I wish I knew what type of flowers these were...amazing!
Making friends.
Here is the hill we hiked. The kids hiked the whole way up all by themselves. I was impressed. I carried Julian about half way down. When we started out I didn't think we would make it to the top, so I'm really excited about future hikes.
Grandma and Ella leading the way.
A nice shady spot for a nap.
Happy Memorial Day!
***my favorite boys***
***my favorite sandwich - tomato, basil, and mozzarella cheese panini***
***one of my favorite things to watch-my kids and my grandparents hanging out, grandma was hiding out***
***my favorite girl...can you guess who this is?***
and of course
I'm talking about our pup, Yoshi. 
She had been doing so well with her recovery from her first surgery although she still at times has the slightest of limp.
Those of you who are not pit bull lovers this picture might freak you out.
So today is her surgery and I'm sure I will again have a difficult time dropping her off.
I'm worried about her recovery and I'm just praying her leg that had the first surgery won't be injured now that it is supporting all of her rear weight.
Love you Yoshi!!!
This was actually so much fun for me. I try to clean my friend often and at times I do forget. I use the tiny little cleaning brush that came with my machine and remove as many fuzz balls as my little brush can reach. I remove the bobbin, the little plate on top that keeps everything in, the little bobbin holder and I feel so much satisfaction when I get great balls of fuzz out.
Well, as mentioned in my last post, my machine and I were at odds. She is sick and I should just have her get a little tune-up, but I'm kind of a do-it-yourself type of person. So after the frustrations of trying to sew the little miss her dress, I decided I needed to repair my machine. I had never removed this bottom section before and WOW, no wonder my poor friend was performing so badly. Huge clumps of fuzz and gunk came tumbling out. As I turned the wheel, the river of fuzz balls continued to flow. I began to feel really bad about all of the horrible names I had called my faithful friend.
This was after the down and dirty cleaning.
I'm not sure she is cured, but she has to be feeling a lot better. I will give her a little test run tomorrow. Oh, I do need to figure out what kind of lube to use. I removed a whole lotta grease with all my cleaning.
Wow, never mind that hair...
An easy summer dress is my new solution to problems of this sort. 
I picked out this lightweight grey blend and my little helper really wanted 'the shiny fabric' so we threw in a little of both. I used a yard lengthwise because that was what I had and it seemed about right. Next, I doubled up the grey by folding the fabric in half to the length I wanted the dress to be. I only doubled it because it was so sheer and initially I was only going to use the grey, but any fabric can be cut to length and just hemmed. I do like the look of the folded skirt, though. 
Unfolded, and sewed the width ends together making a big tube that can now be refolded and attached to the shirt. Don't mind the crazy ruffling of the seam. Something is definitely wrong with my poor machine friend.
Baste stitched around the top and gathered to about the circumference of the bottom of the shirt. Gathering can be done by pulling one of the threads from the baste stitch. Basic, I know, but it was foreign to me at one time.
Next I attached the skirt and top stitched to help eliminate the bulky look of the gathered raw edges inside the dress. 
Next I cut the arm holes a little bigger all the way around. I just left the edge raw because it's easy and it looks cute. I ruffled a 2 inch strip of my grey material and attached it to the top part of the arm hole as a little cap sleeve.
Since my machine really wanted to ruffle this lightweight material, I decided to stop fighting it and just go with the flow - lots of ruffles. Cut 2 inch strips. Sewed a narrow zigzag stitch along the sides to keep the fraying down. Sewed a basting stitch and let my machine do her thing with the ruffling. If your machine is tuned up and in fine working order, you will probably have to create your own ruffles by, again, pulling one of the threads from your baste stitch. I rarely use pins, but I did pin the ruffles in place and then sewed them on. I only pinned because my first attempt to skip the step of pinning was unsuccessful and my ruffles were all over the place. I recommend pinning. 
Have fun extending the life of some of your clothes. 
Love these really beautiful lace necklaces and earrings by White Owl.
So beautiful!
And here are some pretty crocheted pillow covers by Dottie Angel.
A third birthday is around the corner for our young man and Andy found him something that is perfect...
for when he turns six. 
A sneak peak of a new little shelf for a pink lovin' little girl. We needed a little more space to house all of her little friends. Now we need to see if we can get some help hanging it in her room.
Lastly, here is a sneak peak of the 'before' of one of Ella's shirts that has obviously gotten a little too small. Hope I can show a successful 'after'. 
I wanted to make a nice generous sized beach bag big enough to carry, uh, everything and I think I got a little carried away.
It's enormous and this little girl could probably fit in there.
I find I get the best shots just taking pictures of the kids or Andy doing their thing. If I try to set up some sort of shot there is no patience on their end and it does not look natural. 
Ella was so engrossed observing her little friend that she named Fretsy, I don't think she even noticed I was there.
I think I need a new lens...actually I know I do.
I can achieve the look I want in some shots, but like the one above I think an 85mm lens would have given me a nicer shot. 
Andy workin' on the wishbone. See, I do remember the names of some of these 'dirty hunks of metal'. Many, many years ago when I went to my very first car swap meet with Andy, that is what all of the car parts looked like to me and that's what I usually call them, 'dirty hunks of metal'. I can now distinguish what some parts are, but for the most part they still all look about the same.
They can make great subjects though.
Notice the new camera strap...inspired by the lovely ones by Shey B.
I love Ashley Ann's blog and photography. She often has great tips and short lessons on photography. Love it, they are great. Her above shots demonstrate exactly why I need a new lens.
Isn't her photography beautiful? 
Oh, I do love my camera.
