You Go Girl!

Cool Cat...

How does a cat keep cool on a hot summer day? Otter Pops, of course.

"Hey...What color is my tongue?"

This cat cracks me up!

 

On a lazy summer day...

...the girls of summer tried to paint every rock on the shore of Flathead Lake. So far, we have sixty three painted rocks. Lots of giggling, chit-chat, and fun. More pictures and details soon. I am posting from my iphone. Tricky. Tricky.

Happy Summer!

A Wee Visitor...

Look who is hiding in the tall grass behind my house. When Baby Deer lays down, you can't see her even when you are a foot away. So tricky. 

In this picture Baby Deer is standing up.  Lay down, Baby. Everyone can see you.

This wee visitor stays all day until mommy comes in the early evening to quietly retrieve her.

I think it is amusing that I ooh and ahh and protect the little fawns like Baby Deer. In a month, I will be chasing them from my yard like a crazy woman and cursing them for eating my petunias down to nubbins and trampling all my other flowers to bits. But for just this moment, she has my heart. Be safe, little one.

Life...

Whew! A lot of LIFE has happened since the last time I visited this space.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my honey and I went to San Francisco. We walked the bridge, toured Alcatraz, visited the wharf, drove through wine country, and tried to eat every piece of salt water taffy in the city. And I think we might've done it. We ate A LOT of taffy. In fact, my hind end probably looks like a bag of taffy. Oh well. Cherry is my favorite followed closely by banana, if you are wondering.

We came back from the City by the Bay just in time to celebrate my oldest child's birthday. Nineteen. Yikes!

Later in the week, my little ginger babies had an 8th-grade promotion ceremony.Yay! I survived junior high with triplet girls. I love these girls to pieces but junior high is stupid such a crazy time for girls. We made it unscathed. Hooray and cheers! 

A few days ago, we returned from Yellowstone. It was very cold this year. In fact, one day while we were there it snowed ALL day long. We hardly got out of the car that day. Five teenage girls, a mom, and a dad together in a Suburban looking for bears in the snow all day long. It got a little bit snarky. "If I have to stop this car..."

But it wasn't all bad. Look at this picture of the girls in front of the Tetons. Love these girls and love these mountains.

This view never gets old no matter how many times I see it.

That's all for now. I hope your summer is off to a lovely start.

Tweet Tweet

Hello friends. Look at these birds. Are they not the cutest things ever??? I haven't been this in love with a project since my apple fix a few years back. I found the pattern at The Paper Shed. 

Birdie Bleu was stitched for my mama. I LOVE my mama. As soon as Birdie Bleu was complete, I knew that my friend, Beth, needed a little sparrow. Beth's journey to motherhood has been punctuated by sorrow. As I stitched Birdie Bleu together, I remembered this blog post she wrote. 

I hope Lady Lavendre reminds Beth of her sweet Eve and the lovely seven months they got to spend together. Hoping for blessing upon blessing in the days to come, Beth.

I'M SO HAPPY SALE!

Sun is shining. Birds are singing. Trees are blooming. Bees are buzzing. And this little slice of heaven is supposed to continue ALL WEEK long. I'm so happy I might lose my freakin' mind. Wait. I don't want to do that. Let's have a sale instead. All pillowcases in my You Go Girl shop are 20% off through Mother's Day, the best holiday EVER invented. Find my shop here. Use coupon code TWENTY at checkout. Happy shopping. Toodles. I'm going outside to frolic.

PS--Good light (a.k.a. a lovely spring day) really does make pictures better. Look at the lovely color in the photo. No photoshopping. Honest. My photos for my etsy listings are wanting for light. Pretend they are bright and lovely. Okay?

Score!!

So I happened upon this magical assortment of paper tape while I was shopping for cat food, goldfish crackers, and soda pop at Target. The bright cheerful patterns and delicious colors caught my eye as I wheeled my cart past the office supplies on my way to the checkout. I did a little gasp when I saw them. A happy dance ensued as I put the tape in my cart and continued to the checkout. SCORE!! 

After I bought this unexpected find of sticky goodness, I brought it home and joyfully covered this little cardboard tube. I'm not sure where this little tube came from.   It's been hanging around my house for a while. It looks like a mailer tube, only smaller. It has white plastic plugs on both ends and seem to be a perfect container for keeping my crochet hooks all together in one place.

 

Woot! Woot! My little hooks have a fanciful home. Oh happy day!

Need. Sunshine. Soon. PLEASE!

I am so eager for some leaves on my trees that I've taken to drawing them at church! Is that wrong? I hope not. Maybe God will see the desire of my heart, penned on to paper, and send sunshine soon. 

Winter is long in these parts. If you peek up into my trees, they still look pretty naked. 

But if you get up close, you can see that they are ready. Ready for some warm days. Ready for some rays of sunshine. Ready to burst into glorious leafy-ness.

Until those warm sunny days come, I will have to be content to gaze upon Miss Forsythia. She is sunshine in bush form. She lives right in my backyard. I love her. She never disappoints.

Waiting for a bit o' sun~
Cassie 

And just so you know, I was listening to the message while I was drawing. Honest. I think drawing helps me hear better. I'm not just saying that. I mean it, Pastor Aaron.

About that Blanket Stitch

About that blanket stitch...

Thanks so much for all your comments and suggestions regarding the blanket stitch on the Posh Pillowcase. I tried almost all your suggestions. Here's my take:

Skip Stitch Blade: Ummm. No thanks. Some people love this blade. My insane battle with perfection would not allow me to embrace this blade. I did not like the holes it left in the pillowcase. In fact, I have a pillowcase that will never leave the house. It will probably be repurposed into wallets or some such thing.

Sharp Hook: See Skip Blade above. 

Single Length of Yarn (photo above): This was a viable option. The yarn did not tangle and was easy to pull through the fabric even when it was a long length. A single length of yarn also seems to provide an adequate foundation. I personally do not like the look of the single length as well as the doubled yarn.

So what is my new solution? Sew the blanket stitch with a shorter-length doubled yarn in two separate pieces. Start your stitch as you normally would in the "pocket" by the seam. Sew around to the other seam ending in the "pocket". Remove your needle. Thread the second piece of yarn. Join your second length of doubled yarn to the first. Continue around the pillow case and join to your original yarn. You end up with two knots instead of one. I'm okay with that. This is probably only make sense to those of you that have tried the tutorial. So sorry if you are reading and wondering.

Now if your head is hurting from reading my drivel and you've decided to NEVER EVER EVER try to make a Posh Pillowcase, I have good news. I just listed ten new pillowcase in the shop. Woo Hoo!

Happy day,

Cassie

 

Unicorn Poo...

'Tis tasty and pretty too!

No explanation. It would take too long. Just know that I've been having myself a bit o' fun.

Edit: Truth is I found the graphic for my uni-poo tag already on my computer. One of my girls had downloaded it from somewhere. Turns out that the artwork I used was drawn by the lovely Jessie from Cakespy. Check it out. I am in love and didn't even know it. I hope I haven't crossed any copyright-ownership-in-good-taste-lines here, Jessie. I love your shop and your graphics. Next time I am Seattle, I must visit.