I Saw the Tears in Her Eyes...........

A few sundays ago in our relief society hour of church, there was a lesson on provident living—getting out of debt, living within your means, getting your food storage and making do with what you've got and not wasting it. The woman conducting it and giving the lesson is a cohort of mine into the foray of photography. After a short film by a church leader on the subject, she started to give the lesson. I stopped her by raising my hand. She gave the nod for me to speak and I motioned I needed to come up to the "front of the class." Shock registered on her face as I stood beside her; she asked what it was about very softly and I whispered into her ear, "the dress", as she had been aware of the frustration of mine in the making of said dress.

I then proceeded to subscribe my double-sided dress and the problems and frustration of making it. It was a good lesson in making lemonade from your lemons and also to not throw anything out.

As I looked into the faces of the women, about 30-40 of them, I noticed some smiles, some outright laughter and then something that quite astonished me. I saw "what in the heck is this chick talking about" look on some of the faces. Of course, since most of those women have never taken the time to get to know me or my humor and joie de vive they might have been stunned. But that's no matter as I plowed along in my own little world attempting to get my point across.

Later that day I sent an email to my friend about asking her how she could have allowed me to totally embarrass myself and I'll never ever open my mouth in that class again. It was much longer than this snippet but you get the idea.

Later that evening a knock on the door brought me and Love Bunny out of our sunday evening stupor. As I opened the door, there stood my young mommy friend. She sheepishly looked at me and asked if I was serious and was I angry with her. Stupified ME said, "of course not!" I didn't stop to think, since we are "partners in humor" and both eager "photographers in learning" sometimes, that it woud have affected her so. She wiped tears from her eyes for the 40-45 minutes she visited then. I truly thought the humor would have come through on the email, but it didn't and she spent the next few hours trying to chat with her hubby and kids, going to look at the email again, back to family, back to email and finally dashing out the door to see if she had offended me or what in the heck was going on.

I laughed and said, "no, nothing is wrong". I just thought I made a complete jackass out of myself in usurping her time and evidently astonishing some of the women. But the tears got to me in a way not much else could. I thought I fell flat that sunday but evidently there was more going on than I thought. But it assuaged her tender feelings and for that I'm certainly grateful.

And yes, those are her eyes in the photo.
~*~

What I'm Working on This Wednesday

I've been working on the design of this and what I'm going to do with it for sometime. I'll show you the finished product..........maybe!!

Friend's Home Tour #3

Update on our son for 4/7/09 6:30 AM

I don't want any of you to miss this gorgeous home and if I update my son's condition it might be missed so I'll update here and on the post about his ordeal also. If you've not read about him please chick here to check it out the traumatic ordeal with our son on 4/4/09.

Last night my daughter-in-law called and said the police got the surveillance tape and were able to identify 3 of those men who attacked our son and also got the license plate of the car. I'm very pleased.

Son will go to doctor today to see if he is going to need surgery on his face. Not sure why but we'll see. He is still not eating and nauseous even after getting medication for it. I think after an ordeal like that the body just wants to go into "sleep mode" to heal itself and he's doing that almost exclusively! He cannot talk or eat but is sipping water through a straw.

I still want to tell you that I'm feeling no hate for those men. I say this in all honesty. Yes, I cry—A LOT! I didn't know a face could hurt this bad from crying or eyes could be so tender also. But I still feel a little anger. Why not hate and only a little bit of anger when my baby's face and body is so beaten? I think the Lord has stepped in on this one, trust me. We are taught in our church to love every single person and to not hold grudges. I'm not perfect at this, believe me! But if I hold the hate and anger I'm the lower one. This has truly opened my eyes and heart beyond anything I can comprehend. But I tell you this with all the honesty I can muster at this point. I have feelings for their mothers who raised them. I truly want to hate these men but I just simply cannot do it. I sit here typing this with tears rolling down my eyes onto my chest knowing my son wouldn't want this either. We're a strongly LDS family and try to live by my church's teaching no matter how hard it is for the "natural man/woman" in me. l can only weep for those men also. I say these things not to sound "above the fray" but because this are truly and absolutely what is in my heart at the moment.

I want to thank all of you who have prayed for my baby and for your sweet kind words. I have a better insight into these things that happen now and maybe the lesson is for me and me only. I'll try and respond to each of you as soon as I can. Thank you, thank you; I know prayers work because my son is alive!
~*~


Painted above their bed is this motto:


Loved you once,
Love you still,
Always have,
Always will.

A picture of the temple where they were married is framed in a large frame of wood boards on top of a quaint little vintage roll top desk.

An antique chest on this side of the room.

A door to their desk is beside a shelf with knobs that holds Phyllis' jewelry. The top displays a sign and a picture of them when they were younger.

A half window looks toward my home about a mile or two away, but towards the city anyway. Notice how she uses that old chest instead of a vanity. Perfect!

A chandelier over her Jacuzzi tub! This is truly a romantic woman.

