Halloween Witch Dish Towel #2

Here's another witch towel I embroidered. The first one is posted here. These are so fun and easy to do, I have enjoyed making every single one!
Linking to Made by You Mondays at Skip to My Lou.

Backyard Evolution Continues...

As I have mentioned before, our back yard is a work in progress. The latest thing we added was some wood posts and hanging baskets. I saw something similar in a magazine and decided to adapt it to our back yard.

We started with two 4x4x12 foot cedar posts. My husband dug a 2 foot hole into the ground and set the posts in 140 lbs. of concrete. We used bricks to hold the posts in place while the concrete set.

After the posts were set in the concrete, we stained them with the same stain we used on the fence. I then purchased some wrought iron hooks to hang plants from. Troy drilled holes and hung the hooks. Next was the hunt for hanging baskets. I went to several nurseries looking for premade baskets but did not like any because they were in those plastic pots with plastic hangers- yuk! For a couple of weeks, we just had a lonely pumpkin chime hanging on one of the hooks.

So I had to go the long route to get the hanging baskets. I purchased empty wrought iron baskets with coco fiber liners and a bunch of plants and put the baskets together myself. I kept reminding myself about what I learned at a container garden seminar... gotta have three types of plant in a container: tall plant to "thrill", another plant to "fill" and a third plant to "spill". Because the pots were only 12 inches, I went with good ole marigolds to "thrill" and and pansies in different colors to "spill".

The baskets have been hanging ten days and seem to be thriving in our beautiful autumn weather. I hope this inspires you to dig a hole, plant a post, drill in some hooks and hang a beautiful basket, thanks for stopping by.

Linking to:

Metamorphisis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Mother & Daughter Halloween Party

During my single days I used to host a Halloween Party for girlfriends. After I got married and had a baby it was difficult to continue the tradition. After much thought and consideration (plus some encouragement from my friend Virginia) we decided to bring the tradition back with a twist by making make it a Mother Daughter Party. Here are some of the highlights!

The backyard was somewhat decorated already. The morning of the party we added tables and chairs to the back yard. Here's what it looked like before everyone arrived


Here's what it looked like as everyone was arriving. Needless to say the weather was picture perfect and everyone enjoyed the back yard. I found out 35 people very comfortable fit in our back yard.
Here's a picture of a grandma witch and aunt witch.

Here's a picture of more cute mothers and daughters.

Some of my girlfriends brought treats to share... My friend Jennifer made these super cute monster squares, the cake part was pumpkin and chocolate chips, they were really yummy.

These are some of the treats on the kitchen bar. I forgot to take a picture of the food table!

Here is the picture of the super gorgeous cake my friend & co host Virginia purchased. It was giant, we could have fed another 35 people. She ordered it from The Cake Stand in historical downtown McKinney, it was incredibley delicious.

Here's a cute picture of a few of the girls having a good time on the swing set!

All in all the party was a huge success, could those little girls look any happier? We definitely will have another party next year! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful Halloween!

Halloween Witch Dish Towel

Here is a dishtowel I embroidered. I purchased these and added only the embroidery, I thought about duplicating them but figured it out was more cost effective to buy them already made. . I made nearly 15 of these for teacher gifts, friend gifts and even sold a couple.
Linking to Made by You Mondays at Skip to my Lou

College Day Shirt

Our daughter had College Day at school last week. From the moment I heard about it, I knew I had to make the drive to my old college town to get her a shirt (about 35 miles away). Time just got away from me and I never had the chance to make the trip so the evening before I sat down and made her a shirt using my embroidery machine.


This was my 'first' attempt at a shirt. Shirts are harder than just plain flat items because you are working with the shirt inside out on a hoop. This took me several hours. In the end I could have made several trips back and forth to Denton in the time in took me to make this but I was very pleased with the way it turned out.

I love it but I won't be mass producing these anytime soon! Thanks for stopping by

Phase II Fall Decorating

Once mid October comes around, I start putting out the Halloween decoratings. I am especially fond of cute witches. With a Mother & Daughter Halloween Party around the corner here's some snapshots...

Move over birdies, the bird bath is going to be a pedestal for a pumpkin.

Garden Witch keeping Croton company...

I hung my garden flags on the fence...

Another Croton in the front porch.

I love fun wood signs...

I'll keep adding pictures, thanks for stopping by.

Halloween Apron

Here's a Halloween Apron I made for a teacher, Mrs. Stober. Her favorite color is purple and she loves Halloween. You can see a close up of the embroiderly and what the full apron looks like. I have more of these if anyone is interested.

Phase I Fall Decorating

I decorate for Fall in phases. Phase I starts right after September 16 (Mexican Independence Day)and is just the regular fall stuff..

Here are pictures of a few things....

New plants by the front door... Celosias and Marigolds. Never had Celosias before so we'll see how they do. I could not resist the bright orange color. Thought the frog was cute at Ross and just had to have it. My favorite Aunt on my Mom's side of the family always likes frog things so it's a cute reminder of her. The other pot... Owls on this side. The big one was from my MIL, thought he needed company so got the little one, reminds me of my Aunt Bettye who collects owls...

