i made this!

moda bake shop had this great tutorial for these little gadget bags, perfect for an ipod or in my case, a digital camera. i made a simple one yesterday. then today, as i sat looking at my scraps, this one started forming in my mind:

a few hours of sewing later (with only a few minor explitives), i have an adorable stripey, quilted, fully lined, hand-made-by-me, camera bag.

sometimes i amaze myself!

grizzers

this little bundle of fur makes me smile every day.

thought i'd share some with you.

finished in the nick of time

here is the final shot of anabelle's new crib, graciously built by ken. it is a masterpiece. and she's pretty cute too. :)

happy baby, elizabeth & mike.

how does your garden grow

the garden gate ken built

corn!

lettuce!

beans!

we grow food. what's your super power?

text blogging

pincushion gifted by thimbleanna (.com) awaiting our next project. i'm working on an apron by either anna marie horner or heather bailey (hellomynameisheather.com). pictures soon. it is darling! check back soon for an update. garden update too! there are little sproutlings coming up all over.

eta: this message was sent from my CELL PHONE! i love technology. :)

mothers day card from boy-child

'they're called big mamas because they're filled with big love'

it's a hallmark card, from their mahogany line. i laughed so hard when i opened this girl-child thought i was crying out in pain. that boy of mine has some sense of humor. it may have been selected as a joke, but the message was intended with love in his heart i'm sure.

big mama. indeed.

this message was sent as a text from my cell phone. i think blogging just got a whole lot easier and more interesting.

blooms and bubby

i had a great mother's day.

boy-child called me first thing and promised goodies from the mail man maybe tomorrow. girl-child wished me a happy day with sweet kisses and ken took me out to brunch where girl-child works (it's the only way i can get her to wait on me!) then we hit the big-box garden center to finish up some work in the yard. i'm pooped. ken is still out there, going strong.

i planted the rest of the flowers in my shade garden along with this beautiful columbine ken bought today. see all the squirrell gizmos in the trees? have i mentioned my husband has a rather strange affinity for furry tailed rodents? it's perfectly adorable.

and today we finished ruger's resting spot. ken chiseled his name in stone. it's perfect.

and we planted a garden around him.

i know this is just shovel marks in the grass but i see a heart, marking the spot right where the best. dog. ever. rests in the yard:

i'm fine 'till i think about him, which is ALL THE TIME.
that dog was LOVED.

staying busy

playing outside with ginger:

sewing a little on a new shop sample for cami:

knitting a bit on the wrap i've come to call the bliss wrap (after creator, debbie bliss). it's also known as the wrap that will never end:

and taking pictures of the progress on the crib ken is building for friends.

it is stunning. he's amazing.

rest easy, old man

The Best. Dog. Ever. was laid to rest yesterday in the spot where he loved to lay in our back yard.

We'd been Rottweiler owners for more than twenty years. Ruger was our third and we saved the best for last, evidently. He really was the best dog - gentle with children, easy with other dogs and never met a stranger.

When we knew we wanted another rottie, I spent hours researching local breeders, talking on the phone, looking on the internet. I wanted to find the best breeder, to find the best dog. In the meantime, Ken took a trip up to Michigan and found an ad in the local paper - a 'backyard breeder' had rottie pups for sale. He came home that Halloween with a furry little blue-eyed football. The Best. Dog. Ever.

We were lucky enough to have this amazing creature in our lives for ten years. Two years ago we found a melanoma in his mouth and last year he got a staph infection he just couldn't seem to beat. We made the hard choice to let him go before his suffering was too much for him to bear.

There aren't even words for how much we loved him. Rest easy, Bubby. You are missed.

Ruger
1999-2009

spring is in the air

feels more like summer. i swear! it must be close to 80° out there today!

took the camera out to the garden today. it's really coming along. all the construction is done. ken got the fence up and as soon as he's done working on baby mac's crib he'll build a gate and an arbor. it's going to be great.

i was supposed to take it easy today, my back has been misbehaving badly but the day was calling me. the sunshine, the birdsong. how was i supposed to stay indoors? i walked around the yard for a bit, scoping things out. looking at everything coming up all over. it's always fun to see what makes it from one season to the next. we have hostas galore! lilies, tulips, the astilbe that i thought died last year is up, better than ever. and we even have one tiny little fern. ken's going to be happy about that.

i sat in the garden for a bit and plotted things out in my mind - the best place for all the sunflowers, how we have room for a table and a couple of chairs out there. i couldn't resist getting my hands dirty so i took the zinnia sproutlings we started a few weeks ago and got them settled in their new bed. and i planted a few rows of seeds too, just to have some rotation in my cut flower bed. have i mentioned yet how i have no idea what i'm doing?

i also transplanted some poppies. we'll see. i've heard they don't move well. i watered them and now i wait. hopefully ken won't dig them up mistaking them for a weed in my garden. i think perhaps we need a new garden rule - anything inside the fence he doesn't mess with. oh, and grizz has discovered he can fit through certain slats in the fence. we may need to do something about that before we have a little grizzly bear nibbling on our goodies.

for now that's it. the major veggies should go in the ground in the next few weeks. i'm really excited. i love my garden. i think it's going to be a great place to relax and enjoy the summer.