Half Oreo Chocolate Cookie, Double the Creme

Nighty night.

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend

Nearly every girl enjoys wearing some pretty jewelry, and India is no different. In fact, today she wore a necklace for the first time. And she put it on all by herself.

Someone I knew a long time ago once told me a story about the cutest little girl. She and her family were planning a visit with this person. When they arrived for their visit, the host opened the front door. And without skipping a beat, the little girl looked up and asked, "Where's your 'joo-ree'?"

Nighty night.

Bag of Cherries

So, here are the promised photographs of a recently completed sewing project. The photo above shows the front of the structured tote bag I made.

This shot includes the entire front. Notice that the bag's bottom is not visible.
Again, here is the front view; in this shot, however, the bottom is folded upward to expose my method of shaping said bottom.

This is simply a close-up of the previous picture.

This shot highlights the floral decorative stitching I added to plain, 3/8" red grosgrain ribbon, as well as the double zig zag top stitching I applied to the bag's top edge. Both techniques can be studied more closely by double clicking on the picture.

This view shows the plain, but pretty, back side.

Here is the back side with the bottom folded upward.

Here, a sneak peek at the bag's interior shows the lining was made with the same fabric used for the bag's front pocket. I made the straps with that fabric, too. I bought that material during one of our trips to Fort Worth, simply because I liked it, and I think I bought less than a yard. I'm glad I at last found a use for it. (I had nothing else on hand to coordinate with the cherry fabric.)

I made what I call a "modern bow" to use as an accent for the bag's front pocket. The red helps unite the two fabrics.

India is sleepy.

Deutsch is sleepy.

Scout is sleepy.

After a huge homemade meal of grilled, barbecue pork ribs, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, and coleslaw, Squidley and I went to a movie. We actually did not fill up on junk because we had just eaten a really good dinner. Oh, and just a by the way, we went to see "Letters to Juliet." We both thought it was a surprisingly good film. And even though the scenery was real (It was shot on location.), we're pretty sure the background of the last scene was a matte, simply because the desired background didn't line up with the desired medium shot.

Well, it is beddy bye time for the five of us. After a fun morning/afternoon outing, other activities, and a movie, we are plum tired.

Nighty night.

Berries of Blue

I sorted through some North Carolina blueberries that Squidley bought on sale the other day. I froze seemingly a ton of them but kept out enough for a blueberry crunch cake. The above is my first dish of the scrumptious dessert that Squidley baked this evening.

The batter was made first and poured into a pan. Then fresh blueberries were strewn on top.

Next a crumbly mix was generously sprinkled on top.

This is the beautiful reward that resulted, thanks to wonderful Squidley.

Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend.

Nighty night.

The Nickname

Tonight Squidley had to pick up a few items from the pet supplies store, and while there, he got another cute outfit for India. It is especially appropro because of the lettering on the back: Little Pupcake. Like Deutsch and Scout, she has many nicknames, and one of my favorites is "Cupcake." So, when Squidley showed me his surprise for her, I was delighted.

I finished a couple of sewing projects today and will post some pictures of them soon. I've only photographed one of the completed projects and will catch up on the other tomorrow.

And I've also been knitting pretty much every day during recent weeks. Nothing exciting for posting. I'm knitting ten-inch, cotton squares that are actually wash cloths, and I'm using natural and light-colored yarns (such as pale yellow). I plan to donate these, via a group that is coordinating this project, to an institute that is working to clean animals affected by the oil crisis. (The natural and light-colored yarns, I think, will be less likely to irritate the wildlife than yarns that are heavily dyed.) The pattern I'm using starts with casting on four stitches. After knitting one row (of four stitches), I then increase each row by one stitch (by adding a yarnover). When I've reached the row with forty-three stitches, the knitting will be triangle shaped. At that point I will begin decreasing each row by one stitch. When I have a row with only seven stitches, I will begin casting off.

Well, I'm ready to get into the beddy bye.

Nighty night, everyone.

Indian Sari

Scout and India, in tandem, eagerly await Squidley's entrance into the room.

India shyly looks toward the camera.

India is happy to model her first dress, which arrived yesterday.

Squidley picked out the dress, so cute with flowers and hearts and bees.

Deutsch has this adorable look where one ear is laid back and the other sticks straight out.

India can do cute things with her ears, too.

Well, it's off to beddy bye for us.

Nighty night.

Coming Attractions

This is just a little preview of something I recently finished making. I will post additional photographs once I've shot them.

Late this evening, we had some lightning that sounded awfully close. In fact, I happened to be looking out one of the back windows one of the times lightning sounded, and I kid you not: it appeared to me as though the house shook. With such high temps and hummidity today, we were not at all surprised by the storm. (It was quite brief.) And according to the weather forecast (prediction), tomorrow just might be a rubber stamp copy of today.

Meanwhile, I am quite tired and ready to climb into the beddy bye.

Hope your week is going along grandly.

Nighty night.