She didn't want to be in any pictures. (I have no clue why because she is so pretty, but I do understand not liking to have your picture taken and I abided by her wish.) I showed her this photo and she said, "Well, just show the one sink and mirror." She doesn't understand how we chicks want to see it ALL. Hah... I showed her that I would obliterate her from the mirror on the left and I did. She was standing in the doorway and being reflected by another mirror over the tub into the blue mirror by the door. It was kind of funny when I got home and realized how it happened as we didn't realize it until I got home and downloaded the photos. She came over and I showed it to her. I said I'd take care of it but I know you gals and one sink wouldn't cut it for y'all. So this is why it looks funny in the doorway. Also notice in the right mirror there is an old window leaning against the wall. Now can you see why I wanted to photoshoot this woman's home. We're kindred spirits when it comes to decorating. *Smiling*!!

This is the other bathroom on the main level. Isn't it precious? She puts so much effort and love into this home.

I love this window and box on the bathroom wall.

And they've made an antique wash stand into a working one for their home. She is very creative. You have noticed those sinks, right?!?! Darling!

Okay, my friends, more to come in another post in a couple of days. Hope you've enjoyed it so far. If so, let me know so I can tell her how much you have liked looking at her home. More to come and lots of darling things left to view.

Ooooh, it's for sale. They want to scale down as they only have 4 children left at home after one in college gets married in May.

New Shabby and Chic Pink Apron

In answer to a couple of questions about my aprons, I haven't made or sold any on ebay for awhile. Ebay has just been too slow so I haven't put any on there for a long time. I'll have to replenish my stock on them though as I have no more for sale now.

But this is one I was working on for a while and just completed. Ruffles, buttons, lace, shabby chic fabrics and many different kinds of fabrics on this one. I had to sit down and decide how to do it to get the maximum amount of scraps on it! Then once I had the vision in my head, I measured, cut and started sewing. I used polka dots, stripes and checks to tone down all the roses of pink and red. Kaffee Fassett pocket on the top. Lots of buttons including designer and fabric ones I made myself. I've counted 13 different fabrics in this little apron including the neck piece and the ties and little loop explained later! And lots of decorative stitches on this one also. It is truly one-of-a-kind because I have no more of the red and white polka dot fabric.

Up close you can see a little purple and red button on top, a little fabric covered one I made on the bottom and a ribbon rose and vintage lace on the sides.

Here you can see the little flapper button. This really is a girly girl apron!

Bottom half of this apron. Notice the double ruffle. Squeeeeeeeal!!!!
Jazzy sparkly button on the top left of pocket and a strawberry one on the bottom left.

Some vintage crochet lace from a tablecloth and a fabric covered button I made.

Another piece of crochet and pink ribbon roses along with a pink polka dot button.

I wear glasses for close up reading and work. However, I seem to always have mislaid or forget them so I have added a little fabric tab here to help me keep track of them by simply putting the ear piece through this little loop and they're pretty secure. A hankie could also be inserted here. I've covered a button with Mary Engelbreit rose in one of her fabrics.

~*~

Random Thought

Sometimes I have to ask hubs 3x what he means to answer his question properly. Men and women definitely DO communicate differently. *Wink*
~*~

Redoing a Vintage Chair

I bought this vintage chair at a local antique store several weeks ago. I wasn't sure where I wanted to put it but I knew I DID want to redo the cruddy seat! It was pathetic, I tell ya. However, since there wasn't any place else to put it except my sewing and craft room, I put it in there reluctantly—first because it was the only place I had left and second because I knew having it in my way would prompt me to get at it quicker. *Wink*..........

The seat is very hard wood with no "cushioning" and it had the most atrocious and filthy fabric on it I've ever come across. Three layers of crud. I took off the first layer of fabric that had been put on with tiny upholstery tacks. (This tells me it was put on there before the advent of staple guns and the rusted tacks proves its "vintageness"!) The second layer of "fabric" was a vinyl that was so old it "snapped" off as I was removing the tacks. *Sigh*.... The third layer looks like something out of the 40s or 50 at least. I had to go wash up once while doing this my hands were so dirty! The chair was in "scruffy" shape—can we say "shabby" here?! Just the right amount of "wear and tear" to call it that. Squeeeeeeeal!!! So I didn't bother painting it but did give it a dusting and wipe down. Yuck.

I then found a piece of shabby chic roses fabric in my stash. I put some upholstery fiberfill over the top and then added the fabric. I think it turned out quite well actually.

Then I added some roses decals to the back and voilà here it is. I don't think it's sturdy enough for a person to sit on it because one of the dowels in the back had to be replaced and while doing that Love Bunny noticed that a piece of wood on one of the back legs was cracked. It must have fallen off one day while in the craft room and evidently—I have no idea how this happened(!) Can I help it if phone cords and vacuum cords get in my way while vacuuming?—and got s*cked up in the vacuum which is a Dyson and s*cks up quite good while mutilating the wood piece. *Heavyyyy sigh here*! I emptied the Dyson and everything in there was dust or so tiny there was no hope to fix it. If there is then hubs will find a way. That man is a miracle worker. However, his time frame is not MY time frame here so I'm doing the best I can, chicks! I think it will go in my bedroom to hold books or pillows from our bed at night. I can always use another chair in there besides the 2 in there now. Right?!?!? *Sigh*........