A little Cinderella for my little niece

My niece turned 3 on Sunday. I had purchased her a board game among her gifts. However, when I consulted with my sister, that very same board game was already owned by her brother. So onto Last Minute Plan B... I asked my sister if there was anything else she wanted. The little niece needed some dress up clothes, but not tutus and sparkly things. She really needed a Cinderella outfit.
I rummaged through my extensive stash of fabric and managed to locate a piece of blue satin about 3 yards long and only 20" wide. After a morning of elaborate cutting, seaming and "I'll make it work", I produced this 24 hours later....



There was no piece of satin left that was over 6" wide. The skirt is extremely full, so if she wears one of her tutus under it, the effect should be most Cinderella-like.
During the entire construction process, Miss E kept asking if it was for her. (Miss E announced last year that she will be Cinderella for this Halloween.) And when she found out that it wasn't, she requested one "exactly like this one". "It needs to be the exact same fabric", and then "when are you going to make mine? today too?". Thankfully Halloween is a few months off, but I need to start shopping for some blue satin soon.

Pottering About

Yes... I am a huge Harry Potter fan. As is my sister. We have spent many hours theorizing and re-reading the books to try and figure out the ending. So last Friday night, I was there at the midnight release of Book 7.
I did not wear a costume myself (as I had just flown back from LA that evening and drove straight from the airport to Barnes and Noble).
There were witches...



... a Dumbledore...



... and a Rita Skeeter...


... what was quite hilarious and usually in character as she moved around and directed us into our lines. She was an employee as well.

It was so wonderful to see an entire room of excited, smiling people when they announced at midnight that it was time to start selling. The age range of people was amazing- from the very young to the very old and from all walks of life! Now I just have to make sure I get some sleep at night rather than staying up the entire night reading....

A Yard Sale and the Antique Expo

We had a yard sale two weeks ago with the neighbors. We sold some things but not enough of the bulky, awkward to store items. BUT I scored this AWESOME fabric from our neighbor...



$3.00 for the whole 25 yard bolt!!! I'm going to make some pillows for the wicker set and some chair pads for the table chairs.

Then we took all the money we made and went to the giant Antique Expo at the expo center. You see the most interesting stuff there. Who doesn't need a giant rooster?



... or an oversize camera?



This horse brings back memories. We had a similar one when I was a kid.



I love these beaded bags. They were so hot a few years ago and the price went through the ceiling. Now the prices are coming down and they are relatively easy to find.



And this lovely hand made yet overprice horse...



We spent all the money from the yard sale at the expo. I'll have to post those goodies soon.

Garden Visitor

Yesterday, I was mass pruning my cutting garden and trying to bring it back under control when I discovered this little guy...



I have never seen this type of snail in my garden before. His shell was about 2" across.



He moved fast for a snail. His stalk eyes were moving all around taking everything in. And then he was gone...

Has it been two weeks!?!?

Where has the time gone?!?!? Some of it has been taken up with house projects and freelancing, and I was gone last week teaching the last week of my summer class at the University of Idaho. We stayed at my parents farm and enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July with my family. I did manage to take a few pictures...



It was hot, hot, hot while we were there, so we tried to do any walking in the early morning. But some mornings it was just too hot, so I stayed near the house and took pictures of the hummers...



Mom and Dad feed an army of about twenty hummingbirds. After the eggs hatch there will be closer to forty. They eat out of two feeders and consume a quart of sugar water a day. If it is really hot, Mom has to fill the feeders in the morning and again in the evening. You do have to be a little careful when standing under the feeders as you might get speared by a fiesty hummingbird zipping by.

Since our farm is close to a Reservation, there are many wonderful and illegal fireworks to choose from. The spouse loves this availability, so he and my sister drove down and bought $50 worth of exploding activities while I was working. We started off with the sparklers...



... and then had to move to an area away from the house and any fuel tanks for the big stuff. All the kids enjoyed it, but Mister Ewan was asleep after a few fountains so missed the aerial display... ah well... there's always next year. I posted the rest of my pictures on Flickr.