Fall leaf wreath for the door...

This guy has been hanging out on my porch for the last ten or so autumns, need to figure out what his name is... I've had him longer than I have known my husband!

First new mum...

Have been wanting a monogram door mat for a long time but it's hard to find a good legible F. Finally saw this one at Kirklands and had to have it!

Then I saw Fall Monogram F Flag and of course had to have it too...

Still have some spring and summer zinnias that look good so stuck the pumpkin in the middle of them...

Front flower bed...

Ok Autumn temperatures, Hurry Up and Get HERE!

B & B for Chloe

Here's another Burp & Bib set I made for the new grand daughter of some dear friends in the valley. I just love this fabric, found it at a darling quilt store here in McKinney.
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This is headed to Houston in tomorrow's mail. Hope you are having a great Sunday!

B & B for Ana Victoria

Made this set for my friend Irma's "great" neice. Ana Victoria is schedule to arrive on December 23rd. You know this new Mom of soon to be 3 is planning ahead, we didn't have our baby name picked out that early much less have personalized items ready for her.I love this brown and pink dot fabric! Hope you have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by!

Aprons for Teachers

Here are three aprons I made for the new teachers at Micaela's preschool alma mater. Miss Yulanda is in the Lovely Ladybugs class and Miss Kari & Lilly are in the Playful Puppies class. Sorry about the bad pictures, I could not get my lighting right, it's been raining for several days and natural light is just about nil.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day!

I have been a stamp collector since I was a kid, I always buy commemorative stamps when I can. So happy to learn about the release of this one a couple of days ago.

The U.S. Postal Service® recognizes Mother Teresa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. The stamp features a portait of Mother Teresa painted by award–winning artist Thomas Blackshear, II of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Instead of standing in line at the post office you can order these online through the US Postal Service.

The stamp was issued on September 5, 2010, in Washington, DC, the Postal Service™. It was designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC.

Pop Monkey Again...

This is the only color scheme and theme I have ever repeated in all my sewing projects so far. I can't believe how popular this is. I added ricrac to change things up a bit. Sending this to a local friend who recently had a baby boy and this is the theme in his nursery. Welcome to the world little Will.


Thanks for stopping by!

A little girl lives here...

I went to check on Micaela last night after putting her to bed and found this on the floor next to her bed. She has cribs for her baby dolls but I guess the triplets didn't all fit together so this is what she did....That blanket was her favorite when she was a baby. Hope you have a great day!

Set for Sweet Ginger

This is a set for my California Cousin's new baby girl Ginger. Isn't that an adorable name for a Hollywood girl? I really love this rosebud design.

I've been meaning to mail this for a while and kept holding off because I needed a card. So tonight I was trying to whip up a card really quick and decided to try to embroider a monogram right on the cardstock. I think it turned out pretty cute.Thanks for stopping by! Buenas Noches!

B & B for Elin

Made this for another friends new grand-daughter Elin. This gift is in transit to Maryland, hope she likes it!
This font is called Fat Cat and I love the style of the letters, it's a fill stitch so it takes a little longer to embroder but I love how smooth and shiney the thread looks. IRL, the greens match.
The card is prefolded DCWV card stock, I die cut the flowers using the Layered Flowers Sizzix Die. The solid cardstock is SU.
Thanks for stopping by... have a great day!

Dozen Aprons

This was my project last night, one dozen aprons. These are for a friend's daughter's cooking birthday party- The boys are getting black and girls pink. It was kind of a last minute thing so we opted for just the first initial, otherwise I probably would have stayed up all night. Had to get creative to take the picture-- wished for a clothes line and a breeze (you know for the "Pottery Barn Kids" catalog look) but settled for a curtain rod on our ledge! I am off to drop them off, have a great day! Linking to Just Something I Whipped Up & Sew Much Ado.

Lady Bug B & B

Made this for a friend's new granddaughter. The theme in her nursery is ladybugs with a pink & green color scheme. I almost embroidered something totally different then I remembered I had the ladybug font.I love the name Amelia. By total coincidence, I have had two requests for items with the name Amelia within the last two weeks. I am still working on the other set and will post in the next few days. I love making these for new babies! Thanks for stopping by!

Snack Bag

Kindergarten is around the corner for us. In reading the 'handbook", parents are asked to pack a seperate daily snack for the kids. To make things easier, the teacher suggested packing five snacks at a time in a plastic bag on Mondays and refilling the bag every week. Since I try very hard NOT to use plastic bags, I made this draw string bag to pack Micaela's snacks for school.



Of course I had to make it pink & purple, her favorite colors! I did not use a pattern for this, just made it up as I went along. It's hard to tell in the picture but it's actually larger than a sheet of paper. When you pull the ribbons on both ends it cinches closed. This was a fun and easy project, hopefully given time, I will make seasonal ones for her. Thanks for stopping by. Linking to Made by You Mondays.