An accidental dress for Elora

I am working on a dress for my cousin's daughter who is due to be born in July. I haven't been able to find the exact pattern I wanted so I thought I'd play around with some scrap fabric until I figured it out. I found this tutorial at Prudent Baby for a peasant blouse and thought it could work for the dress. I used shirring around the neck instead of the one piece of elastic because of the look I'm going for. But I measured totally wrong and ended up with this little dress for Elora. Not quite newborn size. I'm off to try again. I've really got to get the pattern figured out! But I love Elora's accidental dress :)

Freshly Washed Fabric

Call me crazy, but I get such a thrill out of washing new fabric. I love the anticipation of pulling it out of the dryer, ironing it, folding it, and knowing that I can now use it for anything I want. I get so excited when it's washing and I get so many ideas as I pull it out of the dryer and prepare it to be cut and sewn into something wonderful.
I just pulled 4 new cuts of fabric out of the dryer and wish I had all day to sew! One piece is for my nieces' birthday dresses. Two are for a case for my colored pencils for Bible study, something like this crayon roll. And I don't know what the other one will be but I loved it so I had to have it...and of course, it was on sale!
But for now I will fold it and let it wait in my big stack of pre-washed fabrics that are just wishing for purpose. Today is a busy day, off to lunch with a friend. Home for Elora's nap, finish the laundry, finish my Bible study, go to Bible study, then home for bed! Tomorrow will be my sewing day...that is, if I get these dishes done!

Cherries

We live in a little guest house on some friends' property. They are travelling a lot this summer so we're holding down the fort. Along with feeding the dogs and getting the mail, we have the heavy burden of picking and eating all the cherries on the tree in the front yard. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. And since the landlords are gone, we have to get all those ripe, delicious cherries off the tree :)
Fortunately for us, we all love cherries. And it is hardly a task at all when every one of them is plump and ripe and ready to be picked. I needed some to take to a party and within a minute of just grabbing every cherry in site I got a couple of pounds ready to go. I'm loving this tree! And so are Elora and Daddy.

Father's Day

Elora has been up for almost 2 hours, Corey usually gets up with her in the morning but today I am letting him sleep. Happy Father's Day, Babe!
I know Father's Day is tomorrow, but Corey's day at church starts around 7:30am so he really has no hope of physical rest tomorrow. So I'll let him sleep in today, then bring him some breakfast in bed...I'm thinking Dutch Babies with fresh strawberries from the garden! And hopefully I can finish sewing his gift today. That will round out my Father's Day blessings for him, next year, this is Elora's responsibility! :)

So in celebration of Father's Day,
I thought I'd think about the fathers in my life. There is of course, my amazing Corey. He became a dad just under 8 months ago (really it was more like 17 months ago, but we'll just count the months that the baby was breathing air). And he has been a wonderful dad. He was always nervous with newborn babies but when he held his own, he was like a pro. He is still an amazing daddy. He doesn't try to balance being a dad and a husband, he is fully both, he loves his girls and takes care of us so well.

My dad has been a good dad too. Of course when I was 16 I wasn't so sure. But now I'm positive. I am so thankful for his protection of me. I wish I would have seen the value of a caring dad when I was younger and I wish there was some way to convey to teenage girls how important respect and submission to their dad is. My word of advice to all teenagers, just listen to your parents, they really do know better than you. My dad also loves music, he loves to sing, and loves to hear his girls sing, all 6 of us, preferably together. He has taught me a love for old hymns and praising the Lord with a loud voice. Thanks, Dad, for doing what you thought was right to keep my heart safe. And thank you for sharing your love of singing with me. Love you, Dad, even though you feed Elora everything she shouldn't be eating, that's what grandpas are for I guess!

Another grandpa who was always giving kids treats they shouldn't have, was Grandpa Fry. Sadly, he won't be celebrating Father's Day with us this year. He passed away last 4th of July and we all miss him so much. He was such an amazing grandpa. As kids we loved hanging out with him, and not just because he gave us an extra scoop of ice cream when Grandma wasn't looking. He loved us so well and he loved the Lord even more. He loved to sing and I loved when he sang the bass line to the old hymns. I miss his hugs and his humor. I can hardly wait to see him again.

So, thank you to all the wonderful fathers in my life. I love you all!

Allow me to introduce myself...

I can't imagine anyone will read this, but just in case, I suppose I'll introduce myself!
My name is Bonnie, I'm 24 years old (I think...yeah, 24). In my family I was known as "the crafty one". As a kid I was always creating something, whether art on the bathroom wall, something made of mud, or sewing together scraps of fabric gathered from my mom's "cutting room" floor. I have grown up a little since then and have grown in my skills...somewhat. My formal sewing lessons were from my mom trying to get me to follow the rules and pattern directions but I always just wanted to do it my way and figure it out. But now that I have a machine (and Ginghers) of my own, I get to sew by my rules! And along with sewing I still do a little bit of everything.
My latest love has been re-purposing. Like most everyone these days, there's not a lot of extra money laying around, so I like to take something and make it into something else. I also love to see something amazing and figure out how to make it. I have about 30 projects on my list, so I should probably get going now and get to sewing!
Oh, a little about my personal life: I've been married to my wonderful husband, Corey, for a little over 3 1/2 years. Just about 8 months ago I gave birth at home to our beautiful baby girl, Elora Grace. These two bring me such joy and I am so thankful for them! The Lord has been so good to us and I want to live my life to bring Him glory.