dress love

I love the Grossgrain blog. EVERY summer I tell myself that I am going to wear more skirts and dresses, and I think I get closer every year, but still fail. I'm wearing jeans today...

Anyway, her fabulous blog led me to Shabby Apple. Have you heard of them? If so, why didn't you tell me about them sooner?!? I am in love with everything! Especially this brown linen Tuxedo III dress. 

I am hoping to win this lovely number by writing this post. Here is a link to the contest: Marseilles Dress Giveaway. I have never won anything (and I have entered a lot of contests), but you can't win if

 you don't try, right??

Dress Obsession

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

The vortex

I was going to sew today. And create a post about Squam. But instead I'm going to let you in on what I spent the day doing: reading. I just get sucked into books. I have to finish a book once I start it, and if it's part of a series, forget it, you won't hear from me for days.

The embarrassing part is the kind of books I read. Maybe that's why I love my middle schoolers so much, because we like the same books. My current read is the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. It was required reading for some of the 8th graders, so I figured I'd pick it up (plus it's pretty cheap, since teen books are generally cheaper than adult). Uglies was a quick read, so now I'm onto Pretties. They aren't as shallow as some as the other books I read (ie the Twlight series...).



While I was at Target I also picked up this quilt. On sale for $49. 100% cotton. With a cute pebble quilting design. I can't make a quilt that cheap (and imagine the time it would take to quilt all those pefect little pebbles!). Now I just have to get my block printing stuff out so that I can decorate our sheets to match (the block was carved at Squam with this quilt in mind!!). I love grey and yellow! Now to get my artwork framed (yeah, I'll get pictures of that too).

Back to reading!!

Squam...

I'm starting this while all 79 (!) photos upload to Flickr. 79 out of 347.

Where to begin?

The few days before Squam were filled with packing and sewing. I was excited, but I had no clue exactly what to expect, so the excitement was less than it should have been. Plus, the idea of renting a car & driving was stressing me out.

The drive up to Squam was gorgeous (you're going to hear that word a lot). The little towns were adorable. I got in around 6:30, after registration, but in time for dinner. My double room turned into a single, so I had a nice room to myself. Let me just say now that those beds are heaven! They were the perfect hardness, and were topped with blankets and down comforters. Getting up at 6:30 am everyday was tough!

(playhouse stage)

The first night we met at the playhouse so that Elizabeth could welcome us, then had a campfire gathering and were graced with Jonatha's songs. From the frist night back in the cabin, the circle started to form. While I won't say much about our discussions, I will say this: Kellen and I were downstairs knitting when Laura came down looking from help opening a wine bottle. Lots of tugging later, the bottle was open and the talking began!


My first class was Painting in a Day with Marisa. She also happened to be in my cabin. I can't say enough about her. She is beautiful, sweet, funny, happy, POSITIVE, and the best teacher ever. I am so pleased with how my paintings turned out under her direction. The class was full of ladies who had so much talent that it was inspiring and intimidating.

(Marisa)

Day 2 was Creating Patterns with the FABULOUS Lizzy House. I have been obsessed with her art, fabric, and blog. She is even better in person (and was a delightful cabinmate). You can tell she goes into everything with her whole heart and really gave so much to us.

Day 3 was Block Printing on Fabric with Miss House (again!). She is SOOO talented with linoleum block carving. Oh the detail! I just tried something simple.

(Lizzy)

I think I'll do a separate post about the people, the setting, and the craft fair (and what I came home with).

A little obsession...

I admit that I have a problem...

I LOVE zipper pouches. I use them for everything. Separating items in my purse, separating items for travel. I feel like I could never have too many!

Here are the zipper pouches I'm taking with me to Squam tomorrow (!!!). I bought some freezer paper so I could label a few of the bags (you can see where it says pencils on the bottom of the first image). Oh happiness!

I will admit that a few of them are store bought. How can you resist paying $1 for the pouch, when the zippers alone cost me about $2.50?

Winner!

Thank you all for stopping by and entering my giveaway!

I had my Random Number Generator pick a number and he chose 72. Amy @ Radseams is the lucky winner. Her necklace is on its way and should be there by the end of the week!

(handsome random number generator)

Very Pretty Dresses

This dress is amazing! I really need to work on my sewing skills so that I can turn frumpy dresses into fantastic dresses. She's giving it away, so go look! Blueberry Pie Refashioned Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

She's also giving away another dress, a refashioned wedding dress. Vintage Wedding Refashioned Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

And finally, if you aren't interested in dresses, just go over there for the photography.