Flea market Sunday

Yesterday was the one of these "largest garage sale" events in Springfield, mo. This thing is not even close to large for this St. Louis girl and the crowds are NUTS. This year we had to wait in line 45 minutes just to get a ticket even though we arrived twenty minutes after it started. (A bad system there, for sure.) I never buy much, struggling to spend any money at all really, but it's the dead of winter and I need a break from the ordinary. Plus the fabric outlet in town is AMAZING. 

So, what did I dig up this year?

A paper tablecloth.

These are empty now, but Google says they used to house tiny tea sets. Even empty they are charming. Finding one with the pieces is on my must find list now.

A wagon missing most of the wagon. 

A spool knitter.

Baby seals.

Adorable.

A pile of old paper stars (probably German, these came from the very german Elsa.) I also bought a vintage german pillowcase from her for our big German pillow, but it's in the dryer. It's lovely with big eyelet. The spool knitter was her sons.

Yards and yards of this musty vintage red fabric. Even washing and airing has yet to cure of it of the smell.

Random Christmas.

And very cute vintage seersucker fabric which is wet here and also smelly, so hanging on the line.

Enough to make me happy.  Plus there's that pile of fabric I will be back with tomorrow. 

Happy Sunday!

Sam says

Mommy we are making rainbows. Mine has a catepillar too!

"Mom, Walgreens is not at the corner of happiness." (While waiting for Oma to come out of said Walgreens.) sammi 

Hip Kitty Hipster Cat quilt

I was trolling pinterest one day trying to decide what on earth my next quilt would be when I stumbled on the Hipster Cat Pattern. I had to make it RIGHT NOW. It's a free pattern and it whipped together uber quick, despite having to make very large freezer paper templates.

 

I made mine slightly bigger than the pattern called for so we can use it as a lap blanket in the living room.

 

I LOVE mixing patterns and colors, so fun.

The only hang up was waiting on the arrival of the PERFECT backing fabric - teal glasses!

 

One quilt down in 2016, many to go!

Sammi portraits, 5

 I took Sammi for her five year portraits last week. I couldn't see the left side of her head or I REALLY would have fixed her hair there! Oy.

 The studio was REALLY not sure I should mix stripes and polka dots, which makes me LOLOLOL. I quilt! Mixing patterns is my passion.

 Plus, it's how Sam dresses most of the time anyway.

 This girl of mine. How can we be staring down kindergarten already?

I am not going to lie - I am NOT ready. At all. I did not feel this way with Jack, because he was SO, SO ready himself. But Sammi? She seems so little still. I am starting to have some angst about my time with her at home coming to an end. It's been so bloody hard for awhile, this having two very small people at once thing. But now it's starting to be easier. They can do things! They play together! They use the toilet! Gone are the days of two cribs, and two in diapers and two in a stroller. Those days were awful a lot of the time because of the sheer volume of work involved. Now they are crazy and joyful and fun little people and I cannot even begin to believe she is leaving me soon.

Ugh.

I blame turning 40, it's seriously turned the tide on my view of life. When I stop think that hey, 50% of my life is very likely over it's bizarre. And it definitely starts to cast a rosier glow on life in general. Who has time for nonsense now?

Not I.

And I obviously have no time for letting go of my little beauty just yet either.

Sniff.

Flea market Sunday

Oh my goodness, last week was one of the busiest weeks ever. By Friday afternoon I was ready to lie down on the side of the road and cry while sucking down an entire twelve pack of Coke. Lol

I have managed to find a few treasures lately though. 

Adorable Noah's ark.

Finally! A paper mache bunny.

An oil painting of Paris called to me at goodwill. This is not my usual thing at all, but I sort of love it. It reminds me of the art my grandparents always had up. It was in a very ugly frame so I need to look out for a good frame for it. 

When I had Dave rearrange the art on this wall to fit in this lovely new print I realized I'm buying a lot of things in these greens right now, I'm pretty sure I'm being heavily influenced by someone I follow on Instagram. :) The frame on this print is equally awesome.

A gorgeous quilt top. Again, not my usual pastels and more green. I passed this by three times but I could.not.stop thinking about it.

See? Swoon.

And a friendship quilt, in my much more usual pink.

This is very sweet, and I love their names - Eva, Alice, margeurite. But my favorite part is one block that reads...

Bob! Lol

Weird photos are due to five degree temps and some blowing snow. We are hunkered down in the house and I gave one quilt to finish and another to make progress on, plus my valentines!

Happy Sunday to you.

Hapde burfday Sammi

And just like that, sammi is five today! It snowed for the first time this year yesterday. She and I talked about how lucky she is to get such a special gift almost every year on her birthday.

Dear Sammi,

At five you are :

A bright shining girl. No really. People are just drawn to you, no matter where we go and you have a innate way with people. 

Very emotionally intelligent, you are able to read faces in a way that is amazing actually. 

In love with rainbows.

Sassy, oh boy, sassy.

Spunky.

Looking forward to kindergarten and riding the bus.

A very good big sister and little sister too! You are kind to grant and always helping him and yet you and jack are thick as thieves these days.

A fashionista. 

A questioner. Of everything. All the things, all the time.

Pretty easy going.

Super, super excited to switch car seats.

Petite, only 37 lbs still!

A bit of a homebody, you like days off from school. 

A craft fanatic. You want to do all the crafts, all the time. BUT! You never want to finish a single one of them. 

Still biting. Really? Ugh.

The pickiest of picky eaters. No fruit or veg shall pass your lips.

Building your first Lego set as we speak. 

Still my amazing, beautiful, brown eyed girl. I feel so blessed to have you baby girl. 

Happy birthday, 

Love,

Mama 

Heart to heart 2016

Time to sign up for the 2016 heart to heart swap!

I bought these to use for mine this year, will I actually use them? Lol

So far I have seven emails, so we are half full. Some details for anyone else considering it:

You make 14 valentines (or whatever number of swappers we end up with, never more than 14 though) and mail them to me by February 1. These can be anything you want! Any material, any size (although 5x7 or smaller is much easier to ship.) I like to hang all of mine on a feather tree so I tend to make ornaments. In return you receive a box stuffed with 14 different valentines. All you need to do to sign up is email me. When the group is finalized I will email and ask for your PayPal address. I will invoice you for $5 to help cover return shipping costs. (PayPal makes it much much easier for me to ship them back out, so it is preferable to pay your shipping fee that way.)  

You can search heart to heart here on the blog to see what others have made. I think this is the tenth year?!

Sign ups will close Jan 7th.