Happy HOWL-O-Ween

Miss Fiona is quite the howler! (note: maybe she just simply doesn't like being called dumb one - a pet name that Spen and Jordan had for each other.) Doogie, on the other hand, prefers to sit back and observe..... Note: First, just mute the music list below....and then tilt your head to the left....dunno what my son did here. :) ** Have a safe and howlin' good Howl-O-Ween!

Whole Lotta....

....love goin' on here.

My dear friend, Marsha, just called and asked if I was ok.

Marsha lives in town, but she reads the ol' bloggidy here to keep

up on me. So I reckon I better 'splain (use your best Ricky Ricardo voice)

what I have been doing.

....some of these...
...and this...
...and that...
...and another...

...and more of these.....

...and these.

I am so thankful for the interest that has been shown in my Daily Bread pillows and soft pink wool hearts. SEW....in between stitches....I just thought I'd pop my head out from under

the ol' sewing machine and say HI!

...till next time...

sending love and best stitches from my home to yours!

note: if you are interested in the Tooth Fairy Pillow, I Love Paris

Pillow or the Love Notes pillow (love notes is sold...thank you Elizabeth!) (my newest designs), these are available for 22.00

plus shipping. You can either leave me a note or email me

at sweetcottagedreams1@comcast.net. The I Love Paris pillow and the Love Notes pillow

are filled with lavender and polyfill. All three pillows can be hung from something.

The pink hearts are 12.00 for two, plus shipping.

The Daily Bread pillows are 22.00, plus shipping. These can either be filled

with lavender and polyfill or just plain polyfill.

POST NOTE: On my sidebar is a photo of Shauna Heck. She is the sister to our friend, Chasity at The Wild Raspberry blog. Prayers need to be sent to our loving father for Shauna as she is battling cancer. My heart just melts for this sweet, sweet family. If you have a moment, please stop over to read about Shauna here.

May God Bless the Heck family.....

xxoo

We'll Be Back, Thank You TINA and Meet Some New Friends

Before I start my post, do you recognize this pretty Texan? Why yes, it IS Miss Tina at the fabulous Cherry Hill Cottage Blog!!

Tina contacted me and gave me such a sweet surprise by telling me that she had chosen 10 of her favorite cottage blogs to put on Blogs.com

and I was one of them! What an honor, a joy and just a happy gift! (you cannot see me, but I am doing a little happy dance!)

Thank you so much, Tina!! This just made my day! Now if you have not treated yourself

to a dose of cottage charm lately, then I insist you visit Tina's blog. Her home is

amazing! Tina's sister, Kathy Sue (who happens to be a very good friend of mine, too) has one

