MyLuckyChicken

This is...

This is...

harder than I thought it would be. But here is my entry for this weeks theme:

Me in the mirror with my favorite accessory (plus some other favorites)

This is my new favorite accessory, it's a good luck bracelet. I got it on Etsy from a seller called TrinketTree. She was super nice and included a little note outlining what each stone is and how it makes you lucky. Love it.

So taking this picture turned out to be harder than I thought. I started with these things. I thought the light in this corner was good and I love my little print I got at a thrift store for $6. I've had the mirror for a long time, an antique store fin. It seemed weird to just take a picture of my hand so I thought my second favorite accessory is a cup of coffee so I added that in.

This is one attempt shot off my hip. Those are my PJs and the sweater I have been wearing constantly for about 10 winters.

It's been fun doing this each week. My favorite thing is to wake up on Sunday mornings and check what other people have already done, plus it's interesting reading what people in different parts of the world have already done with their Sunday while mine is just beginning.

Catching Up

I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do.

Being sick last week really put a wrench in my well laid plans. I hate being sick. Besides the obvious not-feeling-good part, it just feels like a giant waste of time. I would come home, hit the couch and basically be disabled for the rest of the night. Although I couldn't muster the strength to get up, I would lay there thinking of all the wonderfully productive things I could have been doing.

I think I will do the catching up in reverse, most recent (and fun) first.

This week we went to...

New York!

It was kinda spur of the moment but super fun! It was the kids version of the city,

the Museum of Natural History,which is AMAZING,

Toy Stores,

FAO, and Toys R Us, if you don't like crowds, skip Toys R Us, but FAO is worth the trip,

and candy stores

the M&M store, our youngest's favorite candy,

and a very fun place called Dylan's Candy Bar

(photo from Candy Addict)

in which I found the BEST Australian licorice which is my favorite sweet thing.

We had a Fromer's New York with Kids guide book and I would highly recommend it. It was full of good places to stay,eat, and was generally very helpful. I've put it in my Amazon astore.

For breakfast the last day we went to a little place called Alice's Teacup. A sweet little restaurant on 64th Street. The crepes were wonderful and it rekindled my love of tea. They served everything on mismatched china and there were child sized wings that you could borrow to wear. I was tempted, but I resisted.

A rare photo of me, I'm usually behind the camera. See the wings in the back?

yum.

In the going through the storage unit department, we have been making great strides and have managed to downsize to a smaller unit which saves us money and makes it feel much less overwhelming. One thing I found on this recent go-through was this picnic basket. It is full of sewing things I saved from my grandmother long before I started sewing with vintage materials. I didn't even know I had it. It was like getting a little present from Nana.

yes, that's a penguin.

My Nana was very frugal, she saved everything including the bread bag to keep odds and ends in. See the buttons :)

More catch up...

a fat quarter swap I sent to Portugal...

and finally, I've been loving...

vintage embroidery patterns which you can find at Needle Crafter ...

this mobile which I found going from here to here...

and playing with Flickr tools...

Just for fun...

a random weemee.

phew!

This is...

Continuing with the This is meme...

This is what makes me laugh out loud...

Not very politically correct, but I love them anyway!

I didn't manage to post this week because I've been sick with that awful bug that is hitting us here in the North-East. I hope you all escape it!

This is...

I am playing along with the This is meme over at three buttons. This week's theme was picked by Allison at The Lark . So ...

This is Sunday Dinner.

Ok, it was supposed to be Sunday lunch but our Sunday lunches here tend to be kinda on the fly because we are waiting for Sunday dinner.

When I was little my grandparents came over for dinner every Sunday. We all sat down together at a big table and had a boiled dinner or turkey so something else that took a long time to cook. The potatoes were always the last thing to be prepared, and there were always potatoes. It took forever for them to boil and then my mom would use her hand mixer to blend them with milk and butter, yum!

So Sunday dinners have always meant family and delicious comfort food, especially in the winter. Here we are having ham and pasta topped with a delicious cauliflower gratin. I can take absolutely no credit for making the meal, but it was scrumptious!

Buddy knew just where to wait should anything drop from the lap of a 2-year-old.

A little off track...

Well, so I know I am supposed to be focusing on my needle books this month, and finishing my birds, but have you seen these?

1. Group Shot Of The Girls, 2. Dotee Dolls, 3. Dotee 1, 4. Shabby Chic Dotee

They are called Dotee Dolls and I am strangely drawn to them. I know, weird. But there is something a little cozy and babushka about them.

So I made one. For a friend who needs some cheering up. She'll go in the mail this weekend. (the doll, not the friend) I'll post a picture in the morning, when I've got some light.

February is for...

sewing kits. I've decided to focus on my little needle book/ sewing kits this month.

After I finish my birds, of course. 

Tonight I cut out a bunch from the quilt I took apart. It's really hard for me to dismantle something that someone so painstakingly put together, plus then to cut into the pieces, yikes!

But I am trying not to hold on to things, and I feel like I am making something useful out of it, so they will be loved and used instead of sitting in a trunk gathering dust.

So I'm feeling good about them.

Here they are waiting to be put together...

the light is dark and way too yellow, I'm still waiting for those long summer days full of great natural light!

This is....

my collection.

A collection I didn't realize I was collecting, but it seems that I am.

                          Vintage Silk Thread on Wooden Spools

I am drawn to the beautiful vivid colors against the natural wood. I mostly find these either at estate sales or yard sales in big bags of what other people call 'sewing  junk'.

sachet, sachet, sachet

Some sweet little sachets I made for birthday presents, some late, some on time. I won't say who they are for so as not to ruin the surprise.

The flower is a Bubba original. The lace for the hanger is from my little gray cabinet, which has served me well. They are stuffed with lavender that is from the MyGooodness Etsy Shop. It's amazingly fragrant and if you are looking for lavender I would highly recommend this seller. I really enjoyed making these, they were fun, simple and done in a little over an hour.