Dolls. I wonder which one of Hannah's dolls will wear this on Christmas Day?





The dress fabric is a late 1990's Daisy Kingdom print that was sent to me by one of my sewing friends on a sewing forum that brings me much inspiration and joy. Thank you, Marilyn! The French lace around the neck was tea-dyed to match the cream color in the print and the tiny red buttons were left from a dress I made my daughter 13 years ago.





The ivory eyelet was given to me by another dear friend who inherited it from a sewing angel named Julie. Thank you, Audra! It was exactly enough for the panties and petticoat. I know Julie is smiling in heaven knowing that a little girl was made so happy by her gift.

Yummy Cake

I was so pleased to be asked to make my godchild Jordan's 11 birthday cake recently. She asked for a white cake with cream cheese icing and fruit. I used vanilla and almond flavorings in the batter for the cake and a jar of seedless raspberry spreadable fruit as the filling. I made a large batch of cream cheese frosting flavored with more vanilla and almond extracts. The frosting is easy and delicious.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 whole 8 oz. pkg. reg. cream cheese, softened

1 and 3/4 boxes 10X confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

small amount of milk

1 teaspoon each vanilla and almond extracts

Beat sugar into softened cheese, adding a little milk (1 teaspoon at a time) until just shy of desired consistency. Beat in extracts and more milk (if needed) for spreading.

My mother requested an orange and strawberry cake for her 80th birthday. I substitued the grated peel of a navel orange for the almond flavoring (but left in the vanilla). It tasted like a Dreamcicle (orange/vanilla popcicle). It made me happy to make my mother happy!

Autumn Is In the Air For Dolls, Too

I just love sewing for dolls! There is never a fitting problem and they smile at everything I make! Some of the very first things that I sewed as a child were clothes for my Chatty Cathy. (Do you remember her?) I was quite brave as a little girl and tackled dressmaking without a pattern and sewed the little dresses all by hand. I wish I still had those early creative attempts!



This little 4-piece set was purchased with several other sets as a special birthday present for a special little girl. The applique on the front of the tunic top is taken from a larger Halloween print. The smokey pearl buttons match the charcoal stripe in the plaid. The white linen peasant blouse is trimmed with grosgrain ribbon to coordinate with the applique thread and can be worn with the shorts without the tunic. I had fun decorating the tiny autumn shopping/gift bag with little Mary Englebrite calendar pictures. Aren't those little brown suede maryjane's cute?

My Homecoming Sweetie

My lovely daughter, Victoria-Rose went to the Homecoming Dance last night with her friends. Isn't she beautiful? It is hard for me to believe that we were waiting for her almost 16 years ago. It feels like yesterday! She was a wonderful baby, toddler, little girl, and tween and now she is an amazing young woman. My angel-baby is almost grown-up. I keep saying that I wish I could freeze time just a little so that I could have more time with my children. I am so very blessed!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day

The Big Day

Update: We had a wonderful day on Jumpstart's Read For the Record: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day! It was such fun to see my creations enjoyed. Maddie's mom purchased the skort from me and Cassidy wore the dress I made for her birthday.

I didn't have time to make myself a Very Hungry Caterpillar outfit but I pinned some paper copies of the famous caterpillar to my green straw hat and wore a butterfly blouse. My daughter (age 15) and I loved it and I wore it all day. My husband laughed (he's used to me) and my son (age 14) just shook his head and made sure I wasn't picking him up from high school that day!

A simply delightful mom of one of my students went all out for the day, too. She pinned a purchased set of felt story telling props made by Eric Carle onto a green shirt for her son and dressed up her baby daughter as the butterfly! Soooooo cute!

We did lots of special things with the class. The favorite was coloring sequence pictures of the story and cutting them out and gluing them to a large green leaf. Then every child had a story telling aide to use when retelling the story to their parents that night.

Happy children + a great theme = a happy teacher!