{ cute aprons and handmade things at Jillie Willie }

Tonight I had three delicious hours to relax in a hotel room and surf the net. Somehow I stumbled onto this website - which I most amazingly had never seen before. What a fun collection of aprons and other hand-sewn items. Turns out, the owner of this company is a woman from 'northern Utah' (which could be anywhere from Bountiful to Lewiston). The website is called Jillie Willie. Click to check out her creations. Her fabric selections are unique and interesting. Tomorrow I'll post some photos from this amazing little island we're visiting called Sanibel Island on the Gulf coast of Florida. When we arrived today it was pouring rain and getting dark, so we just took a drive to explore the area. Hopefully (fingers crossed) we'll have some sunshine tomorrow - otherwise I'll have to stay in our room and try to accomplish one of my goals for this trip which is to learn how to use a website called Scrapblog. It's a digital scrapbooking site - I'll tell you what I know about it later!

fLowers for saLe

Took the parents and went to Rudy's Greenhouse - a favorite place to buy flowers for planting in pots and flower beds. There were 18 greenhouses full of color and beauty - I could have spent the day there. My mom and dad bought flowers for pots and I bought the beginnings of my front yard flowers - the darling little petunias you see below. I love these old-fashioned-looking petunias - they remind me of a charming little cottage I once saw near the coast in Oregon.

haPpy bIrThday dear bRooKelyn

I had the best day today - it was Brookelyn's #8 birthday - and to celebrate we went on a fun little shopping trip. Just the two of us. We shopped at Justice - a new store to me, but all the 'tween' girls know all about it and love it. (Marketing genius.) We had lunch at Olive Garden, then we went to the bookstore, because I don't think it's a birthday if you don't get a new book! I forgot to take my camera, so I bought a disposable one at Target and now I remember why I love digital. In a few days I'll take that film to the store and get the photos developed - and get a photo CD. Then I'll be able to post them on my blog. Oh, what an instant world we have gotten used to. I have to tell Brookie that she is a bright light in my life and I love her to pieces.

Now I want to finish up my obsession with my favorite color and show you some fabric samples that make my heart beat a little faster.




Above is a handmade journal made by nicole annette. Check out her etsy shop journal junky.

+ my favorite color - really +

My favorite color is the color of baby leaves - the color of trees in the spring when the leaves first begin to grow. I love that I'm surrounded by this 'new green' right now. If I look out any window, I see that color, and it makes my heart light.
This color is popular in the home decor and fashion worlds too. The next four photos are from a variety of Etsy shops. I realize that I should give credit to where the photos came from, but I forgot that little detail as I was searching etsy and copying images. Next time I do a post like this I will be sure to add names. I was just in a green zone with no thought to attribution and such.




This color is really more yellow than green. What's the name of this color? Some might say chartreuse - but I really don't like the sound of that name! Here's what wikipedia says about chartreuse. Is there a crayon called chartreuse?

Chartreuse (pronounced /ʃɑrˈtruːz/, is a color halfway between yellow and green that was named because of its resemblance to the green color of one of the French liqueurs called green chartreuse, introduced in 1764; whereas chartreuse (the traditional color) is a yellow color mixed with a small amount of green that was named because of its resemblance to the yellow color of one of the French liqueurs called yellow chartreuse, introduced in 1838.^[2]

That is one of the worst definitions I've ever read. I might have to give up and go to bed. Can you tell it's after midnight and I keep falling asleep at the keyboard. Have I ever told you about the time I fell asleep at the wheel going 80 mph? I'll save that for another post.

* It was a happy Mother's Day *

Of course, yesterday, Mother's Day, was good - I was surrounded by some of my favorite people. We were lucky to go to dinner at my brother Doug & Kimberly's house, and it's a fact that whenever you get to have Kimberly's cooking, you know it'll be yummy. In an funny, coincidental way, we had an orange meal yesterday. Kimberly fixed chicken with an orange sauce over rice, I brought a carrot casserole, mom made orange jello and we had orange punch. Even the rolls looked kind of orange to our amused eyes.

I was happy yesterday that I still have my son Mike around. He fills our house with music, pleasantness, lots of friends, and and his very cute laugh. My other kids sent cards and gifts including the beautiful corsage from Aaron and Aimee - their Mother's Day tradition that I love and appreciate. Suzie and Winston called and sang a bit of a song to me, and Becky and Pitt emailed (they're on a trip).

