Thirty Years!!!!!!!

Thirty years ago today I said, "I Do" to my best friend.  What a lovely journey it's been.  Happy Anniversary sweetheart!  I love you.

Summer Breezes

{country home}

I've been searching through my folders for inspiration pictures to help me get in "summer mode".  I've pulled a few out for you to enjoy as well.  I ended up being overwhelmed with all the beautiful photos I've saved of all types.  So, instead of working on my own house, I'm just going to enjoy "theirs" at the moment.

{country home}

{?}

{country living}

{country living}

{country living}

{country living}

Free Vintage Pattern Images

I scanned some of my vintage sewing patterns today. 

I thought you crafters might like to play around with the images.

Early 60's are my favorites.

But, there are some great ones from the 70's also.  Be watching for more!

Senior Photos

We had a friend of a friend take some senior photos of our college graduate last weekend.  Richelle did a fantastic job.  Check out her website for a preview of the great job that she did.  These are my favorites so far.

Richelle certainly captured many different moods.  I love it!

Quilted Mouse Pads

After I recently joined in on a swap for quilted hot pads, I have a little bug to do some more teeny tiny quilts.  I've thought about making some coasters, which I really need.  In the last day or so, I also came across a fun idea to make a quilted mouse pad out of fabric scraps.  I can't remember where I saw it and I evidently didn't save it, which is very frustrating.  I searched for similar ideas and found this tutorial for a fun mousepad.  You can buy several like the one below at Zazzle.com, but that defeats the purpose of using up scraps. While I can't find the post anywhere, I came across instructions for the beautiful coasters above from Martha here.

I'm going to add these to my list of projects.  I really need to make a list. 

Floral Fridays

{bhg}

Are there any flowers that take you back to another place?  Zinnia's do that for me.  My MIL always planted zinnias around her birdbath.  They are so bright and cheery.  The perfect summer flower.  What flowers take you back?

Bursting

We are bursting with pride around here. Rachael graduated Saturday with two Bachelor of Arts Degrees, one in Business Administration and a second in Accounting.  Boy was she happy.

These are our two girls and Son-in-Law.

Daddy was especially happy.  I cut myself out of this picture.  I just had to show you my DH's picture.

Afterwards we had dinner at PF Chang's.

Rachael with Mom and Dad.

Lauren and Rachael

Can you see the resemblance?

It was a wonderful day!

Getting Ready

There won't be much blogging going on at Elderberry Street in the next two weeks.  I'm a gettin' ready for company.  I've done some laundry. . .

Pulled out clean sheets. . .

Made up the guest bed. . .

Cleaned out my daughter's room. . . she's moving to an apartment.

Scrubbed the bathrooms. . .

Had the carpets cleaned. . .

Done some meal planning. . . well almost.

We're getting ready to celebrate!  DD2 is graduating on Saturday from college!  We're so proud of her!

Photos courtesy of Country Living, Belle Notte, Country Living, Country Living, Coastal Living, Veranda, Velvet and Linen, Ki Nassauer.

Graceful

Usually when you read the title Graceful, you'd assume that I probably fell and broke my leg. Or maybe I'm referring to a ballet dancer.  Not this time. This is a tribute to Mom. She is the most Grace full woman I know. She taught me to always try to look at someone else's perspective. Grace giving was second nature to her.  Maybe it was because of the road she traveled growing up.  It wasn't easy.  

She has devoted her life to Jesus Christ.  She has lived an amazing life, full of ministry and friends.  I am grateful that she is my Mother. I love you Mom!

What Was I Thinking?

I decided to participate in a swap by Malka at A Stitch N Dye.  Quilt two potholders to give away.  What could be so difficult about that?  Considering I haven't quilted in at least 12 years, what was I thinking?  Seriously, I was pretty lousy at it back then.  My favorite part is picking out the pretty fabrics.  

Well, these pretty potholders are the ones I received from Linda!  Aren't they fun?  Because I've sewn for years she decided to piece together selvages from several fabrics.  I LOVE IT.  So creative and fun.  Plus, I'm amazed at the freehand quilting.  I tried a little sample and it was laughable.  