of those adorable and perfectly appointed cottage style homes. It really must run deep in their Texan blood to have an eye for decorating - AND cookin.!!! I have made Tina's Chocolate Cobbler three times and it is FABULOUS!!! You must give it a try sometime.
~~~~~~ Thank you, Tina!! ~~~~~~

...now off to my lil' note:

Just doing what we love best.... (oh, and YES, that IS Fiona - all grown up)
...and that is to be out by the sea.
It is good for the mind, body...
...and soul! ...and we love all of the good smells, huh Fee?

Taking a wee bit o' a break...
but till next time, take a moment to hop on over to visit some
newer blog friends....

Lisa at Tarnished and Tattered

Donna at Sugar, Spice and Southern Life

Janelle at Sweet Bee Cottage
and
Amy at So Into Vintage. You may already know Miss Amy
from her fabulous eBay and ETSY site Vintage Home.


Lastly, we FINALLY got our computer running at "excellent" speed
again. Up till yesterday I was really relating to The Slowskies.....and that is NOT a good thing...as cute as they are.

xx

Life

Just sitting here thinking about this beautiful photo that my husband captured through the lens of his camera. This diligent spider had intricately spun his delicate web in our Japanese Maple Tree.

Amazing creatures, these little spiders that stroll around our yard.

Just click on the photos to see how each strand of the web glistens in the sunshine.

Truely breathtaking!

For something so small, they have a huge amount of perseverance.

Strength.

A little blessing for the day. Thank you, Mr. Spider.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child and the smiling faces. Smell the rain. Feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential and fight for dreams."

.....Ashley Smith

Daily Bread For Good Hearts

The sewing room has seen a little more action this week as I busied myself

making little handmade things.

I designed this little Daily Bread pillow out of leftover drop cloth fabric from my slipcovers.

A little pocket holds 30 Bible passages that I refer to as daily bread - passages that are good for our heart and soul.
After the loss of our precious Jordan, I find peace in the Word and these little pillows
are a product of finding comfort through faith.
The cards are printed on a parchment card stock.

I made more pink hearts out of vintage pink and white wool blankets, vintage buttons and super soft knitting yarn.

Soft...

Feminine.

To hang...

..or simply lay in a pretty bowl.

These will be for sale in my ETSY shop later

today.

I am just giddy!!! I was wondering why my sitemeter visits had increased all of a sudden. Well, come to find out, my slipcover tutorial is featured on TIPNUT!!!

Ohhh, I am just thrilled!! Thank you, Tipnut! Golly, I hope those

directions are good ones! ...insert nail biting here...

Blessings to you on this lovely fall day.

xx

becky

...it's off to work i go...

C'mom little fellers...

put down what y'all are doing

and lets get busy here!

Besides, a little staying busy always keeps

us from dippin' in that pumpkin ice cream that

is tempting us from behind closed doors.

If you are good, you can take a break with Miss Socks.

But, we really need to get to some of our projects that have been waiting
to be finished.

So what are YOU doing today? Anything fun

and exciting to share?

I'm sorting through fabrics to try to matchie-match things

and fire up Mr. Janome. Don't forget, stay tuned for a

giveaway.

....till then....sending joy....

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Phillipians 4:4

....oh how i love vintage.....

....but i just cannot keep everything.

So what is a girl to do?

Sell on ETSY. I closed my space at the co-op and

decided to sell online again. That way Fiona won't take

out her missing Maw frustrations on my area rugs....

It's all for sale! The prices for shipping on the listings are

primarily a quote being as ETSY doesn't have specific

quotes for specific area codes. If you have any questions, you can

drop me an email or leave a comment here.

I'll be doing a little giveaway in the not so distant future. Hint...

something plaid....so stay tuned.

Till then, have a good FALL weekend!

Stacking Up On The New Shelf

This old shelf is the newest addition to our home...

love the old worn white paint.

For now it stands against a narrow wall in our kitchen and holds some little treasures,
like the birdhouse that adorable Elyse made for me.

A place to hang my grandmother's crocheted apron...

...stack some red plaid things, like the big red thermos that sweet Sherri

gifted me in March.

And tucked on the shelf is this sweet linen heart pillow that my friends, Jenny and Andrea, make. ....i love it.....and sending a loving wish for a great day to all of you!

So Much Quilting Inspiration!!! Alden Lane's Quilt Show

Howdy Do! Care to join me in a stroll through majestic oak trees, beds of colorful flowers, pumpkins galore and quilts falling from the sky? Well...come along.....hop on the train....toooot....toooooot....chuga...chuga...chuga...

...Off you go...we have arrived at Alden Lane Nursery to partake in their annual quilt show!
Not only does the nursery look like a French Manor house....
....but today it is all dolled up with beautiful handmade quilts.
The nursery is getting in the mood for fall, however I won't even believe it is Fall as the temp is at a mere 105!

...But we can just believe....

....and be happy to just be here to take in all of the beauty that surrounds us.

My dear friend, Miss Jean, invited me to share the day with her. Being as this is only the second quilt show I have ever attended, I was eager to see what was in store for me.

Beauty in every corner......in the flowers....

...and in the trees! Remember your mother telling you that your handwork must be as good on the back as it is on the front? These are the backsides of the quilts and I think they look pretty good! Don't you think so?

There were quilts displayed from high above.....

...and just below these gnarly old oak trees.

Color everywhere....

...from the decked out old painted tubs...

...to the Japanese Maple trees beginning to turn their fire red for fall.

And the sun just shined down on us....

....just typical California weather. Above is a delightful quilt of our golden state. Such detail and made to look like a topographic map - unbelievable!

Soft and pretty palettes of desinger Joanna Figueora.

The above quilt is up for grabs! Jean and I bought a few raffle tickets for this beauty! I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed to win this one! ....sorry Jean...but I really would love this quilt...see the cottage...'nuff said....

This pretty quilt looked like old hankies ... so sweet.

Jean getting frisky with a pepper....still smiling in the heat!

No matter how hot it was outside, it was still an amazing day with amazing pops of oranges, reds, blues....

...and just a rainbow of colors.....

...that are from God's hand. HE is so talented....

...as are each of these women who created these wonderful quilts.

Shade......
Where?!!!

.....I threatened to run through the fountain.....

...delirium...

...from the heatt..t...t..ttt...ttt..ttttt.........ttttttttttt.ttttt....t

....but I didn't want to embarrass Jean....or get arrested.

This swing looked like fun!

We did get to meet some quilting celebrities...like

Alex Anderson!!!! (I used to get off of graveyard shift, come home and watch Alex's HGTV show Simply Quilts before going to bed). Above Alex and her husband, John, smile pretty for my camera. (note: the pics of Alex, Jean and I did not turn out. ** insert frown here **). They are such NICE people, too!

Above Jean and Joanna Figueroa smile pretty!
Joanna is another celebrity quilter and designer and so very sweet!

Here we are as a group. Really...it was so hot and we were mellllttttting....

...and an ice cream cone sounded really good about then...

.....Jean and I scored one at McDonald's a short time later...

ahhhhhh.....

Well...that is it for now....but isn't this tub just the cutest?

Have a sweet weekend.

Thank God fall is here!! ..finally....cooler weather...ahhh.