I have a really wonderful mother - she's an example of steadiness, dedication, righteousness, and compassion. And mom is one of the most cheerful people you'll ever meet. She laughs through phone conversations like no one else I know. She also keeps going in spite of not ever feeling well. Mom loves to talk and catch us up on events with the rest of the family. Because of mom we all know what everyone else is up to. She is the glue that holds our family together, and she loves each of her four children and our spouses and her 20 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren equally.

{ possibilities.... }

Friday afternoon - I love it when it's Friday afternoon and the weekend is full of possibilities. That doesn't happen that often because many weekends are filled with obligations, journeys, meetings, etc. (Good things in their own right, but they fill up the days.) This weekend is just a nice stay-at-home time with an abundance of choices. Tonight could be a movie night, but after ten hours at the office, Scott is usually just ready to chill on Friday nights. It seems that lots of patients have urgent eye problems starting at around 4:00 p.m. on Friday. So he's DONE at the end of the day. I don't mind, I have so many at-home projects sometimes I wish I didn't have to go to bed.
So what to do tomorrow....I could work in the yard - there's a truckload of dead leaves amongst the cotoneaster bushes - not to mention the spring dandelions popping up everywhere. Too bad dandelions aren't considered GOOD perennials.
I could wash windows. Oooh, they are so dirty. At the very least, I AM going to wash the inside windows above my kitchen sink and maybe I can get Scott to help me put up the ladder to wash the outside too.

What I'd really like to do is sit in my favorite reading chair and read the book I bought - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. It is supposed to be really good AND the cover is so beautiful.
I'd also like to get started on this stack - just look at those fabrics. They are YUMMY. Many of them are from Moda fabrics, the Aviary Collection by 3 Sisters. I have a project in mind, but I'm nervous to start...to cut into those gorgeous fabrics. I just need to plunge in!

Well, what will probably happen tonight and tomorrow, in typical Debbie style, will be that I will start in the yard and bounce to the sewing room, then decide to make cookies in the middle of it all and burn a batch, because I'll suddenly notice the window over the sink and remember that I meant to wash it. Can't wait.

"you've got to be kidding"

So I got a new sewing machine because my old one is too dang heavy for me to haul anywhere. Recently I had to miss a quilt class I wanted to take because I didn't have a portable sewing machine. My old Bernina (circa 1958) still runs great and I do and have always l-o-v-e-d it, but it weighs a ton and it was time to replace it. I bought a new Bernina, the Patchwork Edition, (because if I'm going to a quilt class I might as well look like a quilter).


Tonight I went to the instructional class for my new sewing machine. I can tell I'm going to love this new machine. The teacher is a dressmaker; she has made over 500 bridal gowns - which totally boggles my mind. She told us that her daughter makes aprons and sells them online. I asked what is the name of her daughter's etsy shop or internet shop and she said, "Well, she just sells them on her blog." "OK, what's the name of her blog?" "It's called Olive Juice and Co." "You HAVE GOT to be kidding me," I said, "That's your daughter? It's one of my favorite blogs ever!" (If you go there click on Past Designs to see the apron collection.)

The teacher's daughter sews THE CUTEST aprons ever. Georgana introduced me to her blog a couple of years ago and I anxiously await each new apron. Total eye candy. You can see by the photos I borrowed from her blog how creative they are. And in addition to the aprons, she uses digital magic to decorate the apron photos. Notice how appealing it makes the pictures. Her mother said that she is always surprised by the fabrics that her daughter puts together, but they're always a hit with her followers and she always sells out of each apron (200 each). So that was my fun little coincidence for today.

thanks Michelle : )

The barn above is in Clackamas County, Oregon.

This one located in Lewis County, Washington.

And here's the famous Cache Valley version.

This is my darling niece Michelle and her husband Matt. They recently moved to "the farm with THE BARN." Yes, they live next to the most famous and most photographed barn in Cache Valley and maybe all of Utah - the barn with the preserved logo of Dr. Pierce's Womans Tonic. Matt takes care of the property - something he's well suited to because he LOVES to be outside and he loves to work. I grabbed the photos from Michelle's blog (Michelle's a good photographer - she has a great camera and has learned how to use it.) Here's a quote from her blog: "You would think my husband had died and gone to heaven. He LOVES it here. He spends so much time outside sometimes I begin to wonder if he's gotten lost."