I also picked a really busy time to get myself into this. But persevere, I did!  Marathon stitching commenced. In reflection, I've never actually finished a quilt. I've started three bed sized ones. One I paid a friend to finish. The other two are waiting for me. A very long time, I might add. That's why 12 years ago, I decided I wasn't a quilter. These are my size of quilts. Teeny, tiny and useful. On the due date, this pretty package made it's way to Linda.  

It contained two kind of cute potholders.  I wanted to make them purposefully askew.  That's a lot more difficult that it looks.  But, it was fun to try quilting again for a change.  I only bought the Insul-brite, everything else I already had.  Hmmmm, I wonder what project these fabrics were initially intended for? 

I liked this one a lot better before I bound it.

I hope Linda likes them.  If not, they'll still be pot worthy.

Flowers from a Friend

My friend Shelly sent me this picture of her beautiful lilac bush.  It has both white and variegated flowers on the same bush! Shelly lives in Lombard, Illinois which is known as "The Lilac Village".  There is a festival this time of year along with a Lilac Queen and parade!  Isn't it beautiful?  

Happy Mothers Day 

to all my lovely Blogging Friends!  

Invisible Creativity

I received a lovely gift card from my son-in-law and daughter for my birthday.  I decided I needed yet another of Martha's great books.  I love being creative and have saved who-knows-how-many of her past magazines.  After going through this beautiful book, looks like I can recycle quite a bit of them.  I should just start a Project List of things I'd like to make.  It would be seriously long and probably take me the rest of my life to complete.  This is not counting all the future inspiration I might get from the fabulous blogosphere.  

I have been a little creative so far this week.  But there's not much to show for it.  I've done a little gardening.  Most of what I've done has been behind the scenes on my computer.  I have started working from home a little on a project for work.  It does take creativity and has been fun, but not much fun to blog about.  I have, however, learned a lot about editing my photos and writing.  Writing is certainly not my strength.  This project does make me more aware of the way things are said and presented. So, it's all about the learning process and getting better at what I'm doing.  

I thought I'd show you some photos from The Farmer's Wife where I work.  Since I've been creating for them the last few days.  What have you been learning lately?

Ladies Birthday Party

I mentioned last week that I was going to attempt to make Texas Sheet Cupcakes for a special event at our church.  Our event was called the Ladies Birthday Party.  Each table is decorated by month.  Above are my very successful rendition of the yummy cake.  I used a Devil's Food Cake Mix.  I substituted buttermilk for the water and added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Then I used the normal frosting recipe.  The trick is to cool it off in the refrigerator enough to spread, but not too runny.  If you get it too cold, it does warm up.  I added a pecan to the top so people could choose it or not.  They turned out very good.

These are the final version of my Raspberry Angle Food Cupcakes.  Again, I used a mix.  I know, horrors!  But, for 50 some women, I needed to have good time management.  So, a mix it was. I dusted the pieces of fresh raspberries with powdered sugar  and added them to the batter.  Then I topped them with Martha's buttercream frosting tinted a light pink.  These are Unbelievably good! My friend Kathy made yummy Red Velvet Cupcakes and Lemon.  The ladies had FOUR choices!  

The ladies sit at the table of their birthday.  It's a great way to meet and talk to women you don't know very well. We had two fun birthday games and lots of prizes. Here is a bad picture of an adorable table.  It was the March table, decorated with a Spring Cleaning theme.  She had half aprons tied around every chair and her own collection of hankies and vintage dish towels along with her depression glass.  It was an amazing table.  Our soap favors fit right into her theme and we didn't even plan it that way. 

My friend Kathy did a table for July with a picnic theme.  She used fresh sunflowers, bandana plates from Target, striped beach towels, mason jars for glasses, and bandanas for napkins. She had a thermos and a jar of snack mix.  I've never been on a picnic this cute.  So incredibly adorable!

This is my April table that had a gardening theme.  I got out my large collection of gardening sprinklers, nozzles, flower frogs and gardening books.  Fresh roses and ferns gave it some life.  I used my vintage dessert plates that don't match, but all "coordinate".  It was very fun, but crazy since I was heading up the entire event.  These pictures aren't the best, but I'm just glad I got some.  I thought I'd show you a sampling of our day.