Just a heads up, I have added more Ruffled Cottage Flag pillows to the shop.  I'm working on the pattern and I plan on having it finished and in my etsy by Friday:>) 



 I think these are timeless. Not just for the 4th of July. I love our flag so much, I think it is the most beautiful flag in the world!

So these are my tribute, and I think they would look good in a cottage, a farmhouse, or anywhere else.

If you're interested you need to get them fast, I'm moving on to the next thing that is begging to get out of my head and onto my sewing machine!

I'm off to finish that pattern now, and then....well, there's always something new to do isn't there?

There is at my house. What's new at yours?

This 'N That

Good Morning! One more week of July. I'm dragging my heels trying to slow down the calendar. If anyone has found a way to make that happen please share now. I avert my eyes from the Back to School sales. I literally look away. Because if I can't see it it's not there right? Don't even get me started on the HALLOWEEN merchandise that I almost let myself catch a glimpse of. Not ready.

Instead, let us meditate on the latest farmers market  bouquet that dear Husband picked up for me this Saturday, along with the first fresh ears of sweet corn.

 I came home and plunked each kind of flower in one of my old blue jars for the dining room.

 I like how it looks like a mini farmers market flower stand:>) And I never get tired of that shade of aqua blue glass. The smaller zinnias came from the vegetable garden. They may be my favorite vegetable to grow.

This week, I'm working on finishing up a pattern for the ruffled flag pillow for my etsy shop. I hope to have it in the shop by the end of the week, along with a few more ready made pillows for anyone who doesn't sew. I struggle with time management, (bet you didn't notice), priorities, goals.  Working from home for the summer I'm a worse task master than anyone else I've ever worked for. So many projects, so little time. I have to force myself to take time off to have fun, to spend face to face time with the people I love. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. At the same time there is a restlessness that I just can't get rid of. Flitting from one project to the next. Unable to sit still.  Waiting for change, feeling it perched on the edge of the horizon and wondering why it doesn't. just. get. here.

Ever feel that way yourself?

What are you doing with the last week of July? 

Living in the Moment

I like to think ahead. While I'm busy in the now, I plan for the future. It's a delicate balance, this planning ahead. Sometimes you find your head so full of what's to come, that you can miss the beauty of now.

Like these lemony lilies.



 Or these fiery, orangey ones, (which, I'm not usually all about fiery orange, but these were on the $1 rack at the farmers market a couple years ago, and I am ALL about $1 perennial surprises in the garden!)

 Penny, this is as far as our tomatoes have gotten. I'm looking forward to the piles of red riches you are harvesting right now? See I do look ahead!

 I'm loving the bee filled squash blossoms

 And the hollyhocks in every shade of pink and red!

So what is all this talk of Christmas? BHG is sending my email Christmas gift ideas to make now.

I see Christmas fabrics in the stores and Tip Junkie is having a Christmas in July giveaway week, which, yes, I did enter to win a cute camera bag, but I won't think of it as a Christmas gift.

I dream of Spring and Summer all through the dark, cold days of winter.

So even though it is supposed to hit 100 degrees today, I may be hiding in my air conditioned house, but I'll be looking out the window as I sew at the garden. Watching the flowers bloom and the hummingbirds feast, and living in the warm sunshine of the moment.

How about you? When do you start planning for Christmas?

Hollyhocks

I've always loved hollyhocks, their tall spires of cupped blooms that reach to the sky add so much to any cottage garden. A while ago, sweet husband and I were perusing an estate sale when I spotted these dishes on one of the tables. I fell in love with these immediately but the price was too high to justify buying them.  I walked away wishing ...

Sweet husband went back and bought them for me:>)

 Aren't these just the cutest, cottagey dishes ever?

Royal Staffordshire "Hollyhocks".  Four cups and saucers, four dessert plates and a pretty little 10" cake tray.

I adore sweet husband:>)

Ruffles and Dots

 You can tell I'm on a bit of a "ruffle roll" with my sewing.
I think it's such a pretty trend and, so far, I haven't seen anyone who can't look cute wearing them.
So I went through my fabric stash, gritted my teeth and pulled out some of the fabrics that I love so much that I wouldn't cut into them before.  If you sew you know what I mean.  You're waiting for something really special to make with those fabrics and they make you happy every time you look at them.  You might be surprised that neither of these beauties are predominantly red. I'm a little surprised myself. I do love lots of colors you know, I just love red more.
So I grabbed the daughters, tied one on each of them and the photo session began.

