November gray to light

November grays, give way to Christmas sparkle, at least that is how I am envisioning my decor this year.  Priority is on more lights, even though the light bill will reflect my choice.  Cleveland can be a very gloomy place, though a rare day is pictured here with sun shine pouring into my windows giving my herb garden a dose...what with all the rain and clouds,  I like to brighten my space.  God knows we need it, news on the economy and how it impacts hubby's and my employment and income just doesn't get any rosier.  I can't detail right now, just know that it hasn't been a Rockwell life lately.  I know I am not alone, and many of you bloggers probably post and are positive about things, it is how we get through.... right ladies (and gents). 

Lavender Rice Sachets Tutorial

One of the sewing projects involved hand sewing my lavender sachets closed.  I brought a bag full of sachets that needed finishing. It wasn't the lightest project I could drag in.  I grew quite a few lavender plants this summer, some I harvested, and some of the plants are wintering inside.  I dried some of the branches, and sprinkled some into rice filled sachets covered with vintage linen bags.  The nice thing about these sachets is that they can be pressed into warming bags, for aching necks, cold hands and feet.  Using essences help push the frangrance up a notch.  Simple, and inexpensive, I hope to sell these next weekend at the highschool's craft show.

Above is a pic of a lovely cross stitched table cloth, with plenty of grease stains that languished in my stash.  I cut out the usuable panels, the largest one was made into a pillow.  The smaller pieces are now part of my sachet collection, as described next.

1. First I sewed around 3 sides of small squares using vintage linens, ( My squares are around 3 x 4 inches, I kept the size consistent, since I made an assembly line of white muslin squares to insert inside with the rice.

2.  Then using a funnel I poured some long grain rice into each muslin bag, about 1/2 full, poured in some essence, and added a few sprigs of the lavender.  I then stitched the opening closed.

3.  What remains is the last side, and I hand whip stitched it closed.

These make lovely teacher/hostess/family gifts, that use up those lovely bits of yesterday, Vintage!  The 4RS way!   

And here is the pillow, a nice size for a sofa or bed! Try one!  Feel free to pin it to you Pinterest board, button is now on my site!

All of these items will make their debut this Saturday, at the Rockets Boutique, Bay Village High School.  Come and see me, bring some friends.  The admission fee goes to support our sports programs, and most of us selling wares, support our families.  Saturday, Dec. 3rd from 9:30 to 4 pm.  Till then....

Posting Hiatus Explained

My computer is now living in my sewing/craft room, which explains why it hasn't been cranking out updates for a while.  I have been wanting to update my blog, but feel intimidated by the layout...seems I made too many changes over the past few weeks, and now it is messed up.  Anyone out there know how to get my side bar back on the right, instead of below my posts?  And somehow my linky parties disintegrated, and I didn't renew the membership, so now they mock me with broken links!  ugh...my subbing and retail jobs have taken a toll, and I just don't have the energy at the end of the day.  I hope to get back on track soon. 

Meanwhile, here is what I have been filling my time with between shifts.

I had a cotton camp shirt that sported a number of stains.  I decided to cover up with pieces of vintage linen.  I simply cut out some medallions and flowers, and positioned them on the shirt, stitching them on by hand.  I haven't worn it since, but it waits for the next warm day when a tank is too skimpy...

 Then I finally tackled my daughter's bedroom, she didn't like the baby blue, that was my sewing room, before we switched rooms.  So she picked the color, a deep middle gray, and in a few hours, we transformed the baby into the sophisticated and mysterious...we also bought some metallic finish to glaze over top, to create a pearlized finish.  We are still hoping to do this, by Sunday?  Stay tuned.

I was impressed that she was so careful, even though you don't see alot of drop cloths here.  Who knew?

 And I finally made my kitchen a hanging towel, some thrift store jewels got some added pearls and crystals, and a few tweaks yielded a pair of earrings too. 

My new favorite thrifting forrays have me picking up chains and pearls, to refashion into baubles I can wear with all my work costumes changes.

 And of course, food is never forgotten, I experimented with my favorite salmon and couscous dish, just had a camera handy, to show the pretty colors.  And the breadmaker made it's fall debut, with a fresh pot of chicken soup, as a side.  We always devour bread when it is hot out of the baker.

And we are happy to welcome Mary Maeve, to our family

 She was telling us, it was time for a snack, so pardon the goofy pic I snapped below.  My nephew Scott and his lovely wife Katy are the proud parents.  We have another baby making an appearance soon, we will post Elizabeth and Pat's third, real soon.

So I haven't been loafing, life goes on, and is renewed again and again.  Hope to resolve my blog's issues before next post.  Thanks for being a loyal follower/visitor.  Please post your thoughts and comments!