Following is some historical information about the barn which is located in College Ward, Utah:

This Intermountain style barn was built in 1904 by Lovenus and Mary Olsen, Swiss Mormon farmers. Work horses were sheltered in the west lean-to. The east leanto was added in the 1940s when Ike Olsen began dairying. There is no loft—hay was stacked on the ground in the center part of the barn.

The “Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription” sign was painted sometime during the Great Depression. The landowner was paid $25 at the time of the first painting and $10 per year thereafter for use of the side of the barn as a billboard. Now, because it has become a beloved landmark, the sign has been periodically repainted.

In 1998, a group of neighbors in the area, with the owners and several local
businesses who donated materials, straightened the barn and reinforced it. The farmers of College Ward feel that this barn belongs to the community, and they did not want to see it fall down. Further stabilization work was done in 2002 by the Utah Conservation Corps and the Bear River Association of Governments with extra improvements added by the owners.

Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription was a patent medicine of the time. According to labeling on old packages, the concoction contained no alcohol or opium, but did contain “Lady’s Slipper root (cimicifuga Racemosa), Unicorn root (Helonias Dioica), Blue Cohosh root (Caulophylloum Thalictroides), Oregon Grape root (Berberis Aquifolium), Viburnum.”

ADDED NOTE: My sister Merilee told me about a website that shows barns from all over the USA called OhioBarns.com. Sure enough our Dr. Pierce's barn is registered, as are about eight other Dr. Pierce advertisement barns. (See photos above.) They're mostly in California, Oregon and Washington.

= satisfying sunday =

I spent a good part of today either in church meetings or fixing and cleaning up Sunday dinner for guests. Michael had three friends from his mission staying with us for a couple of days, two of them young men from Japan. We had fun getting acquainted and being impressed with their amazing English language skills. I made a classic American meal - ham, scalloped potatoes (real ones, not the hash brown version), peas and carrots, rolls and homemade strawberry jam, fruit salad, and my mom brought red jello with whipped topping. Our visitors ate enthusiastically - and when I invited them to have seconds they all piled their plates higher than the first time. I don't love cooking, but I do love the time spent sitting around the dining room table talking and enjoying company. It was time well spent. I have to say that Scott was a huge help - from peeling potatoes to cleaning up the last pan. So appreciated. I took a couple of photos but the camera is downstairs and I'm up and I seriously can't go up and down the steps one more time. Come back tomorrow.

ring the doorbell and run - today!

Today is May Day! Here is the article I wrote for the Adornit blog with instructions for making May Day baskets:

A favorite May tradition is to make May Day baskets and hang them on the doorknobs of special friends and neighbors. May Day baskets are part of an old English festival called May Morning or May Day, which is celebrated at dawn every year on the first day of May. Originally a Celtic fest, it celebrated the coming of spring by gathering flowers and branches – “bringing in the May.” Other May Day festivities include dancing around the Maypole and crowning a May Day queen.

The tradition of May Day Baskets is fun for young and old – especially the door ditching part! Using designer patterned paper from Adornit makes them extra easy – and pretty. I made baskets in three sizes; the tiny one is filled with flowers. The middle-sized cone has Hershey’s kisses and the large basket holds three or four cookies. I used my favorite color combination: pink and green.

How to make May Day Baskets:

These little cones are easy to make – kids love seeing the transformation from flat paper to dimensional cone. (You can practice with cheap flat paper plates.) In this project, your stapler will be your best friend – so much easier and studier than gluing. Have fun!

Instructions for May Day Baskets:

1. Cut 12x12 patterned papers into 4” x 12” strips (for small baskets), 5” x 12” (for medium) or 6” x 12” (for large baskets). Using a bowl or plate as a pattern trace a half circle with pencil and cut out. If you want your basket to have a scalloped top edge re-cut the curved edge with scalloped scissors.
2. Grasping the corner tips, bring them together and overlap to make a cone shape. Pull the seam tight – especially at the bottom.
3. Staple with 3 or 4 staples to secure.
4. Decorate as desired – it’s easiest to attach embellishments with staples. I used flowers from Daisy Sweet Pink Cardstock Stickers.
5. Attach a 16” piece of ribbon to each side of cone, using staples. You can knot the ribbon or add bows.
6. Fill cone with flowers or goodies. For extra appeal make a coordinated TAG.
7. Lay on the doorstep or hang on front door handle of someone special. Ring the doorbell and run to announce that spring has come!