Little sheep

I am no great sewer but I have always loved to sew whether hand sewing or on a machine.

My mom taught me how and the only machines I have ever sewn

on were hers. I feel her watching over me when I sit

at the sewing table.

My friend Evi is a wonderful seamstress and she uses her talents

to make incredible dolls.

This sweet little girl was one my friend Kathleen scooped up for herself.

You can see more of Evi’s work

HERE

So why for heavens sake did I try to make this sheep for this very talented friend as a gift??

I have no real answer for that.

....maybe I liked the challenge of trying something that

I'd never done before. 

I did feel the pressure to make it good
but I tried not to keep that from stopping me.

I had gotten an email that Cathy Pendleton from Cheswick Company was having a

online sale soon so I thought I’d check it out when the time came.

Well by the time I remembered... 2 hours late....90% was already sold.

Uggh my fault.

So I started looking around her site and came across 

her esty shop and ebay store.

I thought….. that's awfully cute.

Maybe I’ll order the kit and not just the pattern.

I have a week  but I don’t want to run around trying to find this and that.

( though I’m a fabric hoarder)

It arrived right away and it was much easier then I thought.

I just read the instructions at first. 

Not sure why I didn’t jump right in because once I started it went pretty well.

Now it was totally my fault but I messed up twice. Ok 3 times.

I sewed the belly in the exact place you were not suppose to sew.

I thought, ok now I have to pay attention.

But then I sewed the wrong sides together….twice!

The seam ripper and I are good friends.
 I have many! yet how many do you really need?

Could have helped if I didn’t start doing this at 11 at night also.

I think making the hearts and the little pin cushions was my favorite

parts and so satisfying when completed.

Now if I could make this anyone can.

It wasn’t perfect but I think Evi appreciated the effort. 

Cathy has a lot of great kits and patterns to pick from.

A couple of years ago Cathy had a Christmas Open House

where Evi, Paula, Laura and Kathleen all attended.

I was working and couldn’t make it but met them back at

Paula’s.

This owl family were what Evi took home with her.

I believe these are made of vintage mohair.

too cute.

This is a doll Paula bought years ago from Cathy who resides in one of the bedrooms.

I believe there is a pattern to make her too.

So do you sew???

Do you make dolls or little fabric animals?

I found it a lot of fun and when I’m not in the midst of spring planting and all things

“Greenhouse” like I am right now I will tackle another project.

……this quote keeps running thru my head.

                                                                              "Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly."
                                                                                                                   Robert H Schuller

Love Day at Evi’s

One of my favorite days of the Winter Season is the day I come to Evi’s house

to celebrate Valentines Day with my favorite gal pals.

I always look forward to seeing how she's decorated the table.

Paula and I arrived a little late.

We got talking in the car and missed the turn.

Not a big deal but I didn’t have the time to take many photos of the house….

but we all took the time to smell the roses!

and there are still a lot of photos

The perfect shade of blush pink.

The table set with sweet gifts for all of us.

The last time I was here the living room was decked out for Christmas and

now it was ready for Spring.

Evi changes out the pillow on the sofa’s often and are now a soft sage green floral.

Oh yeah, also the curtains are different.

(I just noticed that)

She switches them out with these red and white ones edged with pompoms.

She kept the birch planters on the mantel but

added the green pompom branches.

Aren't they cool?

Bunnies are one of Evi’s favorites.

I have a soft spot for them too.

It’s good to be Queen

and we are the queenettes.

ok maybe Ladies in Waiting.

You may ask what are we waiting for???

Soup of course.

One of my most favorite soups….Cream Leek and Potato,

and Evi doesn’t wimp out on the cream…..she uses the good stuff.

I can diet later.

We then had a wonderful salad with heart of palm

which I dug right into and forgot to photograph.

But I didn’t forget to take a picture of these shrimp kabobs with

papaya, pineapple and zucchini. It was complimented with Jasmine rice and roasted vegetables.

It made a beautifully colorful plate and most importantly

DELICIOUS.

Evi had wanted to try a torte from a

recipe book of famous German chefs given by her niece.

Multi layered cake filled with cherries and edged

 in roasted almonds.

We all went nuts over it.

We all took some dessert home.

George ate it all the next day after he’d already

 eaten breakfast.

Left me a morsel!

said he was helping me diet!

thanks

We were also treated with heart shaped chocolate cakes

with fresh raspberries.

Fantastic

Little chocolate mice made with hersey kisses and fresh cherries.

So clever.

Then the presents came out!

Woo hoo

Evi decoupaged these cute boxes with script paper and filled them

with Toblerone candies.

and beautifully wrapped sweet little notepads.

Laura gave us all a wonderful gift bag with a tin bird and covered

egg cup holder from Pottery Barn.

Don’t you just love Pottery Barn?

Love soft boiled eggs!

Debbie gave us a very needed self therapy notepad

and homemade pink meringues.

I ate them all by the next day : )

is that bad?

George never saw them.

Paula gave us an adorably decorated

tin pot of paperwhites

and hand stitched paper heart tied with ribbon and filled with

homemade caramels from Gather in Ivoryton 

and antique crystals.

So clever!

I hadn’t taken any photos of what I had made for Evi

 until I was there.

It was a kit from Cathy Pendleton.

I’ll share more about it on another post.

Hope you all had as good a Valentines Day as all us girls did.

I feel so lucky to have such good friends in my life.

My only wish is that we could see each other more often.

Don’t worry we all went home to our

Sweeties that night !!!

Hugs

Carole

Our feathered friends at Christmas time

A little birdy love.

After seeing this adorable set of owls that Evi bought at Cathy's Open House I thought I should share some of my favorite birds around the shop. These of course are made with the most scrumptious fabrics of wool and mohair. We were all ouuuing and aaauuuing over how soft they were and petting them like they were our favorite kitty cat:))) So soft and yummy!

At her Open House she offers only one of a kinds handmade creations. It makes it so much fun to see what her imagination comes up with. I unfortunately couldn't make it in time but went over to Paula's to drool over all their goodies. So cute. I'm sure Laura will be able to show you all the lovely things in her blog as soon as she gets home. It was fun to see Laura and Evi though our visit was too short. Deanna showed up later who is like a one woman party herself. Boy can that girl make me laugh!!!!

We laughed so hard like us girls can......getting a bit silly at times. My cheeks hurt I was laughing so much. The boys sat in the other room quietly while we had a good old time!

Isn't that the best part of the holidays??? getting together with good friends?
I know your shaking your heads right now!!!

I digress!!!!

back to the birdies!

I hope you're all doing some "NESTING" at home these days but that you're also taking the time during this busy season to get together with good friends and enjoying all that the holidays has to offer.

xo

Carole