My Favorite Things

a day at the ballpark

My husband and I had the opportunity to chaperone my daughter, Isabelle's, 5th grade class on a field trip to watch a professional baseball game sponsored by the D.A.R.E. program. I have to admit that I was less than thrilled at the prospect of spending a day at the ball park. I am the mom that was quietly elated when my son decided that baseball was not for him. I love so many other sports, but I have never been able to enjoy watching baseball. I kept reminding myself that the day was not about me "enjoying" myself, but instead about my daughter being happy at having her mom with her at the ball park. Much to my surprise, not only was my daughter happy, but lo and behold, I DID enjoy myself! I even learned a little about the game.

You know the expression, "Out of the mouths of babes." Well, that was never so true as it was at the game. The D.A.R.E. program that the kids just completed promotes, among other things, staying away from drugs. Alcohol fits into that category. Well, at the ballpark the concessions sold alcohol among their beverages (even on that day). Needless to say, many of the kids asked the parents why alcohol was being sold at a D.A.R.E. sponsored event. That was a question that I did not know how to answer. (even though silently I thought it was, of course, about the ball park making money) Isn't it interesting how perceptive children can be?

till next time,

melissa

fabulous find

Being the textile hoarder that I am, I was sooo excited when I happened upon a barrel piled high with fabric scraps (Marimekko, no less) at a Crate and Barrel outlet in Chicago yesterday. If you can believe it, the scraps were selling for .95/lb. I, of course, dug through the entire barrel until I uncovered every last fabulous scrap that I thought I could not live without. I cannot wait to use these in some upcoming project. Wouldn't these look great just stretched over a canvas?!

Well, I am off to a DARE baseball game with my daughter's 5th grade class.

Until next time,

melissa

not quite ready

I had hoped to have my etsy boutique up and going by the end of last night, but I must have been delusional in that thinking. It is definitely taking me longer to complete the process than I anticipated. This is where that genie thing would come in handy. I will keep you updated here on when my etsy boutique will be ready. In the meantime, here is a peek of some aprons that I am working on.

until next time, melissa

a new adventure

Ok, not only am I beginning to blog, but I am also getting an etsy site up and running ... a somewhat daunting task. I love making the items, but then I wish I could just pull a "Jeanie" and cross my arms and blink, and then the items would just appear on etsy complete with fabulous photos and amazing descriptions. Alas, this is not to be. So, I am slowly making my way into this brave new world (for me) called etsy. I hope to have items listed by Sunday evening. Please stop by for a visit if you have time.

"WELCOME"

I want to welcome you to my first blog post. I will admit, this is a new and somewhat scary adventure for me, but one that I am very excited about. I have been so inspired by the the amazingly creative blogs out there, that I thought it was finally time to put on my "big girl" pants and try blogging out for myself.

I hope to be able to encourage and inspire you, the way so many of you have done for me. My first love in the crafting world is for fabric. I just cannot ever have enough fabric. I collect both vintage and vintage reproduction. In fact, I started collecting years before I ever learned how to sew. Even though I didn't know how to make anything from my collection in those first 5 years, I enjoyed just admiring the stacks and stacks of fabrics that I was accumulating.

So, now that I do sew, I thoroughly enjoy creating items for my home as well as for others. I am looking forward to sharing my creative process with you, messy may it be at times (well, most of the time). I hope you will feel free to share your creative thoughts and ideas with me along the way. Meeting new creative people is the best part of participating in this blogging world.

Until next time,

Melissa