One of them is a little more of a ham in front of the camera:>) Love them both to the moon and back.

So which is your favorite? (The aprons, not the daughters, we don't play favorites around here!)

You can find them now in the shop.

Donna, over at Funky Junk Interiors, has started a series on losing the "junk" we don't want. No, it isn't about cleaning the basement out. She's talking about the junk we carry with us everywhere we go.  It's a battle that I have fought, sometimes half heartedly, for years.  There comes a time when you have to admit it's time to get serious, and that time has come. Hours in front of the computer and sitting in class, have given me more than increased knowledge, if you know what I mean:>(

So it's time to get real, get off my hiney more, eat healthier and get some results.

I've been trying to get on the bike more this summer, early morning is cool and quiet and I am blessed to have miles of beautiful bike path to wander.  I'm not pushing myself yet and I'm thinking of getting a softer seat because, darn, those bike seats are not for the faint hearted, or the fitness challenged.

It occurred to me last week as I was riding, when I was a teen I rode my bike for fun. I didn't go as fast as I could to raise my heart rate, or go as far as my legs would go before they started protesting.  I took my time, I looked around, I felt the wind in my hair and I quit when I was good and ready.

When riding my bike became a means to burn calories, the joy went out of it. It became a chore, one more hurdle to jump and something to "get done".  No wonder I quit!

 So I'm putting the fun back in.  If there is one thing I've learned, it's that when I make something that used to be fun just one more thing to check off my list, I lose all interest in doing it.

In other news, I just had to show off my really high tech photography skills with these photos I took last time I was visiting my mom in the country.  For those of you who live where there are no lightning bugs, I send my deepest sympathy. They are one of the most magical and beautiful things on summer nights, and they gather in greater numbers where the grass grows tallest and there are lots of fields to hide in and feast on pollen.  This night, as I looked out my mothers back door I saw hundreds of these little guys lighting up the yard and field.  Do you see them? Those little squiggles of light?

 Do you have any idea how hard these little stinkers are to photograph? In the dark no less. I'm a little amazed I got any image at all, but I'm thinking these squiggles of light they made as I took the picture are pretty cool.

I really wish I could capture the fields blinking with the light of these little bugs.

So beautiful:>)

Summer is slipping past, take time to stop and look for it's little wonders.

Happy July!

I'm sorry to see June go, with the cool spring days and first of the flowers blooming, but July does have its sweetness.  Hot and sunny, days at the beach, the lavender and roses are blooming, and fireflies and dragonflies have come out to play.

And of course, July begins with a bang! Red, white and blue celebrations, and cookouts and fireworks.

Who couldn't love that?

I spent a little time making over our tiny back porch this week. Sorry no before photos. Sometimes I get a bee in my bonnet and the next thing you know I'm checking the spray paint stash in the basement and dragging my latest victim to the yard for a fresh coat of color:>)

 This is the view from the kitchen door way, down the stairs and through our little back entry. We have a humble little cottage, built in the 40's, with a humble little back porch.  Earl built a pergola for me for our 25th anniversary. I love it so much! It defines the area and shelters this little wicker settee I picked up a couple years ago at a garage sale for $6.

I think I have spent more on spray painting it than it cost to begin with!
A faded but still beautiful yard sale oriental rug catches dirt and provides a little softness for my bare feet. At $5, it's disposable if it doesn't survive the summer.

 This week, I decided the chipped and faded white settee needed to be black, and the faded cushion that came with it needed a fresh cover of red and white ticking.  I found the ticking at JoAnne Fabrics in the sale aisle.  Marked down from $25 a yard to $9 a yard, it was 50% off the sale price for a grand total of $4.50.  I love a good sale.

 Love it. And it's comfy to boot. A beautiful place for morning coffee.

I foofed the whole area up for the 4th of July weekend with one of my ruffled flag pillows and a couple quick bunting projects.  The flag bunting was made from a single package of dollar store flags and some leftover skinny bias tape.  We're having some cookouts and parties this month so I plan to leave them up all month.

Plans for projects this weekend and going to a friends house for a cookout on the 4th.

I hope you all have a spectacular weekend.

Happy 4th of July!
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